More Brief Bits on the Once-Proposed "Bailout":

This is a continuation of the thread located here and consists of a follow up to the first thread which was also written on September 24th in another medium and before the "bailout" became official as it did today.{1} Nonetheless...

Kevin is a friend of mine and in reviewing his comments I added a few of my own. (Blame him for it lol.) As far as the idea of supporting "tax cuts and bailouts for the wealthy" I do support tax cuts but not the bailout: those who made this bed as far as I am concerned deserve jail time. But I am used to liberals misrepresenting my view in the name of some caricatured "conservative position" so you need not worry about me taking offense :)

The myth of liberals that FDR's "New Deal" took us out of the Depression continues I see.{2} The truth is, the "New Deal" prolonged the depression as a result of FDR not having a coherent economic plan but instead trying a hodgepodge of things which were often contradictory -this is not difficult to demonstrate if not for wanting to avoid writing a tome on the matter and getting a laugh out of Kevin in the process. (Due to a reputation I have for expository cogitations that he is aware of.){3}

I noticed also that you did not touch what I noted about the polices of the Clinton administration's justice department under Deval Patrick of threatening with lawsuits banks that refused to loan to high credit risks: that is the gist of the problems with housing that we are seeing in a nutshell. Interesting omission by you there I must say!

Kevin touched already on your welfare misunderstandings but that is not all that could be noted. Indeed, the idea that the federal government was required to make the infrastructure improvements you talk about is an example of how you do not understand the strain that the private sector was under in the 1930's because of the economically obtuse federal approach to these matters. (Much more could be noted but there are space limits here so that is all I will say at this time.){4}

As far as being a "kid" goes, I cannot recall the last time someone likely younger than me called me a "kid." I do try to maintain a youthful look to mask my actual chronological age but that is another subject altogether ;-)

Notes:

{1} Though we of course reserve to ourselves the right to weigh in on this matter at a later date, there is (i) no intention at the present time to do so and (ii) what we have noted in brief thus far should give some hints as to how we would approach this in a future musing be it of a more expository or briefer form.

{2} I have rarely written much on this subject but the following multi part thread comes to mind so I will post it here for those who are interested:

On Historical Revisionism Surrounding the New Deal --Parts I-III (circa October 28, 2006)

{3} I am sure at least some of those who are familiar with your host's overall written output over the years (on this blog and elsewhere) view that statement as one of the understatements of the year.

{4} I may develop this point further in the future if in the mood to and as time allows for it.

ACORN, Obama, and the Mortgage Mess (By Mona Charin)

I tip the hat tip to Contra Pauli for alerting me to this thread.

Briefly on the Proposed "Bailout":

This is a text written a few days ago in response to a discussion thread from September 24, 2008 pertaining to the subject in question.

XXXX and Kevin [Tierney] are both correct on this in part. They forgot about the Justice Department under Clinton threatening banks with federal lawsuits for "redlining" if the banks did not make a certain percentage of loans available for those who were very high credit risks. The program was put in place by the Carter administration in 1977 but it was not until 1994 that the Clinton administration started really giving it teeth via that scumbag Deval Patrick at the helm of the Justice Department.{1}

The problem with the Bush administration is that they basically went along with what was in place already when they should not have. Both Bush and the post 2001 Republican congresses are equally at blame for this as far as I am concerned -the 2007-present Democratic congresses for recessing and leaving the mess as it is for political advantage should be taken outside and shot every last one of them for wasting time on stupid "impeachment" crap and other attempts to obstruct the Bush administration instead of focusing on this problem which they knew very well was coming.

I am no congressperson but this problem was one I knew would happen at some point and indeed some such as Sen. McCain warned of it back in 2005 and 2006 when Sen. Obama was supping at the trough of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as one of their three most financed lobbyists.{2}

The solution is not federalizing things as that always has historically made things worse. (Such as the New Deal prolonging the Depression which we only went out of by going to war and ramping up military production.) The solution is letting the market work and not trying to coerce it -including not trying to force banks to lend to people who are high credit risks at the risk of federal lawsuits. That is after all how we got into this mess to begin with.

Notes:

{1} Briefly on the Current Real Estate Situation (circa July 26, 2008)

{2} I meant to say "contributed to politicians" but wrote that text in a hurry without giving it the customary final review before sending it.

Miscellaneous Musings on Threads of Interest:

Two quick subjects for the time being...

The First Presidential Debate Comments Via Little Green Footballs

I watched the debate after the fact on reruns and probably saw about 70% of it. But what I saw was adequate and it really shows that Sen. Obama could practice for days while Sen. McCain was in Washington only to be badly outclassed by Sen. McCain when at the last minute the debate was on again. My view is closely aligned with that of message #346 in the thread above so much so that I could have written most of that comment myself.{1}

Hopefully for round two Sen. McCain will not pull so many punches as he did in the first debate -it is obvious that Sen. Obama without a teleprompter is no better than President Bush oratorically. And his lack of experience was glaringly apparent in the first debate though Sen. McCain would have done better to actually look at Sen. Obama from time to time. Moving on, we come to something else that was pleasing to our eyes and it is trouble for a representative of congress who deserves to be in trouble...

Murtha sued over remarks

It is not the first time this has happened and hopefully it will not be the last time. Whatever you think about the military involvement in Iraq, to ruin someone's good name{2} for attempted political gain is disgusting. Rep. Murtha deserves a heavy financial penalty as well as jail time for what he did (at a minimum). I could say more but that is all I intend to at this time on that matter.

Notes:

{1} Though I did not of course.

{2} I will not go into the theological aspects of the matter at this time.

Paul Newman Passes On

I may talk a bit about this if emailed on the matter but as for now, I am at a loss for words. One of my favourite actors both on and offscreen...may he rest in peace.