Some of the best posts I’ve read on the “Wall Street Bailout.”

From The Bobo Files:

There is an overwhelmingly clear majority in both the House and the Senate in Congress. If the Dems really wanted to pass a bill, they could do it on their own. I don’t buy their bullshit that they want to pass a partisan bill. They could care less about anything else, so why this? Could it be the fact that they are trying to siphon off 20% from the $700 Billion + to go to ACORN (the organization that Obama worked with) and other housing organizations? That 20% which is supposed to be going to pay down debt - they want to put it back in to the same kind of freakin’ organizations that caused this problem in the first place. They want to bail out stupid and/or unqualified homeowners on our dollar. They want to give money to an organization that is currently under investigation for voter fraud. Is it any wonder the Republicans won’t sign off on it?

From Shaving Leviathan:

Thanks to the creation and favored treatment of Fannie and Freddie, the CRA, the Tax Act Reform of 1986, and a host of other legislation, the mortgage lending market was severely distorted. Self-limiting free-market mechanisms that constrain bad investment decisions was thus removed. The Fed greased the wheels, and put the whole train on a roller coaster, through a years-long policy of artificial manipulation of interest rates.

(This is not to mention the ample funds Obama himself received from Fannie and Freddie. However, even at #2 on the list of recipients, $135,000 over three years isn't enough to make the case that he was bought, as is common currency on conservative blogs. It's chump change and a tiny percentage of the $150 million those two paid to politicians over the years.)

More on the financial crisis and the big government cronies that caused it

From Charles Krauthammer:

The mob is agitated, but hardly blameless. While the punch bowl -- Alan Greenspan's extremely low post-9/11 interest rates -- was being held out, few complained about cheap loans and doubling home values. Now all of the sudden everything is the fault of Wall Street malfeasance.

I have little doubt that some, if not many, cases of malfeasance will emerge. But what we conveniently neglect is the fact that much of this crisis was brought upon us by the good intentions of good people.

For decades, starting with Jimmy Carter's Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, there has been bipartisan agreement to use government power to expand homeownership to people who had been shut out for economic reasons or, sometimes, because of racial and ethnic discrimination. What could be a more worthy cause? But it led to tremendous pressure on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- who in turn pressured banks and other lenders -- to extend mortgages to people who were borrowing over their heads. That's called subprime lending. It lies at the root of our current calamity.
Read More

How A Clinton-Era Rule Rewrite Made Subprime Crisis Inevitable

I found this great article on the housing crash and the root of its cause:

One of the most frequently asked questions about the subprime market meltdown and housing crisis is: How did the government get so deeply involved in the housing market?

The answer is: President Clinton wanted it that way. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, even into the early 1990s, weren't the juggernauts they'd later be. While President Carter in 1977 signed the Community Reinvestment Act, which pushed Fannie and Freddie to aggressively lend to minority communities, it was Clinton who supercharged the process.

After entering office in 1993, he extensively rewrote Fannie's and Freddie's rules.In so doing, he turned the two quasi-private, mortgage-funding firms into a semi-nationalized monopoly that dispensed cash to markets, made loans to large Democratic voting blocs and handed favors, jobs and money to political allies. This potent mix led inevitably to corruption and the Fannie-Freddie collapse.

Despite warnings of trouble at Fannie and Freddie, in 1994 Clinton unveiled his National Homeownership Strategy, which broadened the CRA in ways Congress never intended. Addressing the National Association of Realtors that year, bluntly told the group that "more Americans should own their own homes." He meant it. He saw homeownership as a way to open the door for blacks and other minorities to enter the middle class.

Though well-intended, the problem was that Congress was about to change hands, from the Democrats to the Republicans. Rather than submit legislation that the GOP-led Congress was almost sure to reject, he ordered Robert Rubin's Treasury Department to rewrite the rules in 1995. Read More

From Terry Jones at Investor Business Daily

How the housing debacle really happened

HT: Liberty Pen

Make ice cream from breast milk, says PETA

This is proof positive that the radical Left are hardcore zealots with nary an ounce of forethought for making the most crass of requests in their journey to save us all.

Cartoon of the day

Hank Paulson wants oversight.

It would have been nice if all the regulatory agencies (The Federal Reserve, SEC, the Comptroller of the Currency, FDIC) and the government approved rating agencies would have done their job before the current financial crisis. Of course, I think it’s ridiculous that the very people that helped drive Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and all of the investment banks to ruin are sitting around grilling Paulson--for example, Chris Dodd.

Circulating on Wall Street:

SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

DEAR AMERICAN:

I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE.

I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.

I AM WORKING WITH MR. PHIL GRAM, LOBBYIST FOR UBS, WHO WILL BE MY REPLACEMENT AS MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY IN JANUARY. AS A SENATOR, YOU MAY KNOW HIM AS THE LEADER OF THE AMERICAN BANKING DEREGULATION MOVEMENT IN THE 1990S. THIS TRANSACTIN IS 100% SAFE.

THIS IS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY. WE NEED A BLANK CHECK. WE NEED THE FUNDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT DIRECTLY TRANSFER THESE FUNDS IN THE NAMES OF OUR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE CONSTANTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE. MY FAMILY LAWYER ADVISED ME THAT I SHOULD LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY PERSON WHO WILL ACT AS A NEXT OF KIN SO THE FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFERRED.

PLEASE REPLY WITH ALL OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IRA AND COLLEGE FUND ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND THOSE OF YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO WALLSTREETBAILOUT@TREASURY.GOV
SO THAT WE MAY TRANSFER YOUR COMMISSION FOR THIS TRANSACTION. AFTER I RECEIVE THAT INFORMATION, I WILL RESPOND WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT SAFEGUARDS THAT WILL BE USED TO PROTECT THE FUNDS.

YOURS FAITHFULLY MINISTER OF TREASURY PAULSON

(HT: The Volokh Conspiracy)

Offshore drilling ban due to expire?

I heard about this in the afternoon and I was simply incredulous: The Democrats are going to let the offshore drilling ban expire. Hmmm, we’ll see.

The Bailout Cometh

Oh, it’s gonna cost us, dear taxpayer. We will rue the day that we allowed the government to take hold of the economy to the extent that it has over the last week or so. The bailout will cost roughly $6,500 per family or $2,000 per person. Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas to us! The Liberal hounds are howling their tortuous tune of how regulation would have saved us from all this. All I hear all day on lefty talk radio is the Glass-Stegall act and how it was wiped out by the evil free-market conservatives. “Oh, look what it has wrought!” Poor fools. This country is going to go down the wrong road and we will regret it later on with more government intervention. Sorry to break it to liberals but all of this is due to the government and it’s whacked regulatory bureaucracy. With this crisis and the populist call to have the feds take control, we get closer and closer to collectivism and more government control of our lives and economy. Progressives must be so happy.
Despite the bipartisan touchy feely-ness of the last couple of days, it looks like there is going to be a lot more ideological tugging and pushing rearing its ugly head. Does anyone want to doubt that our political class will screw this entire episode up?

The Wisdom of Children

The Writings on the Wall

Ron Paul is a kook, eh?

Friday Funny: Why did the chicken cross the road?

These are hilarious! From Political Disgust. Click over there for more.

BARACK OBAMA:
The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a CHANGE! The chicken wanted CHANGE!

JOHN McCAIN:
My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON:
When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure — right from Day One! — that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn’t about me…….

DR. PHIL:
The problem we have here is that this chicken won’t realize that he must first deal with the problem on ‘THIS’ side of the road before it goes after the problem on the ‘OTHER SIDE’ of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he’s acting by not taking on his ‘CURRENT’ problems before adding ‘NEW’ problems.

OPRAH:
Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I’m going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

GEORGE W. BUSH:
We don’t really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

COLIN POWELL:
Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road…

ANDERSON COOPER - CNN:
We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

JOHN KERRY:
Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken’s intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

HT: Carpe Diem

Best Post I’ve read Today…

From Jeff Perren at Shaving Leviathan; He rightly notes that in this current crisis on Wall Street, government will always be overly zealous and heavy handed when it comes time to regulate an industry that is currently unpopular or deemed too “greedy.” Politicians will push for regulations not because they are sure that it will help all parties involved but to seem to their constituents that they are “doing something:”

Hundreds of economists from Adam Smith to Thomas Sowell have pointed out the obvious for generations. Beneath all the complex talk of derivatives, leverage, and the like they all say pretty much the same thing: Politicians, get out of the way. Let the market deal with it.

Tallahassee Police tazer naked man

What, you can’t walk your dog totally naked? What’s this country coming to?

Mr. Smith goes to Washington

Pencils, Price Gouging, and Politics

I posted a comment on “price gouging” just yesterday and George Will has addressed the issue along with a review of economists Russell Robert’s book, “The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity." I just received the book myself and I intend to review it once I’m done.

More on Fannie and Freddie

Even so-called financial experts didn't know if "Frannie" were private companies or quasi-public. That's how much of a bureaucratic mess had grown around these behemoths. They're relationship with the Federal government should have been severed long ago.

HT: Liberty Pen

Taxpayers are Suckers

Ah...hurricane season.

Don’t Knock Price Gouging

Jim Cardoza has an interesting post over at Liberty Pen regarding price gouging at gas stations. I would add the following to his great comment: We understand the benefits of low prices but we have a harder time understanding the advantages of high prices. During a crisis, people will tend to panic and overstock on all essential items like gasoline. Higher prices tend discourage a mad dash to grab every drop of gasoline when there is not enough to go around. Ask yourself this regarding “price gouging,” would you rather have a gas station that decided not to raise prices to match demand and that ran out of gas or would you rather have a gas station that raised its prices to match scarcity and therefore never run out of gasoline during a crisis? Before you have an emotional response, think about it.

Markets in Everything

JetBlue is auctioning seats on its EBay store; Prices for seats start at five cents. It’s possible to get a great bargain with Ebay auctions. Wouldn’t it be nice if football and baseball teams did the same thing for season tickets?

Wanna be Palin's Intern?

Nuff said.

Craig Ferguson on Voting

A lesson from Milton Friedman

The lessons of the Fannie and Freddie bailout are going to be very expensive for Americans. When a corporation is singled out by government for special favors and incentives in the name of the public good, in the case of Fannie and Freddie it was housing for the masses, the situation quickly becomes prey to crony-capitalism. Here is a clip from Milton Friedman on this very subject.

HT: Liberty Pen

Camille Paglia on Sarah Palin

Iconoclastic feminist Camille Paglia writes glowingly on Sarah Palin:

Conservative though she may be, I felt that Palin represented an explosion of a brand new style of muscular American feminism. At her startling debut on that day, she was combining male and female qualities in ways that I have never seen before. And she was somehow able to seem simultaneously reassuringly traditional and gung-ho futurist. In terms of redefining the persona for female authority and leadership, Palin has made the biggest step forward in feminism since Madonna channeled the dominatrix persona of high-glam Marlene Dietrich and rammed pro-sex, pro-beauty feminism down the throats of the prissy, victim-mongering, philistine feminist establishment.

In the U.S., the ultimate glass ceiling has been fiendishly complicated for women by the unique peculiarity that our president must also serve as commander in chief of the armed forces. Women have risen to the top in other countries by securing the leadership of their parties and then being routinely promoted to prime minister when that party won at the polls. But a woman candidate for president of the U.S. must show a potential capacity for military affairs and decision-making. Our president also symbolically represents the entire history of the nation -- a half-mystical role often filled elsewhere by a revered if politically powerless monarch.

As a dissident feminist, I have been arguing since my arrival on the scene nearly 20 years ago that young American women aspiring to political power should be studying military history rather than taking women's studies courses, with their rote agenda of never-ending grievances.

Government Bailout

HT: Carpe Diem

America is to Disarm?

While China continues to build it’s “blue water” navy while increasing spending on improving its overall military capability, Barack Obama wants the U.S. to cease it’s military technology programs. I don’t want a President that advocates what amounts to disarmament. China is not to be taken lightly and neither is Russia.

HT: Liberty Pen

Fannie and Freddie go KABOOM! And Taxpayers get screwed.

Well, it finally happened just as fiscal conservatives and small government advocates warned that it would; Fannie and Freddie Mac have been taken over by the federal government—the largest bailout EVER! That means, dear reader, that you and I are stuck with a massive tax bill. Ka-Ching! Congratulations to us…the suckers.

For decades, libertarian think tanks like the Cato Institute, have sounded the alarm on the potential hazard of having giant government sponsored enterprises (Fannie and Freddie) continue to operate too cozily to the federal government. Of course, calls to completely sever the two GSE’s from any Federal protection and advantage were always met with resistance from the left side of the political spectrum. No surprise there. Fannie and Freddie were therefore encouraged to reckless expansion as they took on more and more risky bundles of mortgages from lenders in order to swap them for mortgage-backed securities. But so what right? They’re doing it for the public good and people need housing even if they can barely afford them. Besides, the federal government has their back.

The hapless figure in all of this is Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson who a while back had offered the beleaguered GSEs and their patrons in Congress a blank check signed by the taxpayers promising potentially unlimited funds to backstop the lenders. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd thought that this was a wonderful idea. Mr. Paulson has obviously acquiesced to the Democrats and the mindset that exists in Washington about “doing something.” Unfortunately, President Bush will go along will all of this.

All of this is the latest example of the waste, crony-capitalism, political trading, and bureaucracy that has gripped Washington for decades. Americans really need to come to understand that government is a poor substitute for free-markets. Until that happens, we will see more waste of taxpayer’s funds and more problems with government largesse.

The Election gets tighter...

John McCain has moved ahead of Barack Obama in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking, 48% to 45%, following last week’s Republican convention. This is McCain’s best showing since May.

Gallup Poll

Yes, I know, this poll is basically meaningless but I still think that the elections are going to be a lot closer than many believe it will.

The Screaming Trees

Here’s a clip of Earth First radicals crying and pining over the plight of trees. I’ve always said that radical environmentalism is a religion.

HT: Liberty Pen

Kick Ass Blog Award

I am the proud recipient of The Kick Ass Blogger Award. It was given to me by Bobo over at The Bobo Files. The Bobo Files is one of my favorite sites and I go there as much as possible to soak up no-holds barred conservative commentary.

I am now responsible for passing this award to five other worthy blogs. Here are my five picks:

The Real World: The Historian writes sharp and concise posts on conservative thought; always worth a visit.

A Disgruntled Republican: Rod Williams gives his readers his take on politics from a, well, disgruntled Republican. Always an interesting read.

Shaving Leviathan: One of the best written blogs advocating limited government. You must visit this site.

Brazoscowgirl: I just love reading Kathy’s posts. Great stuff.

Freaky Fugalite: The blog is aesthetically pleasing and the posts are fun.

Congrats to all!

The rules for passing this award on:
--Choose 5 other bloggers that you feel are “Kick Ass Bloggers”
--Let ‘em know via : - your post. b) an email c) Twitter d) blog comments. e) e-card
--Link back to both the person who awarded you and also Mamma Dawg

--Visit the Award HQ , to get codes and sign Mr. Linky then pass it on!

Thomas Sowell on Welfare

A young Thomas Sowell crosses swords with a welfare-statist. This clip is from Milton Friedman's Free To Choose TV series.

HT: Liberty Pen

A friend of even bigger government

Paul Krugman needs to get a grip.

Paul Krugman of the NYT has finally lost his marbles. He claims that the Republican political philosophy of privatization. He claims that the Republican political philosophy of privatization has led to FEMA’s weakening as a public safety organization:

…when the government is run by a political party committed to the belief that government is always the problem, never the solution, that belief tends to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Key priorities are neglected; key functions are privatized; and key people, the competent public servants who make government work, either leave or are driven out.

Except Krugman fails to grasp that the Bush administration is hardly a small government proponent. With massive federal programs like No Child Left Behind and Medicare expansion it is puzzling that liberals like Krugman actually believe that this administration is anything but about big government. If there had been a Democrat in the Whitehouse these last eight years, these same programs would have been lauded as masterful strokes of good governance. FEMA is a perfect example of the problems of a large leviathan attempting to solve problems best left to more nimble organizations—and some of those are private entities. It seemed to me that the more that government (FEMA) tried to act after Katrina, the more it underutilized or prevented resources from being effectively applied.

The tragedy of Katrina wasn’t privatization. It was poor local, state, and federal governance during an emergency combined with decades of punting the obvious problems of weak levees to someone else when it was politically feasible. FEMA was probably never the great organization that many believed because it had never been really tested. Katrina exposed FEMA as the lame government entity that it had always been and, I suspect, still is.

A worthy desk

Best post I’ve read about the issue of experience in this presidential campaign...

From Tertium Quids

This is true. If we wish to compare political resumes, Sen. Obama's is Chester A. Arthur-thin (though Arthur turned out to be a dedicated reformer who turned against his political patrons). And the attacks on Palin could very quickly put the Democrats in the double standard trap, not to mention opening them to charges of sexism.

Personally, I tend to look upon those with life-long political resumes with suspicion. Have they done nothing else with their lives besides eat rubber chicken and kiss babies (and chase earmarks)? If anything, political experience is often the last characteristic we should look for in a president. Some of the best had very little at all -- Lincoln had but a single House term under his belt yet managed to navigate the nation through its greatest crisis. It was Jefferson Davis who had the long political career.