How will Wall St. upheaval affect politics?
September 14th, 2008 at 11:42pm Pat Cunningham
As I write this shortly before midnight on Sunday, the news wires and financial TV networks (such as Bloomberg and CNBC) are abuzz with stories about the extraordinary events of recent hours on Wall Street (see HERE) and their potential effect on the markets come Monday morning.
In a sidebar (if I can use such a trivial term), Politico.com’s Mike Allen has THIS PIECE concerning the potential impact on the presidential race.
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17 Comments Add your own
1. LD | September 15th, 2008 at 7:58 am
and yet McCain said the market was financially sound:
Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 protection- AP
Lehman Brothers has filed for bankruptcy protection under the weight of $60 billion in soured real estate holdings.
Bank of America agrees to buy Merrill for $50B- AP
AIG looking at “options” for businesses, capital- AP
Banks roll out $70 billion loan program- AP
China cuts lending rates, small banks’ reserves- AP
UBS shares hit by speculation of new writedowns- Reuters
Wilbur Ross sees about 1,000 bank closures: CNBC- Reuters
Euro Central Banks Pump Cash Into Money Markets- AP
Fitch slashes Lehman Brothers’ ratings- AP
Oil drops below $95 on financial turmoil- Reuters
But don’t worry, he won’t tax you on all those capital gains you’re making.
2. Mike Carroll | September 15th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Pat-this is actually a good example of why substantial change is needed in Washington. Now the question becomes whose change. It will be interesting to see which candidate prospers from this debacle if either as it has been a bipartisan screw up.
You have the independent Federal Reserve driving down interest rates to prevent an economic slowdown/recession which creates cheap money. You have Fannie and Freddie ( two supposedly private entities operating as a quasi-governmental agency) playing games and cooking their books to the point where they have insufficient reserves to cover the bad loans that Congress encouraged them to make to homebuyers who couldn’t afford the homes they were buying. Additionally, you have incentives in place to encourage the risky behavior outlined above and you create a perfect storm.
Neither Political Party has clean hands in all of this so,I repeat that it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
3. DingDong | September 15th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
History Lesson:
The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 was meant to avoid some this. But it was repealed, drum roll please…….by Clinton in 1999
4. Pat Cunningham | September 15th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
DingDong: History Lesson: The legislation that repealed the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 was called the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Gramm, of course, is Phil Gramm, John McCain’s economics guru. Gramm is the guy who says people who are feeling the economic pinch these days are just “whiners.”
Sorry, DingDong, but you flunked your history test.
5. Pat Cunningham | September 15th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
By the way, DingDong, in cased you missed my belated reply to your comment on a previous post in which you brought up that nonsense concerning Obama and his “57 states” remark, here it is:
You’re about three months behind the curve on the “57 states” crap. It was a slip of the tongue as Obama was counting up the states and territories that held Democratic primaries and caucuses. Actually, the real number was 56. Even this guy, who says he’s no fan of Obama, understood the situation:
http://michael.coxfam.org/index.php/2008/05/25/barack-obamas-57-states/
Do you really think that an honors graduate of Harvard Law School doesn’t realize there are only 50 states? Are you that obtuse? I could understand if you looked askance at the intelligence of guy who finished near the bottom of his class at Annapolis, but really….
Besides, the Annapolis graduate (barely) doesn’t even know how many freaking homes he owns. How weird is that?
6. DingDong | September 15th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Sorry Pat, doesn’t matter, it had bi-partisan support. Playing by Democrats rules, whoever the President is who signs it, gets credit.
7. Pat Cunningham | September 15th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
DingDong: Phil Gramm wrote the damn bill. Don’t try to weasel away from that fact. In the Senate, where the Republicans enjoyed majority control at the time, the vote was 54-44. One Democrat voted for the bill, and the rest voted against it. NO REPUBLICANS VOTED AGAINST REPEALING THE GLASS-STEAGALL ACT. In the House, 5 republicans voted against Gramm’s bill, and 51 Democrats voted against it.
Clinton’s signature on the bill, in retrospect, is unforgivable.
But Bill Clinton is not Obama’s economics guru. Phil Gramm, on the other hand, is very tight with McCain.
8. Mike Carroll | September 15th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I will take the bottom 10% of the graduates of any of our service academies over the top 10% of any of our Ivies Pat. I’ve met and worked with both and I know where the greater value is.
9. Pat Cunningham | September 15th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Mike: I ain’t got one of them college degrees, but I’m smarter than the whole bunches of them, Ivy or military or whatever. So there.
10. DingDong | September 15th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Pat, take a deep breath. All, I am saying is that there is enough blame to go around. After the Senate and the House passed the act , a conference report was agreed to and it was passed by the with 90 votes in the Senate. Democrats just wanted their piece of the pie. I would call that bi-partisan.
11. DingDong | September 15th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Just noticed your comment Mike. I agree with you 100%. McCain was known as a maverick back then, this what attributed to his low ranking.
12. Mike Carroll | September 15th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Yeah Patrick, I’ve never been quite able to square that lack of a degree with your writing, as misinformed as it often is. I suspect there is an interesting story there.
DingDong-thanks for the comment. I have noticed in a 35 year business career that academic success is not necessarily a sign of intelligence.
13. Peter Gunn | September 15th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Ding Dong Sez ….
“Clinton Did It !”
WoW, What a concept, You Right-Wing-Nuts just might be ON to something here.
You should contact the McCain Campaign ASAP and share this winning strategy with them.
Ya Know, Sometimes genius comes from the most unexpected places
14. Craig Knauss | September 15th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
“…academic success is not necessarily a sign of intelligence.” Someone finally said something that makes sense. I’ve known a few people who cheated their way through school. On the other hand, academic failure seldom translates to success in life unless the individual can make a complete turnaround outside of school. I’d trust the successful person before I’d trust the incompetent one.
15. Milton Waddams | September 16th, 2008 at 8:59 am
“On the other hand, academic failure seldom translates to success in life unless the individual can make a complete turnaround outside of school.”
Or unless you are a Blueblood named Bush or McCain.
16. Craig Knauss | September 16th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Update: Today Mr. “Sound Economy” announced the economy is in trouble. Only two days ago it wasd in great shape. Next he’ll tell us the world is no longer flat. Stay tuned.
17. Michael Cox | October 8th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Let’s just all agree that both of the Republicratic candiates are horrible. Chuck Baldwin for President! www.Baldwin08.com
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