Boehner Calls Opponents To TARP "Knuckledraggers"

I do tend to cut elected Republicans some slack since they are subjected to such vile hate and harassment, threats and vandalism by the intolerant Left. Would you want to run for office knowing the liberals would send a convicted sex offender to stand at your property line taking pictures of your children?

You mean conservatives are bad, Boehner just exaggerated?

You mean conservatives are bad, Boehner just exaggerated?

I mean Boehner's knuckledragger comment refers to - what was it Mitt Romney called himself? - SEVERE conservatives. Whatever that means.

Bet you could get a loan easier today though.

Indeed. Canada's banks made out better than America's, despite the fact that Canada's answer to Glass-Steagall was repealed in 1988. But...

One of the standard complaints in Canada's social-democratic Left revolves around "stingy banks." That's one of the reasons why the old-style soc-dems want to nationalize them.

And they're not the only ones, either. Canada's small-business lobby group, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, has been alleging for years that Canadian banks discriminate against small business when it comes to loans.

These two little vignettes from my own country should tip everyone off about what kind of complaints will emerge from America should American banks shy away from risky loan categories.

Like high-risk borrowers who'll yell "discrimination" if they don't get a loan from a "predatory lender."

Here's a secret for you - not real inside info, but a plausible guess: businesses stuck in a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't situation actually want to be regulated more tightly. It's the perfect way to say "no" without offending the other party.

"We'd love to sign, but regulations prevent us...Yeah, I know, those damned regulators like to control everything..."

I'd get flayed on a libertarian forum for saying this, but FR isn't - so here goes: Real deregulation will likely open up a real can of worms, because self-regulation means saying "no" on your own and taking the blame that goes with it. That means resigning oneself to losing business because hearing the "no" will offend some people, who'll badmouth in retaliation. Being tightly regulated means never having to say a real "no."

If you think the banks are hated now, it's a pale shadow of the hate they'll have to live with if they're dumped into a genuinely free-market environment. As Hayek said about inflation, it's a tiger by the tail.

bttt.... Boehner is a ‘practical conservative’, whatever that means....