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Free Republic Poll - Who do you blame most significantly for the downfall in the economy?

Posted on 01/31/2009 9:56:45 PM PST by WheresMyBailout

I'll list some names but it is by no means exclusive. It would be interesting if you could post a brief rationale by your post. The option of nobody also exists and the option of a class of people exists:

Fed Chiefs:

Alan Greenspan
Ben Bernanke
Paul Volcker

Speakers of the House:

Newt Gingrich
Denny Hastert
Nancy Pelosi

Senate Banking Committee Chairmen:

Al D'Amato
Phil Gramm
Paul Sarbanes
Richard Shelby
Chris Dodd

House Financial Services Committee Chairmen:

Jim Leach
Mike Oxley
Barney Frank

Presidents:

Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
George H. W. Bush
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Barack Obama

Treasury Secretaries:

Robert Rubin
Lawrence Summers
Paul O'Neill
John Snow
Henry Paulson
Tim Geithner

Defense Secretaries:

William Perry
William Cohen
Donald Rumsfeld
Robert Gates

Failed Presidential Candidates:

Bob Dole
Al Gore
John Kerry
John McCain

Others:

Tom Bliley
Judd Gregg
Ken Lay (Enron)
Jeffrey Skilling (Enron)
Bernard Madoff
Dick Fuld (Lehman)
Angelo Mozilo (Countrywide)
Jon Corzine (former CEO of Goldman, along with Rubin and Paulson)
Franklin Raines (Fannie Mae)
Daniel Mudd (Fannie Mae)
Martin Sullivan (AIG)
Robert Willumstad (AIG)
Maurice Greenberg (AIG)

Classes of People:

Nobody
OPEC
A particular country
A particular religious group
A particular ethnic group
A particular profession


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: bailout; blame; corruptdems; economy; frpoll; poll; socialism; stimulus; thebuckstopshere
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1 posted on 01/31/2009 9:56:46 PM PST by WheresMyBailout
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To: WheresMyBailout

FDR. He convinced Americans that there IS such a thing as a free ride.


2 posted on 01/31/2009 9:59:21 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (I wish it was 20 January 2013. I've had enough of this crap already.)
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To: WheresMyBailout

Franklin Raines (Fannie Mae). He is a genuine thief.


3 posted on 01/31/2009 9:59:58 PM PST by Falconspeed ("Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others." Robert Louis Stevenson)
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To: WheresMyBailout
DEMOCRATS! ALL OF THEM!

NEW YORK TIMES

"New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae"

By STEPHEN LABATON
Published: September 11, 2003

The Bush administration today recommended the most 
significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance 
industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago. 

Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing 
today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury 
Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie 
Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two 
largest players in the mortgage lending industry. 
...
...
Among the groups denouncing 
the proposal today were the National Association of Home 
Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter 
regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their 
commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing. 

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are 
not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said 
Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking 
Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more 
people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there 
is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of 
affordable housing.'' 

Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, 
agreed. 

4 posted on 01/31/2009 10:00:48 PM PST by avacado
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To: WheresMyBailout

William Jefferson Blythe III, among others. The real legacy of the Clinton economy is what we are seeing in 2009, not the phony 22 million jobs.


5 posted on 01/31/2009 10:01:25 PM PST by libh8er
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To: WheresMyBailout

FDR and Lyndon Johnson.

And every RINO afterwards that didn’t recognize the threat. Nixon is a great example of RINOism at it’s worst. Hell, he’s responsible for starting many of the policies that we blame on Jimmy Carter. Not that Carter wasn’t to blame for a huge lot of problems, but Nixon was a mess and a half too.


6 posted on 01/31/2009 10:01:31 PM PST by perfect_rovian_storm
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To: WheresMyBailout

Frank, Dodd, Raines, Carter, Clinton, and the congressional black caucus and their enablers. ....for starters.


7 posted on 01/31/2009 10:03:34 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: WheresMyBailout

Any and all Democrats.


8 posted on 01/31/2009 10:06:16 PM PST by Swede Girl
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To: WheresMyBailout

I blame whoever cooked up the October Surprise. Probably Soros. It wasn’t a coincidence that all hell broke loose right before the election.


9 posted on 01/31/2009 10:08:21 PM PST by beckysueb (Palin/Jindahl in 2012)
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To: WheresMyBailout

All members of congress, the senate, president bush, and president clinton.

Some more than others. I will say that Ron Paul at least did warn about the economy, but he’s about the only politician that did.

I don’t know why the republicans weren’t telling us what could happen. I don’t know if they were trying and we (the American people) weren’t listening.

I think the dems have to get more blame for this mess, but I feel like the republicans have been too quiet about the whole thing.


10 posted on 01/31/2009 10:09:37 PM PST by luckystarmom
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To: WheresMyBailout
1. Alan Greenspan for keeping interest rates below a reasonable rate for too long.

2. Whatever bankers/government regulators/Fannie Mae execs who decided that 0% down, variable rate, interest only loans to people with insufficient incomes would be a good idea. That caused more people than the market could bear to buy houses causing the housing bubble. Once rates went up the whole house of cards came tumbling down.

11 posted on 01/31/2009 10:10:44 PM PST by KarlInOhio (On 9/11 Israel mourned with us while the Palestinians danced in the streets. Who should we support?)
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To: WheresMyBailout

Where’s Soros 8-?

He’s been pumping money around like water the last decade or more to many of those same names listed above.

There can be no doubt that legislatively the liberal socialist democrat movement and its elected cohorts should bear the brunt of the blame (is it a hate crime for blaming the dems yet?). Their handiwork goes back many decades, involves multiple Presidents, and includes any number of cumbersome, inefficient and out and out risky schemes masquerading as a ‘New Deal’ and a Good Deal More of late .. for less entitlement programs that are in turn milked for all they are worth come voting time.


12 posted on 01/31/2009 10:10:51 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed.)
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To: WheresMyBailout

A big mirror is needed, we let it happen. Hard to blame dems, remember the parable of the scorpion and the toad? Of course libs acted like libs, it is there nature. In their world the crash is a victory.


13 posted on 01/31/2009 10:10:52 PM PST by mnehring
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To: WheresMyBailout
B. Hussein 0bama, The Congressional Black Caucus, Acorn and Barney Franks. They ran interference for the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac scum who caused this collapse with bad housing loans to people who should never have been allowed to buy a home.

;-/

14 posted on 01/31/2009 10:10:52 PM PST by Gargantua ("...but Daddy... I don't want to go to Madrassas...)
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To: WheresMyBailout

Carter, Clinton, Andrew Cuomo, Janet Reno, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, and the liberal Democrat upper management of Freddie and Fannie.


15 posted on 01/31/2009 10:12:40 PM PST by aruanan
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To: Gargantua

Amen! and Ditto.


16 posted on 01/31/2009 10:13:59 PM PST by river rat (Semper Fi - You may turn the other cheek, but I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: NormsRevenge; All

It is the Leftist third of the American people and those who make no effort to understand anything serious. The third which is knowledgable and concerned about the nation is overwhelmed by the professional spreaders of ignorance so important in deluding the 2/3s most of the time.


17 posted on 01/31/2009 10:14:27 PM PST by arrogantsob
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To: beckysueb

I agree with you. This “worst economic crisis since the Great Depression” WAS NOT a coincidence. It was planned and executed. I smell Soros all over it.


18 posted on 01/31/2009 10:15:17 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (I wish it was 20 January 2013. I've had enough of this crap already.)
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To: WheresMyBailout
One of the biggest contributing factors was/is a change in US cultural values. Belief in, respect for, and willingness to do hard work; practicing fiscal responsibility; admiration of success instead of resentment and envy; willingness to delay gratification at present to secure a better future; recognition of and acceptance that the person most responsible for what you attain in your life is yourself... The loss of these and other fundamental cultural values have contributed greatly to our current crisis. We have replaced personal industriousness with a pervasive sense of entitlement.

The media, purveyors of pop culture, and career politicians have contributed to this erosion of cultural values, and to the growing sense of entitlement.

19 posted on 01/31/2009 10:15:21 PM PST by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: WheresMyBailout

Islam, Saudi Arabia, OBL supporters.


20 posted on 01/31/2009 10:16:27 PM PST by Eye of Unk (How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words! SA)
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