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Congress Lies Low To Avoid Bailout Blame
IBD Editorials ^ | September 18, 2008 | Terry Jones

Posted on 09/18/2008 6:18:35 PM PDT by Kaslin

Congress says it likely will adjourn this month having done nothing on the most important issue in America right now: the financial meltdown from the subprime lending crisis.

Can Congress just walk away from a problem it helped create? Maybe, maybe not.

There's now some talk of a grand deal between the Treasury, the Fed and Congress for a "permanent" solution: creating a government agency to buy up all the bad subprime debt, just like the Resolution Trust Corp. did with bad real estate in the 1980s and 1990s.

Already, the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to keep the subprime crisis from crashing the world economy. The collapse of twin mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with the failures of Lehman Bros., Bear Stearns and insurer AIG, expose taxpayers to more than $1 trillion in liabilities.

Until now, Congress has been surprisingly passive. As Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid put it, "no one knows what to do" right now.

Funny, since it was a Democrat-led Congress that helped cause the problems in the first place.

When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently barked "no" at reporters for daring to ask if Democrats deserved any blame for the meltdown, you saw denial in action.

(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Extended News; Government
KEYWORDS: 110th; congress; cowards; economicpolicy; pelosi; reid
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Te rats just came back from a 5 week vacation and now they are going on another vacation? This will reverse their single digit approval rating.

Not

1 posted on 09/18/2008 6:18:35 PM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

They can run, but they can’t hide.


2 posted on 09/18/2008 6:19:32 PM PDT by yldstrk (My heros have always been cowboys--Reagan and Bush)
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To: yldstrk

I’m sure the fall out will be stunning. One or two incumbents might even come close to not being re-elected.


3 posted on 09/18/2008 6:21:07 PM PDT by Wolfie
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To: Kaslin

Those that run are surely suspected of being guilty.
Those who stay and “attempt” to correct the problem with confirm it.


4 posted on 09/18/2008 6:24:12 PM PDT by mabelkitty (Obama campaign activist illegally hacked Palin's email system for political reasons.)
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To: Kaslin

With the “media” ready to put the manchild in the White House, I really don’t think we should bailout any of these crooks. Let them all sink. Obammie and his pals, Raines and Johnson screwed it up, let them fix it.


5 posted on 09/18/2008 6:24:36 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (McCain/Palin '08. For change you won't have to "believe in." You'll be able to see it.)
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To: Kaslin
The Rats are deserting the Ship of State.

.. or the MSM employees are even less likely to ask questions if all are dispersed coast to coast and border to border.

6 posted on 09/18/2008 6:29:21 PM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: Wolfie
Congress Lies Low To Avoid Bailout Blame

And they seem to be doing so without any true MSM spin.

7 posted on 09/18/2008 6:30:36 PM PDT by doc1019 (Obama IS running against Palin)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

It’s absolutely amazing that we keep sending these clowns back to Washington year after year.

They create multiple agencies that in turn create multiple problems and the solution is to set up a new supreme agency to oversee all the others. This is absurd.

What in the heck is wrong with us?


8 posted on 09/18/2008 6:32:09 PM PDT by kempster
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To: kempster
As I understand ol’ Barney Frank had much to do with the
failure of Fannie and Freddie. He is after all the Financial Services Committee chairman.
9 posted on 09/18/2008 6:40:59 PM PDT by topfile
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To: kempster
What in the heck is wrong with us?

I don't believe you are one of the "us" Kempster, most FReepers don't keep reelecting do-nothings. But like you, I wonder how in the world so many can reelect such people, have they no shame?

10 posted on 09/18/2008 6:44:25 PM PDT by brushcop (We remember SSG Harrison Brown, PVT Andrew Simmons B CO 2/69 3ID KIA Iraq OIF IV)
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To: Kaslin

“There’s now some talk of a grand deal between the Treasury, the Fed and Congress”

They are making “deals” with money that exists no more than the profits in the bubble did. Where do they propose to get all this money? I know, from us, but I am referring to reality. Just add it to the trillions already owed?


11 posted on 09/18/2008 6:45:01 PM PDT by TalBlack
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To: kempster

If it makes you feel any better (and judging by how long ago the S&L debacle took place), we’ll be doing it all over again about 20 years from now.


12 posted on 09/18/2008 6:45:15 PM PDT by Wolfie
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To: Kaslin

FWIW, I believe the crisis is exaggerated. When the dotcom bubble burst, there were no assets. Many billions of dollars in stock value vanished overnight, leaving absolutely nothing behind.

In the mortgage crisis, there are assets behind the loans. Actual property that has some value now, and with a growing population that requires housing will have more value in the future.

However, in my line of work I constantly see a lot of this residual value disappearing. The banks and other entities holding the loans seem to make no effort to maintain the value of the property by physically maintaining it. Instead they turn off the power and by inaction encourage vandalism and theft.

I find their approach quite astonishing. Every city has property management companies who for at most a few hundred dollars a month will keep the property in top-notch condition. It appears the banks, to save perhaps $2000 to $4000 a year, are perfectly happy to allow a $500,000 property to deteriorate physically to the point where it suffers $50,000 or $100,000 loss in value over the same year.

Utterly bizarre.


13 posted on 09/18/2008 6:48:46 PM PDT by Sherman Logan (qui)
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To: Kaslin

McCain ought to make a great ad as Bloomberg avers: Dem leaders say that they in Congress cannot solve or have any idea how to solve the economic messes. Please Senator; nationalize this election as Newt did in ‘94 and put the blame on the Dems nationally thus helping the GOP keep House and Senate losses down to a minimum and winning the WH. I emailed him today to allow Sarah to campaign alone. Now, I think I will ask him to make hay with this Dem admission. I hope other Freepers will do the same.


14 posted on 09/18/2008 7:05:01 PM PDT by phillyfanatic
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To: Kaslin

McCain ought to make a great ad as Bloomberg avers: Dem leaders say that they in Congress cannot solve or have any idea how to solve the economic messes. Please Senator; nationalize this election as Newt did in ‘94 and put the blame on the Dems nationally thus helping the GOP keep House and Senate losses down to a minimum and winning the WH. I emailed him today to allow Sarah to campaign alone. Now, I think I will ask him to make hay with this Dem admission. I hope other Freepers will do the same.


15 posted on 09/18/2008 7:12:00 PM PDT by phillyfanatic
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To: topfile
Barney Frank and the entire Black Caucus are the main culprits!
16 posted on 09/18/2008 7:31:13 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: Kaslin
They are hoping that a crash will hand Obama the election, and they are probably right. This election is about who is the most socialist, and Obama wins that hands down. God help us and may the Republic rest in peace.
17 posted on 09/18/2008 7:39:25 PM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: Red_Devil 232
Barney Frank and the entire Black Caucus are the main culprits!

You know. How can McCain delicately relate this to voters without coming off as racist? Their stupity in encouraging these risky loans should not be go unrecognized.

18 posted on 09/18/2008 7:46:05 PM PDT by topfile
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Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

To: topfile

Paste this editorial on every wall, fence and lamppost.

Dems cannot be trusted to manage a market economy.


20 posted on 09/19/2008 1:13:22 PM PDT by Peelod
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