I'm increasingly coming to that realization norraad.
In theory, since both houses of Congress are in the hands of the Democrat majority, one would think that this bail-out package could pass without Republican votes. But the Dems are scared to death to do that. They NEED Republican cover; i.e., Pubbie votes to make this pig in a poke look "bi-partisan."
I hope that no Republican in Congress or the Senate will fall into this trap. One hears of all the yelling and screaming on Capitol Hill today. I imagine the reason for that is Pubbie Congress members are reminding the Dems that this "tar baby" is of their own exclusive manufacture, at the behest of the Congressional Black Caucus and their social-engineering enablers.
The Community Development Act (vintage Carter) is the Dem chicken that has finally come home to roost. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are merely "slush funds" for carrying out their social-engineering designs, and the thoroughly corrupt ACORN has been their enabler.
Further, the Dems are probably apoplectic about the prospect that the public (read: voters) will find out their presidential candidate is up to his armpits in this mess; for he is a "community organizer" with deep connections with ACORN.
So they've been trying to hang all this mess on the Bush Administration and the putative Republican mania to deregulate. Obama did this as late as last night, in the debate. This is a total fantasy! Then they claim that the "regulators" were asleep at the switch. But there was regulation of Fannie and Freddie, plus supposed congressional oversight of the regulators; the regulations were just ignored — which folks like Raines and Gorelick and Johnson probably thought they could safely do, because the Dems in Congress would give them political cover. Meanwhile, they looted the joint.
The inconvenient truth is that Republicans in both the Congress and the Senate have been making dire warnings (e.g., McCain, Shays, et al.) for years now about the impending implosion of those institutions. These warnings were poo-pooed by such as Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Maxine Waters, and the CBC.
Meanwhile, you have ACORN out there threatening to sue mortgage originators for "redlining"; i.e., applying sound fiduciary standards in the qualification of credit-worthy applicants. Much earlier, the Reno Justice Department had done likewise. The whole point was to put lower-income and minority people (including illegal aliens!) into homes they could not possibly afford.
Now if you're a mortgage originator who is threatened with being sued for not pushing loans on unqualified applicants; and you know that you are only required to hold the mortgage instrument for 45 days before you can palm it off on somebody else (usually Fannie and Freddie, who can further resell packages of such stinky loans to investors as mortgage-backed securities with implicit taxpayer guarantees behind them); then you don't care anyway whether the applicant has the ability to repay his obligation, because that's somebody else's problem (the person or institution that bought the mortgage backed security). The bad loans were off the books of the mortgage originator just as soon as the stipulated holding period expired; the sale proceeds were then in his hands; and so he's then flush with cash to repeat this maneuver, over and over again....
Thus was a house of cards constructed. Now that it's finally come crashing down — taking the housing market, the banks, and Wall Street along with it — we taxpayers are being presented with the bill for cleaning up the mess, which was not of our own making in the first place.
So much for the "socialization of risk": Let the whole people pay for the losses and evil deeds of a relatively few greedy miscreants.... Yeah, that sounds like a really good idea!
We'd continue to receive "bills" like this forevermore, unless the CORRUPTION IN CONGRESS ends, and the persons responsible for it are publicly exposed, tried, and punished.
All things considered, I think the best thing Congress can do right now is: Do nothing at all. Let the system blow up. And then people are going to start asking "Why, HOW did this happen?" And then the TRUTHFUL HISTORY of what led to this shocking debacle must be made public.
Hang the blame on who deserves it. If we don't do that, then the same kind of "stuff" is going to continue to happen forever, and the demands on the taxpayer would become infinite.
It looks to me, all things considered, that to pass this bailout would represent the final, complete socialization of America, which would instantly become a reality — in a silent, bloodless coup.
The public needs to understand that the root cause of this financial meltdown was the unconstitutional social engineering desires of a relatively small group of extreme Left progressives in Congress. They should be impeached for derilection of duty (i.e., breach of their oath of office), or at least NEVER returned to office.
As for Raines and Gorelick and Johnson, they should be prosecuted for gross fraud and malfeasance. I mean, if Ken Lay of Enron is in jail for doing just the same things as they did, then I think it's only just and fair that they should join him.
My two cents worth, FWIW.
Thanks so much for writing, norraad!
WHat will republicans do when their whole party becomes irrelvant?.. Probably nothing.. I say nothing but am hopeing for much more.. On the otherhand maybe most republicans don’t really care about America, they care about their lifestyles.. At least democrats CARE about destroying American conservatism.. They care about “something”.. If republicans as a party (generally) do nothing they will deserve their fate.. -—>> laughter..
Better yet, collect what you can off the 'suckas', foreclose, and flip the house--after all, the market is going ballistic and you get to make money all the way.
If things look dicey, dump the paper, otherwise, double-dip (payments and the price increase).
So much greed, so little time.
I have a very strong feeling, though, that the democrat extortionists will win out. The republicans on the Hill have an eighteen-year record of compromising with the left, to the point where many of them have actually adopted portions of the left's ideology, seemingly through something akin to osmosis. I guess when you hang around filth long enough, some of that filth begins to rub off indelibly.
I agree, also, that the democrats are probably 'apoplectic' (your word, and a perfect one!) in the fear that more voters will discover the ACORN connection. I don't know that their fear is justified, though. I have heard one or two snippets about ACORN on FoxNews -- the latest during an interview that one of their reporters was doing with John Fund. Oddly, as soon as he mentioned ACORN, the interviewer abruptly announced that she was out of time.
I've also heard it mentioned by Sean Hannity. So Fox is aware of ACORN/crisis/Obama connection. Why isn't the 'fair and balanced' network assigning it headline news status? It seems to me that this connection, especially in light of the democrats' intent to ACORN through their bailout proposal, should be shouted from the rooftops. And if not from the rooftops, then at least reported more frequently than the rest of the fluff that somehow infiltrates its way into 'headline news' status. I strongly suspect that even the most ill-informed voter would find the ACORN connection highly interesting, and worth knowing, pre-November 4th. Whether the mainstream media, Fox included, agree remains to be seen. I’m betting not.
Before the mortgage crisis hit the fan, ACORN was extorting money from banks and mortgage companies. Now they are extorting money from you and me – and using our own elected representatives as the middle man ('hit man' might be a better term).
Your analysis of the cavalier manner in which the special interests (ACORN in particular), and Fannie and Freddie, created and then sold misrepresented paper is spot on.
I believe I’m going to cross stitch the following (in duplicate), and hang it in my den here at home, and in my office:
We'd continue to receive "bills" like this forevermore, unless the CORRUPTION IN CONGRESS ends, and the persons responsible for it are publicly exposed, tried, and punished.
All things considered, I think the best thing Congress can do right now is: Do nothing at all. Let the system blow up. And then people are going to start asking "Why, HOW did this happen?" And then the TRUTHFUL HISTORY of what led to this shocking debacle must be made public ... It looks to me, all things considered, that to pass this bailout would represent the final, complete socialization of America, which would instantly become a reality — in a silent, bloodless coup.
Again, I am in complete agreement (otherwise I wouldn’t be considering going to the trouble of cross stitching) :). If there must be a (n economic) flood, of Biblical proportions, the excruciatingly painful cleansing that would result might just prove to be the painful lesson that sets America back in search of the Founders’ vision. Perhaps, rather than condoning a bailout, instead we need to, somewhat passively, simply watch the corruptors finally receive the horrendous comeuppance that they deserve. That we must suffer along with them is terribly unfair and unfortunate. But sometimes a deep and essential cleansing demands such suffering, on the part of the innocent as well.
A friend wrote to me this week, 'I find myself sitting in a high-stakes Texas hold-em game with a lot of chips in the pot that I cannot remember betting.'
Funny, isn't it? None of us remembers even sitting down at the table.
A final 'aside' ... While driving in the car today, my husband and I were talking about the election, and, in specific, the general apathy and ignorance of the electorate. Which is why I cringe every time I see a 'Get out the vote!' drive – especially the kind aired on MTV and the like, in which celebs use all manner of fluff reasoning to bring voters to the polls.
If one must be cajoled into voting, one shouldn't be voting in the first place.
After a few minutes' discussion, my husband and I decided that, in a perfect world, voters would have to walk ten miles, uphill both ways, in the dead of winter, during a blinding snowstorm, with snipers shooting at them from behind the bushes – and should have to pass a civics and current events test – in order to vote. That way, only those who are serious about voting, and willing to sacrifice in order to do so, would cast a ballot.
We acknowledged that our 'perfect franchise rules' were created tongue-in-cheek, but I suspect that each of us, in some secret corner of our mind, secretly yearns for them to bet instituted. :)
Thank you so much for your always insightful comments, betty.
~ joanie
Indeed, the only reason for the Democrats not voting now must be their desire to have Republican's necks on the chopping block along with their own.
The rumor is that the ACORN provision is off the table. We'll see...
INDEED, INDEED.
Someone was pointing out on C2C the other night that a fraction of the billions mentioned
would PAY OFF ALL the defaulting mortgages.
It’s clearly not about the mortgages . . .
It’s about . . . massively increasing !!!CONTROL!!! AND trashing the US Dollar; trashing the USA and rendering its people neutered and diminished in any power or influence to hinder the rise of the global government mentioned in Scripture for our era wherein Israel became a nation again in a day as Biblically predicted.
Your perceptive, discerning wisdom is greatly needed hereon at this time.
Thanks.
I agree. Let the markets work themselves out.