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Government Bailouts: A U.S. Tradition Dating to Hamilton
Wall Street Journal ^
| SEPTEMBER 20, 2008
| MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS
Posted on 10/04/2008 4:33:24 PM PDT by Toddsterpatriot
The bubble pops. Lenders freeze. Depositors lose faith. Panic spreads. And the government steps in because nobody else will.
Today it is Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke putting together the rescue package for a financial system rocked by falling home prices and a wave of defaults on subprime mortgages.
But a short walk through U.S. history demonstrates the point made by Alex J. Pollock of the American Enterprise Institute: "If you would like an empirical law of government behavior, it is that in a panic or threatened financial collapse, governments intervene -- every government, every party, every country, every time."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government
KEYWORDS: 110th; bailout; economy; foundingfathers
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To: Toddsterpatriot
freddie mac and fannie mae
21
posted on
10/04/2008 5:19:12 PM PDT
by
ari-freedom
(Betcha they're good. Why shouldn't they be? Their one mistake was giving up me!)
To: Toddsterpatriot
Maybe that's a more recent occurrence? The first documented business cycle happened in fourteenth century Venice. That panic and every one since can be traced directly to government meddling in the monetary system, usually by some form of credit expansion.
22
posted on
10/04/2008 5:19:43 PM PDT
by
SeeSharp
To: Toddsterpatriot
Bookmarked. A little history lesson from which we can all take a deep breath. Thanks for posting.
23
posted on
10/04/2008 5:20:17 PM PDT
by
groanup
(Does all of Wall Street get on the gov't pension plan now?)
To: ari-freedom
freddie mac and fannie maeFannie was created by the government, before Bush was even born. Freddie was created when Bush was 24.
Try again?
24
posted on
10/04/2008 5:23:27 PM PDT
by
Toddsterpatriot
(Let me apologize to begin with, let me apologize for what I'm about to say....)
To: ari-freedom
freddie mac and fannie mae Wrong. They were already government enterprises.
25
posted on
10/04/2008 5:23:49 PM PDT
by
groanup
(Does all of Wall Street get on the gov't pension plan now?)
To: Toddsterpatriot
Here it is: "The solution is to stimulate the manufacture of goods in USA and impose mega tariffs."
I literally got a chill.
26
posted on
10/04/2008 5:26:14 PM PDT
by
1rudeboy
To: Toddsterpatriot; Mase; expat_panama
Here is another thread I posted this morning that didn't get much attention. I thought both presentations were funny.
27
posted on
10/04/2008 5:30:15 PM PDT
by
1rudeboy
To: Toddsterpatriot
they were private-public hybrids and taken over Sep 7, 2008.
The point that you seem to be missing is that Hugo will now use the bailout as vindication of his belief in govt intervention. We’re going to see a worldwide push for even greater govt control.
28
posted on
10/04/2008 5:30:24 PM PDT
by
ari-freedom
(Betcha they're good. Why shouldn't they be? Their one mistake was giving up me!)
To: 1rudeboy
Higher prices, for the children!
29
posted on
10/04/2008 5:31:11 PM PDT
by
Toddsterpatriot
(Let me apologize to begin with, let me apologize for what I'm about to say....)
To: 1rudeboy
Those were funny. I think I saw the “serious” one posted a while back with no indication the poster understood it was satire.
30
posted on
10/04/2008 5:32:14 PM PDT
by
Toddsterpatriot
(Let me apologize to begin with, let me apologize for what I'm about to say....)
To: ari-freedom
The point that you seem to be missing is that Hugo will now use the bailout as vindication of his belief in govt intervention.The point you seem to be missing is that Hugo doesn't need any excuse to do what he does.
Were going to see a worldwide push for even greater govt control.
Starting here with Obama. Same as it ever was.
31
posted on
10/04/2008 5:34:12 PM PDT
by
Toddsterpatriot
(Let me apologize to begin with, let me apologize for what I'm about to say....)
To: Toddsterpatriot
Hugo doesn’t need an excuse but he will convince a lot of people. So will Obama. They won the debate because if it’s ok for the govt to prop up Wall Street, then certainly it is ok for it to prop up Main Street.
32
posted on
10/04/2008 5:37:35 PM PDT
by
ari-freedom
(Betcha they're good. Why shouldn't they be? Their one mistake was giving up me!)
To: ari-freedom
Hugo doesnt need an excuse but he will convince a lot of people.Who does he need to convince? LOL!
33
posted on
10/04/2008 5:38:45 PM PDT
by
Toddsterpatriot
(Let me apologize to begin with, let me apologize for what I'm about to say....)
To: groanup
Wrong. They were already government enterprises.1968 Charter Act The 1968 Charter Act split Fannie Mae into two parts: Ginnie Mae and a reconstituted Fannie Mae. Ginnie Mae would continue as a federal agency and be responsible for the then-existing special assistance programs, and Fannie Mae would be transformed into a "government-sponsored private corporation" responsible for the self-supporting secondary market operations. The reconstituted Fannie Mae was to be stockholder-owned and managed. Fannie Mae retired the last of its government stock on September 30, 1968, and transformation to a government-sponsored private corporation was completed in 1970.
34
posted on
10/04/2008 5:39:26 PM PDT
by
skeeter
To: Toddsterpatriot
venezuelans, the rest of Latin America....
35
posted on
10/04/2008 5:40:18 PM PDT
by
ari-freedom
(Betcha they're good. Why shouldn't they be? Their one mistake was giving up me!)
To: ari-freedom
venezuelans,Or they'll vote him out of office? LOL!
the rest of Latin America....
The lefties don't need convincing. The rest will ignore the blowhard whether they ever hear of Fannie Mae or not.
36
posted on
10/04/2008 5:42:33 PM PDT
by
Toddsterpatriot
(Let me apologize to begin with, let me apologize for what I'm about to say....)
To: Toddsterpatriot
There's a glaring omission in this article, since it fails to mention perhaps the most salient happening, namely that the Federal Reserved system FAILED to intervene properly during the Great Depression of the 1930's. Moreover, they allowed a massive contraction of the money suppy -- which is the reason we had a "Great" depression in the USA, while most other advanced economies had merely a "depression."
The story of this disastrous monetary contraction is told in excruiating detail by Milton Friedman in his landmark Monetary Histoy of the United States, a work that is widely acknowledged as Friedman's greatest.
37
posted on
10/04/2008 5:43:01 PM PDT
by
Hawthorn
To: groanup
... and Freddie Mac shares Fannie’s charter.
38
posted on
10/04/2008 5:43:56 PM PDT
by
skeeter
To: Toddsterpatriot
it’s not that the lefties need convincing. the problem is that they are energized.
39
posted on
10/04/2008 5:51:47 PM PDT
by
ari-freedom
(Betcha they're good. Why shouldn't they be? Their one mistake was giving up me!)
To: ari-freedom
If only we hadn’t done that, Chavez would already be out of office.
40
posted on
10/04/2008 5:53:02 PM PDT
by
Toddsterpatriot
(Let me apologize to begin with, let me apologize for what I'm about to say....)
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