Posted on 03/05/2009 10:54:52 AM PST by mojito
The French writer François Mauriac once said during the cold war that he loved Germany so much, he was glad there were two of them. After what an undivided Germany had done to France in World War II and before, that was understandable.
To paraphrase Mauriac, I love France, but I don’t want there to be two of them, least of all if one is in the United States.
Don’t get me wrong, I think President Obama’s counter-revolution goes in the right direction. In fact, it’s less a question of right and wrong with his budget than of necessity. After the excesses of Reagan-inspired deregulation and the disaster that unfettered markets have delivered, the pendulum had to swing.
Still, the $3.6 trillion Obama budget made me a little queasy. There is a touch of France in its “étatisme” — the state as all-embracing solution rather than problem — and there’s more than a touch of France in the bash-the-rich righteousness with which the new president cast his plans as “a threat to the status quo in Washington.”
Of course, the budget proposal represents a maximalist position that Congress will claw back. Obama knows that. Still there was something breathtaking about the scope of the president’s targets and ambitions. For everyone from the oil and gas industry to drug companies, the message was clear: Off with their heads!
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Do you mean that we've elected a real communist this time?
“Do you mean that we’ve elected a real communist this time?”
Yes, We Have.
He is not a natural born U.S. Citizen.
But he is a Natural Born Commie, born & bred.
The Lying Kenyan Commie!
The real problem was government subsidies of housing, a GOP president who didn't give a crap about investment, technology, or economics, and central banks around the world who have made economic growth the enemy for decades. If anything there was too much regulation, such as Sarbanes-Oxley.
Sarbanes-Oxley needs to be gutted. Enuf is enuf.
“After the excesses of Reagan-inspired deregulation and the disaster that unfettered markets have delivered, the pendulum had to swing.”
Excuse me, Reagan did not “deregulate” the financial markets by dumping Glass Steagall nor did he make the libertarian clown Alan Greenspan “wink” at illegal insurance contracts named “credit default obigations”. That was the Democrats in the pocket of finance.
I have to credit Obama with this: his team deftly moved the “nationalization” name-game to its advantage. So-called “conservative” radio dopes panicked that the government shutting down dangerous banks was “nationalization.” Obama replied with, yes, that is “nationalization” and we would not want to do that! Therefore lets keep up the shareholder and executive bailouts of Citi and AIG!
Sometime Occam’s correct.
Imagine....
Back to 20% down on ALL residential purchases, perhaps some flexibility of bridge loans of 2-3% or so.
Impose GlassSteagall back. Period. As it was.
And a campaign suspension may even have meant something....
“And a campaign suspension may even have meant something....”
McCain had a great opportunity to distinguish himself, but did not.
Although big finance is traditionally a paymaster of the Democrat party, there are Republican exceptions. McCain was the Republican of the Keating 5.
“1) European banks were more heavily regulated than our own”
But not on derivatives,
“and 2) Many European banks are in far worse shape than our own.”
Because they believed in derivatives and CDOs even more than American banks.
And McCain was found innocent of wrong doing unlike ALL the Dems.
Glenn got a slap on the wrist.
So, they had a free-for-all on derivatives and CDOs?
Yes. Literally.
*** FRENCH POLITICS AND CULTURE PING LIST *** FREEPMAIL ME IF YOU WANT TO JOIN ***
The France to which the author, and presumably bHo himself dreams of, is the pre-Sarko France. President Nicolas Sarkozy is not a Socialist, but an anti-Leftist os all kinds, pro-capitalist, pro-American, pro-Israel, lover of liberty and freedom. He is trying to reinstate it in France.
Many US Conservatives would switch out Obama for Sarko in a heartbeat.
Absolutely. Thanks, Shermy.
Don't get me wrong, I think President Obama's counter-revolution goes in the right direction. In fact, it's less a question of right and wrong with his budget than of necessity. After the excesses of Reagan-inspired deregulation and the disaster that unfettered markets have delivered, the pendulum had to swing. Still, the $3.6 trillion Obama budget made me a little queasy... there was something breathtaking about the scope of the president's targets and ambitions. For everyone from the oil and gas industry to drug companies, the message was clear: Off with their heads!
I agree, Civ,
Total imbecile, drinking the Obama Kool-Aid by the gallon.
Time to look in the mirror and stop blaming George Bush.
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