Category — Financial Crisis

Remember Barney Frank?  He said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were solid right before they collapsed.  He’s back with a new scheme to prop up the municipal bond markets that amongst other things would:

• Create a liquidity facility through the Federal Reserve to purchase municipal bonds, much like what the Federal Reserve does with mortgage-backed and federal government bonds.
• Form a temporary federal government program to reinsure municipal bond insurers…
• Provide additional regulation for financial advisors to municipalities….

What could possibly go wrong?  It’s not like California is on the verge of bankruptcy or anything.  How thoughtful of Representative Frank to put the other 49 states on the hook for the financial train wreck taking place in CA.  He’s just a swell guy helping us perform our civic duty:

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is leading the effort and has long touted his investments in municipal bonds that finance public projects as a civic duty.

Civic duty or conflict of interest?  I’m the sure the Heinz-Kerrys appreciate this bailout for ultra rich liberals who use municipals to avoid taxes instead of cheating on them like Turbo Tax Tim Geithner.

It’s amazing how this administration learns nothing.  In it’s latest attempt to subvert the free markets, it’s looking for more power to seize non-bank financial firms. 

Amongst the various options it’s proposal would give them to prop up failing firms are:

Besides seizing a company outright, the document states, the Treasury Secretary could use a range of tools to prevent its collapse, such as guaranteeing losses, buying assets or taking a partial ownership stake. Such authority also would allow the government to break contracts, such as the agreements to pay $165 million in bonuses to employees of AIG’s most troubled unit.

It’s the exact same plan that got us into this mess.  Congress wanted everyone to own a home because it’s the “American dream”.  So, through Fannie and Freddie, it provided guarentees and money to grease the skids for subprime lending.  Wall Street, recognizing a money making opportunity when it saw it, was more than happy to make rediculous loans with the Fed’s quasi-guarentees.  And when the whole thing blew up, the Feds started taking ownership interest in the failed firms and pushing cash out the door in the form of TARPS, TALFS, and AIG “investments”.

The problem with these plans is the end game–as in there is none.  When do you pull the plug on government subsidies?  And, does the whole thing crash anyway once that backstop goes away?  If the government had not provided the guarentees and initial financing for the Mortgage Backed Security bubble, the banks would have enforced reasonable lending standards to begin with.

It’s accountability and the potential for failure that makes the free market work and hedges against systemic risks.  If the banks knew they would have to eat their own dog food, instead of passing the buck to the taxpayer, they wouldn’t be in the rotten shape they are now.  The real way to protect us against systemic risk is to let those firms fail, not seize them and put them on lifesupport at taxpayer expense.

Here is another video that shows how democrat policies, including the actions of Barack Obama, led us to the current financial crisis. Ed Morrissey breaks it down here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivmL-lXNy64

Forward it along to all of your friends. Previous videos are here, here, and here.

Michael Ramirez at Investors.com:

You are if you have any questions regarding Barack Obama’s connection to Franklin Raines, the former CEO of Fannie Mae!

At least that is what Senate Majority leader Harry Reid says. Here is the audio.

It has become obvious that any attempt to look at Obama’s record or connections will now be called racist. I hope they keep doing it because they run the risk of alienating independent white voters, many of whom may be telling pollsters they support Obama just to avoid being called a racist.

As the market continues to plummet and bad polling numbers continue to roll in it is easy to declare that all is lost and we should just give up.  Do not give in to that temptation. As The Anchoress notes, that is exactly what the democrats and their accomplices in the media want you to do.

I’m getting a sense that some people are freaking out, out there, that it’s three weeks to election and so it’s time to hyperventilate.

Of course that’s not true. Three weeks is still a huge chunk of time in an election, and things turn on a dime. The whole point of the big “landslide” story is the press helping Obama out some more; it is meant to make you despair and not go vote. It’s a game. While they’re saying “landslide,” and Charlie Gibson is acting like he’s in heat, Obama’s lost another point at Rasmussen.

The truth is, he’s not closing the deal, he can’t close the deal unless ACORN goes out there and registers 105% of voters, slashes tires and does all the stuff they have done (with little-to-no press coverage) with increasing vigor in each election.

They know that if they can depress turnout on election day, not only will Obama win, he will also have large majorities in both houses of Congress causing the country to take a sharp left turn. So whatever you do, don’t let the media determine the winner. Forget the polls and get out and vote and let the chips fall where they may!

As for the polls, take them with a grain of salt. Especially the state polls.

Even this brief examination reveals that the state opinion polls were often wrong, and often to a materially significant degree. In 2004, both Bush and Kerry’s support were commonly under-estimated, but in several groups’ work, all of Bush’s support was underestimated and Kerry’s support was much more likely to be over-estimated. The margin was also often wrong, and to a significant degree. State polls, therefore, are not proven to be a valid predictor of election results.

Update: Click here for another look at polling and Obama’s inability to close the deal.

Here are a couple more videos that need to be circulated around the web. Please email them to all of your friends and family. If they are relying on the mainstream media for their news, they will never be able to make an informed decision on election day.

First up is a new web ad put together by someone on YouTube. The McCain campaign or the GOP should hire him. (HT: RedState)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9W_6U7GRrI

The next video comes from out of left field (literally). It features ultra liberal Alec Baldwin blaming democrats. If a dimwit like Alec Baldwin can admit this, there may be hope yet for the rest of America. You only need to watch the first few minutes. (HT: Newsbusters)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yop7ks9N3bk

Previously posted videos can be seen here and here.

Earlier this week, AP told us it is racist to question a black presidential candidate’s friendship with a domestic terrorist who is white.

Now Barney Frank says it is racist to question him about his role in the Global Financial Crisis that he helped create.

Is it any wonder that people lie to pollsters when a black candidate is involved?

Update: Wow, CNN actually ran a mostly unbiased report about Obama and Bill Ayers. They must be racists too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvROBLortBQ

I hope Anderson Cooper doesn’t plan on going to any cocktail parties soon.