In the interest of fair and balanced reporting - a concept unbeknownst to most of the blogsphere-here's an interesting column by National Review editor Jonah Goldberg that blames Congress for enabling some of these recent mortgage-related blow-ups. With many Republicans, it's hard to separate lies/pure spin from the truth, but I've found Goldberg to be a pretty good source over the past year or so that his stuff has appeared in the Erie paper. I'm posting this link mainly in response to some of the Kunstler stuff that really takes banking execs to task over the current government bailouts.
Goldberg pretty much says that Congress encouraged/directed banks to write these high risk loans and then encouraged/directed Fannie Mae and Freddie/Mac to buy them, and then changed the rules of the game, causing the whole thing to come crashing down. It's an interesting alternative viewpoint that may hold some water. Check it out if you get a chance.
Cheers.
Ralph
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I'll take it even further: Blame the financial crisis on the will of American people.
WE say it's okay for individuals to earn as much money as possible within the capitalist marketplace.
WE want easy credit for homes, cars, boats, and other consumer goods.
WE want the stock market to grow annually, eternally...with no expectation that the market can or should ever contract.
WE say that unbridled consolidation of corporate power is okay, which leads directly to the "too big to fail" mantra.
WE say that government regulation is always bad; therefore, the free markets should sort it out.
However, when the dubious side of the free market is exposed, WE say it's okay for the government to bail it out.
Now, I'm not saying that any of this is right or wrong. That's just the way it is.
So, while it's easy to scapegoat politicians and Wall Street "fat cats," the real problem lies with the behavior of the American people.
WE wanted deregulation; we got it.
WE wanted laissez-faire; we got it.
WE want abundant credit; we got it.
Now we have to live with it.
DDDDDDDDD
Oh yes, one more thing...
While I do agree that bias is abundant in the blogosphere--and I also agree that I've had my share of biased rants on this blog---I also believe that Ralph's Place features quite a bit of even-handed reporting.
I've visited a lot of blogs, and most of them consist of a single person venting about some topic.
That's fair. That's what blogs are for.
However, I've rarely seen blogs written by two trained journalists.
I think we also do a very good job at balancing one another, so when one of us begins traveling too far down the road of bias, the other one is there to question and prod.
That's something you don't find too often on other blogs.
My two cents...
DDDDDDDD
Good call on the bias-yin-yang thing.
Your comment about the will of the American people is interesting, because it's very much in line with what I wrote to Soup earlier today, who asked me my thoughts on this bailout thing.
Here's what I wrote:
"This bailout thing is just typical of our whole (I had originally typed in “hole” which may be more appropriate) credit-driven economy. It’s certainly a government “by the people” and if the people are going to throw credit around carelessly, why shouldn’t the government too?"
Ralph
Exactly.
DDDDDDDDDDDD
Post a Comment