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RASCAL MC CASKILL ADDRESSED THE FINANCIAL MELT DOWN

My friend of more than fifty-years, legendary disc jockey and BIG brain, Bill "Rascal" McCaskill sent me an interesting email this morning. It was a retort that someone had written that took the media to task for blaming the financial melt down on President George W. Bush and the Republican administration.

The bottom line is that the email factually pointed to the genesis of each of the issues that has caused the problem, and when and how they happened.

Economics, especially the sub-catagory "banking" is my educational forte, so I couldn't resist responding to Rascal. And then I thought maybe I should share these thoughts with others; hence the posting here. I'm doing it to find out what you think about all of this.

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I frankly think it is possible to be biased without lying and/or withholding information. Just admit that you're biased. That's an OK thing to be.

It is stark raving unfair to blame Mr. Bush for any of this. There are lots of other things to blame him for if that's what you're looking to do (and I'm not one who's looking to do that). Blame him for those and then say you don't like him because of those missteps.

In addition to the ridiculous lending policies that even encouraged lies with no serious penalty if caught, do you realize that in our lifetime brokerage firms that were ALL required to be general partnerships, were allowed to change to publicly traded corporations?

Those things were originally required to be partnerships for a reason. It was so that those making the financial recommendations, minding accountholders' money, developing financial products to sell, etc., could personally crash and burn if there was evidence of inprudency (I made that word up.)

And banks were not allowed to cross state lines. That kept away monopolies, and that IS an important consideration that was thrown to the wind. So banks can do stupid stuff and when they do, it can also be so large in nature that it has dramatic affect on our economy's well-being.

We allow our private debt (vs. government IOUs) to be invested in and in any amount by FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS. That is so stupid that my blood boils everytime I think about it. It's how we eventually become Chinese (or whatever).

None of that junk happened as the result of Mr. Bush's administration. And I don't know as Mr. Obama and his folks can, will or care to change any or all of it. But that's why we're in trouble.

Bill

Posted by BILL CHERRY on 12/10/2008 06:34 AM

Comments (11)

bush, financial melt down, mortgages, banking, the economy

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11 Comments on RASCAL MC CASKILL ADDRESSED THE FINANCIAL MELT DOWN

DEC

It seems to be a societal character defect that we don't want to be accountable and look for someone to blame. Good post!

Bill, Everyone has a bias, but none more so than the media.

Mr Cherry,

Well said, I agree!

Bill

Bill I am so happy to hear someone speak up with the truth. It's sad that the media has the power to defame the name and character of people they oppose and to promote their on agenda at the cost of others. Thanks for the post, I couldn't agree more.

Randy

Transparancy and Accountablity should be part of the system. Probably not going to ever happen. Thank you for your post.

Look to the folks on the Hill who received political contributions from the leaders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and you will see who the problem should be tied to - - Christopher Dodd, Chuck Shumer, Barnie Frank and hmm, let's see... Barak Obama. All of these Congressmen are noted members of the Banking Committees for the House and the Senate who received political contributions after changing the regulations to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be compensated for generating volume rather than quality loans that were securitized and sold off to the public. Look to Mr. Clinton's administration for looking aside at the antitrust laws that allowed the mega brokers to merge and consolidate with banking operations. Look also to Clinton's stimulus packages to drive up credit in the economy at any cost to keep it moving. Look to Gen X parents who couldn't say "no" to their kids and who helped raise a generation that doesn't know how to lose.

All of you posted GREAT comments. Thank you so much. It certainly shows how very bright and on top of the truth you each are.

I especially liked the conciseness that the person from Weichert Realtors posted. He/she has an excellent handle on what happened and why.

Bill,

The guy from Weichert Realtors, who posted the comment above is Martin Kalisker. I came to your post on the recommendation of Bill Archambault Jr, and it was absolutely worth it. I am still relatively new in this country, and you are talking about things that I simply did not know.

Thanks

DEC

Jon,

I'm glad ou found the comments helpful and I'm flattered that Big Brain Bill Archambault suggested you read my post.

Thanks,

Bill

DEC

Bill,

As usual another great blog.

The old saying where there are risk there are rewards. With the rewards there also should come accountability.

I guess the next thing we could do is wipe out all debt, wipe out all assets and start from zero.

Thanks to all of you for adding your thoughts.

With respect to the auto manufacturers crisis. It is up to the stockholders to bailout their companies. If they aren't in the mood to do that, then they should be allowed to take Chapter 11 an renegotiate all contracts.

If, at that point, they still think they need taxpayer money, then if I were the judge I would insist they convert their Chapter 11 proceedings to Chapter 7, then the US Government would nationalize the corporations and operate them (only fair since it's taxpayer money that's bringing them back to solvency.) When they are properly solvent, the US would then sell them back to private investors.

So simple.

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