'Occupy' Government

It is really sad and tragic that after almost four years this still has to be said. That after almost four years many people still do not know the true story behind the financial crisis. Do you not see America? Do not be misled by the politicians, political folk and the media who continue to hide the truth about the financial crisis and the resulting recession.

Government and ill-conceived regulations caused the financial collapse and the resulting recession. Most mortgage lenders would never have taken this amount of risk if government had not taken that risk away. That is the reason why government became involved in the first place. Government not only lowered lending standards but they set the quotas via the 'Community Reinvestment Act', for giving bad loans. When lending institutions did not meet these quotas they lowered the lending standards even more through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mortgage backed securities (MBS) were devised to satisfy the ever increasing demands of government. Government through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bought the bad debt from the lending institutions. They then bundled the bad debt into MBS to trade, thus spreading the toxicity throughout the system. Through its incompetence government took all the bad lending risk away. What is worse is that so called 'community organizers' went in and coerced many lending institutions to do this. The people they thought they were helping ended up losing their homes. Everyone is paying for this massive government incompetence and corruption. The tragic thing is many of the same people who were intimately involved in this giant scam, Barney Frank to name just one, are still in government. They should have been thrown out long ago. Many politicians were corrupt, they ignored the problems, they covered up the problems and they quieted the regulators that warned of impending problems.

What may be an even greater tragedy is that Chris Dodd and Barney Frank designed the financial bill that was supposed to fix this. It is ironic that the clueless and/or incompetent politicians passed a bill that is supposed to fix the problem they do not even think they created. The Dodd/Frank financial bill just institutionalizes the problems that created the financial crisis and 'too big to fail' which will ensure more bailouts. The little guy is already seeing the bad results of this bill. Debit cards are more expensive. It will get worse.

The government through the FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who by the way, we the taxpayer continue to bail out, are still giving out bad loans. Government continues the stupidity.

So yes, it is sad and unbelievable that this has to be said. The 'Occupy' protesters are occupying the wrong location. They should be occupying government. It is even more sad and tragic that those that know better are misleading the occupiers.

This will continue to happen until we all know the truth. Only then can we ensure this never happens again.

Unless your agenda is to destroy the system, the solution is not giving millions of people something they cannot afford thereby destroying the whole system and everyone in it. The solution is to ensure everyone has the opportunity and tools to be able to afford a home. They will also be able to create jobs and wealth for others to have the same opportunities they had.


The excellent resources below go into greater detail.

The Financial Crisis: Is Anyone Telling Us the Truth? (Previous Post)

Who Do You Really Believe?

Smoking-Gun Document Ties Govt Policy To Housing Crisis

Making Homes Affordable Makes Others Poor

Shocking YouTube Video showing Housing Scandal Cover-up That Led to our Economic Crisis

Barney Frank in 2005: What Housing Bubble?

Bush, McCain warned of Fannie & Freddie problems, tried to fix, Barney Frank helped block & cover up

A list of Must Read Articles on the Financial Crisis

If you want to understand the financial crisis, you must see this FNC Special Investigation: Saving Our Economy - What's Next? (Hulu)

The Pelosi-Obama Stimulus Plan

Updated March 6, 2009.

This bill showcases the chronic corruption of Congress. It should be called the Obama-Congressional Self-Stimulus Plan. It is full of projects that Democrats have wanted to do for a long time. It is full of wasteful spending paybacks to groups that helped get them elected. They are taking advantage of the American people by using an economic crisis to push through their own agenda instead of a true stimulus package. Like so many things government does, this bill rewards irresponsibility.

The health care provisions slipped into the stimulus plan without discussions are one more of many reasons to contact your congress person to stop this stimulus bill. It is tragic that the UK is trying to figure out how to privatize their health care system because of the poor quality of treatment, long waiting lists (people die while waiting) and incredible cost of service while the clueless in Washington D.C. try to emulate the Brits’ and others' failed health care systems.

The bill also rolls back the highly successful welfare reforms of the ‘90s. It is tragic that congress and the president would want to undo such successful reforms, that so many would want to take jobs away from people and make them dependent on government.

This stimulus bill will likely prolong the recession, hopefully not make it worse and we will probably never recover from all the government expansion. The inflation it will cause will probably feel worse than the actual recession. There will be no way to close the “flood gates” and turn off the “fire-hose”. Even worse, an “accelerant” is being used to put out the “fire” instead of water or sand.

It is dishonest to tell us that there is a consensus among economists in support of this plan.

Even economists that believe the theory of some sort of government spending stimulus don’t support this bill anymore because they believe stimulus has to take effect right away. They recognize the stimulus in this bill won’t hit until 2 to 4 years from now and they believe the recession will be over by then. Even worse, they believe most of the spending in this bill is not even "stimulus". The Congressional Budget Office says it will make things worse in the long run.

This bill does not meet the criteria of making 3 to 4 million jobs and there is no way to quantify saving jobs.

You can argue for some type of make work stimulus but you are dishonest if you argue that this bill is stimulus. This bill contains only a small percentage of stimuli that will actually hit right away, the other parts of the bill will not put money in for several years and most is just wasteful spending that will just take money and jobs from the private sector. The stimulus needs to hit right away to be effective. This bill creates some temporary work not long term jobs.

In the 90’s Japan had a recession and their solution was massive government spending that quadrupled their national debt. The recession got worse, so they spent more. The more they spent the worse it got. They are still recovering and now they want to try the same thing here.

The President gives a false choice to the American people. He says the choice is either those that want to do nothing or his spending plan. That is not being honest with the American people. Everyone in Congress seems to believe something should be done, tax cuts and spending solutions with varying levels of agreement.

If you look at the final bill, it is almost all spending with even less tax credits than before. It is a partisan bill. If you look at some of the republican’s alternate bills, they are actually bi-partisan, more of a compromise. These plans would create more jobs for less money than the Obama-Pelosi bill. They have more balance between tax cuts and spending. They include government spending that is more immediate and real tax cuts that stimulate quickly, but democrats and the President would have none of it. Spending offset by wasteful spending cuts elsewhere would be even better. Instead, Mr. Obama and Congressional democrats cling to failed ideology. They only listen to economists that support their agenda. They pretend to be bi-partisan by talking about working together with republicans but they shut them out of the process and then turn around and accuse republicans of being partisans when they don’t go along with their bill. The President talks about the need for bi-partisanship but in the same speech he says if they come and bring the same failed policies from the past 8 years don’t bother and they’ve lost credibility because they spent too much money. So he is saying I’ll work with you but only if you support my ideas and don’t bring any other ideas to the table. He says he will work with others as long as they go along with his views. He is shutting the bi-partisan process down before it even begins. When republicans were invited to speak and discuss the stimulus plan with Mr. Obama and democrats, they were reminded that “I won” and “we won”. How is that bi-partisanship? They are playing political games. Everyone in congress was re-elected by the people so you could say they all won.

Trying to woo or bully the opposition to vote for your bill is not bi-partisan. Bi-partisanship is working together to come up with a solution that benefits the American people. Come to think of it, why are democrats even making a big deal about getting republicans to vote for the bill? Why are they pretending to be bi-partisan? They have enough votes to pass this bill. They don’t need their votes. Well, they only need two of their votes in the senate. Those are easy votes. Maybe they know this bill will prolong the recession and they want to be able to share the blame or blame republicans when it fails.

Mr. Obama complains of the deficit he inherited from the previous Administration while at the same time he is increasing the deficit even more than the previous Administration ever did. He has even less credibility than the previous Administration because he is not only doing the same thing but even more of it. Mr. Obama was a member of Congress and democrats did have control of the house for the last 2 years so he inherited the deficit from himself as well.

There is a better way and they refuse to see it. Their mind is set and they refuse to see the better way to proceed forward. Their solution to everything is always spending. They ignore history and try it time and time again. It is time we stop trying the failed policies of the past and do something that works. The out of control spending is one of the reasons we are in this problem.

It is a good idea to keep ideology away, to keep an open mind when studying these problems. To keep from being blinded by ideology it is best to have an understanding of economics and social global systems while studying history and current events.

Nothing is ever too urgent to rush into doing something just for the sake of doing something, something that will make a crisis worse. In fact, the problem and effects of solutions are urgent enough to get it right. This is being rushed through way too fast. Congress does not even have time to read the bill before their final vote, meanwhile lobbyists have received copies of it before Congress. Main stream media has not brought the contents of the bill to the American people. Instead they shut down any discussion and opposition while they support and tell us it does not matter what is in it because President Obama says we need it. Main stream media is now working with the corruption in government against the people of America. The era of transparency is over. Ironic since one of Obama’s campaign promises was to bring back transparency. One of his promises was to post any legislative bill online for 48 hours for all Americans to see before it is voted on.

It is also about time our President reassures the American people, that he instills hope for the future of America that we will overcome this crisis. This would go a long way in restoring consumer confidence and thereby help in the recovery of the economy.

The voting record on this stimulus bill can be used as a litmus test. Perhaps the republicans have found their way again by not voting for this bill, all except three. The democrats have not, except maybe the seven who voted no. Wishful thinking perhaps?

History shows that spending is usually tried and it never works. Tax and spending cuts always work. This is the quickest stimulus.

Obama's Plan For A Debt-Ridden Future
Freedom Is Still the Winning Formula
Secretly Ending Welfare Reform
Capital On Strike
The Obama Economy
Propping Up Least-Productive 10% Is A Recipe For Economic Decline
Entrepreneurs Can Lead Us Out of the Crisis
A Short History of the National Debt
Obama Warned Over 'Welfare' Spendathon'
Federal Obligations Exceed World GDP
Congress Gets Punitive on Executive Pay
1,073 Pages
Congressional Offices Don't Have the Stimulus Bill, Lobbyists Do
Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan
The Unstimulating Stimulus Bill
Fiscal Reality Central-There Is No Consensus Among Economists
PDF Format Ad - There Is No Consensus Among Economists
Tooth Fairy can't sweeten stimulus plan
Economic Freedom Is Still the Best Policy
Obama's Rhetoric Is the Real 'Catastrophe'
McCain's Vote Should Trouble Obama
Meet the New Stimulus, Same as the Old Stimulus
The Real Stimulus Burden
Exactly How Does Stimulus Work?
Obama's Enablers in Chief
Reaganomics vs. Obamanomics
Harvard Economist Robert Barro on Stimulus Bill
Harvard Economist Robert Barro on Tax Cut Stimulus
Barack Obama-san
What Other Financial Crises Tell Us
Pelosi's Indefensible Bill
50 De-Stimulating Facts
CBO: Obama stimulus harmful over long haul
The Missing Obama Tax Cut

Welfare Spendathon: House Stimulus Bill Will Cost Taxpayers $787 Billion in New Welfare Spending

The Stimulus Tragedy
$3 Trillion Gov't Overdose Must Be Stopped
There's No Stimulus Free Lunch
How Government Created the Financial Crisis
A Tale Of Two Indicators - Jobs and Stocks
How About a Payroll Tax Stimulus?
An $800 Billion Mistake
The Return of Welfare As We Knew It
What Is Congress Stimulating?
The Stimulus Package Is More Debt We Don't Need

Why Tax Rate Reductions Are More Stimulative Than Rebates: Lessons from 2001 and 2003

There's No Pain-Free Cure for Recession
Tom Daschle's Washington
The Entitlement Stimulus
A 40-Year Wish List
$646,214 Per Government Job
A $545 Billion Private Stimulus Plan
An 8.3% Deficit Is Plenty of Stimulus
Government Spending Is No Free Lunch
Let's Stimulate Private Risk Taking
Pelosi Turns Back the Clock on House Reform
The Deficit Spending Blowout
The Krugman Recipe for Depression
Why Spending Stimulus Plans Fail

The Financial Crisis: Is Anyone Telling Us the Truth?

There is plenty of blame to go around for this latest financial crisis, but how can we fix this problem and keep it from happening again, if we don’t find out how it happened?

Republicans can be blamed for not pushing enough, for not having enough leadership, but if we do not find out and/or we ignore what caused this problem, it will happen again.

Many people blame President Bush and republicans because they were in power, even though the policies of past administrations started this, even though congress has been democrat controlled for the past two years, even though Bush, McCain and republicans warned and tried many times to fix this and legislation was proposed, even though the congressional oversight committee, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and fellow democrats blocked them and said everything was alright, even though Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were corrupted and turned into political fundraising machines for these and other politicians. B. Frank, Chris Dodd and many other democrats are on record and caught on video going against the regulatory commission’s findings that there was a problem.

Past administrations, congress, the policy of "affordable housing for all" and others, the mark-to-market ruling and others and various regulations caused this problem, not the free market. Past administrations, congress, the congressional oversight committee and groups like ACORN encouraged and strong-armed mortgage institutions to give loans to people who can never pay back the loans. The pseudo government firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did the same thing. They bought up the bad loans and bundled them into mortgage-backed securities, making it easier for mortgage firms to give out more loans because they knew the government was backing the loans.

They took away the accountability that is built in, allowing corruption to enter the system. Do you think these financial institutions would give mortgages to people who are not able to pay them back? To give loans to people when their loan payments would be 40 to 50% of their gross income? Of course not, that would cause the companies to go bankrupt. When housing values started to decline, corrupt CEOs of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Countrywide and other firms covered it up with deceitful accounting practices. The CEOs ran these companies into the ground while taking millions.

There are more contributors to this crisis including Alan Greenspan and others. A lot of factors came together to create this crisis

Why aren’t democrats calling for an investigation of republicans? If republicans were to blame democrats would be all over this, it is all we would be hearing about. In fact, it seems the republicans are the ones calling for an investigation, which will happen later in November after the election of course. Why is the media not telling us about these corrupt democrats and the impending investigation?

There was oversight, it was just corrupt. Do you really think even more oversight will be any better? The more oversight and government bureaucracy there is the more corruption there is. We need reform, not more oversight. We need to stop enforcing moral hazard. It is far better to have accountability built into the whole system. We have various government regulatory bodies in place already. We just have to figure out how to keep them from becoming corrupt and causing these problems in the future. We can start by electing public servants who have some type of moral fiber and stop electing public servants who already have known scandals. If politicians don’t care about their families, do you think they are going to care about their constituents?

Many democrats in congress still don't understand the problem. They are even calling others racist for trying to fix this problem. They don't understand that the very people they were trying to help, they hurt. Now it is hurting every American and many people around the world. How can we expect those that caused this crisis to fix it? We need to have a congress that understands that when the economy is growing again any remedy that was implemented that caused any nationalization of the financial markets needs to be undone.

If you give free houses to hundreds of thousands of people, what do you expect will happen? If you really want to help those that can't afford to own their own home, you have to get the economy going, to give them the resources they need to better themselves.

The more the government announces and tries different solutions to this crisis and the solutions don’t have immediate results, may be causing the stock market to drop. Government can’t spend our way out of this crisis. They are just raising the national deficit. They may be causing other problems, hopefully not making it worse. It may be time to step back, implement the bailout plan and let the markets bounce back. Too many bailouts made arbitrarily may be enforcing moral hazard as well. The markets like clarity.

It's time we take our heads out of the sand and stop being misled. The American people need to know the truth so we will never let this happen again.

If the media does not tell us the truth about this crisis, they are complicit in this cover-up, in causing many Americans to lose everything, in causing a problem that could bring our country close to the situation of the great depression and in possibly tearing up the constitution of this great country.

If the people of America knew the truth, McCain would probably win by a land-slide, many politicians would be voted out of congress and the American people would demand an independent investigation of congress and the unelected entrenched bureaucracy.


If you want to understand the financial crisis, you must see this FNC Special Investigation: Saving Our Economy - What'$ Next? (Hulu.com)




Shocking YouTube Video showing Housing Scandal Cover-up That Led to our Economic Crisis



Ticking Time Bomb
Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
ARC's Response To the Financial Crisis
Stop Blaming Capitalism for Government Failures
Barney's Rubble
The Real Culprits In This Meltdown
Another 'Deregulation' Myth
How the Democrats Created the Financial Crisis
Wake Up, America
Blame Fannie Mae and Congress for the Credit Mess
Should Congress Be "Perp-Walked"?