Okay, this is rather off topic. It’s about politics. I wouldn’t have posted it here other than I know that more people view this blog than my college one, and I just want to know if this is true.
My dad just sent me an email talking about something political. He is conservative, and much as he says he doesn’t care who I vote for, I think he kind of does care. He doesn’t like McCain (but the fact that he likes Palin scares the shit out of me)…. So anyway, I was just wondering if someone could verify this for me, tell me if this is true.
This may well bore the snot out of you, but since you will be voting this year, thought it might be of some interest. This whole financial meltdown we are in the middle of is basically caused by banks making too many loans, in many cases to people who do not have the means to repay them. In large part the banks did so because the government “leaned” on them, and they were afraid that if they did not make loans in certain areas, they would be accused of racial profiling in their loan practices (pressure from the Democratic side). They also were making more loans in order to boost the sales of new homes and increase employment/the economy (pressure from both Republicans and Democrats). I am not sure what percentage of our economy is driven by new home sales, but I think it is nearly 20%. In any case, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were created by the government (http://www.fanniemae.com , http://www.freddiemac.com ). and while not directly run by the government at this time, both are still considered Government Sponsored Entities (GSE’s) in the financial marketplace. Note the word FEDERAL in the names of both entities. Basically, they are private institutions that are underwritten by the government, accountable only to the government (Dept of Housing and Urban Development). Bottom line is, our government created this problem. Seems kind of crazy to expect our government to be the one to fix it.Until Dec 22, 2004, Franklin Raines was in charge of Fannie Mae. He was forced out after being investigated for a $9 billion dollar discrepancy in the accounts at Fannie Mae (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17241-2004Dec21.html). He is currently one of Obama’s economic advisers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Raines).The Democrats have controlled both houses of Congress since 2006. In large part that is when the housing market started to skyrocket and housing prices kept increasing as they pumped more liquidity (cash) into the marketplace through questionable loan practices. Again, Republicans share in the blame as well, since they wanted increased employment and economic activity from increased new home building, but the majority of this problem is from the Democratic side.Vote for whoever you want, but make sure you inform yourself. All information below is from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac websites, and Washington Post. I think I will still write in Ron Paul, tired of the BS from both sides
(bolding is my dad’s, not me)
Or it would be really awesome if anyone knew of some websites or links I could send him that say otherwise. He says he sick of the BS from both sides, but I doubt he even listens to anything the democrats say. All his sources of political information are from conservative/Republican sources. He doesn’t believe anything on TV, since the Democrats apparently rule television (which, by the way, I really am not seeing. I’ve actually watched TV for politics and they tend to give equal coverage every time, and they have people from both sides when they are having a discussion, that kind of thing… Honestly, it seems like the TV leans more to the right than to the left).
Honestly, I haven’t payed any attention to politics since…. well, I just started this year, to be honest. I hate to say it but I don’t really know anything about this (what he is talking about in the email)… So I can’t say off the bat what I think is truth or not. So that’s why I am asking my readers if they know anything about this.
Maybe my dad is right, I’m not sure. I just know that he doesn’t look at both sides, and I want to know what the other side is.
That’s being fully informed.
I’m British so don’t know too much about American politics but if you want commentary from the sorta liberal side, google shakesville. It’s a really good blog covering politics and general modern culture and shiss. Got a search bar as well so you can look up straight away the stuffs you want. Good luck.
By: Emily on September 18, 2008
at 9:17 am
I’m not an economics whiz by any means, so your question is better answered by someone else. As for the democrats ruling television (also known as the “liberal media”), it’s a complete myth.
Sure, most journalists are liberal, but they do not have complete journalistic freedom regarding what they are going to report on. What will be covered and how is decided by middle management who run the media (newspaper editors, station managers, etc.) and who answer to the higher-ups within their company. The media companies themselves are, overwhelmingly, owned by big business conglomerates. Conservative big business conglomerates. Example: NBC News (including the Today Show, Meet the Press, Dateline, MSNBC, CNBC, etc.) are part of NBC Universal. NBC Universal is a subsidiary of General Electric. General Electric and other conglomerates are historically and thoroughly conservative.
Noam Chomsky has written a lot of good stuff on the topic. Here’s a (incredibly condensed) video on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYlyb1Bx9Ic
By: Annie on September 18, 2008
at 10:41 am
alas, a blog and lawyers, guns, and money have some good information and links on this situation. A lot of the problem, as I see it, is that the regulations that kept banks and mortgage companies separate (neither could invest in the other, I think) were done away with. Then when housing prices started to go up, everyone thought this was a great investment and pumped money into it. To keep on getting large returns, they had to have more and more people buying houses and taking out loans to do that, so there were some unscrupulous mortgage brokers/lenders who loaned big bucks to people who didn’t have jobs, didn’t have enough income for the house they were buying, and/or over-valued houses that were being refinanced. Then when the housing bubble burst (and the economy went into the shitter), these people couldn’t keep up with payments and went into foreclosure. So many of the loans were bad that it’s dragging everything down with it.
I don’t think you can blame only Republicans or only Democrats, they both had a hand in it, whoever proposed doing away with the regulations is at fault, and whoever didn’t vote to keep those regulations is also at fault because they didn’t have the guts to face down the idiots who thought deregulating banking was a good idea.
Just my personal opinion here, but I don’t want another liar in the White House and that’s what McCain/Palin are, bold-faced outright liars. And when they’re called on the lies, they continue to lie, like no one can see that they’re still lying. So yeah, McCain is not going to get my vote, that is a guarantee.
By: vesta44 on September 18, 2008
at 11:51 am
I don’t think it’s fair to blame this on a political party. There are so many people to blame it’s ridiculous, and some of the are liberal and some of them are conservative.
Here’s a great explanation of the situation from Michael Greenberger
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94686428
I also recommend the Financial Time (ft.com) for more in depth coverage.
By: Nanza on September 18, 2008
at 1:55 pm
Your dad is full of it. The main problem is deregulation, not making loans to disadvantaged people. If things go well, the investment bankers get rich. If things don’t, the taxpayers pay. And Georgie and his republican asshats like it that way.
And by 2006, the real estate market was crashing already. Your dad listens to too much Rush Limbaugh.
By: julie on September 21, 2008
at 2:19 pm
If you want to learn more about the bailouts and real estate crash from people from both left and right, I suggest patrick.net.
By: julie on September 21, 2008
at 2:21 pm
Try factcheck.org or snopes.com to see if it’s true I haven’t yet.
By: Id on September 21, 2008
at 6:09 pm
Arg. politics.
You can remind your dad that the National Debt was *eliminated* – not reduced, eliminated during Bill Clinton’s terms as Prez.
For the first time in history, the national debt was paid in full.
I think that’s pretty cool.
And parents – y’know, they really like the idea of NOT being in debt, generally, so it would be interesting to hear what dad had to say about that.
Coincidentally, it only took a few short years for George W. to pile up the debt again…what with the WAR and all….
By: hope505 on September 23, 2008
at 2:57 pm
Okay, I must say your dad is a total jerk for sending you that. He is obviously trying to influence the way you vote, regardless of whether he says he is or not. And I agree that the fact that he likes Palin is terrifying. I honestly don’t know whether or not any of that is true, but I do encourage you to research it…especially if you can find a way to prove him wrong ;p
By: badgerthegnome on September 25, 2008
at 9:54 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/why-the-financial-meltdow_b_126802.html
This article is entitled “Why the Financial Meltdown Reflects the Fundamental Failure of the Bush-McCain Economic Philosophy.”
Though I think your dad is wrong about what he said, I commend him for sharing his thoughts with you and informing you of other ways of looking at issues. My dad (though more liberal) does the same, and I really look forward to his emails
Hope the article helps!
By: Dollface on September 26, 2008
at 3:26 pm
it’s really easy to say, “oooh, the dems have been in control since 2006! THEY did it!” but consider the republican administration of the past 8 years. deregulation started in like 1980, anyway. and deregulation happens to be a MAJOR point for the gop for pretty much ever. as in: they’re PRO deregulation. in business and economy, anyway. they want to regulate the shit out of people’s personal lives (see republican stances on gay marriage & abortion).
i cannot reccomend ENOUGH this book called “everything you should know about politics… but don’t” by jessamyn conrad. SERIOUSLY. it’s non-partisan and straight-forward. and i really wish i had it when i was eighteen.
also, factcheck and snopes are awesome.
as for the liberal media… it’s mostly bs. of course there is liberal media (check out msnbc for rachel maddow and keith olberman), but there’s also conservative media (FOX). and there’s regular old “no, seriously, CAN YOU NAME A NEWSPAPER?” media which leans a little one way or the other. also? you can get a fair amount of news from the daily show and the colbert report. but they’re pretty liberal, so they won’t get you any points with dad.
By: clare on October 7, 2008
at 2:02 pm
(Late again, BUT…)
I just wanted to add on to what hope505 said. Not only did Clinton eliminate the debt, it was almost done with by the time he finished his first term. I think it only took another year or two to completely eradicate it.
And it was FOUR TRILLION DOLLARS. That’s an awful lot of money to almost completely pay back in FOUR years.
By: nuckingfutz on October 8, 2008
at 6:11 am
The biggest thing you can do is inform yourself. There are a number of sources out there. I read your blog because your FA is awesome and I wish that more girls your age held themselves to that standard. Stand proud, kid! At 19 I was a bulemic, but now, at 32, I’m a bigger girl that has decided that life is too short to hate myself. I have two kids and a husband that love me. To hell with everyone else.
Anyway – I will tell you what I know. You can call me a conservative but truthfully – I’m not. I believe in gay marriage, I’m pro-choice, I’m for capital punishment but I am also for McCain/Palin. Once I had children, my views on different items and policies changed. Some things outweigh others. (Funny how weight always plays into things, huh?)
Truthfully – Obama scares me. There are a lot of things that the liberal media covers up. (remember – I’m not 100% conservative – I have a lot of liberal views and I tend to be non-partisan) But, my biggest issue has been his relationship with Jeremiah Wright. If you research that, it might help you understand a few more things about personal character.
With regards to the economy, if you look back to how things were two to three years ago compared to now, you will also see that our congress changed. That has been a HUGE impact. Plus, predatory lendors have put a lot of famillies at risk for granting loans that are too high for their income levels. Income levels have flattened, yet costs have risen. I have seen that personally and trust me – it has not been fun trying to balance a family budget when the income level has not increased in five years. We rob Peter to pay Paul so to speak.
Exercising your right to vote is awesome! I think that it’s the best thing you, as a woman and as a citizen, can do. The best thing you can do for that right is inform yourself on both sides of the ticket. Sadly, sometimes you have to look at it as the “lesser of two evils”. It’s up to you to decide which issues are a priority and which issues you cannot overlook. That is a personal view, not something that someone can tell you. You know?
I told you my views simply because I have been there, done that. (Goodness – I sound like a grandma!) It’s up to you to decide what is best for you in your situation.
Take care girl and keep your head up high. These girls that are fussing about themselves in college – you don’t need that. Study and work hard and get yourself a good job.
By: Ginger on October 8, 2008
at 8:53 am