Comments on: Ohio’s web site on the recovery package

By: J Murray

J Murray — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:09:14 +0000

John, you’re a “damn the facts” ideologue on this issue.

Ed, my last sentence describes Wall Street’s role.

By: Ed Morrison

Ed Morrison — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:07:39 +0000

I’m not as harsh as John. I think Jonathan actually believes what he writes. That said, his explanations of the mortgage meltdown have a disturbing resemblance to Rush Limbaugh’s bloviations.

What’s missing from his explanation above is the conversion of these mortgages into complex, opaque securities (the “toxic assets”) that no one can now value.

If you want a far more balanced analysis, I suggest this site:

http://snurl.com/bz9uf

By: John Ettorre

John Ettorre — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 02:16:06 +0000

Fausto, ignore Jonathan. He spouts right wing propaganda that I doubt even he believes.

By: J Murray

J Murray — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 02:15:26 +0000

Fausto, you must not have been following the mortgage debacle. At its center were Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd, urging an expansion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so that they could buy mortgage-backed securities, with the implicit backing of the American government, and expand home ownership to the uncreditworthy. The expansion of home ownership, combined with low interest rates by the Federal Reserve (a so-called “easy money” policy) created a tremendous “asset bubble” in housing prices. In other words, too much money was put into the economy by the Federal Reserve, people borrowed it at low interest rates and used it to buy houses. This caused a dramatic increase in house prices, which is now deflating. Securities created by Wall Street played a role in the velocity of credit through the economy, but Wall Street was just responding to the conditions created by Washington.

By: fausto

fausto — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:48:07 +0000

Fannie and Freddie are hapless scapegoats. try unmitigated faith in paper wealth created out of thin air. unwavering belief in three letter acronyms like MBS,CDO,CDS and SIV to build the “unburstable bubble”. i’m not sure what govt spending has to do with our current downturn. perhaps you mean the trillion or three that is being thrown down a hole in iraq.

By: J Murray

J Murray — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 02:50:53 +0000

Carla and John, our current problems were not caused by an “unrestrained free market.” They were caused by policy errors in Washington, including easy money by the Federal Reserve and gross expansion, under Congressional duress of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Not to mention excessive government spending, and, yes outdated regulatory oversight. These are not examples of an unrestrained free market in operation.

By: John Ettorre

John Ettorre — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:41:21 +0000

The public sector is merely trying to pick up the pieces of the disaster wrought by your beloved unrestrained private sector. It will now be restrained, at long last.

By: Carla Rautenberg

Carla Rautenberg — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:54:57 +0000

Gee, J Murray, how ironic. Millions of us are experiencing the reality of where the unrestrained
“free market” has led us and are saying, we’re going to have to solve these problems together. Only a person ignorant of history (and willing to overlook the intent of the Constitution) would conclude otherwise. I’m looking at the facts and the history, and that’s where they lead me.

By: John Polk

John Polk — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:37:33 +0000

Scratch a cynic and you’ll find a disappointed and experienced idealist…

By: J Murray

J Murray — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:04:38 +0000

All right, you guys, let’s have some real talk. There is a wave of optimism coursing through a portion of the public that government can solve all problems; all they have to do is spend enough (of somebody else’s money) and intervene enough in private matters. Only a person ignorant of history (and willing to overlook the intent of the Constitution) could accept that at face value, and I’m not such a person. So, pardon me for being cynical, but I’m looking at the facts and the history, and that’s where it leads me.