By getalife

September 16, 2008 2:36 PM | Link to this

“Palin supports $600 million ‘other’ bridge project.”

D’oh. The cons are turning on the ticket.

McLiar, the deregulator with Gramm, has flipped flopped and now wants to reform regulation.

Oh, the insanity.

By Herman

September 16, 2008 2:38 PM | Link to this

It’s W’s fault. No it’s the Democrat’s fault. No it’s rich guy’s fault. No it’s Jay’s fault. Well, now that we got THAT out of the way, Have a nice day!

By CJ

September 16, 2008 2:42 PM | Link to this

I’d be curious to know why Jay believes that the decision not to cut rates was a good one. What impact does this decision have and what would have been wrong if the Fed had decided to cut rates?

By ByteMe

September 16, 2008 2:45 PM | Link to this

A rate cut won’t cure what ails the economy which is solid regulations and transparency for the credit and financial markets. The Fed could cut it all the way to 0, but investors still won’t lend money if they can’t grasp the risk or true valuation for the underlying asset being used as collateral. It’s just a matter of time before the parties on all sides accept that this has to happen.

By T

September 16, 2008 2:46 PM | Link to this

By CJ

Rate cuts can cause inflation. Someone with a higher pay grade will have to explain the rest.

By RW-(the original)

September 16, 2008 2:48 PM | Link to this

Gotta love that breaking news banner above the post

Stocks turn lower after Fed keeps rates stable

At least Jay caught the turnaround in the update. It’s up and down like a yo-yo right now.

By sunshine and thunder

September 16, 2008 2:55 PM | Link to this

Jay

How come you haven’t written a column about McCain/Palin’s lies in, what…, 20 minutes?

I sent a letter to these folks to let them know there is a crazy man down in Atlanta who can’t stop writing about it. LOL!!

By richard

September 16, 2008 3:02 PM | Link to this

to lower interest rates would allow addtional unsustainable lending to be incorporated into a deadly stream of failed loans. Firms need to shore up interest rates. My first home was financed with a 13% rate in 1979 with an additional rate of 15% for a short term 2nd mortgage. This was during atime of high inflation . It was later refinanced to a lower rate. Interest rates cooled but never to the point of 2003-2006 when were ator near 1% which paved way for the devastations we now see.

By @@

September 16, 2008 3:14 PM | Link to this

Good Grief Jay! I’m beginning to think you revel in your role as “a moving target”. From downstairs where the subject remains the same.

Now, how we got into this mess is a very different question…..

So why didn’t you answer it Jay? Surely you know…..

An agreement between the Clinton administration and congressional Republicans, reached during all-night negotiations which concluded in the early hours of October 22, sets the stage for passage of the most sweeping banking deregulation bill in American history, lifting virtually all restraints on the operation of the giant monopolies which dominate the financial system.

Over the past 20 years the restrictions imposed by Glass-Steagall have been gradually relaxed under pressure from the banks, which sought more profitable outlets for their capital, especially in the booming stock market, and which complained that foreign competitors suffered no such limitations to their financial operations. In 1990 the Federal Reserve Board first permitted a bank (J.P. Morgan) to sell stock through a subsidiary, although stock market operations were limited to 10 percent of the company’s total revenue. In 1996 this ceiling was lifted to 25 percent.

Fair enough? Democrats AND Republicans. We can only guess as to what their motivations were. Opportunity for all? Opportunity for the few?

Consider this! What if all those “greedy” homeowners had passed on the low to no down-payment loans followed by an ARM? Where would we be today? Where would the banking industry be today?

Yep! Ben Stein, myself, and Thomas Acquinas know what contributed to society’s ills.

Washington is not the problem. Human nature is the problem, and that’s going to be a tough nut to crack. That’s the machine to rage against.

It’s difficult for some to look inward, but that’s where the reflection is lookin’ poorly these days.

‘Ya ever notice how Stein remains cool, calm and collected? It’s his “Intelligent Design” that keeps him grounded in reality. Me too!!!!!!!

Preghi Jay …….. pregano! allora respiri.

By CJ

September 16, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this

T @2:46,

Oil prices have dropped dramatically (rising oil prices were the primary cause of the recent run-up in prices—not low interest rates), unemployment rates are climbing, bankruptcies are up, housing prices are falling, profits are down, foreclosures are up, credit is shrinking, producer prices are falling, companies are writing off assets,…

In such circumstances, inflation is usually the least of our worries (deflation? maybe). My question remains—how would rate cuts have hurt us?

By T

September 16, 2008 3:37 PM | Link to this

By CJ

Just going with the info I have. Agree with you on the oil prices. There is a whisper of the nasty L word in the office I’m at. I would love to sell my home, but I’m not going to give it away. I don’t know if I can agree to the statement that inflation is the least of our worries. Then again, I could be wrong. Maybe someone with a higher pay grade than mine can give some insight.

By @@

Nice article.

By A

September 16, 2008 3:42 PM | Link to this

A quick thank you to the Swiftboat Veterans for allowing us a full 8 years of GWB.

God forbid John Kerry were President. He may have put too much regulation and oversight in place to avoid this financial disaster.

By Truth

September 16, 2008 3:53 PM | Link to this

John Kerry…. now THAT is funny!

By jeff

September 16, 2008 4:00 PM | Link to this

re-posted from another source…. Democrats created Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE). Under Clinton the financial markets were deregulated. The Glass-Stengel Act was repealed allowing the merging of financial and banking activities. This allowed the creation of Leveraged Debt Obligations (LDOs) and Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) based on mortgage debt. This led to a vast expansion of the subprime mortgage market. The Clinton administration also aggressively pushed banks to give mortgages to minorities which was reverse red lining where lenders gave loans to unqualified minorities because of their race.

After 9/11 Greenspan lowered the Federal Funds rate to 1 percent. This easy money policy created an explosion in the housing market. Unqualified borrowers and speculators raced to buy houses which caused prices to explode. FNM and FRE were providing liquidity for the mortgage market and investment houses on Wall Street were issuing LDOs and CDOs based on that liquidity. Housing prices were rising over 50% per year in some markets. This caused inflation to quickly rise and there were signs that inflation was going to accelerate. So Greenspan began an aggressive campaign to destroy the housing market in order to stop inflation. He raised interest by 350 basis points and Bernanke added another 75 after he replaced Greenspan. This caused the pool of qualified borrowers to shrink dramatically. Housing prices began to collapse. This caused the prices of LDOs and CDOs to drop and the market for this paper collapsed. The balance sheets of banks holding this paper went into rapid decline. Banks were no longer able to lend and the credit markets froze.

All of this was engineered by Democrats. FNM and FRE were personal piggy banks for the Democrats. FNM and FRE donated heavily to Democrat campaign funds. FNM and FRE maintained an army of Democrat friendly lobbyists. Democrats were able to find easy employment at FNM and FRE. Jaimie Gorelick, the woman that created the wall of separation between intelligence agencies and the FBI that lead to 9/11 and who served on the 9 11 Commission and sabotaged its mission, became a multimillionaire serving as Vice Chairman at FNM.

Democrat Senators Barney Frank and Chris Dodd have fought all efforts by the Bush administration to reform FNM and FRE. They did this to continue to enrich Democrat Party coffers, to keep their lobbyist friends employed, and to wreck the economy. The Democrats fervently believe that an economic collapse will give them complete control of the Congress and the Presidency. This is a Marxist dream to be rewarded for engineering an economic collapse. The Democrats expect to become rich and achieve unbridled power.

There should be an FBI investigation into FNM, FRE, lobbyists, and the Democrats in Congress. Investors in FNM and FRE should file a class action lawsuit against the Democrats that ran these institutions.

By RW-(the original)

September 16, 2008 4:05 PM | Link to this

Ouch!

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) — Someone should break the bad news to Sen. Joe Biden: As a vice presidential candidate he’s doing far worse than Dan Quayle.

He works hard, he churns out the speeches, he castigates Republican nominee McCain of Arizona as the fearless “attack dog” he was supposed to be. Yet after he does everything he was supposed to do, even the media who sang hosannas over his selection just report it all glumly and then shrug it off. And no one else cares

Surely Obama won’t be panicking and dropping Biden, but this story goes on to talk about Biden’s futility in economic issues, as well, on two fronts. One is that Biden has never sounded credible on economic issues, but the other is that his hands are kind of tied since the boss won’t give any specifics other than hopeandchange.

By "The Corporal"

September 16, 2008 4:20 PM | Link to this

BUY GOLD

By Carbon Footprint

September 16, 2008 4:22 PM | Link to this

I watched CNBC all day just to see if it had changed when I was a fiend about stocks back in the heady days before 911. It hasn’t changed a wit. Nobody knows what they’re talking about. The only thing anybody got right today was that the Feds wouldn’t touch the rate.

The jargon has evolved more sophisticated, but the added knowlege only confused the talking heads even more.

These guys dont deserve their positions. They dont know any more than you or I.

The best bet is to follow Warren Buffet’s investments, (or to somehow finaggle a Paul McCartney divorce settlement).

Kudlow is without question the biggest idiot on television today, yes even a bigger nitwit than lou dobs.

By Jasper

September 16, 2008 4:34 PM | Link to this

If W had repealed or revised the Community Reinvestment Act, initiated by Carter, then strengthened and enforced by Clinton, you libs would have gone crazy by now not being able to decide whether to call him incompetent or racist.

Unfortunately as common sense gave way to greed and governement interference, this sub-prime mortgage crisis was a lesson we would have to learn the hard way. Perhaps the old rules of credit worthiness will be reinstated.

The best thing the government can do now is to indict Frank Raines again, and the subsequent executives of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac and treat them just like Ken Lay and Bernie Ebbers.

By getalife

September 16, 2008 4:39 PM | Link to this

Now McLiar wants a 9/11 commission.

He was a leader on deregulation with Gramm and now flipped flopped and wants to reform his deregulation.

Problem solved.

Geez.

By N-GA

September 16, 2008 4:50 PM | Link to this

Typically a drop in the Fed Funds rate COULD have some or all of the following results:

• possible reduction in mortgage rates
• possible reduction in credit card rates
• possible increase in available credit
• probable decrease in the value of the Dollar relative to other currencies, but with the side effects of lowering exports and raising the price of imports (including oil)
• possible increase in equity (stock) values as people move money from interest-weighted investments to equities
• increased inflation

There are many more possibilities….

By RW (the oravaginal)

September 16, 2008 4:52 PM | Link to this

I think that the market oscillates like today every day. If you look at the spread between any day’s high and low, it’s always huge, sometimes triple digits.

Collateral. That’s an old fashioned word. If a loan is approved, there should be sufficient collateral to back up the loan.

Collateral became out of date and old fashioned and unnecessary.. That’s what Greenspan sez happened.

Short selling, Greenspan sez, is necessary because then it requires more and more collateral for loans and a true honest valuation then can be determined and only then, Greenspan sez, can the markets stabilize and grow.

Collateral. True Valuations achieved through short selling. That’s the key to this mess.

My take on Greenspan: I have no idea what this man sez. not a clue. my pathetic summary of his interview last sunday is evidence of that.

By Mrs. Godzilla

September 16, 2008 4:53 PM | Link to this

Is McCain trying to write our ads for us?

He said this this afternoon:

“The point is, I was chairman of the commerce committee. Every part of America’s economy, I oversighted. I have a long record, certainly far more extensive of being involved in our economy than Senator Obama does.”

By "The Corporal"

September 16, 2008 5:09 PM | Link to this

Luke Chapter 14

28For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

29Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

30Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

Wise words from the Banker of the Universe

By N-GA

September 16, 2008 5:14 PM | Link to this

amend my 4:50 to read: …increase in exports…(due to the lower value of the dollar).

By CJ

September 16, 2008 5:48 PM | Link to this

Here’s a BusinessWeek article, “Why the Fed Didn’t Cut the Funds Rate”, that addresses the question I posed earlier.

Me? I think the Fed should have lowered the rate. Currently inflation isn’t a problem (consumer prices fell in August) and lack of credit is. In addition, to the extent that inflation has been a problem, it’s been the result of high oil prices…not an oversized money supply (as Paul Volker demonstrated in the 70’s, higher interest rates have little or no affect on energy-induced inflation).

By A

September 16, 2008 7:59 PM | Link to this

A quick thank you to the Swiftboat Veterans for allowing us a full 8 years of GWB.

God forbid John Kerry were President. He may have put too much regulation and oversight in place to avoid this financial disaster.

By A

September 16, 2008 8:08 PM | Link to this

Hey Truth

Maybe John Kerry’s funny, but not many people are laughing at GW43’s hijinks anymore.

The Moron-in-Chief can’t leave us soon enough and we can thank T Boone Pickens and the rest of the Swiftys for the last 4 years of buffoonery.

By Donovan

September 16, 2008 8:48 PM | Link to this

Where do You creatures come from? Woodstock? Liberal arts colleges? Hollywood? Every election year brings you luatics out like moths to a light. Big buiness is bad. Failed policies. Change for America. Palin is an ignorant woman with no experience. McCain is a clone of Bush. Power to the people. The rich must be punished. The special interest groups are only for the wealthy. Good God! Get over it. The conservatives shall inherit the earth.

By ByteMe

September 16, 2008 9:39 PM | Link to this

Donovan: The conservatives shall inherit the earth.

Not if they get there first….