Excellent explanation of the roots of this crisis...

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by Cougar Hunter

The theories attempting to link the sub-prime crisis on Clinton's policies to reduce discriminatory credit practices hold no water.

http://www.businessweek.com/investin...ity_reinv.html

Try to keep up.

It depends on who you want to listen to. I prefer conservative hacks like Coy. You prefer liberal hacks like Pressman.

[Ma'ake]

Originally Posted by PaloAltoCougar

One of our problems is that we expect a bunch of political science majors (and, admittedly, lawyers) to be able to understand, much less regulate efficiently, the incredibly complex capital markets. I support government and judicial oversight if it can be done efficiently, but I seriously wonder if we're up to the task.

The degree of complexity is excessive, unnecessarily, IMO. Oversight would need to come in the form akin to the "Council of Economic Advisors" or the entity that sets accounting standards. Maybe the key is bring the financial players to heal under the threat of heavier governmental involvement. Clearly the pendulum has swung away from Gramm & Greenspan's view of deregulation. Fox / chicken coop.

This is perhaps an overly simplistic suggestion, but why not restrict ARMs and severely restrict interest-only loans?

And praising the Chinese economic system is a bit like praising Cuba's medical system. They both have certain advantages, but on balance, where would you rather start a company or get open heart surgery?

Two responses:

1. My point was as a nation we need to focus more on the "real economy", nuts & bolts competitiveness, educational achievement, investing in human capital. As anyone who has participated in an IPO or "irrationally exhuberent" stock price inflation can tell you, Wall Street too often represents a fundamental disconnect from what actually makes a company, a product, an economy, vibrant & competitive.

2. Maybe a better healthcare example would be Singapore or Malaysia, where excellence in healthcare & medical research is unincumbered by an elaborate financial (ie, private insurance) labryinth.

(I note your point, just returning serve at a different angle.)

[MikeWaters]

also unencumbered by having to worry about the welfare of the planet and the free world.

boy, if we could just stop worrying about those things, we could afford a lot more things.

folks, this is what we are going to get with democrats in office. soft-headed fools who will try to radically reinvent the West and bring it to heel with their all-knowing expertise and governance.