Sometimes the public at large, as inexpert as it may be on the intricacies of economic policy and unschooled as it is in the fine points of what has passed for sophisticated financial practices, get to fundmental truths before the Beltway and academic elites. The public has had it with bailouts — for banks, AIG, and car companies. They sense we are wasting billions, enriching the undeserving, sparing the mendacious and ultimately postponing and worsening the inevitable reckoning. And unlike Congress they understand that the bill will be coming to them, their kids and their grandkids. Not many inside the Beltway grasp this — or will admit it if they do.
Then along comes someone talking sense:
“If companies fail, you need to let them fail,” former SEC Chairman Richard Breeden told the Senate Banking Committee Thursday. Mr. Breeden went on to trash almost every premise behind Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s year of bailouts. “We seem to have policy makers who either don’t understand it or are afraid to use it,” he said of Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code.
Turning to Mr. Geithner’s latest idea of an overall regulator of systemic risk, Mr. Breeden said: “It won’t work to try to assign planning for every potential risk in the economy to a single agency unless we want a centrally planned economy like the old Soviet Union. . . . It is particularly hard for me to see a case that any single group of regulators did such a good job [in anticipating the current crisis] that they deserve becoming the Über Regulator of the country.”
[. . .]
“The rule of law is a very valuable thing,” said Mr. Breeden, especially when compared to the ad hoc rescues of the past year. Mr. Breeden added that the Federal Reserve “should be a central bank, not the world’s largest hedge fund.”
Mr. Breeden proposed a simple reform in which courts would be given the resources to quickly process an AIG-sized bankruptcy. He recommended “a special ‘systemic bankruptcy’ court composed of federal District or Circuit Court judges with prior experience in large bankruptcy or receivership cases,” much as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court specializes in weighing warrant requests related to foreign spying in the U.S.
Gosh, that does make a whole lot of sense. We stop politicians and appointees from running businesses for which they have no expertise. (No longer do we have a committee of a dozen people, who are only getting up to speed on the operation of the car industry, deciding the fate of billions in taxpayer subsidies.) We allow shareholders and management to bear the lionshare of the financial burden — not the taxpayers. And whatever taxpayer resources we have been spending by the boatload on ineffective bailouts can go toward retraining employees or providing incentives for viable firms to expand and hire.
You would think after the AIG bonus debacle the politicians would have learned some humility. But no, they’re still bent on micromanaging the economy. If you thought markets were imperfect, wait until the politicians and their hired hands run the show. There is another choice — one which the country at large seems to be embracing. We’ll have to see if any of the Washington crowd follows.
“—showed the Dow plunging 281 points.”
Your position is that the Dow is an important gauge of the president’s success,not mine,yours. I sincerely hope that everything I’ve said is wrong,and the Dow keeps going up. I believe that you will be very unhappy if the Dow keeps on going up. If I’m wrong,my apologies.
We’ve lost Geroge Will? Oh No… Who will be our pompous and purple Neo-Con stooge?
Again, Will is assuming a fact not yet in evidence, to wit, that Obama is a MATURE adult.
Would a mature American politician returned the Churchill bust with so little ceremony, with so evident an intent to deliberately offend. Would a mature, ordinary human being have deliberately insulted a visiting dignitary by presenting him with DVDs that because of his occular difficulties, he would be unable to enjoy.
Would any mature man have spent so much as a month listening to Wright’s harrangues, let alone a year, let alone a decade, let alone TWO DECADES?
There’s much that can be said about Obama, but not that he represents political maturity.
And many of us are beyond the point where we deem Obama “in denial.” This is deliberate on his part. He knows exactly how much carnage he’s wreaking on the American economy, the American middle class and America’s future.
I think he’s very quietly enjoying it immensely. And if he could get away with it, he’d flip us the finger, much as he did, so classlessly, to Hillary.
What a recipe for political success.
First ignore men like Will, Welch and Buffett, and instead focus on the uninformed opinion of the great unwashed, particularly the party’s base in the inner city, many of whom couldn’t identify Mexico on a map, and if offered a chunk of the bailout cash, couldn’t identify Venezuela either.
Obots, ——————- the polls are lagging indicators in this instance.
AND you know it!
Hence forth we’ll be sipping out cocktails during unhappy hour…
Just like during the election, obama ignores his critics and continues with his game plan (and that worked pretty well for him). Look to J-Rub for advice on WHAT to do is laughable – she and hers own the destruction of this economy – and everyone knows it – why do you think the Republican brand has fallen somewhere between excrement and dried excrement.
A new McClatchy-Ipsos poll finds that 65 percent of Americans approve of the way Obama is doing his job roughly 50 days into his presidency.
So tell me how confidence in Obama is being undermined? Democrats and Independents overwhelmingly support him. Republicans don’t.
The majority that elected him wants Obama to focus on a broad progressive agenda. Only conservatives want him to be less ambitious.
“Would any mature man have spent so much as a month listening to Wright’s harrangues, let alone a year, let alone a decade, let alone TWO DECADES?”
Please – Wright is a better man than most who post here – and probably smarter too. That the same folks who castigated Obama for Wright never said a word about the influence of the excreable Jerry Fallwel and pat Robertson on the White House not only shows their hypocrisey, but their ignorance, as well…
HAHA, George Will? Really? We’re supposed to give a rat’s ass about what GEORGE WILL thinks? Are you people serious?
But if Obama’s administration really is falling to pieces, 50 days in, because a feeble, neocon octogenarian who is trying to strangle himself to death with his own bow-tie says so, how come everyone still hates republicans?
This will do the job;a deep depression with a crashed stock market. That should be enough for the Opposition to regain congress and the Presidency. The sooner the better. Jen, admit it,it’s your favorite fantasy.
” new McClatchy-Ipsos poll finds that 65 percent of Americans approve of the way Obama is doing his job roughly 50 days into his presidency.”
Oh polls – they’re only for people interested in facts… J-Rub doesn’t need a poll – not when she has George Will and Camile Paglia as stand ins for the American people (and let’s not forget, Camille ALSO said: “President Obama — in whom I still have great hope and confidence…). Oh, and I’ve not heard J-Rub comment on the market in the last few days… It’s above 7000 today…
Let me guess – Dead Cat Bounce…
Will is taking Obama to task for failure to govern, i.e., make the hard choices. What did anyone truely expect? Obama is the guy that repeatedly voted “present” while in the Illinois legislature in order to avoid making hard choices. Obama is the guy that barely checked into the United States Senate before launching his campaign for the Presidency and, as a result, was rarely present in that chamber to cast a vote. This is a man with little or no record of governance. Why would Will, or anyone, expect anything different now? After all, Obama has a campaign to run, damnit.
Messiah chain-smoking Obama cannot ween his dependency to telepromter.
What does his puppet master Pelosi has done to this poor guy? He has become a butt of joke around the globe.
Dow is up 430 points in 3 days. That must because the market loves the omnibus spending bill, or Obama’s lifting of the ban on stem cells — or maybe the movement of the market has more to do with Citi’s earnings, the price of oil, jobs nos. that were in line with expectations — and has precious little to do with Obama’s policies.
From #8: “Please – Wright is a better man than most who post here”.
So, you think that America deserved “9/11″ as Wright does? Or that Louis Farrakhan “truly epitomizes greatness?” Or, that Jews helped Hitler “get the Third Reich on the road”? C’mon, big guy –time to put up or shut up.
#14
You’re exactly right;and that goes either way. It’s Jen and her buddies that have pitted the Dow against Obama,that’s a mistake because it appears that they’re hoping for a crash to prove the correctness of their ideology.
Welcome to
CHICAGO ON THE POTOMAC
Now you are getting the feel for how it is to live in a city that rules a state, except now it is a city that runs the government of the nation. Corrupt, vile, dangerous to life and limb, its power is wielded by an amoral, machiavelian, group of ill-prepared, self-serving nincompoops whose chief word-slinger is a man of just that “words, just words.” And as we know, words are cheap.
Nothing that Obama has said or done is a mystery or unknown quality to those of us who have had to endure the politics of Chicago as the controlling influence in our state. The news media had ample opportunity to investigate and report on the background and temperament of this man and those who surround him, yet willfully neglected to do so.
Obama is a milquetoast of a man, willing to bend to those on whom he relies for support. In Chicago, he catered to the Daley machine and his local mentors such as Emil Jones, and in Washington, he will go along with the Reids and the Pelosis. In other words, he won’t buck the machine or the powers that be.
He is a suit and a mouth. Get over the surprise at misjudging this man, for he is a man, for all that.
To be fair, Will cannot be properly placed with the others. He had problems with Bush and McCain but he was at best tyring to stay open mined about Obama.
#1, don’t go all soft on us now, Dr. Doom.
#19,
I’ve always been a softee;I don’t want to be right;I didn’t want this mess;I want our economy back but without Inflation & Boom&Bust. I also want a solid growing job market so my kids can cut the cord,leave the house,and make a living.
#11
I’ve got a 1931 Lenin trading card and 1928 Trotsky that I’ll swap you for that Marx rookie card you’ve got framed.
Let’s hear now from Peggy Noonan, who became infatuated with the idea of Obama as president.
Pundits should be licensed. The must register for 3 areas of expertise (Economics, Foreign Policy and Baseball). The must pass a 400 level college course in their area of expertise OR have taught at that level in a recognized university. They must publish all affiliations to think tanks, political organizations or corporations. 3 wrong predictions in any 3 month period will place them on the “reserve list” and allow new pundits to take the prime position until they too go “reserve”. A impartial scoring agency will be funded by the pundits themselves to maintain scoring and stats. These stats will be use to provide Ratings (AAA. AA, A, BBB, BB, B etc.) much like consumer credit scores. All publications is none certifed areas of expertise MUST contain notification as such and be subject to peer review.
All pundits can publish as citizens to maintain 1st amendment right, but again they must contain notification. “This reflect the personal opinion of the author. The author is not certified or recognized as an expert in this area”.
I figure 90% of our pundits would drop out leaving us with people who know WTF they are talking about.
We are right. It doesn’t take a great deal of intelligence or erudition, just a minimal amount of common sense, obejctivity, awareness of human nature and a very cursory knowledge of history.
If you steal money from people who work and invest, and create other disincentives for work and investment, people will not work and invest, or at least will do a lot less of both. It couldn’t possibly be simpler. Everytime taxes are cut and the size of government is somewhat contained (it is, quite tragically, never reduced) people work and save and produce wealth. When taxes go up and the size of government explodes they do less of this. It is utterly astonishing that a sentient 18 year old cannot figure this out.
It is also true that human beings are given to greed and corruption which ends up destroying wealth (of course government intervention almost invariably exacerbates these defects rather than mitigates them). In such times other traits that are an ineredicable part of human nature (envy, stupidty, ignorance, cowardice or just plain old ideology which induces people not afflicted by any of the above to have no grasp of reality) and we get the New Deal, the Great Society and possibly the monstrosity that is now being foisted upon us.
There can be no doubt, therefore that Obama is destroying the market. If McCain were President with this Congress the market would be between 8500 and 10,000. If Paul Ryan were President with 70%+ supply side majorities.
To get back to my intial point, our theories are not reasonably debatable and need no validation for those capable of objective analysis. With respect to the market I absolutely want it to go down. At the most basic level this would make it Obama-proof. I have enough faith in the people of this country to believe that economic growth will return inspite of the arduous efforts of the administration to squash it. The market will be at 13,000 or higher sometime before the end of Obama’s second term if the world is cursed with such. There would be better returns from 5000 then 7000 and so yes I’d like to see it at that level even though I started dipping my toes in this week. (Should probably have done more). And yes, if it were to do so, it would be more likely (though by no means certain) that Republicans could regain control and, depending on the extent to which they do so, the market would rise to at least 16,000 and possibly quite a bit higher over the same time.
#24,
Here’s the fly in the ointment,what if it takes $100 to buy a loaf of bread.
“There can be no doubt, therefore that Obama is destroying the market. If McCain were President with this Congress the market would be between 8500 and 10,000.”
NO Doubt? What dream world do you inhabit? McCain has offered not a whit of advice on how to get us out of this economic slump – in fact, not a single republican has offered a thing. Guys like you are funny – geniuses AFTER the fact – so tell us when did YOU get out of the market?
“There can be no doubt, therefore that Obama is destroying the market. If McCain were President with this Congress the market would be between 8500 and 10,000. If Paul Ryan were President with 70%+ supply side majorities.”
Wow. Post of the decade right there.
Warp,
I confess, I’m one of those who didn’t get out of the market. Dubious investor that I am, I actually believed that all these Wall Street heros who were fattening Obama’s campaign coffers would express their confidence in his abilities by pumping money into the market as soon as he was elected, and I could make a short-term killing until the bitter truth penetrated even into them.
What I forgot was that while there are a whole bunch of dumb rich boys on Wall Street (I went to school with a good many of them) there are a few smart ones as well (I went to school with a couple of those, too, far less numerous, but memorable). The smart guys promptly bailed. And the dumb ones, doing what they usually do, followed like lemmings. So my “Obama bounce” turned into the “Obama crash” six months before I thought it would. And I was left stuck in the market.
But like Cavalier, I’ve actually started nibbling a bit. I don’t think that even Obama can drive our market to zero. He has already destroyed more wealth than any president in our history, but even incompetence must produce a bottom somewhere, and I suspect it can’t be that far below where we now are.
I sense the “smart money” starting to nibble as well, as it becomes increasingly apparent that the emperor’s clothes has been identified and he will shortly sink into well-deserved impotence, with a grid-locked congress of frightened dems facing a day of reckoning and getting out of the way while the country gets back on its feet.
Maybe I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. Perhaps some day you’ll join us … (It’s already getting late in the day – I’m starting to plagiarize nincompoops!)
Where are these people going to be when Inflation comes roaring in, {as a natural and inescapable consequence of our monetary AND fiscal policy}.
But I’m still stunned by the defense offered for Wright.
Wright, that kook, “smarter” and “better.”
Anyone who could even think that is missing the key for all civilized discourse, and that’s good faith, simple good faith.
Materialist:
The drop in the market since Obama has been president is less then the drop beofre. Secondly the market should reflect the actual value of the stocks. Clearly the values were heavily inflated and not very reflective of the actual value. Any valuation based on perception is just plain ridiculous and to lay blame on Obama for the first 50 days because you gambled and lost just shows that facts tend to get in the way of perception.
#28,” He has already destroyed more wealth than any president in our history”
The rest of your post was pretty good,but Lyndon Johnson was the greatest destroyer of our wealth in our history by far. We’re still feeling the effects of the decisions made during his administration in our current crisis.
Muffler….how can you do that when there is no minimum requirement aside from age and citizenship to vote (Democrats exempted). Pundits come in all sizes and shapes. Jen seems to draw a lot of attention from groupies who would never agree with her about anything.
Muffler…every stock price is based on perception. People have different perceptions about the future. That’s why prices fluctuate.
I think anyone trying to tie a politician, or political event, to daily fluctuations in the averages is undermining their credibility as a serious person. Trends over time is a different matter.
Wow, George Will is off the reservation. Who’d a-thunk it? Ha ha ha ha! Nutcases!
Did anyone notice that the market started recovering a bit when the prospect of Obama implementing his agenda (the great cramdown our throats of his leftist agenda) might not go as smoothly as it once seemed? Evidence of any cold democrat feet toward spending the next generation’s wealth on pork barrel projects and give-away programs today, may indeed be precisely what the American people need to see to restore their willingness to invest.
“But I’m still stunned by the defense offered for Wright.
Wright, that kook, “smarter” and “better.””
That’s because you can’t see past your own blinders. You think Wright – a man who joined the US Marines was born an angry guy, and – obviously, dismiss out of hand, why a US Marine who came home to Jim Crow and discrimination – even after he fought for his country, might start to wonder if his country really stands for HIM or if it actually believes in the values it espouses. Wright is no kook. He’s impolitic and he’s angry – and he says things that make people like you very uncomfortable – but if all you have to tar this man – who gave years to his country – and then came back to serve his community (and by all accounts has done a great job) – if all you have against him is a handful of angry words – then I wonder if you even think about these things.
“Did anyone notice that the market started recovering a bit when the prospect of Obama implementing his agenda (the great cramdown our throats of his leftist agenda) might not go as smoothly as it once seemed…”
To translate: when the market tanks, it’s BECAUSE of Obama – and when it’s doing good, it’s IN SPITE of Obama…
we’ll see how THAt plays in Peoria…
Muffler,
I don’t how you invest, but most of us do so in the attempt to make money in the future. The “Obama market” dates from the moment it became apparent to the investment community that he would be elected. To date it from his inauguration is convenient, if you happen to be an apologist for this particular administration, but is, also, an exercise in either denial or deceit. Take your pick.
RCAR,
I am not going to argue with you over whether LBJ or BHO is the more competent destroyer of wealth. They share a league of their own.
Have to leave this thread now – my day job calls.
To translate: when the market tanks, its’s BECAUSE of Obama’s leftist agenda – and when its doing better, it’s because that agenda might not be implemented.
I’m sure you’ll figure it out after reading it a couple times, and I would bet the folks in Peoria can figure it just fine.
WARPUB,
any defense offered for Wright is bad faith.
And you know it.
You’re so keen on point scoring that you can’t admit you crossed a line.
I’m quite well aware that this is all a game for you, some continual exercise where you think you display your intellectual agility. And your passion for that just led you to defend a despicable, hate-filled lunatic, who when he’s not racking up millions and churning out lunatic pronouncments, he’s out there swanning around with fellow freakshows like Farrakhan and Khadaffi!
You crossed a line dude, and your smart enough to know it.
Others might get a pass for sitting in the aisles of Wright, but Obma doesn’t. And you don’t get any pass for offering any defense of that kook.
And I don’t give two damns that he was a former Marine, so was Lee Harvey Oswald. And I wouldn’t care if he had more military medalia than Audie L. Murphy!
39
materialist Says:
March 12th, 2009 at 2:03 PM
RCAR,
I am not going to argue with you over whether LBJ or BHO is the more competent destroyer of wealth. They share a league of their own.
Have to leave this thread now – my day job calls.
Take a peek before the night shift starts. Obama is Pop Warner league:LBJ + his Congress was the Super Bowl. Adjusted for Inflation,4 trillion dollars of borrowing off the books that has distorted our national finances for forty years including forty years of nasty inflation. LBJ’s deficits lead to the disaster in 1971,when our currency went all paper.
He doesn’t know what he is talking, he think everyone who disagree with Obama are his enemy, too. Blind-faith.
“Mature leaders know that to govern is to choose” ??? Did George Will somehow miss the memo about how many times Obama voted “present” in the Illinois state Senate?
This makes me sick. I know people who voted for Obama because of George Will.
Such as, in September:
“It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092202583.html