Paulson voices confidences in U.S. fundamentals »
Posted By RedRiverJ 2 months, 2 weeks ago in NewsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, trying to remedy the biggest U.S. financial crisis in decades, said on Sunday, "I wouldn't bet against the long-term fundamentals of this country."
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RedRiverJ
Love my country. I trust few politicians, feel many of them are self serving and greedy. Independent voter, vote person not party. Strong feelings on ...
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Comments So Far: 74
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willottica2 months, 1 week ago
Right about what? The fundamentals being strong?
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I wonder if anyone who's talking about "the fundamentals of the economy" would like to explain what they mean. What is the fundamental building block of the economy - any economy?
My inclination would be to say that manufacturing, energy, and food are the fundamentals. Producing goods that people need for survival.
How is the US doing lately in terms of production of necessities?
Is our food-production a major part of the economy?
Is production of food well-distributed across the population, or is it controlled by the hands of the few?
Is the United States a net importer or a net exporter of food-stuffs?
How about energy? Is control of the production of energy well-distributed or controlled by a few?
Is the United States a net importer or a net exporter?
Manufactured goods?
Is the US still the leader it once was in manufacturing? Do we continue to produce enough to sell to the outside world (thus increasing our wealth?) Or do we import more than we export, making us dependant on other nations?
So much of the American workforce is now "service industry", wait-staff, fast-food-joints, shopping malls, insurance, etc.: people doing things for us that we could really do for ourselves. How much of the economy is actually based on "necessary work"?
When economic experts are saying that the "fundamentals" are strong, it's time to ask what those "fundamentals" are, and if they can't say, it's time to stop listening to those "experts" and thinking for ourselves.-
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hefaa12 months, 1 week ago
Gasoline just jumped $25 a barrel on news that the US is going ahead with the $700 Billion bailout. The dollar is so weak on the world market it's not funny.
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HOUSEMD2 months, 2 weeks ago
yes, and maybe mccain has been right about other things. http://www.newsweek.com/id/160179
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HOUSEMD2 months, 2 weeks ago
he also may have been right when he tryed to fix the loan situation in 2005.
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http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view=75...
however obama definately thinks he was wrong. fact is , obama has so much confidence in fanny mae and freddy mac officials he hires them for economic "advice"..hmmm., i have my doubts about their ability.-
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tchef2 months, 1 week ago
I have doubts about Phil Graham's abilities, and he was McCain's chief financial adviser until he called us all whiners.
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MRRanchhandsir2UComment removed: User banned.5 Replies
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willottica2 months, 1 week ago
Yeah. When you're disciplined, you don't let panic make you do stupid things.
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tchef2 months, 1 week ago
I see you think we should just sit in this mess and do nothing to move this nation forward. Here's a good idea, lets just pour more money into Iraq, build them more bridges and schools and hospitals and let all of ours fall apart.
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bigurn2 months, 2 weeks ago
Every day the sun comes up in the east. Every day I get up and wonder how to improve or expand my business. I have customers lined up to take my products, and my biggest concern is how I'm going to be able to take a day off at Thanksgiving and at Christmas.
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The American economy is surprisingly resilient. The bailout, which is arguable, is here. Let's make the best of it. The lessons should be that we all take care not to let it happen again, and refuse to prop up weak systems in the future. Yep, me included if I fail. And, yes, I mean it.-
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ind062 months, 2 weeks ago
"The bailout, which is arguable, is here. Let's make the best of it. The lessons should be that we all take care not to let it happen again"
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Yes, the bailout does indeed seem to be here.The second bailout in a generation. Let us make sure we don't let it happen again.
Our new national motto: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, oh well, I'll give you just one more chance not to fool me, then I'm really putting my foot down."
and here I thought irony was dead. -
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Tangent0012 months, 1 week ago
Yes, the lesson we should learn is that industries are not inherently self-policing. I though we had already learned that after the S debacle. I thought we had learned that after ENRON. People like Rush Limbaugh are still hollering that it is too much regulation that is the problem. Do these folks seriously believe that?
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Nowalive2 months, 1 week ago
I agree, the fundamentals are good. However, I would like to see much better oversight on firms that hold such large portfolios. It's one thing for the county savings and loan to fail due to corruption and outright theft, but quite another for a multi trillion dollar international corporation. I would love to see greed be eliminated and CEOs only make maybe a million a year tops.
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People will find a way to recover from this. However a lesson should be learned here by the consumers. Personal responsibility. Just because someone desperate for business in a bloated industry, does not mean that they are helping you.
I have counseled many a young co-worker about these mortgages and have always advised them to pay the higher, yet stable, fixed rate. NEVER take an adjustable rate for anything.-
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GWHayduke2 months, 1 week ago
Anyone involved in the full-time job of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance knows that governmental oversight and regulation is not the be all, end all to corporate corruption.
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You hit the issue on the head when you mentioned "Personal Responsibility".
It is not limited to loans and or mortgages.
It extends to consumption of resources, fuel, food, health care and the list goes on.
Americans are engrained in an entitlement frame of mind where personal responsibility is in short supply.-
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cleare2 months, 1 week ago
yes americans do feel entitled...they work their behinds off for ever diminishing returns on their labor
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we're also fed a constant diet of consumerism and cultural one upsmanship.
and these feelings of entitlement and desires for commodities beyond our reach are preyed upon by corporations with huge marketing budgets to find more and more sophisticated ways into our pocketbook.
mortgages, loans and investments are complex transactions. the consumer has minimal practice and knowledge, while the corporate service providers have all the experience and no morality or ethical limits. how about their responsibilities to provide sound financial products and services --- clearly explained to the consumer?
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nostalgia2 months, 1 week ago
When I start seeing headlines like this, I have to wonder about this "bailout"
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Exclusive: Foreign banks may get help
In a change from the original proposal sent to Capitol Hill, foreign-based banks with big U.S. operations could qualify for the Treasury Department’s mortgage bailout, according to the fine print of an administration statement Saturday night.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13690.ht...
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hamy2 months, 1 week ago
Well, let's look at Bush's track record. He put Wolfie in charge of the...oh, that didn't work out so well. He put Brownie in charge of...oh, that didn't work out so well. He put Bremmer in charge of...oh, that didn't work out so well for us. So what is there to make me trust that Paulson knows anything about what he is doing? Nothing. I have no faith in anyone associated with this current administration.
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So let Paulson say what he wants. According to history, I will go with the opposite.-
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nostalgia2 months, 1 week ago
Unfortunately we are going to have the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Chris Dodd up front and center in this fiasco
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Dodd opposed the bill McCain co-sponsored in 2005 which would have regulated Fannie and Freddie
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nostalgia2 months, 1 week ago
Hamy
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Then you disagree with Dodd and the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate?
"We need to act quickly, and we will in my view,'' Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Senate Banking Committee chairman, said today on ABC News' This Week. "We don't have any choice but to act,'' Dodd said. "I can tell you that (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid and (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi are prepared to act quickly and deliberatively.''
Who are you going to listen to???-
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hamy2 months, 1 week ago
All I am saying is that everyone Bush put in charge of anything so far has been a dismal failure. What would make me believe that this will be any different.
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I am not talking about plans that don't start until the elected take office. I am talking about right now. And your guy Bush isn't doing anything but fail. More of that from McCain just means more failure.
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hamy2 months, 1 week ago
Believe you me. I would have rejected any position he tried to give me in his administration. He has been a colossal failure since birth.
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nostalgia2 months, 1 week ago
No one can "spend $700 billion borrowed from China" unless Congress passes the legislation
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Now exactly which party is it in control of Congress now???
Can you name even one Democrat who sponsored any legislation to regulate Fannie and Freddie?
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GLee2 months, 1 week ago
With Bush trying to make corrections in a corupt Fannie & Freddie in '03 (stopped by Frank & Company)and McCain giving a speech in '05 that the taxpayers would be hurt by Fannie & Freddie...... just maybe these guys have more sense than what the Libs give'm credit for..... HUH??
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Wolfie20072 months, 1 week ago
Republicans do not take the blame for any of this mess it was caused by liberal democrats. It started with Carter and Clinton helped it along. Finally, Frankin Raines helped by Obama, Dodd and Kerry sacked and looted Fannie and Freddie. They are definitely to blame and don't let them get by with trying to pass the buck. Republicans like Bush and McCain tried more than once to stop this but were blocked by democrats like Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. The most expensive commodity we have in this country is ignorance. Find the truth and use it.
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cleare2 months, 1 week ago
geez you are clueless, wolfie. all this began with the cavalry charge to deregulation instigated by reagan. the financial meltdowns started under his reign with the junk bond debacle...followed by the savings & loan bail out, continued through clinton and came to full fruition under the shrub we have to call president...oh, and the venal sob we have to call veep.
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if you follow all that money, you'll find it ended up solidly in republican hands, just as intended.
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Spadecaller2 months, 1 week ago
"I wouldn't bet against the long-term fundamentals of this country."
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That statement is meaningless and dismissive in the light of the present circumstances. Most of us do not want to "bet" on or to even challenge the long term "fundamentals" of our economic structures.
Besides, no one has a crystal ball. However, some of us, including myself had predicted this economic crisis almost two years ago.
The party that likes to boast about being in support of non-regulation is also the party that has always professed that those in government who perform incompetently or who are guilty of malfeasance should be held accountable.
Among these self-ordained "straight-talking" politicians is John McCain; the man who admits he is not knowledgeable on economics and the man who stood by and did nothing when many members of the Senate fought to maintain banking regulations that had been in effect since FDR.
The hypocrisy and dishonesty demonstrated by Bush, Cheney, McCain, Greenspan, and others who have fostered irresponsible and greedy policies that strictly enabled the richest to become richer at the expense of the middle class, the poor, and at the detriment of our nation's economic stability is unconscionable.-
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Spadecaller2 months, 1 week ago
Woolfie:
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You immature personal remarks and namecalling are violations of the terms; are you aware of that or just incapable of controlling your temper?
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RedRiverJ2 months, 1 week ago
What is unconscionable is the liberal refusal to acknowledge any of the democratic failures to protect the citizens of the United States.
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Lots of people saw it coming and tried to do something about it, however their efforts were blocked by some democrats and some republicans.
I hope you did what I did to voice your displeasure by contacting the real culprits behind that is debacle.
I wrote:
Rep. Barney Frank
2252 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-2104
202-225-5931
Senator Chris Dodd
P.O. Box 51882
Washington, DC 20091
202-737-DODD (DC) 860-244-2008
here is more information on this problem,
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fan...-
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FairNBalanced2 months, 1 week ago
Thanks for the info RRJ.
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Folks on this site have become so vile and unconscionable and oblivious to actual facts.
The reinvestment act that was pushed by democrats help get us into this mess. Along the way Bush and many others tried to get some reform over Freddie and Fannie. Democrats are heavily to blame but will not admit to it.
I have not heard one word from Obama that speaks about solutions from this ordeal. He is putting his self over the American people. -
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willottica2 months, 1 week ago
Redriver,
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Good for you for writing and voicing your displeasure. Unfortunately, your displeasure was probably never read, and even if it was, chances are that it had no effect at all.
It reminds me of a scene in "White Chicks" where one of the blonde, rich, debutantes gets really angry and is about to have a "BF" (b itch-f it). Her ultimate statement and threat: that she's going to write a letter. In the movie, this has the desired result of making the other person terrified, "writing a letter" is the most serious that could possibly be done!
Does it make one feel powerful to write a letter? Does it help in any way? I'm not trying to criticize you or belittle your effort, but what can any of us really do when faced with a government that seems determined to ignore us?
If armed resistance is "off-the-table" as it seems to have been in North America for decades now, what power do we actually have to make lawmakers listen? The power of the vote is insignificant when money makes the media go 'round. Most people are too apathetic or disenfranchised to think their votes will make a difference.
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SimplicitasComment removed: User banned.
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redtomatoComment removed: User banned.
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RedRiverJ2 months, 1 week ago
Fannie and Freddie did this by becoming a key enabler of the mortgage crisis. They fueled Wall Street's efforts to securitize subprime loans by becoming the primary customer of all AAA-rated subprime-mortgage pools. In addition, they held an enormous portfolio of mortgages themselves.
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In the times that Fannie and Freddie couldn't make the market, they became the market. Over the years, it added up to an enormous obligation. As of last June, Fannie alone owned or guaranteed more than $388 billion in high-risk mortgage investments. Their large presence created an environment within which even mortgage-backed securities assembled by others could find a ready home.
The problem was that the trillions of dollars in play were only low-risk investments if real estate prices continued to rise. Once they began to fall, the entire house of cards came down with them.-
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RedRiverJ2 months, 1 week ago
Turning Point
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Take away Fannie and Freddie, or regulate them more wisely, and it's hard to imagine how these highly liquid markets would ever have emerged. This whole mess would never have happened.
It is easy to identify the historical turning point that marked the beginning of the end.
Back in 2005, Fannie and Freddie were, after years of dominating Washington, on the ropes. They were enmeshed in accounting scandals that led to turnover at the top. At one telling moment in late 2004, captured in an article by my American Enterprise Institute colleague Peter Wallison, the Securities and Exchange Comiission's chief accountant told disgraced Fannie Mae chief Franklin Raines that Fannie's position on the relevant accounting issue was not even ``on the page'' of allowable interpretations.
Then legislative momentum emerged for an attempt to create a ``world-class regulator'' that would oversee the pair more like banks, imposing strict requirements on their ability to take excessive risks. Politicians who previously had associated themselves proudly with the two accounting miscreants were less eager to be associated with them. The time was ripe.-
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RedRiverJ2 months, 1 week ago
Greenspan's Warning
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The clear gravity of the situation pushed the legislation forward. Some might say the current mess couldn't be foreseen, yet in 2005 Alan Greenspan told Congress how urgent it was for it to act in the clearest possible terms: If Fannie and Freddie ``continue to grow, continue to have the low capital that they have, continue to engage in the dynamic hedging of their portfolios, which they need to do for interest rate risk aversion, they potentially create ever-growing potential systemic risk down the road,'' he said. ``We are placing the total financial system of the future at a substantial risk.''
What happened next was extraordinary. For the first time in history, a serious Fannie and Freddie reform bill was passed by the Senate Banking Committee. The bill gave a regulator power to crack down, and would have required the companies to eliminate their investments in risky assets.
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cleare2 months, 1 week ago
the only bail out that counts with me is the bail out we finally get when this administration leaves office.
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cleare2 months, 1 week ago
i was thinking more in the lines of obama/biden, but even mccain would be an improvement.
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truthiness2 months, 1 week ago
this bail out violates a fundamental concept of capitalism, which has the private and political sectors separate. but, instead of stepping towards the left (socialism) where the govt begins to intervene on behalf of improving the quality of life of the average citizen, instead they have made a step towards the radical right (fascism) in which the govt attempts to build empire by maintaining the organizational structure of the military-industrial complex at the expense of the citizen.
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what fundamentals are the neocons claiming are strong?
our currency is weak
our unemployment is rising
our national debt is rising faster than our tax income
we have a housing crisis
a lending crisis
a health care crisis
a fuel crisis
and we are now violating the principles of capitalism to have the govt bail out the corporations using the tax dollars of the middle class
where are the sound fundamentals?
anyone? -
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truthiness2 months, 1 week ago
btw
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I am sure that Paulson is feeling great about the current economy, since the new bailout plan puts him in charge of half the economy, and disallows accountability or oversight. the 08 election just become moot, Paulson is King of America. -
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simonsez2 months, 1 week ago
Lets have a Congressional hearing investigation and subpoena the executives and previous management of Fannie and Freddie.
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