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Obama Does His Best to Feed End Time Fears

Posted by Playful Walrus on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 6:36:31 PM
A financial system overhaul?  Life is sounding more and more like Left Behind every day.  Just for the record - I do expect that Jesus Christ will return and life as we know it will end, but whether that's happening soon after an any-day-now Rapture with the world going to hell under a powerful antichrist world leader, or whether that is happening thousands of years from now under different circumstances - I'm not convinced either way.  (What I am sure of is that we're never guaranteed another day - follow Christ and be prepared to die today or to live to a ripe old age.)  But when I read today's headlines, it is like I'm reading bad rewrite of The Late, Great Planet Earth.  Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn And Martin Crutsinger bring us the story on Obama's plans to "help" the market.
The Obama plan would give new powers to the Federal Reserve to oversee the entire financial system and would also create a new consumer protection agency to guard against credit and other abuses that played a big role in the current crisis.
Great – just what we need.  We need more power to be centralized at the federal level.

So the feds are going to fight "credit abuses" and mortgage problems.  What does that mean?  Making sure that people aren't given credit or mortgages that they can’t afford?  Okay, good.

But then what will happen?  Fewer "poor" people, and thereby a "disproportionate" percentage of minorities, will be getting lines of credit or mortgages.  Obama and others who think his way will see that as a problem.

So what will that mean?  It will mean Obama will be "forced" to help out those people being denied their "dreams".

That will mean the rest of us, through our taxes, will have to be on the hook to provide those people lines of credit and mortgages, and when they default, we're going to have to eat the costs.  Write it down.  This is how it will work out.  How is that different than what is going on now?  Well, it won't be a "voluntary" reaction by Congress and companies any more.  It will be a matter of policy, course, and law.
Lawrence Summers, head of the president's National Economic Council, said that those who believed this power should not reside with the Fed had the responsibility to make the case for some other agency.
Wrong!  Wrong wrong wrong!  It is up to you to show where the Constitution permits this, and why it is necessary.  You aren't allowed by the Constitution to just make up new government agencies to do new things.
The creation of the new consumer agency is aimed at guarding against the kinds of lending abuses which resulted in many Americans being saddled with far more mortgage debt than they could handle.
It is up to the customer to find out what they are buying.  As long as the lender didn't lie to the borrower, the government should stay out of it.
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Note to Congress and Credit Card Companies

Posted by Playful Walrus on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 3:56:20 PM
I don't buy things I can't afford.  I pay my credit card bills in full by their due date, so as to not pay any interest.  I realize the credit card companies are not making money on me, except for whatever fees they change the business from which I am buying goods or services.

If I am going to be penalized for the sake of people who have bought things they can't afford by having to pay interest from the time of purchase or fees, then I will simply cancel my credit card accounts.

There are plenty of ways I'm already being punished and forced to make life easier for others who haven't done as I have done – live within their means.  I don't need another.

All of my credit card applications came with clear tables that showed what the fees and rates would be.  No credit card was issued to me against my will.  Am I alone?
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The Hype is Worse Than the Financial Problems

Posted by Playful Walrus on Tuesday, October 07, 2008 3:28:14 PM
This constant media assault about how bad the economy is and how we’re in a meltdown, a crisis, or a disaster is just too much.  It only contributes to the problem.  The media, desperate for and audience and for a President Obama, fan the flames.

All I have noticed in my life is lower gas prices.

Oh, I suppose if you’re trying to sell your house for more than you bought it a couple of years ago when prices were wildly inflated or if you have bad credit and you’re trying to get a loan, or if you helped sell foolish loans and are now laid off, then things aren’t so hot for you right now.  Same goes for needing to cash out your stock market investments.

Really, though – how many of you have been laid off and haven’t moved on to another job?  How many of you have had any trouble whatsoever getting your own money from your own bank account?  How many of you have, in the past, had no problem getting a decent loan and now find yourself in need to a loan an unable to get one?

Nobody likes to see their investments lose value.  I’m not even looking at mine right now.  I don’t plan on cashing them out for a long time.  But how many of you were ready to cash out right now anyway?  Unless we’re at the end of civilization, your diversified investments will rise back up in value.

Like I said, gas prices are going down.  More than that – the dollar is rising.  Ah, but those of you who relished in blaming Bush for a lower dollar making it more expensive for you to hang out in Europe on vacation will have one less thing to complain about, right?

Don’t let the hype panic you.  Be smart with your money and you’ll be okay – as long as the taxman doesn’t take it all.

Considering the enemies we have lurking in this world, I thank God that we’re even around to debate fiscal policy.
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Throw the Virgin in the Volcano

Posted by Playful Walrus on Thursday, August 28, 2008 6:41:26 PM
It’s typical, especially during campaigns, and even more so during the national convention, for politicians to blame the other party for everything people don’t like about the state of things today, and credit their party for everything that people like.

For example, Democrats credit President Clinton with the dot-com boom of the 90s, even though Republicans gained control of Congress in 1994.  They blame President Bush for high oil prices right now, even though the prices went up at a faster rate once Democrats took control of Congress.  In reality, oil prices are the result of many factors, some of which have nothing to do with who is the President or who controls Congress, and many of which have been brewing for decades.  The dot-com boom (and bust) was going to happen regardless of who was President.

Bush is getting blamed for home foreclosures, even though many are the result of people taking out loans they couldn’t afford, and lenders issuing loans that would only work out if home values continued to skyrocket and the borrower could sell or refinance.  But cycles are normal in real estate, and it was inevitable that there would be a slowdown.  The question was - when?

Bush gets blamed for the Katrina response, even though disaster preparation and response is a state and local function – the federal government provides financial aid after the fact.

Don’t like your job or lack of one?  Having health problems?  Didn't save enough for your own retirement?  Envious that some people have more money than you?  Blame President Bush!  It’s all his fault, because after all, he is President.  This kind of reasoning is nothing new.  It is akin to throwing a virgin in a volcano because you think that will keep it from erupting.

The President can do much to harm the economy, but he can’t do all that much to help it, except working with Congress to lower taxes and reduce government interference.  Even then, it is what the people do with their own money and freedoms that make the economy what it is.
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