Financial Crisis Whitewashing

The best way to prevent the next financial crisis, or dampen its effects, is to understand the roots of the current crisis. So it is with sadness that I read this article in the Huffington Post today. The article states that the four Republicans on the Financial Crisis Panel are releasing their own report, blaming the crisis on government policy and the Community Reinvestment act of 1977.

The Republicans, led by the commission’s vice chairman, former congressman and chair of the House Ways and Means Committee Bill Thomas, will likely focus their report on the explosive growth of subprime mortgages and the heavy role played by the federal government in pushing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase and insure them. They’ll also likely focus on the Community Reinvestment Act, a 1977 law that encourages banks to lend to underserved communities…

This seems disingenuous and untrue. It gets worse:

During a private commission meeting last week, all four Republicans voted in favor of banning the phrases “Wall Street” and “shadow banking” and the words “interconnection” and “deregulation” from the panel’s final report, according to a person familiar with the matter and confirmed by Brooksley E. Born, one of the six commissioners who voted against the proposal.

The beneficiaries of the biggest bail out in American history are also getting the benefit of this grand whitewashing.

via Calculated Risk

Republican Response

Bob McDonnell’s response to the SOTU address does not compute for me.

In the past year, over three million Americans have lost their jobs, yet the Democratic Congress continues deficit spending, adding to the bureaucracy, and increasing the national debt on our children and grandchildren.

Most economists would agree that spending is necessary in order to end a recession. Calling to end spending now would put our recovery at risk. Even if you don’t believe in the Keynesian effect, you would still want to get out of a recession with some spending until you saw an increase in inflation. Thankfully, we don’t face inflation as a serious issue yet.

But most Americans do not want to turn over the best medical care system in the world to the federal government

This graphic would seem to indicate that we do not have the best medical care system in the world. Sure, we spend a lot of money, but our results aren’t all that great.

Americans were shocked on Christmas Day to learn of the attempted bombing of a flight to Detroit. This foreign terror suspect was given the same legal rights as a U.S. citizen, and immediately stopped providing critical intelligence.

Bob McDonnell seems to be arguing that the foreign terror suspect should have been stripped of his legal rights and forced to continue providing critical intelligence, perhaps through “enhanced interrogation techniques”. This is similar in nature to the stance that Scott Brown holds:

Brown, in response to a question, told reporters that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a passenger jet en route to Detroit on Christmas Day, should be treated as an enemy combatant, taken to the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, interrogated “pursuant to our rules of engagement and laws of war,” and not be treated as a civilian criminal suspect. Brown asserted that waterboarding does not constitute torture, but he did not specifically say Abdulmutallab should be subjected to waterboarding. — Link

I am increasingly concerned with the election of public officials who endorse torture.

Tea Party-goers Protest Metro

The WSJ is reporting that the organizers of the Tea Party protests are now protesting against the treatment, or lack thereof, they received from the DC Metro.

Rep. Kevin Brady asked for an explanation of why the government-run subway system didn’t, in his view, adequately prepare for this past weekend’s rally to protest government spending and government services.

As 538 reported, about 60,000 to 70,000 crazies, er people attended the protest in DC.

70 thousand people, rather, is about the number that will attend the Washington Redskins’ home opener next week. That’s a lot of people. Washington — actually Landover, Maryland, where FedEx Field is located — will be inconvenienced. But it won’t be shut down. Business will go on more or less as usual.

The protest organizers are using any and every tactic to show numbers. This includes spreading fake/old pictures. Sadly, the intelligent discourse on health reform is being hijacked by a crazy vocal minority.