Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Sins of Deregulation

It's too late to avert the financial catastrophe we find ourselves in, but to avoid a worse one in the near future we must regulate the banks and financial institutions.   Didn't we learn anything from the S & L crisis?  Apparently the Republicans in Congress learned nothing.  They not only do NOT want to re-instate the Glass Steagall Act, they want to further weaken the small regulations now in place.

The Occupy Wall Street would never have happened if the Republicans, starting with Ronald Reagan, had not chipped away at regulating the banks and other industries.   Yes, I am including President Clinton in with the Republicans on this disastrous path as it was on his watch that the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed.

I am really becoming angry at the stupidity of the Republican party.   They have been, and are now, bent on destroying what once was a productive and well run society.  They never learn - they keep on compounding the mistakes they made in the past.  History and facts teach them nothing.  They have repeated their mantra of "government being the problem and not the solution" so long they really believe it.   They are taking their party and the country down the tubes.  Idiots.

Am I mad?   You betcha'.  I'm mad as hell.  The economic disaster we are in is affecting my children in very real ways and you know what "she who has no name" said about mama bears.  I know that I should not lump a whole party into a label, but since the R's vote as a bloc it seems appropriate'


15 comments:

RONW said...

Who would even believe this fiasco was allowed to happen. Even the head of the 'lone' federal regulatory agency that oversees derivatives warned of toxic assets in 2006. But her alarm was rejected by Greenspan when she brought it up and instead he got rid of her. Greenspan's motto: "the market will self-regulate itself." Yeah right, wall street won't steal because their conscience will bother them.

Does market regulation work? Well, for example, Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, who are federally regulated, weren't part of the subprime mortages scam. By law they their housing loans were required to be secured by reasonable down payments, prime applicants, etc. unlike the predatory lenders. Yes, Fannie and Freddy are in financial trouble today, but that's because the owners of the sub prime houses in the same neighborhood are delinquent with their payments and forclosures have dropped home values overall. So regulation does indeed work or would have. 2-percent down payments!? Ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

Darlene--How can we continually claim to learn from the past when we then buy every promise made by a politician of whatever stripe? Too many politicians lie to get elected. Others have amnesia about what they once thought would be their course of action (and, this, I can relate to having fallen victim to it, myself!)
If I could rule, today, by fiat, there would be no such thing as an insurance company and no such thing as a bundled investment instrument. In addition, I would do away with inflation (well...while I'm dreamin') so that when one took out a loan, the dollars that would be repaid would be worth the same as the dollars that were borrowed. (This would shoot down a lot of speculation, I think.)
Who am I kidding? If I come back for another go-around, I want to come back as a Martian.
Grumble, brumble....
Cop Car

Xtreme English said...

Thanks for sharing your anger. I'm mad as hell, too. What kind of a world, if any, will our grandchildren live in? I hope they won't be serfs.

Leslie Parsley said...

Yeah. I'm back on. Thank goodness - it's been a long dry spell.

I'm mad as hell, too. I just read a poll showing that Congressional approval rating has dropped to an historic low of 9%. In the meantime, Boehner and Cantor - aka Dumbass and Evilitis - are proposing that Congress meet only 109 days next year. And We the people pay these clowns $174,000 per year???

I don't want insurance companies either but I sure as heck want health insurance of some kind. I have Medicare, thank God, but what about others and what about future generations?

Darlene said...

*RonW - I agree 100% with all you said. Thanks for an informative comment.

*Cop Car - UI think we all have fallen victim to politician's lies.

If only I were older. If they find out that life is sustainable on Mars I would volunteer to colonize it. Do you think we might do better with a fresh start?

*Xtreme English - Workers today are very close to being serfs.

*Leslie Parsley - I will rant for the single payer insurance system until the day I die. My daughter has no insurance and hasn't seen a doctor for years. She is just one of millions.

Joy Des Jardins said...

I'm mad as hell too Darlene...and I'm getting very tired of feeling that way. And I'm certainly sick of all the lies. Good post sweet friend... ~Joy

Hattie said...

Hear, hear! You are so right, Darlene.

Darlene said...

*Joy Des Jardins - I'm afraid we are going to have to stay mad for at least a year. Sigh!

*Hattie - My daughter says Mom's always right. I think she's being sarcastic. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Darlene--No, I don't think that humans would do any better with a fresh start. I think that I've been told that humans once occupied only a small portion of Africa. Now, there isn't a continent left (including the despoiled wilderness of Antarctica!) that is free of human-made problems.

We are our own worst enemy - and - that won't change with a change in venue. Until our brains evolve, we can't have much hope!
Cop Car

Kay Dennison said...

Well said!!!! It's why I got involved in our local 'Occupy' movement. With all the problems the top 1% has created with their greed is evil in the biblical sense of the word. You know -- that book the Reckless Right keeps waving but never seem to 'get' the message. Sigh.

Darlene said...

*Cop Car = I tend to agree with you.

*Kay Dennison - I don't think they have ever read the good book. ;-)

Vagabonde said...

Darlene I am so worried for this country. I am still bewildered to see how many people in my state believe everything the Republican Party tells them. It is a catastrophe really or a tragedy. They are running the US to the ground and so many ignorant voters are helping them.

Rain Trueax said...

I agree with you. They have purposed to let a lot of programs be destroyed by lack of regulation and if they gain the presidency with one more Supreme Court Justice, it'll get worse. It's very scary as we are definitely in a time of transition which means we do have to accept change but why do the Republicans want all the cost borne by the poor and weak with none by the strong and rich? I fear one more Supreme Court Justice like those five.

Darlene said...

*Vagabonde - Unfortunately for both of us we live in the Bible Belt south and the people raised here were taught to believe everything the preacher told them (Fundamentalists mostly) and never to think for themselves. So it's a habit they formed and they just transferred that misbegotten faith to their right wing politicians.

*Rain _ I remember fighting the election of George Bush twice because of the impact he would have on the Supreme Court. If we have one more conservative political activist on the court this country will suffer for generations. I think it's time to stop lifetime tenure for the Justices.

Nance said...

Right on, Darlene!