Candidate & VP competence in economics

[JoeSixpack]

You have to watch this.

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[metalman]

if she does not withdraw i have to vote for obama. no choice whatsoever.

[we_are_toast]

http://bp3.blogger.com/_PWR3w2VkSZs/RmpTtIB_9ZI/AAAAAAAAAS8/gFMcCdUsAR4/s400/homer_the_scream.jpg

[jtabeb]

if she does not withdraw i have to vote for obama. no choice whatsoever.

This is even better!

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/couric-palin-open/704042/

[Jay]

Just a heartbeat away and McCain will be the oldest president to have started his first term, 72. Look at any of her interviews, she is clueless. Hmmmm.....

[BrianL]

I raise you Palin on energy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqITmC8fPS8&NR=1

(These types of clips out of context are closer to political hit jobs than anything, but this was too painful not to share)

[moonshot]

How to understand Palin's answer to Couric's question in that Cafferty clip:

She's got an ordered list of a couple hundred buzzwords in her head and she uses a random number generator to select the buzzwords as she connects them together with pronouns, prepositions, adverbs, etc.

[Lukester]

Truly horrific. The thought of her taking over the Chief Executive position in an emergency sounds like something out of Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange.

[c1ue]

Here's a question for the community: Palin better or worse than W?

Smarter or stupider?

Just trying to understand the bar that's set for presidential requirements.

[babbittd]

Palin has performed poorly during these interviews, but I'm actually giving her some benefit of the doubt until the debate. She had little time to prepare for McCain's campaign and talking points. That is a strike against McCain, not Palin.

Disclosure: I will probably vote for Obama / Biden, but defininitely will not vote for McCain / Palin.

[BK]

I'm not an enthusiastic McCain supporter or a registered Republican. I am a super fiscal conservative.
Doesn't anyone else have great concerns regarding Senator Obama's links to the Current Real Estate meltdown?

Look at the Contributions he received from Fannie Mae.

Is work as a Civil Rights lawyer was directly related to getting financing from Banks for Real Estate Development for people to qualify for sub prime loans?

I look at the involvement in the current Fiscal crisis that is directly attributable to a large number of Democrats. How many Democrats prevented the beefing up the oversight of Fannie Mae. Yes - there were Republicans feeding at the Fannie/Freddie trough - but, perhaps fewer than Democrats.

Democrats blocked increased regulation of Fannie and Freddie - and now Democrats are saying lack of regulation caused todays crisis. Democrats in the 1990s were responsible for beefing up the Community reinvestment Act that force Banks to issue more Sub Prime loans.

I feel stuck - with little choice to place a vote for McCain or a third party candidate.

Wasn't Senator Obama one of the foxes who was feasting on the Hens while watching the Hen House?

[babbittd]

I'm not a Democrat, in fact am a registered Republican, but am not a strict party voter/true believer.

This placing of the blame squarely at the feet of racial minorities is sickening to say the least, but also not surprising as the GOP is clearly desperate for election victories in 2008.

Democrats in the 1990s were responsible for beefing up the Community reinvestment Act that force Banks to issue more Sub Prime loans.

So that is the entire picture?


University of Michigan law professor Michael Barr testified back in February before the House Committee on Financial Services that 50% of subprime loans were made by mortgage service companies not subject comprehensive federal supervision and another 30% were made by affiliates of banks or thrifts which are not subject to routine supervision or examinations.

[..]

CRA loans carried lower rates than other subprime loans and were less likely to end up securitized into the mortgage-backed securities that have caused so many losses, according to a recent study by the law firm Traiger & Hinckley.

[..]

...the worst offenders, the independent mortgage companies, were never subject to CRA...

source: Aaron Pressman on BusinessWeek.com (http://www.businessweek.com/investing/insights/blog/archives/2008/09/community_reinv.html)


Did racial minorities and their friends in Congress force through the following?


2004: The SEC waived its leverage rules. Previously, broker/dealer net-capital rules limited firms to a maximum debt-tonet-capital ratio of 12 to 1. This 2004 exemption allowed them to exceed this leverage rule. Only five firms -- Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley -- were granted this exemption; they promptly levered up 20, 30 and even 40 to 1.


2005-'07: Unscrupulous home appraisers found that they could attract more business by inflating appraisals. Intrinsic value was ignored, so referrals kept coming in. This helped borrowers obtain financing at prices that were increasingly unsupportable. When honest appraisers petitioned both Congress and the bureaucracy to intervene in the widespread fraud, neither branch of government acted.

source: Barry Ritholz - Barron's (http://online.barrons.com/article/SB122246742997580395.html)


And finally, how many mortgage lenders were forced at gunpoint by racial minorities and their friends in Congress to issue CRA loans to the predominantly white residents of Orange County?

From EJ's: Housing Bubble Correction Update: Fasten your seat belts, here comes the jobs crash (Part I) (http://itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?p=39709&highlight=orange+county#post39709)


Don't let anyone tell you that defaults are limited to mortgages on low cost homes. The map below shows 200 of 629 homes valued at $1,000,000 and up in Orange County, CA that are in foreclosure or are lender owned. Image compliments of CA foreclosure data site ForeclosureRadar.com (http://www.foreclosureradar.com/) founded and run by iTulip member Sean O'Toole.


http://www.itulip.com/images/CAforeclosuresJuly2008.jpg



Federal money arrives to bail out some foreclosures (http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2008/09/29/daily17.html)

Orange County is getting the biggest chunk of money at $27.9 million.

Oops!

[BK]

I'm not trying to lay this entire mess at the feet of the CRA. The CRA probably helped a good number of people in our society.

Let's remember where Real Estate market was in the mid to late nineties. The Housing recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s a painful AND recent memory. Politicians needed some tool to revitalize Real Estate - especially in the Cities.

The CRA was JUST part of the fuel to start the Housing inferno . Then the Masses joined in when Real Estate started appreciating faster than any other Asset.

Then Greenspan feed to fire with the Ultra low interest rates in 2001- and you couldn't convince a person living in the USA that Real Estate was not a Risk proof Asset.

Every politician in the last twenty years has used every political/regulatory tool to increase the number of people who own or rent a home from a Bank. The CRA was a very important tool in getting the inferno started when people were still suspicious of Real Estate.

Can anyone provide the names of two or three Democratic Politicians who were in favor of increasing over sight of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac?

Increased oversight may have reduced the current crisis we find our selves in?

[babbittd]

Doesn't anyone else have great concerns regarding Senator Obama's links to the Current Real Estate meltdown?


On one hand you say that "every politician in the last twenty years has used every political/regulatory tool to increase the number of people who own or rent a home from a Bank." but on the other you want to "look at the involvement in the current Fiscal crisis that is directly attributable to a large number of Democrats."

BK, what is the point of that, if not an exercise in Team-Party politics, i.e. an attempt to lay the blame for the current mess at the feet the Democrats?

Of course I'm concered about the money that has fueled Obama's rise and that he is a relative unknown. We don't know if he will actually take on the Dem. leadership from the White House.

Are you at all concerned with McCain's record of 20+ years in the Senate?

Your posts come off as backdoor McCain endorsements. Are you being totally honest with us or what? I'll say it again so everyone knows where I stand - I am an Obama leaner that could never, based on his record of service to the F.I.R.E. industries vote for McCain, so it's either Obama or no one on my ballot in 2008.

[BK]

According to Foreclosure.com

Cook County - foreclosure situation looks like - this -

10,999 properties in Foreclosure -

3,393 Foreclosures on Properties that are valued under $400,000
of these 3393 properties - 3140 properties are valued under $250,000

Yes - there are lots of greedy folks at both end of the economic spectrum - but, the data seems to indicate that the numbers of foreclosures are exploding in Urban areas. At least, Cook County-IL is in a state of crisis - if these numbers are accurate.

[BK]

Given - I'm not excited by McCain as President. I'd prefer a United States where one party controls Congress and the other party controls the Executive Branch.

I've followed Fannie Mae Crisis and CRA involvement for the last 5 years.

I'm not suddenly interested in these topics because of Senator McCain is lagging in the Polls.-

I'll have to give you the phone numbers of my friends and family member who've been bored with my commentary about Fannie Mae and the Community Reinvestment Act.

How can you be excited about Congress and the Executive Branch controlled by one party.

Perhaps I just see the World through my own special glasses.

[c1ue]

I'll say it again so everyone knows where I stand - I am an Obama leaner that could never, based on his record of service to the F.I.R.E. industries vote for McCain, so it's either Obama or no one on my ballot in 2008.

B,

Is it scarier to have McCain with a majority opposition Congress, or Obama with an allied Congress?

[BK]

Its more scary to have Senator Obama with a Democratic majority in Congress.

Its All about a Balance of Power - to keep our Republic safe!

[Lukester]

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[jtabeb]

This is even better!

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/couric-palin-open/704042/


Best quote on Palin's VP Debate performance:

"She was adept at not answering questions and stuck to breezy sound bites, frequently looking to her notes. She criticized Biden and Obama with a smile and her Alaska accent."

[Lukester]

OK Jtabeb - I gotta hand it to you - yours was funnier. Those SNL guys hammer a mean nail sometimes. We are indeed reaching out to new heights and frontiers in electoral drama in this darkest hour of our nation's history (within a very, very ugly current event which lends this humor it's sharp edge). Nobody does the plastic, campy humor thing better than Americans. Nobody. (which gives me a sudden shocking glimpse of the complete bafflement with which the rest of the world must regard our current "landmark election". Arghh! ) ROFL. :D

Jtabeb's conoisseur GLAM DOCUMENTARY selections brings you:

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/couric-palin-open/704042/

[we_are_toast]

Well doggonnit;), Sarah showed up at them debates and didn't puke on the podium or fall off the stage, and you betcha ;) she showedem that a cutesy hockey mom;) who can see Russia from her window is ready to be the president of the United States. And she didn't need to be answering questions from any liberal moderators;) or washinten insiders;) when she could just look down at her notes and read the answers that folks in small towns all over Alaska and these here United States wanted to hear.;)

Early tracking polls are showing she didn't help the team.

[babbittd]

Well doggonnit;), Sarah showed up at them debates and didn't puke on the podium or fall off the stage, and you betcha ;) she showedem that a cutesy hockey mom;) who can see Russia from her window is ready to be the president of the United States. And she didn't need to be answering questions from any liberal moderators;) or washinten insiders;) when she could just look down at her notes and read the answers that folks in small towns all over Alaska and these here United States wanted to hear.;)

Early tracking polls are showing she didn't help the team.

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/41792/original.jpg

[babbittd]

B,

Is it scarier to have McCain with a majority opposition Congress, or Obama with an allied Congress?

At this moment, it would be worse to have McCain in there. McCain's record is proven and he's been wrong many times. Kosovo - argued that we'd lose without ground troops shortly before it was over. Iraq - was wrong about backing the initial Pentagon plan, hence the need for more troops later on. Afghanistan - called it over long ago. Gramm-Beech-Liley - wrong again. Bankruptcy Bill - wrong again.

I don't trust Biden at all, but McCain / Palin is a non-starter even with the Dem supermajority. Bring on the relative unknown that at least had the balls to vote against his party on some of these issues.

[phirang]

At this moment, it would be worse to have McCain in there. McCain's record is proven and he's been wrong many times. Kosovo - argued that we'd lose without ground troops shortly before it was over. Iraq - was wrong about backing the initial Pentagon plan, hence the need for more troops later on. Afghanistan - called it over long ago. Gramm-Beech-Liley - wrong again. Bankruptcy Bill - wrong again.

I don't trust Biden at all, but McCain / Palin is a non-starter even with the Dem supermajority. Bring on the relative unknown that at least had the balls to vote against his party on some of these issues.

Americans are stupid, but not suicidal: I'll be very, very surprised if Obama loses, especially since he should have Ohio in the bag.

[Rajiv]

SNL skit 10/5/08

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