‘Maverick’ McCain Prefers Hoovervilles
Opposing mortgage bailouts like those underway, John McCain prefers to stand on ideological principle. It worked out well to do nothing the last time, under Herbert Hoover, right?
Of course, he left himself an out:
Mr. McCain said he favored government intervention only when standing by would produce “catastrophic effects” to the economy.
Did someone forget to tell him that ’standing by’ already has produced those ‘catastrophic effects’? Of course, bailing out the ultra wealthy by extending the tax cuts he used to be against before he became for them, is perfectly okay in Maverickland.
March 26th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Why should resonsible taxpayers see their perfectly good tax dollars go greedy borrowers and stupid lenders. All bubbles burst, lust like the stock market in the ‘Nineties. John McCain is right. We can not afford to have the tax payers subsidize greed and stupidity.
If you want a real economic stimulus, lower the price of energy. It energy which powers the economy and thanks to our inept Congress we are payiong too much for it.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Inept Congress? Give me a break. Jimmy Carter set us on track to utilize alternate sources of energy. Reagan killed all those initiatives, not Congress. And half of the current price of oil is directly attributable to Bush’s War on Iraq.
Borrowing to develop the asset-base of home ownership is called ‘the American Dream’, so ‘greedy’ is rarely used to describe that. Our economy has been powered by bullets, bombs and low Fed rates for the past 5-1/2 years, not by energy prices, though they do have an impact.
Sure all bubbles burst, but when Greenspan and Bush and others claim they never saw this recession coming, why should citizens be expected to become better than them at recognizing when a bubble exists or when it’s near popping?
I agree that stupid lenders shae the blame, but doing no bail-out will cause a run on banks, causing multiple collapses and turning a recession into a depression. As I said, that approach was used by Hoover. Most taxpayers suffered worse as a result. It may not seem fair, but skipping the bailout will inevitably prove worse.