The American Spectator

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Hail King Henry

9.24.08 @ 12:01AM

I'LL GLADLY PAY YOU TUESDAY...
Re: Philip Klein's Paulson's Instant Gratification:

In the midst of the debate, "Paulson's Instant Gratification" is the best and most accurate explanation of what's going on. Many thanks for the article, and I hope it is read far and wide.
-- Lydia Brownback

I doubt anyone will address this outrage any better than Philip Klein has done in this article. The selfish, self-centered, reckless, irresponsible and hypocritical attitudes and policies of baby-boomer liberals are now manifesting themselves in this particular crisis, the Social Security entitlement mess and others. Ever since these spoiled brats screamed and pouted their way to power starting in the 1960s they have been rigging things so they can take, take, take. Now, those in the next generation(s) who work for a living are going to once again pay for their social experiments while they feel none of the pain because, like Social Security, they will be sure to prop things up with our money just long enough for them to take what's "theirs" while they laugh behind the backs of the rubes like me who don't have the power to stop them.

At one basic level conservatism is about first behaving responsibly as an individual, then taking personal responsibility for your actions and decisions, and dare I say it, having due regard for how your actions and decisions may affect others and our nation/community at large. If I wasn't so angry about this mountain of cash we are about to throw into the money burning furnace that is the federal government I'd be weeping over how selfishness, instant gratification and irresponsibility seem to have become the norm under the "leadership" of these people.
-- Esteban
Bolivia

Your Mr. Klein blames the culture of instant gratification, easy money policy of the Federal Government, and the greed of Wall Street for the collapse of the housing boom. He forgot to mention the law, sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank (both of them strong socialists), which under Clinton threatened jail to banks refusing to lend mortgage money to the poor and the welfare recipients under "redlining" practices. So the bank complied -- no more earnings criteria, no more 10-20% down payment, no more "redlining." Shouldn't Dodd and Frank resign in shame for another failed socialist scheme? We want more details about that 1999 law (I think it was 1999) and how exactly was it pushed through Congress. Can you put somebody to task to dig out the details?
-- Marc Jeric
Las Vegas, Nevada

All the pundits, and all the talking heads and politicians from the chattering class, seem to throw this "$700 billion" around with wild abandon. Where did they come up with that figure?

When I crunched the numbers, the par value of all "bad" mortgages (whether sub-prime or not) came in at less than $250 billion. What does Paulson & Co want to do with the other $450 billion?

I agree with those who say "let the free market settle the issue." If that means AIG, Lehman, Goldman, Bear, and Morgan go out of business, so be it. Freddy and Fannie should be tossed into the ash heap of history. So far, the only post-"mess" transaction in the last 2-3 weeks that has met any constitutional muster is when Merrill Lynch was bought out by Bank of America.

By any measure, the Federal Government has overstepped its limited authority, as set in place by the founding fathers in that most famous of all documents. Both the administration and Congress should be ashamed of themselves.
-- Owen H. Carneal, Jr.
Yorktown, Virginia

Philip Klein's analysis of America's gratification binge is correct until it gets to the bashing of Paulson's bailout. Paulson has no other choice in the short run if we are to avoid complete economic collapse. Does Mr. Klein want 10 new years of Great Depression? Neither does Paulson. But that is what we may get if Congressional Democrats and the Republican Mike Pences continue to throw sand in the gears. Paulson has a world economy to save. We all must soon enough deal with our 50-year binge, but Paulson knows that instant action is first required to save the USA and the world from immediate economic ruin.

As Milton Friedman and Ben Bernanke have stated: The Great Depression could have been averted had the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve sought and Congress had agreed in 1930 and after to fund failed banks or their depositors -- and thereafter had kept the money supply growing at a prudent rate. President Hoover would most likely have served a pleasant second term without anyone ever needing or hearing of a New Deal. Instead, the US Treasury took a tough love approach and closed failed bank after failed bank, leaving their depositors penniless. Even worse, the Fed and Treasury allowed the money supply to contract to the point that its size in 1934 was one-half the size it had in October 1929, insuring five more years of national poverty. We should thank God for Paulson and Bernanke -- rather than second-guess them. It was not they who created the current meltdown.
-- Darrel Hansen
Alamo, Nevada.

WHAT CURRICULUM IS THAT?
Re: Ralph R. Reiland's Obama World Flunks Economics 101:

Pondering the NYT's "government-is-good-markets-are-bad ideology" prompts me to recall that the NYT thought the Soviet government was good.
-- Reid Bogie
Waterbury, Connecticut

I can't help but wonder if, and how much, George Soros is involved in the current financial crisis. After all, he was the man who "broke the Bank of England" in 1992, forcing the Conservative government of the day to withdraw the pound from the European Exchange Rates Mechanism, which ended up costing the UK some £3.4 billion, and dealt the British economy a severe blow. Soros made $1 billion on the deal.

Soros has made no secret of the fact he wants Obama to be elected, and he would do just about anything to see that happens. To that end, he certainly has the wherewithal and the knowledge to have engineered the current financial crisis, knowing that a crash if the US economy would be to Obama's advantage. (I'm not saying he did engineer the current mess, but, then again, such monkeyshines are not totally out of the realm of possibility.)
-- Gretchen L. Chellson
Alexandria, Virginia

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