The American Spectator

/p> p> 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? br> — Marc Jeric br> Las Vegas, Nevada /p>

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.

p>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. br> — Owen H. Carneal, Jr. br> Yorktown, Virginia /p>

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.