Glenn Beck’s people have it totally wrong
More than a century ago, William Jennings Bryan’s populists saw government as the protector of the little guy. Today, Glenn Beck and his followers see government as the peoples’ oppressor.
Bryan’s people got it right. Becks’ don’t.
GOVERNMENT PROTECTS THE LITTLE GUY
Tags: conservatives, Democrats, Glenn Beck, politics, populists, Republicans, Wall Street, Washington
The economy without government
Two leading economist put out a study describing what might have happened had the government not taken extraordinary actions following the financial meltdown.
My take in
WASHINGTON SAVED OUR ECONOMIC HIDE
Tags: economy, politics, Republicans, Washington
Weighty Canada — economic and otherwise
Marketwatch’s Canada expert, Bill Mann, makes note of my recent column praising Canada’s bank regulation as a boon to its economy.
Tags: banks, Canada, economy, health care, Washington
Canada’s balmy economy
Has anyone noticed that smart government regulations can help the economy? It’s all there to see in Canada.
REGULATION MADE CANADA FAT AND HAPPY
Tags: Canada, economy, politics, right wing, Washington
More on Financial Reform
My new column expands on an earlier blog about the romantic conservative belief in ordinary Americans’ ability to bushwhack through the market for complex and tricky financial products, much less the outright frauds.
Here is
HEAVEN MUST WAIT FOR MONEY-SAVVY PUBLIC
Conservative heaven can wait: Lenders need a leash
In the conservative paradise, hard-working Americans save money, care for their health, borrow responsibly and invest for their future needs. They don’t need government telling them what to do or rescuing them from their folly.
I like that vision, but it has little to do with the world we live in. In the world we live in, folks who jog and diet come down with cancer. Careful drivers get hit by drunks. Tornadoes and plagues of locust play havoc with the righteous.
And good, working people fall for misleading promises, downright lies or small print they don’t understand — and go broke as a result. That’s why we need the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, plus a bunch of new state laws, to protect the little guy and not a few bigger guys, as well.
But on finance, conservatives assume a level of sophistication among ordinary people that can only be described as fantasy.
To say that any willing adult may make a contract with any willing lender is like saying that any willing teen may work for any willing pornographer. We have laws protecting minors that don’t apply to adults because they lack the cognitive ability to fend for themselves.
When it comes to complicated financial products, adults need protection, too.
Ture, some people facing foreclosure or in other credit trouble were greedy or too lazy to read their contracts. But many were drawn into risky situations by assurances from our top authorities — including a Federal Reserve Bank chairman — that house prices were merely “frothy” and that adjustable mortgages were a great idea.
Some borrowed heavily due to sudden crisis, such as a family illness. Some were lured into predatory loans by fellow church members or trusted friends. (The friends Bernie Madoff’ conned included some of the most sophisticated investors in America.)
Rep. Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican negotiating the financial reform bill, complains that the new bureau would “take choices away from consumers and choke desperately needed credit out of our economy.”
Shall we go back to shabby lending practices, credit bubbles and to all those other things that shattered our economy? Americans — including those of us who never borrowed a dime — are now paying for that free-for-all ten times over. Our world is all too real.
Taxpayers still suckers on mortgage lending
My latest column discusses the taxpayers’ enduring role as “suckers of last resort” on mortgage lending. Read TAXPAYERS AND HOUSING NEED A DIVORCE.
It also addresses dangerous political pandering on the subject of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while noting their outrageous deal as private profit-making companies enjoying “implicit” government guarantees on their mortgage-backed securities. The government has since taken over the companies.
“Submitted for your approval,” as Rod Serling used to say before each episode of Twighlight Zone. Here is a chart from The Washington Post showing just how closely Fannie Mae’s reported income matched the targets executives set to receive maximum bonuses.
Tags: housing, taxpayers, Wall Street
