A Completely Different Angle

In his WAPO piece "Blaming deregulation", Sebastian Mallaby delivers an analysis of the origins of the credit crisis from a demand-side point of view.

The real roots of the crisis lie in a flawed response to China. Starting in the 1990s, the flood of cheap products from China kept global inflation low, allowing central banks to operate relatively loose monetary policies. But the flip side of China's export surplus was that China had a capital surplus, too. Chinese savings sloshed into asset markets 'round the world, driving up the price of everything from Florida condos to Latin American stocks.

Interesting. Of course, I've noted time and again that Americans always tend to focus on one side of shady transactions (i.e., a transaction they don't like) usually to deaf ears.

Reminds me of Issue 5, which I just voted "no" on. Oh, yeah, by the way I just "early" voted.

I was thinking of putting up a post called "Regulation is the new Elitism" which would focus on the words themselves. The line I would be reacting against is "Oh, conservatives don't like elitism, but what about elite surgeons and soldiers?", ignoring the fact that there are multiple forms of elitism. Likewise, now we see the pinning of the anti-regulation badge with the simplistic false syllogism "Regulation would have stopped crisis, conservatives say 'regulation bad', therefore conservatives caused crisis." Again, this ignores the different kinds of regulations which were targeted and who targeted them.

Hats off to Arthur Davis

Just call it a "loophole", whatever

Robert Novak reports on Obama's plan to pay for $800 billion in new spending by "closing tax loopoholes":

Obama has made clear that he would try to roll back President Bush's tax cuts, but that does not come under the definition of a "loophole." A loophole consists of a conniving tax attorney discovering a weakness in the Internal Revenue Code or such a weakness intentionally legislated by Congress under the instigation of crafty lobbyists. The only specific tax legislation contained in his paper would raise the capital gains rate for most shareholders, restore taxation on dividend income to pre-Bush standards and restore the full estate tax.

These were not loopholes but presidential proposals enacted by Congress. The Obama paper paints a picture of lobbyists running wild on Capitol Hill but neglects to assess the impact on the economy during the current financial crisis of taking a serious strike against the stockholding public.

Barack Obama's Politics and the Current Financial Turmoil

I can't get this one thought out of my head about the current financial mess: when companies do silly things, crazy things, things which go against their own self-interest, almost inevitably we find out later that politics was somehow involved. That's why I think Mona Charen's latest piece on ACORN's relationship to the mortgage mess makes so much sense. These ACORN people ought to all be put in jail for the election fraud they commit; here's something to jog your memory:

In 2006, for example, ACORN registered 1,800 new voters in Washington. The only trouble was, with the exception of six, all of the names submitted were fake. The secretary of state called it the "worst case of election fraud in our state's history."

ACORN explained that this was an "isolated" incident, yet similar stories have been reported in Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, and Colorado -- all swing states, by the way. ACORN members have been prosecuted for voter fraud in a number of states. (See www.rottenacorn.com.) Their philosophy seems to be that everyone deserves the right to vote, whether legal or illegal, living or dead.

I remember the ACORN voter fraud incident in Northern Ohio circa 2003-04. Some of the names registered were "Mickey Mouse" and "Jive Turkey"; I'm not making that up. It was hastily reported on the news with muted outrage if any.

Also, from the news report by FOX:

"The ACORN workers told state investigators that they went to the Seattle public library, sat at a table and filled out the voter registration forms. They made up names, addresses, and Social Security numbers and in some cases plucked names from the phone book. One worker said it was a lot of hard work making up all those names and another said he would sit at home, smoke marijuana and fill out the forms."

Democrat labor leader Cecil Roberts said Jesus was a "Community Organizer" s well. I wonder if that means he smoked pot?

But here's the other reason ACORN needs to be permanently destroyed. I've been hearing from all friends left of center and right of Pat Buchanan that it was the familiar bogeyman named Corporate Greed driving the sub-prime loan market. The following demonstrates that this is at the very most only half the story.

ACORN recognized very early the opportunity presented by the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977. As Stanley Kurtz has reported, ACORN proudly touted "affirmative action" lending and pressured banks to make sub-prime loans. Madeline Talbott, a Chicago ACORN leader, boasted of "dragging banks kicking and screaming" into dubious loans. And, as Sol Stern reported in City Journal, ACORN also found a remunerative niche as an "advisor" to banks seeking regulatory approval. "Thus we have J.P. Morgan & Co., the legatee of the man who once symbolized for many all that was supposedly evil about American capitalism, suddenly donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to ACORN." Is this a great country or what? As conservative community activist Robert Woodson put it, "The same corporations that pay ransom to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton pay ransom to ACORN."

We've all been told that Barack Obama is different than race-baiting money-grubbing scumbags like Sharpton and Jackson, but his ties to ACORN reveal that he is substantially no different. I'll have to only agree halfway with Senator Joe Biden: articulate, Si; clean, No.

Alcee Hastings post on Alexandria blog

I posted my "musings" on Alcee Hastings comments over at the Alexandria blog. I was too lazy to repost it here.

"You probably think this blog is about you..."

I got a kick out of this Obama ad.


Hey, the person cropping this photo cut poor Barack's ears off! Oh, it was done on purpose? Never mind....

"You're just like..."

What happened to "Multiculturalism"?

From the Catholic League.

PUNDITS SLAM PALIN ON WITCHCRAFT
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments today on news reports that an African minister once asked God to protect Sarah Palin from witchcraft:

“In 2005, Sarah Palin went to church and found that a visiting minister from Kenya, Bishop Thomas Muthee, was doing the service. He offered a prayer asking Jesus to keep her free from ‘every form of witchcraft.’ Palin said nothing—she simply kept her head bowed throughout the blessing. Why this is newsworthy is one issue, but why it has quickly become the subject of scorn is another.

“For the past two decades, Americans have been lectured by educators and the chattering class that we must respect cultural, religious, racial and ethnic diversity. It seems that exceptions to the creed of multiculturalism are only made when it suits the ideological agenda of the left. Enter Keith Olbermann: He exploited this incident last night as a club to paint Palin as an extremist. Moreover, he used this single blessing to unfavorably contrast the African minister to Barack Obama’s spiritual mentor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The MSNBC commentator incredibly said that Wright—who spewed hate speech before Obama for 20 years—‘seems pretty mainstream’ by comparison.

“Witchcraft is a sad reality in many parts of Africa, resulting in scores of deaths in Kenya over the past two decades. Bishop Muthee’s blessing, then, was simply a reflection of his cultural understanding of evil. While others are not obliged to accept his interpretation, all can be expected to respect it. More than that—Muthee should be hailed for asking God to shield Palin from harmful forces, however they may be manifested. And for this he is mocked and Palin ridiculed?

“We know that many cultural elites have a hard time embracing religion, but is it too much to ask that they at least show some manners when discussing subjects which most Americans hold dear?”