Been socialist for a long time now — at least since FDR. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, some European countries seem to have happy citizens, but I don’t think we’re doing it right.

As for your last paragraph, if you have a million dollar debt with the bank, the bank owns you; if it’s $100 million, you own the bank.

Socialism isn’t so bad….is it?!

Not only that but the bums behind Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have golden parachutes and there is absolutely no talk that there will be indictments.

I heard that Bush ordered Greenspan to lower interest rates to cause the housing bubble.

Doesn’t it appear as if if all this was created by design? C’mon it is not hard to figure out where human greed will go without checks.

Better tell Cheney then, before he takes us to a lame duck war with the Russians.

Doug, your statements regarding ownership are right on the mark. Melyssa, any private entity that requires government bailout needs to require all leadership to forfeit all financial gains. To do less is criminal. I am sick of the old boy networks enriching one another. I know it is the history of our country, but it must stop. It has no political party designation, unless greed is a political party.

Good call Greg.

The upper echelons of Corporate America all have contracts that mean they don’t lose their millions – whether they succeed or fail.

Who here has a mortgage that guarantees they get to keep their house – whether they make the payments or not?

So you all know…Bob Barr is the ONLY candidate running for our highest office that calls this crap out for what it is. He sent a press release around today and called it out. The entity benefitting most from this bailout is the BANK OF CHINA.
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And not a peep from Obama or McCain campaigns.
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This is quite eye opening.
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And I’m over my infatuation with Palin, btw. I want to see those two do something serious in regard to our debt and call this crap out for what it is.

Greg…write to Obama and McCain and tell them you will vote for Barr…THAT’s all you can do at this point.
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McCain should be meeting with our former comptroller, David Walker and Ron Paul right now.
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I’m sure his campaign is busy worrying what the NYT says about Palin’s baby or what Oprah is going to do instead.

But, Melyssa- Sarah Palin is so *hot*. That’s what’s important, you know.

Bailouts should never happen, not for anything or anybody. The old saw in economics is that anything you subsidize, you will get more of. Well, then we can expect to get more bad decisions with the expectation of bailout attached, because that’s what we’re subsidizing.

And let’s not strictly hang corporations. They asked for the moon. Which sonsabitches are giving it to them? Right. The Congress and the Executive.

So, no, we shouldn’t get it over with and simply institutionalize bad decision-making as a way of policy life. We should let the assholes hit the pavement face first. Let ‘em fail. Put a few of the execs in prison while we’re at it. You’ll see a lot better decisions made in the future.

This bailout will create $5 trillion dollars of monetized debt that the taxpayers will be responsible for.
Never, in the history if the United States, has the government taken control of our free market economy. Never!
Fan and Fred were insolvent months ago and only a fraction of their losses have been accounted for in their reports. Wait until the 3/4’s of their bad paper goes down the toilet and the magnitude of this will boggle the mind.
Let the Fed keep the printing presses going creating money out of thin air and when that loaf of bread costs you $5 you can thank the Republican Party for destroying the American economy.
They destroyed it once before under Hoover and it took more than a decade and a world war to come out of.
All that corporate welfare that’s getting handed out sure as hell isn’t ending up in the pockets of CEO’s that pull the Democrat lever.

Abdul-

Lest you think I disagree just for the sake of disagreeing, let me say I agree with you on this point.

Let me also remind you that for the past 6 out of 8 years, Republicans controlled EVERYTHING in this nation. Can’t blame this one on Pelosi, Reid, Obama or even Bart Peterson.

Go McCain-Palin!!!

No one is looking at the fraud at the lending level. Whenever we have gone for a mortgage we had everything but our shorts checked. Every dime was accounted for. Years ago, before this blew up a rundown rental nearby sold. It sold for the amount of money that a rental in good condition would have sold for. Everyone on the block was elated that it would be no longer an eyesore. Time went on, no moved in, no one showed up at any time, it sat for a year until the foreclose sign(out of state bank) was tacked on the door. Curiousity and some checking made me realize this was a mortgate scam but what could I prove. So whenever I think of the mortgage fannies, I think of that. How did that person ever get a mortgage? A mtg appraised that high for a run down dump? Money pocketed beyond the selling price.Money fraud. If I could see that why couldn’t the lender? Aftermath, it was bought at what price I do not know.They fixed it up and sold it as townshouses.
The government during slick Willies time started the ball rolling with mtgs. to everyone and anyone no matter how unqualified. Why that’s the American way. So here we are again. Will the congress which passed laws and edicts loosening rules for these loans and the crooks that abused it ever be brought to account?
This belongs to both parties lest you want to blame one or the other.
Although Obama subscribes to socialism and makes no bones about that. So you will get what you ask for if you vote for him.

Really. Is enough socialism (entitlements) in America to go around? Its all a shell game. And it is only going to get worse.

Your candidate, Abdul, is the most socialist-leaning member of the senate. Tell us again why you support him………..

Paper money not back by anything but the full faith and credit of the US government. What a laugh! How about this for some off base thinking, return to the gold standard.

From the Future of Freedom Foundation:

The monetary system of the United States at the time of the Depression could not sustain inflation very long because the country was on a gold standard. If people sensed that the government was printing too many paper dollars, by law they could redeem those dollars from the government’s store of gold. Moreover, gold coins circulated along with silver dollars, half-dollars, quarters, and dimes.

If people were exchanging their dollars for gold, then the government’s own gold supply would be diminished. Since the gold standard included requirements that the country’s money supply have at least a 40 percent gold backing, a drain on gold reserves would have forced the government to stop printing so many dollars. Therefore, the plans of the New Dealers ran headlong into the reality of the gold standard and its check on inflation. (http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0609d.asp)

We had the Chrysler bailout in the late seventies(they are back for more I’m told), the S&L bailout in the 80’s, several tech and internet co’s bailed out in the 90’s, and now Freddie and Fannie. Is the next bailout going to be the Federal Reserve System??? In other words, we are just one more bailout from national bankruptcy unless the Chinese want to bail us out. And no body has gone to jail for malfeasance except Charles Keating and he didn,t serve anything near his full sentence. As Micheal Douglas said “greed is good”.

Boys and girls can you say inflation! It is coming down the pike with the worst housing market since the great depression! Hey it can only get worse!