Nick Anderson for October 08, 2011

ZING!!

What was the alternative? People put up their equity for loans to buy and flip houses, the housing market tanked, and the whole bubble burst. Whose fault was that? What would have happened if, when the housing market was rising and everyone was happy, the banks had refused to make those loans? The whole world would have screamed at them for “not letting the little guy make a buck so they could keep it all for themselves”. It’s always easy to blame other people for your own failings.

i like how they all hate big business and the billionaires but are now out there worshiping steve jobs which way do they want it

Devil,

Do you think that people are venerating Steve Jobs because he made lots of money? If so, you haven’t been paying attention. The praise I’ve heard is about his vision, his tenacity, and his hand in making the computer a personal device accessible to the general public. Yes, doing these things made him rich, but that isn’t the focus of the praise I’ve heard.

Utterly delusional. The loaning institutions were TOLD by the Democratic-controlled Congress to pour their money upon people who were FAR from being bad risks to pay them back. This all began with Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae (two FEDERALLY CONTROLLED institutions) and the shenanigans that occurred with them. Barney Frank, Maxine Waters, and Chris Dodd are more responsible for our current financial situation than private sector “banks.” That isn’t my personal opioion—that’s just cold-hard FACT.

Steve Jobs WAS “John Galt.”

Just who was in charge while the bubble was growing til it burst in Dec 2008. George W. Bush and the Repukes you say? Mmmmmm. Right but it’s the Dems fault? Right typical Repuke fuzzy thinking.

So many of the above comments are delusional it’s hilarious. Turn off Fox News and do some fact checking and read from multiple sources.

Actually, yohann, I know quite a few people on the left (some of them live in Granite Falls), and can’t think of any who’ve expressed hatred for rich people. Is it possible that you want to believe this about left-wingers to make it easier for you to have a low opinion of them?

“were all imposed by the Anointed One”- Bush? Y’know, since Bush was said God wanted him to be president.If “Lefties” hate rich people, “Righties” hate gays, blacks, women, and non-Christians. No? Okay, then, neither side generically hates a group.

Hedge funds and derivatives came about because of deregulation under Republican administrations and bankers and Wall Street writing their own regulations for Bush people to print up in the Federal Register, it wasn’t Dodd/Frank abut Phil Gramm and a “rider” Clinton couldn’t have sustained a veto on if he’d wanted to, but he wasn’t by any means that “liberal”. And everyone knows all the dudes in Wall Street and the “banking” industry are flaming liberals, riiiggghhhttt.

The Carter and Clinton administrations used the threat of the DOJ action to force banks to make mortgage loans to unqualified buyers. Under that threat, banks had no choice, but the government also allowed the banks to bundle the mortgages and sell them to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (government enterprises). The Democrats felt good about themselves (which is what they yearn for), but set up the housing collapse when mortgage defaults occurred.

Actually, ghostkeeper, it was under Clinton that many of the banking / home loan policies were developed.

Sorry, but I’ve forgotten nothing. If there is “corruption” borne from “the rich’s” activities, it is because of the tax code (written by progressives). They aren’t breaking any laws. They are following them to the letter, and doing precisely what the law-makers want them to do.

Because the left totally focuses their hate and disdain for “the rich” (rather than the laws that allow them to keep so much of their wealth) that in itself disproves your hypothesis. The fact that the left refuses to define their terms (such as “fair share”) proves that it isn’t about “corruption” (by bankers). If you want to be honest, petition your party to change the tax code so that these people DO pay a defined amount based upon what they make. The fact is that “the rich” is your favorite boogeyman, and corruption doesn’t bother you in the least, so long as it’s done by your party.

Sorry yohann,

but your explanation smacks of bigotry. You’re ‘my-low-opinion-is just-a reaction-to-their-low-opinion’ excuse sounds similar to ‘I wouldn’t have any problems with women if they just weren’t so hysterical’, or ‘I just don’t like blacks because of their criminal tendencies’, or ‘I only hate the Jews because they’re trying to control the world’. You’ve found a group you don’t like, now you’re coming up with reasons to justify your ill will. The collectivist model does exist on the left end of the political spectrum, but saying that everyone left of you subscribes to it is applying an incredibly broad brush. I know lefties who own their own businesses, invest in others’ endeavors (for profit), and live incredibly individualistic lives.

Also, you seem offended by this particular comic, calling it ugly. Does this mean you’ve never promoted, cheered, or a-men’d a comic that slams someone or some group you dislike? Is the same behavior offensive only when you or your interests gets slammed?

I believe you’re wrong in that you accuse all on the left of being guilty of the offenses of the extreme, and because you give passes to right-wingers who use the same tactics that offend you when employed by the left.

“Conspiracy” has dropped out of favor lately, perhaps because the monopolists and “trusts” of the T.R. era have retaken power in this country, and their “plan” for terror and distrust has worked? “Laws” are passed by Congress, and signed by presidents. “REGULATIONS” are written by administrations, well, under “W” by the corporations and special interests, like bankers and Wall Streeters, and it is REGULATIONS that determine “day to day operations” in ALL government agencies. Tax “codes” are actually regulations, and most are deferments or absolution, not “taxes”. Just as “lending” was unregulated and uncontrolled because the people intending to scam the public WROTE the regulations, we do need to look at who was responsible for giving them a “free pass”, on both taxes and morality.

Yes Canuck. It’s called the Community Reinvestment Act. Look it up.

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It started out as a bill by Carter to help some minorities get homes. All in all, pretty benign. Not something I would have voted for, but not the end of the world.

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Then Clinton supercharged it in 1993. Now lenders had to make a certain percentage of their loans ‘high risk’ loans to low income families who had no real means to pay it. If the lending institutions didn’t make these loans, they faced stiff penalties designed to drive them out of business.

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15 years later, the system was on the verge of collapse because of the forced bad loans. When the Republicans tried to create more oversight of Fannie and Freddie to stop the coming collapse, the Democrats called them racist and classist and stopped their attempts. About 18 months later the whole thing collapsed.

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But of course it was the republicans’ fault, right?

nobody forced the banks to make high-risk loans. The bankers have a fiduciary responsibility to protect their assetts.

when you catagorize high risk loans based on WHERE the loan is made (ever heard of redlining) instead of WHO you are lending to, it makes a big difference.

the bankers saw a way to get rich, shunning their fiduciary responsibilities and misinterpreting what they could do.

and btw, they made a bloody fortune on those failed loans. socialized risk, privitized profit. ANTI-capitalistic.

Yeah, those big, bad, GREEDY FAT RICH people…we HATE them. They’re SOOOOO GREEEEDY.