Freddie Gets Spanked & Fannie Mae.

The Economic Horror-scope for today:  Cloudy, with a chance of suckier. 

Well.  For all the pom pom shaking cheerleading [expletive deleted because that's the kind, caring, giving kinda' guy I am] out there that keep harping on some gawdawful theme about how this is NOT the Great Depression and the new definition of "recession" means we're not in a recession either (presumably implying the economy is fine so 'suck it up, loser'), I have this to say:  Where's the outrage?  If I were that deluded for that long I'd be a tad hot about it.

It really must suck that the "Free Market" people stand back as Freddie Mac closes its doors following the Bear Stearns closure.  If you don't have a hint yet...let me help you out.  Fannie Mae is next. 

So I'm curious, particularly to hear from Bush and McCain supporters...the free market is good enough for the homeless, the helpless, the poor and downtrodden...and any attempt to help them is frowned on.  So WHY then, is it ok to help these businesses instead of letting them fail like they should in a "free market"?  You DO know that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae own about half of the mortgages in this country, right? 

In a shocking twist of fate, Bear Stearns was BIG into speculative investments.  Freddie Mac was BIG into giving home loans to people without verified income in yet another highly speculative venture.  What's this mean?  It means investors rolled the fricken dice to make BIG profit.  They bankrolled that profit up until the dice came up snake eyes . . . and now the free market sucks.  NOW the American taxpayer will back not ONLY the FDIC insured balances but ALSO, in a very unusual departure from the norm, has already guaranteed HALF of all uninsured deposits.  Now, the new Freddie Mac Federal Bank is hoping against hope to stop this run on the bank (Good luck with that btw).

(Note to self:  Make sure I have no more than $100,000.00 in any one account)

Now I see why oversight and regulation are SO bad.  They don't allow people to speculate and fail...and to be bailed out by the taxpayer.  Bush's brother, and the billions WE taxpayers paid for the Silverado Savings and Loan fiasco, Countrywide, Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac . . . ( cough*insert Fannie Mae here*cough) . . .

(We interrupt this stream of consciousness article to mention that not all online banks even HAVE FDIC insurance.  We now return you to my ramblling ruminations)

Of course, the Bush II Economic program offers some McSame help . . . like the massive over $1 trillion tax cuts targeted to the wealthy which we initially saw because of what appeared to be a large surplus (and could have solved the mythical Social Security Solvency issue). So, how helpful has this economic razzle dazzle shuffle dance been?  Hmm?  Let's take a peek, shall we?

Most of the tax cuts were phased in over a 10-year period and not all have yet been implemented. Because of budget rules some tax cuts "sunset," or expire, at the end of 2010. Now, with the need for increased spending to respond to terrorism, illegal occupations, naked acts of aggression and the economic downturn, it would make sense to suspend the tax cuts that have not been phased in. Wouldn't it?  Of course, these corrupt book-cooking maggots are calling it a tax HIKE to allow the expiration even though it's nothing more than an end to a tax break.  Yet, George "Let's KILL Social Security" Bush seeks to extend these tax cuts by two more years, going until 2012, at a cost of $344 billion. He would also like to see an additional $247 billion in tax cuts that include:

• Tax relief for corporations;
• Even greater breaks for wealthy individuals; and
• A tax credit that will pay as much as $2,500 a year in private school tuition for children whose public schools are operating below state standards.

(I'll come back to the massive tax cuts in a minute.) 

I just HAVE to ask . . . When's the last time anyone saw an actual run on a bank before this?  Really.  I mean . . . I'm almost . . . umm . . . oldish . . . and I think I saw some black & white footage of it on the great depression.  Oh, and there was that show, "It's a Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Stewart too.  Come on people.  So it's not a recession (*cough-whatever-cough*)  and the economy's fine . . . or can be fixed with another tax cut for the uberwealthy.  Incidentallly . . . if you're reading this . . . then you're NOT uberwealthy.  Welcome to the world of Ronnie Raygun's supply-side economics which his own OMB Director David Stockman said couldn't work.  Of course, that was before he was charged with securities fraud last year.  (Source)  As I recall, Stockman always denied the statement reputed to be his (which, as I recall, was that the *purpose* of supply side economics was to bankrupt the government). Greider from Atlantic Monthly says he did say it.  To him.  Personally.

Now why would some in the GOP WANT to see the government go bankrupt?  Think about that. 

(We now return you to the subject massive tax cuts already in progress)

We saw this same crap fail miserably under Ronnie "Alzheimers R Us" Reagan ( Excerpt from David Stockman's book ):

The final reckoning is seen in the below table disclosing the $2 trillion error between the Rosy Scenario and the actual economy!

Rosy Scenario and Money GNP: The $2 Trillion Error (Money GNP in Billions)

Notice how each year it got worse?  Missed by only TRILLIONS of dollars.  I mean sheesh . . . you couldn't get any closer to needing a unit of measurement commonly used in the field of astrophysics, now could you? 

Now we have Booshie doing the SAME thing . . . getting the (oh, you're SO not going to believe this...) same results . . . and McSame, like Dole before him (as chairman of the Senate finance committee), was against them before, but now is "on board" with the tax cut program.   Funny how that happens when they become presidential candidates, eh? 

An integral part of this is Defense spending . . . where the stakes get REALLY high.  No cold war for Bush . . . but he improvised.  And no future for this nation if people cannot realize the goals being sought and what it will mean to a LOT of people.  As banks close their doors, prices skyrocket and people die without healthcare (because their job moved to Mexico or India taking their healthcare with it, or it was never available or affordable for them to begin with), as homelessness rises, and services are cut due to lack of funds, as the wealthy get wealthier and the prisons get fuller . . . eventually . . . maybe . . . one of these silly economic enthusiasts will admit that the economy bites the big one and it's because of the silly, failed (repeatedly), stupid economic policies of the GOP and the constantly disproven theory that cutting taxes on the wealthy will help it.