James made an interesting comment on my Merging Post. He was concerned that the merging post got so many more comments then the Election Post. I figured that comment was worthy of a post. At the very least I will give you my impression of the first debate.
As far as foreign policy goes, I am much more comfortable with McCain. I was particularly concerned with Obama's response to how he would handle relations with Iran. Frankly, Obama comes off a little naive and unrealistic.
At the forefront of everyone's mind was the economic crisis, so obviously the debate was led off with discussion on the matter. Now this appears to be a non partisan issue. Both sides are going to come together with an agreement to more or less bail out all the banks holding crappy mortgages. More or less, both sides will agree to buy up most or all of these sub prime, or high risk mortgages, and we, the taxpayer, will be left holding the bill. Unfortunately, this is probably the only thing that can be done to prevent the effects of this spilling into every other part of the market. So I am not so much concerned with what the candidates think we should do to fix the crisis as I am concerned with how they plan to prevent this from happening again. With that said, neither candidate made me that happy.
In my opinion, the real cause of this crisis is rooted in the Bankruptcy Bill that was passed in 2005, which essentially made it more difficult for individual borrowers to declare bankruptcy and default on their financial obligations. This in turn, provided more protection for the lending institutions (credit card companies, banks, etc.) at the expense of individual borrowers struggling to stay afloat. This allowed lenders to loosen up credit, often times extending credit to people who didn't deserve it, because the lenders knew that individual borrowers wouldn't be able to default. So over the past few years, we have had banks giving loans to people who shouldn't have qualified to buy expensive houses they couldn't afford. Basically, it allowed lending institutions to get greedy without any repercussions.
So how did the candidates vote for the 2005 Bankruptcy Bill? McCain voted in favor of the bill, and Obama voted against it. The bill passed, and it is one of the main reasons we are dealing with this economic crisis today.
8 comments:
to me, mccain is totally insane. he is def not a maverick like he claims to be and he was right hand man to the destruction of americas foreign relations, economy, and well being, that is and was george W bush. Obama is too conservative to me, but hes at least going to try to help some people. Either way, i think you gotta at give obama a chance to change the fate of the country and the world even tho he prob will not bring all the change he promises. Mccain is just more of the same
With regards to the last part of your post, here is a video you might find interesting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5tZc8oH--o
It's only 10 min short, but I thought it was worth sitting in one place long enough to make it all the way through.
point obama.
Dude, at this point, I couldn't disagree with you more on the economic issue. I have no problem with tough bankruptcy laws. It shouldn't be easy to default on your financial obligations!!
When does personal responsibility ever come into play in this freaking country? Why do we keep blaming the banks for people making bad decisions? Sure, the banks just helped people make bad decisions, but people should be smart enough to not take out loans that they can't make the payments on! How about the greed factor and the need for the "American Dream" that got us to this point?
Bobby... always the contrarian. Unfortunately you miss the heart of the post, which is explaining how we got into this mess. Its the loosening of credit my friend, and the credit road runs two ways. I am all for personal responsibility, but that doesn't mean the lenders can be irresponsible themselves.
Now the real question up for debate is whether the government should bail the borrowers and/or lenders out?
u are my source for who to vote for. Thanks for the 411
"In my opinion, the real cause of this crisis is rooted in the Bankruptcy Bill that was passed in 2005, which essentially made it more difficult for individual borrowers to declare bankruptcy and default on their financial obligations. This in turn, provided more protection for the lending institutions (credit card companies, banks, etc.) at the expense of individual borrowers struggling to stay afloat."
"The bill passed, and it is one of the main reasons we are dealing with this economic crisis today."
I was basing the heart of the post on those statements. You finished the post by placing the blame on the bill itself, because it made it easier for people to get credit. The individual borrowers wouldn't be struggling to stay afloat if they didn't borrow more than they could pay. You're right, however, it is a 2 way street, and the lenders shouldn't have made the loans either. But again, isn't that their bad, not the laws?
Perhaps that is why I'm not excited about bailing them out. I say that, admittedly, without understanding all the overall economic implications. But I do see that we as tax payers get to pay for a bailout while there are plenty of Wall Street big wigs with plenty of money in their pockets who made the mistakes. Maybe they should have to put out the money to fix their mistakes. Or maybe I have no clue what I'm talking about. That has definitely been the case once or twice...alright...maybe once. ;)
Random at Best highjack rant over.
Dont ever quote my own blog to me. I guess we will agree to disagree again, mainly cause your wrong. You better do your homework. Im bringing the heat Thursday morning.
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