Thursday, September 18, 2008

...on the economy and presidential candidates

I get sick of hearing about which presidential candidate will do what for taxes and the economy. Let me point out a couple of things:
  • Presidents do not make laws. In particular, they have no ability to assess taxes. That is congress.
  • Yes, the current president is an idiot. But if you want to blame the whole housing crisis collapse on a president (and ignore the first point) then you have to put it on Clinton. Yes, he (congress) did a lot to influence a balanced budget. I commend him on that. But he (or, like I said, the congress that was in session during his presidency) bolstered the Community Reinvestment Act1 -- you know -- the legislation that mandated the housing crisis.
  • The economy will turn up. It always does. Whomever gets elected next will get credit. And the credit is not theirs to own. I say this not knowing who is going to win. But one of them will say in 4 years "are you better off today than you were in the housing/banking crisis of 2008?" and invariably people will say "yes." It ain't his fault that it gets better. I am warning you now.

1Interestingly enough, I heard reference to this on mainstream media for the absolute first time yesterday -- though I have been talking/reading about it for months. Of course, the interviewer ignored it, so it was only a tiny blurb.

2 comments:

Vinny said...

I know that conservatives like to blame Clinton for everything but this is really stretching it.

Clinton bolstered the CRA, but the great increase in subprime loans and securitizaion did occur until after the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed in 1999 as part of banking deregulation. The biggest backer of this deregulation was Senator Phil Gramm who now serves as an economic advisor to John McCain. Of course we know that McCain considers himself to be a warrior for deregulation in all areas.

Clinton proposed a change in the banking laws that existed in 1995. Are you suggesting that he should have foreseen in 1995 how the Republicans would change the banking laws in 1999 and how the banking laws would be enforced under a Republican administration?

Spork In the Eye said...

I know that conservatives like to blame Clinton for everything but this is really stretching it.

Read it again. You missed something...

First off, 10 points off for the implication that I am a conservative. (Had you done more than imply, it would be 20 points off.)

Next, remember my premise: Presidents don't make laws. In fact note that I said if you want to blame the whole housing crisis collapse on a president (and ignore the first point). Get it? Note I also referred to congress parenthetically over and over. Further note that I commended Mr. Clinton on his commitment to fiscal conservatism. To screw things up, you need a committee, not a president.

Are you suggesting that he should have foreseen in 1995 how the Republicans would change the banking laws in 1999 and how the banking laws would be enforced under a Republican administration?

Really, to be honest, this is an invalid question. Wait... let me explain.

1. This is a law that second guesses businesses judgment. "This is a bad risk loan." "Do it anyway." Hence, it is irrational.

2. It relies on US taxpayers -- and any holder or investor in the US dollar -- to back up the failures. In other words, it relies on money taken against someone's will to pay for any failure. Hence, it is immoral.

So your question would better be asked: "Are you suggesting that the congress should have foreseen removal of irrational and immoral controls before they wrote an irrational and immoral law?"

And my answer to that is: you should not write irrational and immoral laws.

...and I place a big hulking bag of blame on the American consumers... But I have ranted about that particular aspect multiple times elsewhere.