William Ayers' forgotten communist manifesto: Prairie Fire

[FelixEstrella]

QuietMan: Democrats are merely taking advantage of the situation to blame Bush. And the Republicans? Most of them voted FOR the bailout. And they can't very well stand there and say it wasn't the Republican's faults because ... well .... they did slip on that whole oversight and regulation of the financial industry thing. And the CRA? Care to look up the voting record and see how many Republicans thought it was a peachy idea?

Yes, it's convenient for the Democrats that this happened now, but it's been brewin' for a LONG time. Remember the silent voices that were saying TWO YEARS ago that no-money-down, interest-only mortgages, and getting in debt up to your eyeballs isn't a good thing? Nah! This pyramid scheme will just keep on chugging. Borrow some more money and buy some more stuff.

[Joe ex PNG]

Truth is, if you look hard enough, you can find a sinister pattern in everything-even your breakfast cereal. So, think this way. If a batch of Socialist/ communist have never ever been able to run a city, country, business, etc without it falling apart, why are they now super compitent when it comes to bringing down the US economy from behind the scenes?

[The Quiet Man]

Oh I agree that the republicrats screwed the pooch as far as the bail out is concerned. They caved for fear that they would lose their seat in the coming election. Hmmm...another convenience as far as the timing goes. Look, I don't want to come across as thinking this whole thing was anything less than a huge case of greed/power/stupidity by all the different players. But the dems in congress have been blocking any kind of change in oversight for years now. And I agree that the middle couldn't hold when it came to the housing/mortgage meltdown...I saw that coming about 6 months into the housing boom. But 8 weeks before the election of the next president and all of the sudden we are looking at the most significant financial meltdown since the great depression. We MUST act now or the whole economy will fail. THE SKY IS FALLING AND WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! Sorry, but the particular timing for that whole fiasco is hard to ignore. The financial situation was just as fucked up in June as it was in September. Everyone knew what was going on. The same companies that are failing now will still be failing in November...or December...or January. Only difference is that the dems can't get any mileage out of a failing bank or morgtage broker or Wall Street titan in November or December or January...but damn skippy they can in September and October. And not just in the presidential race that was leaning towards the republicrat at the time, but in the congressional races as well because the media have convinced the people that the republicans are at fault...and they clearly are not. Republicans may be complicit, but the lion's share of the blame for this mess lies directly at the feet of the dems. So no, I don't believe that the crisis was manufactured for political purposes, but the timing of it being thrown in the people's lap was.

[The Quiet Man]

If a batch of Socialist/ communist have never ever been able to run a city, country, business, etc without it falling apart, why are they now super compitent when it comes to bringing down the US economy from behind the scenes?

Because that is exactly what they ARE good at!

[MiddleAgedKen]

Exactly. What they do very well indeed is make a mess of things, and Cloward (sorry about the misspelling)-Piven is about taking advantage of a deliberately engineered mess.

The timing of this year's election, I agree, is fortuitous (for certain values of fortuitous). The result should have been foreseen from the beginning, though the timing of course could not be predicted with any precision. Still, I'd bet a dozen really good doughnuts (no Dunkin or Krispy Krap) that the Austrian-school types were calling it from day one.

Edit again to add: I wasn't an Austrian in 1977, being 16 for one thing and leftist for another, but I am now. The late bailout isn't going to fix anything -- it merely ensures a bigger and worse crunch later.

[FelixEstrella]

Still, I'd bet a dozen really good doughnuts (no Dunkin or Krispy Krap) that the Austrian-school types were calling it from day one.

Doesn't take an Austrian-school (or a Murray Rothbard) to recognize a credit-induced bubble. Even a monkey can recognize that when housing pricing rise by 200% in 4 years, that a bubble is in the making. And a bubble .... well ... pops.

The so-called business cycles assume that bubbles arise and pop. Rothbardians would never allow a bubble to grow, because of their insistence to a non-fiat currency and strict money-supply controls.

One can argue all day about which system is better.

[Scott Free]

The so-called business cycles assume that bubbles arise and pop. Rothbardians would never allow a bubble to grow, because of their insistence to a non-fiat currency and strict money-supply controls.

One can argue all day about which system is better.

I think the demonstration that the government has been providing since 1913 has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt which system is better.

JMHO. But, as a wise person once said, you can't force a mind to think.

[FelixEstrella]

I think the demonstration that the government has been providing since 1913 has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt which system is better.

Again, depends who you ask. Money is made during any bubble, and hence there is growth which means jobs and benies, etc.