Comments on: Economic meltdown: Obama blames GOP, McCain blames greed

By: Doug loves you

Doug loves you — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 11:14:52 +0000

Oh yes we are responsible for the statre of affairs we’re in today. Who else would be? MARTIANS, MOONPEOPLE? By having bank accounts and savings and all sorts of financial networks we have all contributed to this nightmare we call rroad to happiness. It is about time to wake up and be ready to face the disaster that I believe will shortly fall. Incessant greed is the culprit. Who of you doesn’t want to be rich? Who of you doesn’t want that mansion behind the gated communities? Who doesn’t want to be a millionaire? Myself I never thought i’d see the price of a loaf of bread over a $. Every working person wants a job paying a big wage, right? Well if everyone were to receive such, guess what. we end up with bread costing over 3$ a loaf, for designer label brands. It costs a fortune to keep up with the Jones now. A pack of gum is around $1.29, slightly higher on the west coast. For those of you too young, the last remark is a memory i have of the old Schwinn Bicycle ads on the old Captain Kangaroo tv show, ask your mom&dad kids. Just being silly here. Anyway, I don’t have the answer and it is unfair tp blame any one person or political party for this fiasco. So many people have been and are going to devestated in the future. I live month to month on my ssi and believe me it’s not easy to get by. After rent I have very little left for luxury items. I’m sure lots of you are too.I hope whoever wins this election will help us, and I don’t mean huge profits for corporations and banks and insurance co’s. and auto co’s etc. They can’t balance their checkbooks any better than me. Peace people..

By: Kari

Kari — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:18:48 +0000

The article title is misleading. Just because the stock market isn’t doing well doesn’t mean that the economy itself is in a ‘meltdown’.

The social fact that Wall Street represents the ‘heart’ of the American economy to many people does not mean that it, itself, reflects the status of the economy at large.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:20:35 +0000

“It’s been nearly a decade since Congress and President Clinton reshaped the financial landscape. That 1999 legislation removed Depression-era barriers between commercial banks and investment firms and allowed the creation of financial behemoths where years later the risks of underwriting subprime mortgages were somewhat hidden.

“Former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, until recently one of the McCain campaign’s top economic advisers, was a chief writer of that law.

“McCain voted for a Senate version of the bill but did not vote on the final package. Biden voted against the Senate legislation but for the final compromise that Clinton signed. Obama was not in Congress at the time.”

This was shrewd of the Republican-biased AP. They made it sound like Clinton “reshaped the financial landscape” and allowed the current crisis to happen, when all he did was sign a bill that was largely written by Phil Gramm, a top McCain advisor.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:01:42 +0000

Former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, until recently one of the McCain campaign’s top economic advisers, was a chief writer of that law.”

Gee. They buried the lead. Big surprise.

By: Censoredagain

Censoredagain — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:12:53 +0000

Actually the genius of the whole financial problem falls at the feet of the US Congress and government interference in our once free market; for instance the “mortgage meltdown” began with the 1995 amendment to the Communities Redevelopment Act which mandated that lenders make high risk mortgages to many individuals where probability of the individuals paying the lenders back approached zero. This just perpetuates the analogy that the government will break your leg and hand you crutches then pat themselves on their back and say “Look I helped you to walk”. Centralized planing and government interference always leads to less freedom for the individual. This is one of the many reasons why Americans should stop voting for big government Socialist.

By: qjersey

qjersey — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:03:23 +0000

But the republicans ARE the party of (corporate) greed.