Comments on: Don't Turn Panic Into Depression

National Review Online: The Dangers Of Blaming Free Trade, Low Taxes, And Flexible Labor Markets For The Current Crisis

[markangeloo]

Interest rates were kept artificially low so in the bubble frenzy no one would notice we were fighting the WAR.

No money down
No military draft
It was a Roman Circus

[hedonist3]

"paradym" - ????

Your point could be taken more seriously if you could spell.

[omnibus66]

Oh, no, don''t blame the foxes for all the dead chickens.

[tallyman2008]

NRO - good observations

But

You are about 80 years too late

[juwboy]

The blame for today`s financial panic can be blamed directly on affirmative action, Bill Clinton and the Reno-Achtenberg Odd Couple.

Before the Clinton administration, banks used a sensible, prudent set of criteria to determine eligibility for home loans.

Result: a disproportionate number of low-income members of minority groups were turned down.

In order to remedy this "injustice", Bill Clinton and the Reno-Achtenberg Odd Couple decided to use affirmative action to encourage banks to make risky loans to minorities with low incomes.

Banks which initially refused to comply with this policy were denied participation in lucrative federal contracts so it wasn`t long before all banks were making these risky home loans.

We are now reaping the "benefits" of this policy of providing home loans to affirmative action imbeciles, that was imposed on us by the Clinton administration and its Reno-Achtenberg Odd Couple.

Millions of questionable loans that should never have been approved are now in default.

Result: today`s financial panic.

[jsutaguy]

I completely disagree with this article, both about the causes, and the cure for the economic crisis.
Skipping the debate about the causes, this article''s claim that ''free trade is good for us!" is simply cr ap. Every other country has startlingly steep protectionist language which stifles US labor and corporations from participating in those economies...and the tax revenue generated there disappears from the US coffers, except for the already-inflated personal earnings of the US based execs.
Jobs, the lifeblood of America, are being POURED out of this country to artificially stunted wage-states like India, again, enriching only a tiny, overpaid group of US executives who like the roads, the freedom, and the safety of the USA, but who work overtime to throw US workers out of jobs. "NOT MY PROBLEM" is the typical US executive response to the fatally high levels of unemployment and underemployment of US citizens.."It''s not ILLEGAL!" they say.

SC REW THAT! Make these overpaid jack a sses actually work for a living, and require them to hire US labor to produce US goods of high quality. It can be done, but not by the stupid, incompetent, greedy and manipulative people who currently inhabit the corner offices at every Wall Street firm, major US technical firm, and most US manufacturing firms.

Protectionism is good for America, even if it''s hard on executives.

[ubrew12]

For 30 years, Republicans can replaced the old Democratic populist ''charge the rich'' paradym, with a new populist ''charge the children'' paradym.

Think what you like: the rich can afford it, and in fact STILL remain rich, much richer than most Americans could EVER hope to be.

Can the children afford it? That''s what we must eventually ask, as 30 years of Republican populism grinds to a close and we are left with the $10 trillion bill.

Reagan could not possibly have imagined the ''War on Terror'' that''s taken $1 trillion from us already, and another $1 trillion before its done. He could not possibly have imagined that SocSec and Medicare would just keep on getting put off, until todays wage earners are facing bankruptcy paying for it all. Bottom line: the children are no richer than we were when we were their age. They CANNOT afford the burden we''ve placed on them.

''Charge the children'' was ALWAYS an unethical choice. Its just obvious now, and the NRO is p*ssing in the wind, arguing against it.

[susanhelit]

OK - so - unions bad, and a 40% tax increase is just the same thing as a 4% tax increase back to a level that served us well in the 90''s. How do you guys expect anyone who thinks for an instant to buy this garbage?

[incog-nito]

And what is the NRO''s prescription? Continue the same policies of the past 8 years? The fact is Americans can readily see with their very own eyes, at their own workplace, the steady job loss and closing of factories--most of which have moved to other countries. This has been going on for years (and is still ongoing), long before the current credit crisis. Americans can readily see that their wages have not kept up with inflation, while price of health care, education, etc. have gone through the roof. And what do they get in return? Cheaper trinkets at the local Wal-Mart.

The NRO offers no prescription other than "stay the course", which has been proven disastrous for the country.

Gee, your economic charade is over and you cry what a success it has been...grow up and get out of this lie. It has been nothing but a credit-card economy from the git-go. These types produce nothing of true value and suck the money of what others produce just like vampires.