On Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:16:58 -0500, MillerT
wrote:

On 3/7/09 8:00 PM, in article ,
"Doug Miller" wrote:

In article , Curly Surmudgeon
wrote:

Because Republicans drove the economy into a ditch.

Oddly enough, the economy was doing pretty well when the Republicans
controlled both houses of Congress. Then the Dems took over in the 2006
elections and the economy went in the toilet soon after.

Which party was it, again, that "drove the economy into a ditch"?

The Republicans.

How many times do you all need to be told that the Dems only held a *simple*
majority in Congress for the last two years of Bush's second term. They were
blocked from passing anything remotely resembling Democratic partisan
legislation by Republican filibusters and Presidential vetoes.

The war(s) were a Bush phenomenon, which nearly all Republicans, a number of
Democrats, and the public in general, were duped into backing because the
intelligence community and executive branch lied about Saddam possessing WMD
and posing a risk to stability in the Middle East. (Ironically, the United
States subsequently destabilized the region.)

The Republicans were also responsible for deregulation of the financial
industry because it fit their "trickle-down" (paradoxically, trickle-up)
theory of free market capitalism, which is a major source of our current
worldwide economic recession/depression.

The Democrats were guilty of spinelessness in the face of a fascist regime
that benefited corporate greed to the detriment of the majority of the
nation's citizens.

The Dems may have made mistakes, but the Republicans ****ed up royally.

Do some reading. Learn something for a change.

http://tinyurl.com/cuwq44
--
John H

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those
who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
Thomas Jefferson

"John H" wrote in message ...
On Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:16:58 -0500, MillerT
wrote:

On 3/7/09 8:00 PM, in article ,
"Doug Miller" wrote:

In article , Curly Surmudgeon
wrote:

Because Republicans drove the economy into a ditch.

Oddly enough, the economy was doing pretty well when the Republicans
controlled both houses of Congress. Then the Dems took over in the 2006
elections and the economy went in the toilet soon after.

Which party was it, again, that "drove the economy into a ditch"?

The Republicans.

How many times do you all need to be told that the Dems only held a *simple*
majority in Congress for the last two years of Bush's second term. They were
blocked from passing anything remotely resembling Democratic partisan
legislation by Republican filibusters and Presidential vetoes.

The war(s) were a Bush phenomenon, which nearly all Republicans, a number of
Democrats, and the public in general, were duped into backing because the
intelligence community and executive branch lied about Saddam possessing WMD
and posing a risk to stability in the Middle East. (Ironically, the United
States subsequently destabilized the region.)

The Republicans were also responsible for deregulation of the financial
industry because it fit their "trickle-down" (paradoxically, trickle-up)
theory of free market capitalism, which is a major source of our current
worldwide economic recession/depression.

The Democrats were guilty of spinelessness in the face of a fascist regime
that benefited corporate greed to the detriment of the majority of the
nation's citizens.

The Dems may have made mistakes, but the Republicans ****ed up royally.

Do some reading. Learn something for a change.

http://tinyurl.com/cuwq44


Good idea.

MAJORITY LEADER LOTT'S STATEMENT
ON GRAMM-LEACH-BLILEY ACT

"Mr. President, let me just take a moment at this time, if the Senator would allow me.

"When the history is written of this session of Congress, it will probably identify this piece of legislation as the single biggest achievement. I have heard this financial services modernization issue discussed for my entire career in the Congress, which is now up to 27 years. It has been tried by Republicans, by Democrats in the Congress, House and Senate, administrations of both parties. It never quite occurred.

"I think it is appropriate we commend all of those who have been involved in this process for bringing us to this moment. This legislation is going to pass overwhelmingly. It is going to bring us into the modern era of financial services. It is going to allow us to be more equally competitive around the world.

"I think we should properly note what has happened. If today's papers are any indication, we passed major trade legislation yesterday and it didn't even make the first section of one of the papers in this city; it wound up in the business section. It was hardly noted, the effort that was put into passing that major free trade legislation. I hope that will not be the case with this major legislation.

"So for all those involved--I won't begin at the top and go to the bottom--obviously Secretary Rubin was involved in earlier discussions; Alan Greenspan was involved; Secretary Summers has been involved. The administration did stay engaged when they could have said we are not going to talk anymore. Leaders in both the House and the Senate, the elected leadership, Democrats and Republicans on both sides of the aisle, on both sides of the Capitol worked to make this happen.

"Let me say for the record--I know, because I watched it very carefully and had some meetings which, I think, helped give it some momentum, some impetus--it would not be where it is today, it would not have been achieved, without the leadership of the senior Senator from Texas, Mr. Gramm. He has done a masterful job. Many people said: It won't happen. Many people said: He will kill it. I kept saying: No; you wait. He will make this happen through thick or thin. It will get done.

"It is being done. To take nothing away from all those involved--including the ranking member of the committee, Senator Sarbanes of Maryland, who was actively involved--I have to note, with a lot of appreciation and gratitude, the tremendous leadership of the Senator from Texas. I don't think he can probably ever replicate this effort again. So I think that at this time we should express our appreciation because it is a monumental achievement."

http://banking.senate.gov/conf/





Put a Cop on Every Beat. Despite the evidence that markets are not self-policing, some policymakers have invoked the mantras of free markets, financial innovation, and financial self-interest to argue for minimal market regulation. During the past decade, these arguments largely succeeded. The result today is a wide array of gaps in U.S. financial regulation exempting various types of financial instruments, financial institutions, and even whole markets from government oversight. Those gaps need to be closed.

The 2000 Commodity Futures Modernization Act, for example, currently bars federal regulation of over-the-counter derivatives markets, and prohibits SEC and CFTC regulation of all types of swap agreements, including credit default swaps that have now evolved into a $50 trillion market. Holding companies of major U.S. securities firms are able to operate outside of SEC regulation. So can some derivatives traders. Hedge funds, carefully designed to evade SEC rules, have become unregulated heavyweights in U.S. markets and are the last major U.S. financial players without any anti-money laundering obligations.

http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/012109Levin.pdf



HTH



Jc