In his news conference today, President Bush proclaimed, "The marketplace works." He was referring to the high price of gasoline inspiring people to drive less and to drive vehicles that get better fuel economy.
But we wonder how the people defrauded by mortgage brokers and subprime lenders, who are facing the loss of their homes, feel about the president's much-revered "marketplace"? It seems to us that a good part of the foreclosures and bad credit debacle could have been avoided if the government had decided to rein in the marketplace as it was building the financial house of cards that is in the process of collapsing. For instance, many of the subprime mortgages were made by lenders who didn't have to follow the rules that apply to banks. It was a free-for-all in the marketplace. And it doesn't look to us as if that free-for-all has worked out very well.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Bush: 'The marketplace works'
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2 comments:
Hopefully this year will be the last time we ever have to hear the myth that Republicans are good with money.
As the prompt suggests, the majority of our serious economic issues are 100% avoidable. The mortgage collapse was not market-driven but the result of policy error. The buyouts of floundering corporate giants are precisely the kind of thing that Republicans claim to oppose when it's election time. Our military budget is unthinkably huge. Aside from shifting the financial strain away from the wealthy and onto the shoulders of the middle class, the Republicans have shown no ability to control or even direct the changes in our economy. And the worst part is that they have no plans for change... even going into an election!
The United States economy simply cannot bear another 4 years with a President who knows nothing about fiscal policy, and continuously suggests that financial ruin is a good sign for America -- bearing in mind that Bush has taken a cavalier attitude toward human misery quite a few times in his tenure.
I find it laughable that Bush would say that the marketplace is working with regards to the current round of ultra-high fuel costs. This "free" market is being corrupted by the investment in energy futures contracts that is falsely driving up fuel prices in the marketplace.
It is also interesting to me that in this same blog you mention the collapse of the mortgage lending industry, as the energy futures markets and the mortgage industry were both deregulated in the same piece of legislation. When will democratic and republican politicians step up and reconcile this policy that is hurting the poor and middle-class Americans they claim as constituents. Have none of them any shame?
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