well..my latest LTTE is the most commented...but

[w8liftinglady]

not exactly the comments I was searching for...enjoy seeing how the other half thinks
http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2008/09/27/opinion/doc48dd057349090511341223.txt
To the Editor,

As President Bush stared into the television camera and announced “Our entire economy is in danger!” I had to wonder ... what and or who is really behind this crisis? One individual stands behind several pieces of legislature that have affected our nation's economy.

John McCain’s self-admitted economic guru, Phil Gramm, is at the root of the foreclosure crisis that is driving this catastrophe. On Dec. 15, 2000, Gramm introduced the 262-page measure called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act as part of a $384 billion Omnibus spending bill.

The act, he declared, would ensure that neither the SEC nor the Commodity Futures Trading Commission got into the business of regulating newfangled financial products and would thus “protect financial institutions from overregulation” and “position our financial services industries to be world leaders into the new century.” Betting on the risk of any given transaction became more important “and more lucrative” than the transactions themselves. There was more betting on the riskiest sub-prime mortgages than there were actual mortgages. Gramm then blithely retired from the Senate to become an executive with UBS — surprise — a Swiss investment bank that benefited from this legislation.

The federal government has now-belatedly — decided to become involved in this legal gambling operation ... not to regulate it, but to bail it out. The beneficiaries will be the lenders, not those who were affected by their unscrupulous lending practices. There should be no blank check delivered to Henry Paulson or any of his associates who allowed this crisis to occur while their golf buddies got rich. The CEOs should be prosecuted and their assets used to resolve this crisis.

Elizabeth Dawson,

Red Oak







Analysis: Bush holds Washington blame-free Letter: ‘On alcohol vote’


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Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of thedailylight.com.
ellisprzr wrote on Sep 26, 2008 4:16 PM:

" You must live your life with your head in the proverbial sand. Dems like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd are going to take a large part of this shame for their part in influencing private mortgage policies. It is no surprise Ms. Dawson milled another hack letter supporting her partisan views.

This is way bigger than pointing a partisan finger at one component of this complex problem. Borrowers who bit off more than they could chew, lenders propagating and regulators allowing ''no doc.'' verification loans (yes there is actually plenty of regulation existing already), 3 year arms and ''interest only'' loans to uncreditworthy participants, ridiculous value run-ups and equity prospecting and hopping (on the east and west coast) are just a beginning. Lack of personal responsiblity when signing a contract to repay a debt (all in the name of keeping up with the Jones family) is detestable to me.

And behind door number two is the casino environment of Wall street, the impact of minority housing initiatives and legislation, ACORN, equity default swaps, etc., etc. Too much to fast.

Golden parachutes should be completely retracted for every player starting with Franklin Raines. Demands that Frank and Dodd relinquish their Chairmanships should follow.

The fact is that something must be done to capitulate investor and consumer confidence or we will all be living on crackers and mayonaise. Commodities and futures are not the root problem but are merely effect and contributing factors. Out of control fuel prices can also shoulder the blame for destabilizing our economy and not just one selective piece of Commodities legislation demonized by the author. "



Mike Urtel wrote on Sep 27, 2008 1:08 PM:

" I hope we've learned our lesson and won't reward the Republicans by voting them back into the White House.
Had enough? Vote Democratic! "



w8liftinglady wrote on Sep 27, 2008 2:08 PM:

" ellisprzr:You must not have much of an arguement if you start with a character attack.I simply ask you to google the following:
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act-
Angelo Mozilo
Franklin Raines
James Johnson
Stan O'Neal
John Paulson
the ever growing list goes on,but you can start there...and you call ME partisan with my head in the sand!?
Charles Prince "



MCJ3 wrote on Sep 29, 2008 10:28 AM:

" w8lifting lady, You might want to take a look at those supplements your taking. I don't know if it's the Deca or the HGH, but something is wrecking your comprehension and reasoning skills. Did you seriously accuse ellisprzr of not having much of an argument? I, myself, counted five paragraphs. Maybe you just saw the poster's name and didn't bother reading his post. Is that it? Why is it that when anyone calls you people out and pokes holes in your arguments, you play the personal attack card? You're an idiot! Please note that the preceding statement is an example of a personal attack. Pointing out to someone that they refuse to listen to reasonable statements that oppose their own position, therefor eliminating the possibility that they might gain some valuable knowledge that could help them to see things in a different, more objective light is by no means making a personal attack. That, ma'am is all that Ellisprzr is guilty of in stating that Ms. Dawson has it's "head in the sand".

Liberal America has, unfortunately, been conditioned to cry foul and make accusations of mistreatment to illicit sympathy, whether warranted or not, as a means to deflect attention from the more important matter at hand. It was a brilliant strategy in the beginning, but it's pretty well been played out and exposed for what it is. This "Poor Me" mentality is getting out of control and has undoubtedly contributed to the current economic climate.

As a Republican, I can admit that some of the decisions that my party leaders have made have been wrong, in hindsight (ie: prematurely shifting focus to Iraq), so why is it that the Democrats have such a problem in this area? Why are you always looking for someone on the other side to point a finger at? Always looking to deflect and never willing to accept blame or responsibility.

I apologize for rambling, but I'm having trouble containing my bewilderment. I'm done now.

W8liftinglady, since you have been so gracious as to help educate us all, I've got something that I'd like for you to have a look at. It's a story titled "The boy who cried Wolf". "



kbphillips wrote on Sep 30, 2008 3:46 PM:

" Ellisprzr, you've near summed it up in a nutshell version. You could elaborate further, but that pretty much hits the high points of EXACTLY how we've gotten where we're at now. I continue to be bewildered as to HOW fingers can be pointed to the current administration for this disaster! Ridiculous. "



Jonathan wrote on Sep 30, 2008 9:40 PM:

" My, my! It seems after all these years I was wrong. It wasn't Jimmy Carter's responsibility for the economy going into the tank in the 70's, it was them Republicans in Congress!

Thank you for the good laugh ya'll...

Jonathan "



ellisprzr wrote on Sep 30, 2008 10:13 PM:

" kb: This administration, which is not without serious misjugdment in many areas, repeatedly warned about Fannie and Freddie avarice from 2000 on. Though one could hardly know that through the constant ''I knew too'' bs being shelled out on recent interviews i.e. John Kerry on Fox News. Not even Oliver Stone will be able to pin this one on 'ole W.

Hopefully the pitiful leadership in this Congress will stop playing sectarian, partisan games and listen to the majority of constituents who don't want to see pork in this bill and are interested in ''work-out'' and insuring paper melt-downs over ''bailouts'' for $700 billion taxpayer dollars. If more money is printed to finance this fiasco we will be watching things ''circle the bowl'' (to borrow one of your lines) while our kids back to school shoes reach 150% price increases next year.

The smoky backroom creation and ''get it passed through before America can view it'' attitude by Pelosi should alert anyone who cares about our system that something is rotten in Denmark or should I say DC. "



ellisprzr wrote on Oct 1, 2008 11:12 AM:

" Jonathan:

To borrow from your parties election platform:

We are interested in today only and problems of the future, not past experience. Isnt that the mantra of your candidates platform?? How can it be you would bring up Carter's failings as a President? "



corbeka wrote on Oct 1, 2008 1:32 PM:

" Wow, such passion from both sides. Its thrilling to see so much interest in the subject. You all truly represent the black/white never to meet in the middle types. Safe to say I am learning. I wish you all could state your views without the name calling and hatefulness. After all, we are a two party system. Its good to hear from both sides. "



Jonathan wrote on Oct 1, 2008 10:28 PM:

" ellisprzr,

It wasn’t Carter’s failure anymore than this is Bush’s failure. It is a failure of the system of government and finance that our society has embraced. That's why this kind of thing happens every so often.

Note: That was not from my parties platform as I am not a member of either party.

I vote for the best person(s) for the job irregardless of which party they belong to.

Jonathan "