Phil ‘mental recession’ Gramm attempts to resuscitate his reputation.
Phil ‘mental recession’ Gramm attempts to resuscitate his reputation.
This month, Time released a list of the top 25 people to blame for the financial crisis. Second on the list (and leading its readers’ poll) is former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX). Gramm advised Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) during the presidential campaign, famously referring to America as a “nation of whiners” in a “mental recession.” In the 90s, he also played an instrumental role in deregulating the financial sector. Today, Gramm has an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal denying that the deregulation he promoted had anything to do with the financial crisis. Gramm relied on a series of tired conservative tropes — like blaming the Community Reinvestment Act and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — in an attempt to exonerate himself from well-deserved culpability. The Wonk Room has more.
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sounds like “whining” to me….is he joining the rest of us in the nation of whiners?
February 20th, 2009 at 3:13 pmIf Gramm wants to really “resuscitate” his image, I recommend he suck on a Glock while pulling the trigger.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:16 pmHow is it possible that he has the colossal temerity to even Try this? I know that the Big Lie’s been a political favorite for Centuries, but now in the 21st century? Someone should really, really remind him that pictures and words can be recorded. Even more importantly, they can be replayed over and over again. He Really needs to be reminded that Reality is that which, when you stop believing it it, does not go away.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:16 pmNow he’s going to wine, and play “I’m the victim” card.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:17 pmHow long will it take before Rush sends his army of winged monkeys to spike the voting and put Barney Frank in the top spot?
February 20th, 2009 at 3:17 pm… and Time is the more conservative of the newsweeklies.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:19 pm.
Is Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX) whining again?
.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:22 pmPhil should be indicted or in jail. In 2006 Executives expressly continued UBS’s illegal tax shelter practices. Phil was head of UBS’s American operations.
He had to be in the loop, thus he’s part of a conspiracy to avoid taxes. The list grew from 20,000 to 52,000.
How many members of corporate board rooms are on the UBS tax dodger list? How many cheaters once served in White House roles?
February 20th, 2009 at 3:23 pmnow we know.
phil gramm is mr. p
*
so much time on his hands.
*
February 20th, 2009 at 3:23 pmGood luck with that. Doesn’t he know that the Lazarus story is a myth?
February 20th, 2009 at 3:24 pmAnd before Clinton get ‘blamed’ for signing this law, let’s recap:
The bill that ultimately repealed the [The Glass-Steagall ] Act was introduced in the Senate by Phil Gramm (Republican of Texas) and in the House of Representatives by Jim Leach (R-Iowa) in 1999. The bills were passed by Republican majorities on party lines by a 54-44 vote in the Senate and by a 343-86 vote in the House of Representatives. After passing both the Senate and House the bill was moved to a conference committee to work out the differences between the Senate and House versions. The final bipartisan bill resolving the differences was passed in the Senate 90-8 (1 not voting) and in the House: 362-57 (15 not voting). Having majorities large enough to override any possible Presidential veto, the legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 12, 1999.
What am I thinking? They’ll blame Clinton anyway; they’re republicans…
February 20th, 2009 at 3:26 pmphil gramm seem to be afflicted with MENTAL RETARDATION as well as MORAL DEPRAVATION
February 20th, 2009 at 3:28 pmThe republican “tropes” are, indeed, getting tired and boring. Somehow, Limpballs, Little Seanie and political whores like Gramm think that a lie becomes true just by repeating it ad infinitum.
I am looking forward to the day when the mortgage “crisis” is untangled enough for someone to do a thorough assessment of just which mortgages went bad. My bet is that the highest proportion of foreclosures are ultimately found to be in outlying suburbs and amongst people who refinanced at least once in order to take equity out of their now-underwater assets.
It is only slightly amusing to hear all the right-wing radio rant-jockeys trying to pin this financial crisis on Obama. Remember how valiantly they defended GDumbya in 2001 when the dot-com bubble burst? According to them, that was Clinton’s fault. Well, they can’t have it both ways. The current situation belongs squarely at the feet of GDumbya and the republicans.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:28 pmI wonder what gramm will be saying when there are crowds of homesless, unemployed Americans storming his private gated residence calling out:
“Off with his head! Off with his head!!!”
February 20th, 2009 at 3:30 pmNot even the cast of Gray’s Anatomy could revive that particular corpse.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:30 pmSo many pimples to pop and so little time. Thanks TP.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:30 pmPhil is putting lipstick on his pig.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:31 pmstateofthedivision Says: #8
I’m hoping they make that list public. Some real “patriots” on there, I’m sure:
>>Secret Swiss bank accounts may not be so secret anymore.
The Justice Department filed suit in Miami federal court Thursday seeking to force Swiss banking giant UBS to name 52,000 U.S. customers with Swiss accounts totaling $14.8 billion.
The IRS action comes on the heels of a massive settlement Wednesday in which UBS moved to avoid a criminal prosecution that would likely have threatened its survival.
The bank entered into a deferred prosecution agreement, providing for it to pay $780 million to the United States and to name 250 to 300 U.S. customers who are suspected of committing U.S. tax fraud under Swiss government guidelines…<<
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/200/story/62518.html
February 20th, 2009 at 3:32 pmMax-1 Says:
Actually, I think Graham is wining, you know, Boone’s Farm & Ripple. A wino.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:34 pmIt’s simple – the banks are not insolvent or nearly so because some portion of the mortgages they wrote went bad. They’re in the state they’re in because of the out-of-control way that they wrapped other securities around them which magnified the losses, securities that would not be as prevalent today if Gramm-Leach had not deregulated them.
Gramm trying to escape responsibility for this is like a 7 year old frying ants with a magnifying glass blaming the sun. And about as mature.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:38 pmThese people never give up. Republicans are the party of destruction. They’d destroy families, businesses, jobs, anything, even this country, to maximize profits and even steal for their special friends. I wonder how many of those tax dodge accounts at UBS and other banks in Switzerland are full of kickback money for American politicians? There needs to be a massive investigation and people need to go to jail to send a clear message that this will not be tolerated.
I’m sorry, but you have to have regulations in all aspects of society for there to be at least some semblance of order. The last 8 years are proof positive that when a few dozen people are allowed to stack the deck in their favor you get the economy and other problems we have today.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:40 pmI am hoping for all I’m worth Gramm and his old ladies names are among the Swiss tax evaders. If there ever were ignorant SOBs worthy of scorn and ridicule he and she fit the bill. He had nothing to do with it? Wasn’t his sticking the Commodities Futures Modernization Act in that permitted Enron to stick California. And got his old lady a spot on Enron’s board soon after? And allowed the toxic mortgages to be packaged as ‘derivities’ which toppled Bear-Stearns, Lehman Bros and AIG. AIG would have died without the “whining taxpayer” bailing them out. What a purely skanky individual. Pitiful.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:42 pmdrive by troll Says:
Great hit piece from a “NON-PARTISAN” organiztion. haaaaa what a joke. You think you’d have the stones to admit what you really are TP , but we all know liberal like to lie.
have a good weekend
Time is partisan? Do tell.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:43 pmScum on the pond
February 20th, 2009 at 3:46 pmI think we’ve already debunked all of the arguments Gramm is posting at least five times in here already. He’s a bit behind the curve on this stuff.
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drive by troll Says:
Great hit piece from a “NON-PARTISAN” organiztion. haaaaa what a joke. You think you’d have the stones to admit what you really are TP , but we all know liberal like to lie.
Has anybody here ever claimed to be non-partisan? Anybody? Ever? What? Dude, TP is about as partisan as it gets, and proud of it.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:47 pmJust like the Phil Gramm of old… or Republicans in general… never taking responsibility for their actions.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:48 pm“They’re in the state they’re in because of the out-of-control way that they wrapped other securities around them which magnified the losses, securities that would not be as prevalent today if Gramm-Leach had not deregulated them.”
they wouldn’t even have ever existed, had the gutless phux in the Dim party stood their ground. Look at those margins> the Dims were lining up like boys at a hole in the girls’ bathroom.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:48 pmhanshiro@ 3:26 — Too bad that Clinton didn’t just veto it anyway… he’d be looking so much better for it now.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:51 pmdrive by troll Says:
Great hit piece from a “NON-PARTISAN” organiztion. haaaaa what a joke. You think you’d have the stones to admit what you really are TP , but we all know liberal like to lie.
Another homeschooled halfwit who has nothing to do. Didn’t this idiot say on another thread that he hope all the libs become homos so we’ll stop breeding and die off? At some point, if these homeschoolers continue to breed with each other they’ll be so dumb they won’t be able to type and we’ll be done with them.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:52 pmI think it would be quite entertaining to see Phil Gramm get a pike shoved up his ass.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:52 pmDBT sure isn’t a coward.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:54 pmYeah, dbt, nothing says “NON-PARTISAN” like the name Think Progress does. Moron.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:55 pmI would’nt say I am non-partisan. I am anti-partisan
I regard both parties as instruments of the status quo, quite useless in actually addressing the concerns of ‘the people,’ but quite effectively toiling to serve their corpoRat masters…
February 20th, 2009 at 3:55 pmCRA’s fault? You mean the legislation that affected primarily community banks, the same banks seeing a rise in deposits?
I never heard the right-wingers complain about CRA when Alan Greenspan had the mortgage rates set too low, housing values were overinflated, and Wall Street was having a ball buying up toxic mortgage securities that Phil Gramm made possible.
Sucks to be Phil Gramm. He thinks it’s sufficient to absolve himself of wrongdoing by simply taking a shot at the other party. He told Americans they were whiners, and he will sleep in the bed he made.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:55 pmIt’s definitely OK to call you a coward Pillsbury.
Because you are a coward.
But I can make you a man.
February 20th, 2009 at 3:59 pmNo, no, no, Uncle Ho,
February 20th, 2009 at 3:59 pmSen. Phil Gramm (R-TX) is being the good old Whaaaaaaapublican that he is.
Phil Gramm obviously has been taking lessons in revisionist history from Richard “I’m-not-a-neocon-and-anyway-there’s-no-such-thing-as-a-neocon” Perle…
Man — talk about your Inconvenient Truth…
February 20th, 2009 at 4:01 pmdrive by troll Says:
My GOD you conservatives are just plain IGNORANT. You have no brain. You are a moron. Sucks to be you punk
February 20th, 2009 at 4:03 pmI like big boys like you Pillsbury.
more cushion = better pushin’
February 20th, 2009 at 4:05 pmMr. Gramm , you are so lucky you don’t live in Europe. They the citizens would of ripped you a new A-HOLE for starters.
Then the masses would of brought you to the town/city square and hung you like they did to Mussolini. After that, the people would untie you and lay you down where all the homeless women may lift up their dresses and piss on you LIKE THEY DID TO MUSOLLINI.
You see, one fascist pig deserves another.
AWAKE….wow I had the most amazing dream….a mass of people stormed into Phil Gramms house…..
February 20th, 2009 at 4:05 pmMr. Philby Says:
Shouldnt YOU be on the shortbus going to your special school?
February 20th, 2009 at 4:05 pmDid Wendy Gramm ever pay the money she received from the Enron deregualtion back to the shareholders? I don’t think she did. Did the Gramms ever pay any money they stole due to deregulation back to anyone? I don’t think so and it looks like Phil is lying about the deregulation he has been a champion of since Ronnie Reagun came to power back in the 80’s. Phil Gramm is scum.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:05 pmPhilby says:
In a deep and slow voice;
Is that you John Wayne? Is this me?
Hah!
He thinks HE’S John Wayne.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:07 pmMr. Philby Says:
tombake
Souldn’t you be out in front of a school somewhere handing out candy?
Shouldn’t you be in school learning how to compose a paragraph?
February 20th, 2009 at 4:07 pmThis ones for you, Mr. Philby…
John Waynes Teeth…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heTZgjDhtYw
enjoy!
February 20th, 2009 at 4:11 pmBy the tone of frothing right-wingers like Mr. Philby, you’d think they have a punishment in store for Americans for voting them out of their birthright majority, if they ever manage to deceive enough of them again or push a victory through the courts.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:11 pmThese trolls think their so clever with their one-liners, above the extensive thought process that goes into a decent post.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:13 pmThis is the same Phil Graham that was involved with a Swiss bank investigation. Hum…this would be UBS Phil Graham.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:17 pmDefending President’s Housing Proposal, Gibbs Assails CNBC Personality
ABC News – 53 minutes ago
The White House lashed back today at CNBC’S Rick Santelli, a CNBC personality who assailed President Obama’s housing rescue plan Thursday on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
so shit. that guy was out of control and irresponsible.
stupid f’n jerk. he bares some blame now.
a real azzhole. on msnbc now.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:18 pmDo you think his name will be on the list, Cats’rFlyfishin’?
February 20th, 2009 at 4:19 pm;)
GO!
AWAY!
PERMANENTLY!!
February 20th, 2009 at 4:19 pmI saw that clip katy – I told my husband that Santelli’s angry, loud voice was torture to listen to for even a few seconds.
Don’t they take bets, I mean trades, on whether or not the market goes up or down on that Exchange? It seems weird to me somehow that people can become rich by simply betting that the market will go down.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:22 pmAny ugly looking, too.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:25 pmmr. p,
how’s the trial going?
*
good luck!
^
February 20th, 2009 at 4:28 pmIs it just a coincidence that Phil Gramm, the mastermind behind deregulating the bank and financial sector in this country now works for UBS which is used by wealthy Americans to hide money from the IRS?
February 20th, 2009 at 4:28 pmOops I see this comment was already made @ 54
February 20th, 2009 at 4:30 pmWow, low income home buyers caused a trillion dollar global financial crisis.
Impressive.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:32 pmUncle Fester Lurks Says:
Is it just a coincidence that Phil Gramm, the mastermind behind deregulating the bank and financial sector in this country now works for UBS which is used by wealthy Americans to hide money from the IRS?
—–
of course it is….. merely a coincidence… nothing to see here.. move along…
February 20th, 2009 at 4:33 pmnevar – we can only hope :)
February 20th, 2009 at 4:33 pmnevar – people of like minds call me “Cats”.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:34 pmMary – yes, they do make “bets” and that “betting” is what nearly destroyed AIG.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:36 pmGramm doesn’t mind trading on the lives of people either… in Texas, In 2003, he pitched a complex plan to buy life insurance policies on retired educators and funnel the death benefits to the Teacher Retirement System. Too gruesome for even the Texas legislature.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:37 pmMr. Philby Says:
Same loon:
Shouldn’t you be in school learning how to compose a paragraph?
—————–
Hypocrite, much?
Why hello, stupid troll, I didn’t know that it was possible to cut-and-paste one line from a two-line post to somehow trip me up, but that’s a further testament to your need for every type of schooling.
And since you insisted on mentioning the word ‘hypocrite’, I’d be more than happy to get into a debate over your party’s conduct the last eight years.
;)
February 20th, 2009 at 4:39 pmthanks, Cats, I just like typing the flyfishin’ part, as you may know…
February 20th, 2009 at 4:46 pm;)
Nettles Says:
“You obviously know nothing about UBS or the people who work there.”
Will your name be on the list, Nettles?
February 20th, 2009 at 4:47 pmRick Santelli wants ye’ old Wall Street culture revived and lumps of cash on the trading floor rubbed into the faces of the average Americans they use to manipulate their money.
Who buys this attempted portrayal of the GOP as representatives of responsible people? Truth is, they hide behind these unnamed responsible people in their hatred of social spending that pays for itself.
Ring that closing bell — Main Street sucks!
February 20th, 2009 at 4:49 pmWhat? Obama’s NOT on the list ? This HAS to be a distorted poll.
February 20th, 2009 at 4:52 pmNettles Says:
You obviously know nothing about UBS or the people who work there.
These corporations aren’t out to give you shit, Nettles. You’re a serf working for free, whether or not you think a paycheck is in the mail.
We know a little more than nothing since the Justice Dept. is investigating, heh?
February 20th, 2009 at 4:53 pmNettles Says:
Not that simple, but millions of defaultees who pleaded ignorance to the pay structures of their mortgages definitely had a hand in the current maelstrom.
Or they were told by their brokers not to worry, they could refinance their toxic mortgages.
Then the overinflated home values went to the crapper.
When you’re out to blame the little guy and only the little guy, you’ve already lost.
Good day, sir!
February 20th, 2009 at 4:55 pmHey Pillsbury, if we told you you won, would you go away?
February 20th, 2009 at 4:57 pmMr. Philby
I extend my offer — if you want to throw out the word hypocrite we can debate your party’s conduct of the last eight years.
Don’t forget to wear your jacket, and keep those sleeves in full form!
February 20th, 2009 at 5:00 pmMr. Felon, do you think it’s funny to munch on Cheetos while still living in the country you nearly destroyed?
February 20th, 2009 at 5:02 pmNettles #74, These borrowers were convinced by the mortgage brokers that these loans were affordable, for their income range. Their big mistake was trusting them.
February 20th, 2009 at 5:02 pmConsistent one-liners and multiple lines of coke, held dear to Mr. Felon.
February 20th, 2009 at 5:05 pmThat photograph of Gramm should be preserved in stone. What a mug. When did we stop putting gargoyles on buildings…
February 20th, 2009 at 5:05 pmNews that the Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Swiss banking giant UBS is just the latest chapter in the curious case of Phil Gramm. Just one day after UBS agreed to pay a $780 million criminal fine and admitted to conspiring to defraud the IRS, the DOJ demanded access to 52,000 accounts as part of its broad tax evasion probe. Which is more than just a little ironic. After all, before he became a UBS vice-chairman in 2002, then Senator Phil Gramm helped lead the 1990’s Republican war to gut the Internal Revenue Service.
For the details, see:
February 20th, 2009 at 5:25 pm“UBS, the IRS and Phil Gramm.”
I guess he is looking for mouth to mouth with that photo. Where is Larry Craig?
February 20th, 2009 at 5:33 pmI just love the nickname “Phil ‘Mental Recession’ Gramm.” It fits him so well.
.
LibertyLover Says:
Gramm doesn’t mind trading on the lives of people either… in Texas, In 2003, he pitched a complex plan to buy life insurance policies on retired educators and funnel the death benefits to the Teacher Retirement System. Too gruesome for even the Texas legislature.
Sounds like an economic perpetual motion machine. The money couldn’t possibly even out, unless the insurance companies were going to knowingly take a loss. I mean, if the pool of retired teachers you’re paying premiums on is exactly the same as the pool of teachers recieving retirement benefits, then either the retirement plan is losing money or the insurance company is.
.
Nettles Says:
Not that simple, but millions of defaultees who pleaded ignorance to the pay structures of their mortgages definitely had a hand in the current maelstrom.
Most of the defaultees were flipping higher-value homes, and moving properties around like they were gambling chips. Blaming low-income first-time homeowners hits the Republican twofer of scapegoating both blacks and the poor. But it’s ridiculous on its face, since first-time homeowners were a very small percentage of defaulted mortgages, and most of the losses weren’t in the face value of the mortgages anyways, but had been “leveraged” into credit default swaps and CDS protection hedge deals.
.
Mr. Philby Says:
“Fannie and Feddie are jusy fine!”
barney frank and chris dodd
… as well as a number of Republicans at the time. However, Fannie and Freddie did not cause the massive meltdown of the mortgage and financial industries. The behavior of all of the players in the market did.
.
Nettles Says:
…not to mention the pressure exerted by certain memebers of Congress on behalf of ACORN to push through shady loans to unqualified buyers…
First of all, please quit citing ACORN for things unless you can back it up. Even if you do, don’t assume that ACORN is somehow “bad,” and use it like an epithet, because nobody here believes that. Nobody ever passed a law forcing banks to give loans to buyers who didn’t meet the appropriate financial criteria.
The trouble was with the leveraging of assets. When there’s $100 in the market riding on every $1 worth of assessed asset value, you’ve got a huge problem; even if the asset value doesn’t drop and the underlying mortgage is still being paid, the total value can still fail. Which it did. Many of the deals being struck were based on the assumption that housing prices would continue to increase – ever hear of balloon payments?
.
Nettles Says:
Is there a Bush-hater out there with enough stones to admit that Dodd, Frank, and most of all, THE HOMEOWNER deserve some blame too?
About two percent of the blame. Now you give the rest to the people who were supposedly in control of the markets, and who are demanding mega-bonuses because they’re so “talented.”
.
Mr. Philby Says:
The poster who hates all Conservatives is none too bright….
“Conservative” = “Evil, stupid person.” Hating them based on that label is actually just a time-saver.
February 20th, 2009 at 5:44 pmMr. Philby Says:
Well Phil of course that is what you were TOLD to believe its all about hating Bush. YOU were stupid enough to buy it like everything else you are TOLD to believe. There is plenty of blame to go around. Frank should have seen it coming sooner though he WAS trying to regulate in 05. Some of the homeowners were trying to use homes as investments and some were played but that still leaves them some of the blame. It is a sad fact that people trust professionals but that doesnt absolve them of all blame. The hate Bush stupidity is just that an ignorant talking point. Bush deserves a whole lot of blame for MANY things but this crisis he has a lot of company
February 20th, 2009 at 5:47 pmMr. Philby Says:
“the DOJ demanded access to 52,000 accounts as part of its broad tax evasion probe.”
Ted Kennedy is NOT going to be happy about that! LOL!
I think Sen. Kennedy has some more important things to deal with about now…
February 20th, 2009 at 5:47 pmIs the MSM letting it leak that this a global financial meltdown? How anyone could believe that home loans in the U.S. bankrupted the world is beyond me.
February 20th, 2009 at 6:00 pmMr. Philby Says:
Please direct your question to barney frank, president pelosi and chris dodd.
You have your few caricatures of blame, it’s more of a refusal to answer my question. From the legislation deregulating the separation of mortgage-securities-insurance to the 12 years of republican rule in congress, your response is moot.
The right goes on and on and on with their pre-fab arguments even after thorough debunking. They don’t care that anyone responds, the machine just repeats the command.
February 20th, 2009 at 6:33 pmMr. Philby Says:
The poster who hates all Conservatives is none too bright….
I would say you’re not even trying, but that truly is your best effort.
February 20th, 2009 at 6:38 pmNettles,
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were late in the subprime game.
El Bruce @ 96 explains it best.
The right-wing obsession with blaming everyday homeowners, no matter their percentage of fault, uncovers a social targeting on their part of poor people and minorities.
Consumer culture at any rate will admittedly have to change.
It doesn’t change the fact that your kind needs serious repair — you’re stuck on ideology, intent on defending the biggest and ruthless entities to no end, and you want these entities to maneuver themselves around government action to avoid the social responsibility of running a business on our soil. There’s too much inconsistency for any of you to be taken seriously.
February 20th, 2009 at 6:45 pmThis man is so far out of sync with the average American, it is impossible for him to relate at all. He worships money and power. It is no use trying to get him to see anything wrong in his assessment of the stability of our financial institutions.
You would have better luck trying to describe color to someone color blind.
He is very much to blame for all that deregulation. As was his wife Wendy. He knew he was lying and he also knew what trouble this country was in. And if McCain had one, he would have been made Secretary of the Treasury. Think of the damage he could have continued to do.
There is enough blame and pain to go around. It is going to take a long time to correct more than 25 years of greed and politics.
February 20th, 2009 at 6:48 pmFor all the ignorant trolls who want to repeat the lie that the Democrats and Freddie and Fannie caused all the problems I have one question: What the hell did Dubya and the cons do while they were in power? I that was the cause and they are not guilty of anything, why the hell didn’t they do something about it? Because they are just as much to blame and even more to blame. That is why.
February 20th, 2009 at 7:16 pmOnly inflatable clowns have taken a bigger beating in recent years than Gramm’s reputation.
Maybe Phil can get in on the international adoption syndicate or just fill in the nation of the kid(s) from a local orphanage as “Latveria” or “Apokolips”.
February 20th, 2009 at 7:32 pmSorry Phil. You blamed the voters. You don’t get to play politician any more.
February 20th, 2009 at 7:44 pmStrange.
The Community Reinvestment Act as well as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae worked well for decades before former Sen. Phil Gramm and his maniacal deregulatory neo-conservative Republican pals got their hands on them.
Hmmm, I wonder if there’s a connection?
Former Sen. Phil Gramm, and all his get-rich-quick Republican crony Fortune 500 lobbyist pals gave us Investment Banks this decade (after trashing Depression Era regulations that kept investment firm “gamblers” from getting their grubby hands on bank deposits to help feed their gambling addiction) and the Enron debacle.
In fact, most (if not all) the Depression Era rules and regulations enacted to protect U.S. citizens from another Great Depression happening were systematically either undermined or overturned by Gramm and his Fortune 500 pals, returning America to the pre-1929 Stock Market Crash days, those halycon days of rampant and runaway speculation involving lax rules and regulations.
Gee, I wonder what would happen if all those Depression Era safeguards were neutralized or negated completely? Oh. Maybe what is happening today? Who would have ever thunk such a thing would happen? Obviously, not Gramm or any of the runamok speculators who’ve got us into this mess. Criminal minded folks never do like silly rules or regulations getting in the way of their latest criminal enterprise, do they?
February 20th, 2009 at 9:10 pmThe government got us in this mess, and now the prescription is more of the same (in larger sums)?
Time to return to free markets. Get rid of the social spending that Bush and Obama have crippled the economy with. Obama is now following exactly in the footsteps of Japan in the 1990’s. If he is successful, it’ll be a 20 year recession. Just like Japan.
February 20th, 2009 at 9:54 pmyou can not just blame only one person about economy crisis, not only him there is thousands people who has something to do about this mess.
February 20th, 2009 at 9:58 pmmarwick Says:
The government got us in this mess, and now the prescription is more of the same (in larger sums)?
_____________
Let’s rephrase this so it makes some sort of sense, shall we?
The REPUBLICAN IDEA of government got us into this mess…
See? So much better. Clinton handed off a BUDGET SURPLUS to Botch, which Georgie turned into the BIGGEST DEFICITS in US history…
Your comment is so much more interesting when it has “actual facts” and a “point’ to it, huh? (You can thank me later…)
______________
Time to return to free markets.
Again… we just had a run of REPUBLICAN free markets… and it was a DISASTER.
______________
Get rid of the social spending that Bush and Obama have crippled the economy with.
Again, for your sake… the INSANE, IRRESPONSIBLE REPUBLICAN DEFICIT spending that Bush has crippled the WORLD economy with.
Obama’s been in office just about a month. He’s signed one big stimulus bill, half of which is tax cuts, something the GOOP would have done if they were in power, and them some.
Right now, we don’t know if this will work, but we do know BotchCo was a friggin’ disaster for the entire world.
Now… isn’t that so much better?
February 20th, 2009 at 10:04 pmyoutube Says:
_________
thousands… yeeeah… GOOPers, investment bankers…
Yep, yer totally right. Botch just serves as the figurehead.
He did say he was The Deciderer… that buck has to stop somewhere.
February 20th, 2009 at 10:06 pmThere was nothing free market about George Bush. Prescriptions for seniors. War spending. Deficit spending. He was a modern day guns-and-butter LBJ.
And Obama is WORSE. He’s in over his head. He is driving the economy down. Layoffs are increasing. The stock market is making new bear market lows. Now the inflation numbers ticked up with Obama’s huge government spending. Hello Jimmy Carter style inflation. Gold went over $1000 today.
Crikey. Obama’s a mess.
February 20th, 2009 at 10:10 pmWow, marwick, you’ve divined the results of a month’s worth of Obama’s presidency already? What did you expect?
February 20th, 2009 at 10:42 pmPhil Gramm, like Tom Delay, are some of the Texas RepubliCons that belong in jail.
February 20th, 2009 at 10:43 pmI had the distinct displeasure of attending Texas A&M whilst herr Filly G. was on the faculty. He was friends with my landlord, also on the faculty, so I ran into him occasionally. Just passing him on campus used to make me want to slap the smug smile or supercilious smile from his face. But he had many fans there. Sigh. So did Botch. Bigger sigh. And then I moved to Tennessee and had to put up with Bill Frist. . .
February 20th, 2009 at 11:35 pmmarwick Says:
There was nothing free market about George Bush. Prescriptions for seniors. War spending. Deficit spending. He was a modern day guns-and-butter LBJ.
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Actually, he was out of control. His Admin was one, giant, slo-mo train wreck.
And he was far, far worse than LBJ.
BTW, there’s no such thing as a “free market”. You’re living in a fantasy land.
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Now the inflation numbers ticked up with Obama’s huge government spending.
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Oh really?
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article5775598.ece
From The Times
February 21, 2009
US prices rise despite disappearing inflation
Christine Seib in New York
America’s annual inflation rate all but disappeared last month for the first time in more than 50 years, but consumer prices rose, keeping the United States from deflation. The consumer prices index (CPI) was up 0.3 per cent in January — its first monthly rise since last July and slightly above expectations of a 0.2 per cent increase.
The Bureau of Labour Statistics uses the CPI, which is based on a basket of consumer goods and services, to track changes in prices. CPI is then used to calculate the annual inflation rate. Consumer prices were pushed up last month by a rise in the price of petrol, which was up 6 per cent, against a 19.3 per cent fall in December. The cost of food also rose in January, up 0.1 per cent on December.
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Sorry, one month into his Admin, you can’t blame Obama for the horrific mess Botch and the GOOPers made over the last eight years.
But I guess a troll can dream, huh?
February 21st, 2009 at 12:43 ammarwick Says:
The government got us in this mess, and now the prescription is more of the same (in larger sums)?
Time to return to free markets.
Actually, deregulation is what got us into this mess. As in, “returning to free markets” As in the Gramm-Leach act that deregulated Credit Default Swaps.
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marwick Says:
Obama is now following exactly in the footsteps of Japan in the 1990’s. If he is successful, it’ll be a 20 year recession. Just like Japan.
Huh, before he was Carter, then FDR, now he’s Japan. Just settle on something, will you? And after their crash, Japan had steady (if not exciting) growth. Their “lost decade” is really nothing to complain about it – although they may not have recovered the loss of that crash for that long, they didn’t crash any further, having traded needed stability for the previous hyper-growth financial models.
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youtube Says:
you can not just blame only one person about economy crisis, not only him there is thousands people who has something to do about this mess.
Yeah, but they’re all Republicans, and believe the same things he does. See marwick’s comments for a concise description of the very philosophy that caused the crisis.
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marwick Says:
There was nothing free market about George Bush. Prescriptions for seniors. War spending. Deficit spending. He was a modern day guns-and-butter LBJ.
So you’re saying that total economic anarchy will make everything turn out perfect? How well does total anarchy work in other areas?
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marwick Says:
And Obama is WORSE. He’s in over his head. He is driving the economy down. Layoffs are increasing. The stock market is making new bear market lows. Now the inflation numbers ticked up with Obama’s huge government spending.
Bush created the crash. We’re still suffering the effects of the crash Bush created. All of the things you’ve cited are consequences of the Bush crash. Obama hasn’t had a chance yet to significantly effect the economy either way. In order to be able to draw a causal link from Obama’s policies to the economy, his policies would have had to have been drafted and implemented first.
February 21st, 2009 at 1:25 amPhil…..Shut your damn piehole and go away.
February 21st, 2009 at 11:32 amshut
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