Video - Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis?

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White House

youtube.com - 9/30/2008

Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis? (video)

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This video is an informative look at the factors that are causing our current financial and economic crisis. It discusses policy changes 13 years ago that u...

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16 Comments

TheHype

+2

Pretty cool and informative... good combination.

Posted 9/26/2008 respond (flag)
Keatsian

low-rated comment (show) -1

Wow- that is one of the most absurd videos I have ever seen.. It is like playing the six degrees of Kevin Bacon with Obama.. You know, he knew someone who knew someone who knew someone..
Whereas with McCain, you only need one degree - his #1 financial guy, who wrote his economic policy and has been close friends with for decades - Phil Gramm. Phil Gram wrote the deregulation legislation that McCain approved (as chair of the commerce committee) that led to the deregulation that let banks become enormous monoliths, which erased the checks and balances of having smaller banks that would check and balance each other every time a loan was passed on.
But you know, easier to blame the guy that has been in Washington for two years through a series tenuous (at best) connections, than the guy that has been in Wash for 26 years that has very direct connections with every person involved... Especially the over 100 Washington lobbyists that McCain has running his campaign - while Obama has: Zero!

Posted 9/30/2008 respond (flag)
- yuniversal3
  
  +3
  
  And Obama has Raines on his commitee. Obama supporters always try to spin the truth and divert attention from the truth.
  
  Posted 9/30/2008 respond (flag)
- Rhiannon81
  
  +2
  
  Why don't you watch the videos from C-Span and watch Barney Frank and the rest of the house democrats grilling the man who blew the whistle on Freddie and Fannie. Bush has been blocked for his whole administration, at least 3 times by the democrats in the house who refused to let McCain's bill be passed. Please open your eyes to the truth. Ignorance and spouting talking points will not help this country. You should be investigating and not being a mouthpiece. Your country is at risk.
  
  Posted 9/30/2008 respond (flag)
  - Keatsian
    
    +1
    
    I love how you blame it on the Dems, the Repubs had both houses for twelve years and passed a ton of horrible legislation, they could have passed regulatory legislation easily. Then when the Dems took over in 2006, they passed regulatory legislation against Fannie and Freddie within 5 months. What the Repubs couldn't do in 12 years, the Dems did in 5 months.
    Besides, Fannie and Freddie are not the whole blame. The blame comes from the deregulation that Conservatives created since Reagan that allowed the gap between rich and poor to be the biggest it has ever been, where CEO pay is the highest it has ever been, and still, they find a way to blame poor people (like through ACORN).
    One CEO of one of these companies makes as much in one year as thousands of mortgages combined. So, if they didn't get outrageous salaries they would have been able to survive even if tons of the mortgages fell through.
    Besides that even, they made contracts extremely confusing (I have a Phd and could not understand them fully), they made it so their sales people would do anything to sell a mortgage even lie (I have been straight lied to by many people in the industry as they try to put food on their tables), and then charge interest rates for the poor that would be considered extortion in most parts of the world. All while rich people get sweetheart deals on interest rates.
    Maybe if the CEO's gave themselves a reasonable salary, charged reasonable interest on the wealthy, and fair interest to the poor this wouldn't have happened.
    But when a government allows companies to use contracts that are nearly impossible to understand and charge interest rates that would be illegal in most parts of the world - that government has failed its people and the mortgage industry has become closer to the Mafia than a Bank.
    All this happened under the conservative watch - and their shouts for the past 28 years of "deregulate, deregulate, deregulate!" of which McCain was the biggest cheerleader by far!
    
    Posted 10/13/2008 respond (flag)
lovemyfreedom

+3

This was great! Unfortunately, there are Democrats and some Republicans out there who can't think for themselves and who will still not see what's right in front of them. It's a shame. You tell them the sky is blue and they say it's green and you agree and they say no it's blue. You can't win. If Obama and his teleprompter get elected and screws the entire country, you'll only have yourselves to blame.

Posted 9/30/2008 respond (flag)
- Keatsian
  
  low-rated comment (show) -1
  
  Obama didn't have a teleprompter at the debate and still knocked the socks off McCain, unlike Palin who is so dangerously unqualified she could not name a Supreme Court case other than Roe vs. Wade... I mean they nail Obama for being unqualified, yet he taught constitutional law for a decade! Imagine that, a president who knows the constitution in and out!
  So, honestly, you complain Obama has not been in Washington long enough for 2 years, but now he is responsible for the financial mess... How can you say that with a straight face??
  McCain was deep in the mess and has Washington Lobbyists (currently 178) running his campaign - one that was still being paid by Fannie until last month!!!
  Not to even mention the fact that the last time a banking scandal like this took place - McCain was one of the 5 people involved in it - The Keating Five scandal and he was reprimanded for it!
  Do you really think that the man that has hundreds of millions of dollars, at least 7 mansions, 13 cars, a Jet, and 178 Washington lobbyists running his campaign is really looking out for you?? If so, i got a bridge to nowhere to sell you!
  Obama worked his own way up every step of the way and just paid his student loans off four years ago. He watched his mom struggle with health insurers as she was dying of cancer - he knows the reality of the average person much more than the guy whose Daddy pulled him through every step of the way... After all, do you think anyone whose father was not an admiral wouldn't be grounded after crashing FIVE planes??
  McCain embodies the corruption in Washington - look at his voting record - it is sickening... Obama embodies the American people, unfortunately the 100 million dollar old White Guys (Hannity, O'Reilly, Beck, Limbaugh, Dobbs, etc) want to keep their huge tax breaks, so they are willing to do whatever it takes to keep Obama from being elected... And unfortunately, a lot of average Americans are falling for it - hook line and sinker.. I just hope they wake up in time!
  
  Posted 9/30/2008 respond (flag)
  - obamayomama
    
    +1
    
    <<Obama embodies the American people>>
    That's funny...I know quite a few American people, yet I can't think of a single one who SNORTS COCAINE in the back of limos while committing homosexual acts. Are you proposing that this is what the American people will become if Obama is elected?
    Obama "knows the reality of the average person"? Guess he doesn't consider his brother living in squalid conditions in Kenya "worthy" of being an average person, huh?
    Obama's voting record - HYSTERICAL!! "PRESENT" Wow...Some leader! I don't think that's what the Founding Fathers had in mind by going to Washington "to serve". Sorry, but "present" isn't serving...It's just taking up valuable oxygen.
    
    Posted 10/1/2008 respond (flag)
  - yuniversal3
    
    +3
    
    Four things you cite have been debunked 1) the lobbyists, 2) the Keating 5, 3) the crashing 5 planes and 4) Fannie Mae payouts.
    McCains voting record: 70% with Bush, 67% with Party
    Obama voted with his party 100%
    McCain has done more bipartisan work than anyone in either party--Obama none
    Obama's record shows him to be a main stream Democrat. No change.
    
    Posted 10/1/2008 respond (flag)
    - Keatsian
      
      low-rated comment (show) -2
      
      "Obama voted with his party 100%"
      - Because he was voting against Bush
      How has the lobbyists working in McCain's camp been debunked?? Link please
      Come on now, this is common sense - you sent Bush and Cheney (who both were CEO's of Oil Companies) to the White House and now oil companies are making more than any corporation in history and getting 10's of billions in tax breaks on top of it! And you are surprise when gas goes up to 4 dollars a gallon!
      Now you want to send another guy - whose wife owns major stakes in three oil companies and who four of his main advisors lobby for Oil Companies and you do not think this is going to make gas, food and utilities cheaper?
      How many times do the Republicans have to burn you before you stop believing them?
      1. They are supposedly the Party of Small Government, yet every Republican president since Nixon has grown government.
      2. They are supposedly fiscally responsible, yet Reagan, Bush Senior, and now W have all given us the biggest debts in history!
      3. They are supposed to be the party against abortion - yet abortions have gone up drastically every single year since Roe that they have been in office. The only time it went down drastically (2 million less after 8 years) was under Clinton!
      4. They tell you they want to ban abortion, yet they have chosen 7 of the 9 Supreme Court Justices, so it easily could have happened, yet they chose not to... Can't you see they are telling you what you want to hear to get your votes. They have had the presidency 20 out of the past 28 years, they had congress from 1996-2006, they had all three branches of government from 2000-2006, if they wanted to overturn Roe, it would have been done - they don't they just want to say they do to get your vote, then steal your money and give it to their wealthy corporation.
      5. They are supposedly the party of "compassionate conservatism", yet McCain voted against Medicaid 28 times, Minimum wage 18 times, Social Security a number of times, and many other compassionate programs.
      6. Bush campaigned against "Nation-Building" and now we are rebuilding 2 nations, McCain has talked numerous times about bombing Iran and beginning a new Cold War with Russia.
      7. They say they are the party of low taxes, but if you are working class you get a measly 500-1000 dollar vote buying cut, while you watch food, oil, utilities, local taxes (because they lost federal funds) and other prices go up. Meanwhile - Exxon alone got a 20 Billion dollar tax cut in 2006!
      8. McCain says he is for getting us off foreign oil, yet he has voted against alternative energy - 26 times!
      Stop listening to what they say and start looking if they actually do what they say! Everything the Republican Party says they stand for - their actions do not back up, but people keep believing them over and over and over...
      
      Posted 10/1/2008 respond (flag)
      - obamayomama
        
        +3
        
        Keatsian, you are clearly ILL-INFORMED...But what do you expect when you've been drinking the Obama Kool-Aid and listening to the children sing songs of Obama?
        1. <<...every Republican president since Nixon has grown government...Reagan, Bush Senior, and now W have all given us the biggest debts in history!>>
        You get a big fat "F" in your understanding of how our govt operates...NO President (Repub or Dem) has EVER "grown govt" or given us deficit spending. ONLY CONGRESS is authorized to SPEND Taxpayer's Money. In fact, the RECORD DEFICIT BUDGET just sent to W is from a Democratic Congress!! Get it?
        2. <<yet abortions have gone up drastically every single year since Roe that they have been in office...They tell you they want to ban abortion.>>
        Uh...WRONG AGAIN! Total abortions peaked in 1990 and BOTH total abortions and the abortion rate in the US have been trending DOWN ever since:
        http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/graphusabrate.html
        And for the record, there is a difference between "banning abortions" and "choosing life"...Socially-conservative efforts to choose life are working, and I know that just breaks your little heart! Where do you get your info anyway...Sucking at the teet of the DNC???
        3. As for voting records...You don't even want to go there! How is voting "PRESENT" even defensible? Our elected officials are sent to Washington TO DO A JOB. Dozing in the Senate Chamber while legislation is being voting on, but waking up long enough to chime in "present" is the height of hypocrisy! What a waste of taxpayer dollar$...
        4. And if you think Obama is going to LOWER your taxes, ask yourself exactly how he's going to PAY FOR his own proposed $1.2 TRILLION of increased spending he's laid out for his 1st 4 years?!? (And that's just what he's disclosed before taking office! Doesn't that fit your definition of "growing govt"?) Even HE couldn't find an answer when pressed in the first debate! Surely, you don't think the rich are going to fork it over? Dude, the rich don't pay taxes...Just ask your Demos in Congress, like Charlie (I didn't understand that I had to pay taxes on my income-producing property) Rangel...You and I will pay dearly for these social programs (either directly or indirectly) and we won't see any benefits from them!
        5. Biden has a plan to get us off foreign oil...Something to do with "Flying Cars". He opposes Clean Coal (actually ALL Coal)...Nuclear...Off-Shore Drilling...So exactly HOW are we to get there from here? You can't. If you didn't just accept everything that you're being spoon-fed by Lord Obama, you'd be able to see that for yourself...
        In fact, if you stopped repeating the mantra and thought for yourself about what an Obama Presidency really means for a Democracy like the United States, you'd probably drop your keyboard, run to the toilet and start coughing up your most recent meal! Govt-provided healthcare, taxing the rich to give to the poor and wanting to sit down and have tea with Emperor Palpatine of Iran will surely sow the seeds of destruction for the Late, Great United States of America.
        The fact that you are welcoming this with open arms means you'll have blood on your hands...So how does that feel, anyway???
        
        Posted 10/2/2008 respond (flag)
        
        Keatsian
        
        0
        
        Actually, you are quite ill-informed on the abortion issue - Pro-Lifers are so dead set on a symbolic victory of overturning Roe, that they have lost track of what really matters - Saving babies. Catholics United just put out a study that illustrated that overturning Roe would at best decrease abortions by 10-37 percent, while the Democratic poverty programs would lower abortions by 30-60 percent. You are so focused on symbolic victory that you would rather let babies die then work together, here are the stats:
        Overturning Roe Vs. Wade, a long time goal of the pro-life movement, would not end abortion in the United States, it would simply send the decision to the states.
        If states with more than 45% "pro-life" sentiment chose to outlaw abortion, this would only impact 16 states accounting for 10% of abortions nationwide, or less than 100,000 abortions a year.
        Women in these 16 states would still be able to travel to seek an abortion in another state, or seek an illegal abortion, making the impact likely less than a 10% reduction in abortions nation-wide.
        States with the highest abortion rates in the country, like California and New York, would be unlikely to outlaw abortion in their states.
        In a recent study released by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good finds that social and economic supports such as benefits for pregnant women and mothers and economic assistance to low-income families have contributed significantly to reducing the number of abortions in the United States over the past twenty years.
        Economic assistance to low income families is correlated with a 20% lower abortion rate. Across the entire United States, this translates into 200,000 fewer abortions.
        In the 1990s, states with more generous grants to women, infants and children under the age of five as provided by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program had a 37% lower abortion rate.
        Higher male employment in the 1990s was associated with a 29% lower abortion rate.
        The abortion rate has declined most rapidly from 1990-1996 when there was an economic boom under President Clinton. While rates have continued to decrease, they have declined less rapidly in recent years when poverty rates have been climbing.
        
        Nearly half of all abortions in the world are performed in countries that have made abortion illegal.
        The lowest abortion rates in the world - less than 10 per 1,000 women of reproductive age - are in Europe, where abortion is legal and available.
        By contrast, in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, where abortion law is most restrictive, the regional rates are 29 and 31 per 1,000 women, respectively.
        These countries are also much poorer than the U.S. and provide fewer social services; and a larger proportion of their population lives in poverty.
        In Western European countries, in contrast, where more social services are provided and fewer women live in poverty, the abortion rates are consistently the lowest rates in the world.