patrick.net

>> Bush is among the top 3 worst presidents this country has ever had.

And so is Bill Clinton who helped creating housing bubble while getting
blow jobs.

Coincidently Monica Lewinsky's ex boyfriend's wife is now running for president ...

Bush has not stolen gold from Americans.

When everybody is calm Bush will be seen as an above-average president.

Remember who it was who signed the debt forgiveness elimination bill that opened the flood gates even more. Even though I might actually be torn on the issue, his action was definitely a pro bailout one.

Debt forgiveness elimination arguably made the market more efficient because homeowners are less deterred from short-selling.

You can fit your life around the price structure.

We already have that system. It's called capitalism. The debate is about who gets to set the price structure.

Bush is easily the worst President in my lifetime: worse than Carter, worse than Johnson, worse than Nixon. He is probably not the worst ever, but history may in fact label him that.

The American economy was mostly destroyed under his watch. He didn't exactly do it all himself, but he fiddled while Rome burned. Who else has lost Two Towers, two wars and one great American city?

It's the same old ploy, the same old Punch'n'Judy show. Paulson has already chimed in with how "they" working to get a bill "that the President will sign" (we won't ask who "they" are). So you're already nodding along in agreement that a bill should be signed--just not "the bad one." And the one that he'll sign will be the one the Fed and their international banker puppet masters wanted all along. Have a beer.

When everybody is calm Bush will be seen as an above-average president.

No serious person who is paying attention could ever believe this. Even if you don't blame the current economic problems on Bush and even if you think that the Iraq war will ultimately be concluded favorably for the US, what are the excuses for Bush's pre-9/11 inattention to terrorism, crony appointments, assertions of dictatorial spying powers, abandonment of principle on steel tariffs and entitlement reform, demonstrated incompetence and lack of leadership on Katrina, or sticking by corrupt and incompetent lackeys like Gonzalez, Myers, Rove, Rumsfeld, "Brownie," et al?

I won't try to catalogue all of Bush's failures, but a few will not likely be forgotten by history:

1. 9/11 happened on Bush's watch---despite reams of intelligence on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda and several serious warnings that a plot was in the works. 7 years later, Bin Laden and Al Zawahiri remain at large.

2. The Anthrax killer was never caught by Bush's FBI. (Even if historians forget, the conspiracy theorists won't).

3. Bush massively increased the size, scope and power of the government, while failing to provide funding for the expansion (eg: "no child left behind").

4. Bush failed to reform entitlements and created a massive new prescription drug benefit.

5. Bush encouraged the CIA to produce false and misleading evidence so that he could enter into a "pre-emptive" war of aggression--a first in US foreign policy--against Iraq.

We may someday forget how bad Bush is, but I doubt he will ever be seen as "above average."

I'm glad he's refusing to bailout the people he led to slaughter by recklessly encouraging Americans to spend, spend, spend.

Why doesn't the media question bush about his pleas to the public to buy homes during his presidency and to spend more to prop up the economy. Why don't they ask him why he's sending out $300 checks to Americans to get them to spend more?

Isn't that $300 an attempt to economically bailout the U.S. economy? Well, yes. Why didn't he veto his own idea??

I know it won't help a lick, but he's trying regardless.

bush and bernanke want us to spend everything we make, but when we follow their advice and the advice of their friends who manage the companies and sales people who are turning their heads to certain doom for individuals who purchase way more than they can afford, they are quick to point the finger at us.

i'm glad he's vetoing help to those who followed his stupid ideas, but he's not my hero on this.

I’m not a big Bush fan, but when you look at about 1,000 deaths a year in Iraq with the about 100,000 deaths a year in WWII (don’t forget that we have not had any war time rationing) and compare his prescription drug giveaway to the Social Security giveaway he has not done that bad a job.

Politics is a lot different today and I can’t ever remember hearing anyone “blame” FDR (the man I consider the “worst president ever”) for 12/7/41 but almost every liberal I know (who would hate Bush even if he cured cancer tomorrow) “blames” Bush for 9/11/01…

You Bush haters are like a broken record. We were attacked and he responded. He responded in the most apropriate way at that time. Life has been good in America during his two terms. The economy is quite good unless you've never experienced a REAL ressesion, ie: 10% unemployment. He's a master politician and that's why he was elected for a 2nd term If he could be elected again, he might win given the weak group he'd run against.

Clinton was a great president who balanced the budget. He will be known for getting a blow job while being a president.

Bush might very well go down in history as a brave leader who did his best to put evil in check

but when you look at about 1,000 deaths a year in Iraq

1000 deaths a year if you are inhuman, what about deaths on the other side? do they ever count as people?

Good Lord, I called the White House and got a human being, who nicely took down my opinion that there should be no housing bailout: 202-456-1414

I'm very impressed that there was a person on the line. I hope some more people will call and express opposition to the Frank-Dodd plan.

OTOH:

> We were attacked and he responded.

We were attacked on 9/11 by Bush's friends the Saudis. Bush responded by HELPING the Saudis: he got rid of Saddam for them. Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11. The Saudis are the enemy, and in particular their oil-funded fundamentalist version of Islam.

Bush's treason on that particular point is enough to label him worst president ever. No other president has helped anyone who attacked America. Can you imagine if FDR had seen the Japanese attack Perl Harbor and then immediately attacked China in retaliation? That's just what happened with Bush.

So 9/11 was not a Mossad false flag operation?

No other president has helped anyone who attacked America.

Lyndon B Johnson. He blocked a US reponse to ward off the attack on the USS Liberty, then ran interference for the nation that attacked our ship.

I am surprised that so many people have such positive opinions of Bush. Wow. What a bunch of masochists!

That is not to say that the other presidents were great or that Hillobamacain will be much better.

Bush is close to being the worst. I don't know if he is worse than FDR, Wilson and Lincoln.

He will be seen as the man who hastened the death of the American empire.

The thing I like about Bush: he makes it very easy for me to devise my investment strategy. I have to be thankful to him for my spectacular return in the last 4 years.

The thing I dislike about Bush: it will be very costly for me to give up my American citizenship when I decide it is time to leave, 20% on total asset.

So all you green cards out there, don't ever become a citizen. Make the money, give up the PR so that you don't have to pay tax to Uncle Sam globally, at zero cost.

The great thing about being an American citizen is that international travel is so much easier. You dont need visas for many countries and even for those where you need one, you can get one after landing.

That is my biggest attraction towards becoming a citizen.

Peter P Says:
May 7th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
"Debt forgiveness elimination arguably made the market more efficient because homeowners are less deterred from short-selling."

On original purchase mortgages it basically made it a consequence free decision to just walk away.

sriramgopalan,

that is only true if compared to your original Indian passport. Hong Kong SAR passport which I still retain is far better than American passport. It goes to just as many countries visa-free and even more.

Can Americans go to North Korea, Cuba? Or get visa to Iran, Pakistan? You may say, I don't want to go to these countries. But wait, it never hurts to have more options.

It's also more advantageous not to carry an American passport in international travel. It is far more likely for American citizens to be held hostage.

I’m not a big Bush fan, but when you look at about 1,000 deaths a year in Iraq with the about 100,000 deaths a year in WWII (don’t forget that we have not had any war time rationing) and compare his prescription drug giveaway to the Social Security giveaway he has not done that bad a job.

I agree.

Politics is a lot different today and I can’t ever remember hearing anyone “blame” FDR (the man I consider the “worst president ever”) for 12/7/41 but almost every liberal I know (who would hate Bush even if he cured cancer tomorrow) “blames” Bush for 9/11/01…

I also think that FDR is the worst president ever. He *almost* successfully implemented all 10 planks of the manifesto. Fortunately, God exists.

It’s also more advantageous not to carry an American passport in international travel. It is far more likely for American citizens to be held hostage.

When I traveled years ago as a defense contractor, my passport had "contractor stamps" in it. This basically was in lieu of needing a visa to contries with whom we had a status-of-forces agreement to that effect. The stamp read something like "The Bearer is proceeding on Department of Defense business to Japan/Korea/Philippines". I'll bet a hijacker would really love to find that on my person.

American civilians hanging around US military bases abroad are presumed to be CIA by the locals. How charming.

I am thinking about Obama.
If it is true that he is a lock for the Dem nomination I am curious about his views on housing.
They say as a Dem you run Left to win the nomination, then migrate towards the center to get Indies and mad Repubs.
So, will he push for governement sposored bailouts and stay left? Or will he propse a plan that heads towards the center in trying to avoid helping speculators and fraudsters?
Certainly the current Dem plan is poor with his large aid to 'those poor builders'

Here is the follow-up article to the one DennisN posted about murder, mayhem, flipping and a "fictious" straw buyer in the Bay Area.
Authorities say the brazen slaying of a San Ramon real estate investor was rooted in an ill-conceived mortgage scam that employed an 18-year-old as a would-be buyer for a home on a bleak dead-end street in North Richmond.

I mentioned that we have only been losing a few American lives a day in Iraq vs. a few dozen a day in WWII and sa Says:

> what about deaths on the other side?
> do they ever count as people?

WWII was a blood bath for civilians and we had weeks in WWII where more civilians were killed than the total number killed in Iraq over four years...

Then Administrator Says:

> We were attacked on 9/11 by Bush’s friends the Saudis.
> Bush responded by HELPING the Saudis: he got rid of
> Saddam for them. Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11.
> The Saudis are the enemy, and in particular their oil-funded
> fundamentalist version of Islam.

We were not attached by the “Saudis”, but a bunch of “nut balls of Saudi decent”. Bush responded by helping family friends/big donors with connections to the oil industry and the Saudi government just like FDR responded (before 12/7/41) to the German attack on GB by helping family friends/big donors (remember that FDR was more of an old money/blue blood than GW Bush) with connections to business in GB and the British Government …

EBGuy,

non-borrowed reserve has improved this week by $5B
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h3/Current/

With all due respect but if you're going to put FDR and GWB in the same sentence, you should at least point out the biggest difference between them: FDR won (and won big) giving us the world we enjoy. So far, GWB is (and we with him) losing.

That is my biggest attraction towards becoming a citizen.
And to the person who stated the above: you might want to reconsider the need to state that publicly. Somebody may find it a bit offensive, misinterpreting your comment as you pissing on the right to become a US citizen. I'm sure that wasn't your intention.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4ae9ee60-1c36-11dd-8bfc-000077b07658.html

Now is the time for policy action to forestall such a house price collapse. There is nothing more the Federal Reserve can do by lowering short-term interest rates or by creating new credit facilities.... What is missing is action to prevent positive-equity mortgages from becoming negative-equity mortgages.

Another fake capitalist (Martin Feldstein). And this one (I think) was appointed by the Prez, Peter P. Guess the heroism didn't rub off on him.

I sometimes think that Peter P is a troll, just not a RE troll. Perhaps a political troll.

EBGuy,

let's say the non-borrowed reserve stabilizes at the current level, what are the parameters you will be looking at to determine how long it will take for the banks' non-borrowed reserve to return to positive territory?

I sometimes think that Peter P is a troll

I think that every day, but I have not said anything, because without Peter P this blog would be a mighty quiet place.

You Bush haters.. You mean the record 69 percent of Americans who disapprove of his job performance, the worst rating of any President in the history of the Gallup Poll?

You Bush lovers crack me up. More people believe in Aliens and Astrology than support Bush's crappy job in office, but you keep insisting that you have a mandate to rule.

Have you heard of this person?

Gurbaksh Chahal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurbaksh_Chahal
http://www.chahal.com/

Have you heard of this person?

Gurbaksh Chahal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurbaksh_Chahal

That is my biggest attraction towards becoming a citizen.

Along that comes jury duty, employers that have a large number of H1-B's must love the fact that they don't have that issue.

Okay, let's be fair. There are the rulers and the ruled. If you belong to the second group, any debate about the best or worst in the first group is a moot point. How about that?

However, we did ask for ways to oppose the bailout plan in the last thread, right?

FDR won (and won big) giving us the world we enjoy.

I thought Truman won (and won big) with a revolutionary weapon. The peaceful world we enjoy today is probably a direct result of that.

"Bush is our new hero?"
Bush is a mass murderer.
I know that "little brown ones" don't count here in the bubble, but peer-reviewed studies are indicating that these murderers have killed a MILLION Iraqis over the last six years.
Don't think that's coming back to haunt the fat-assed American ignoramus populace?
Think again.

Look, nobody denies that Iraq is horrible. We can only hope that a reasonable conclusion will come soon.

Tragedies happen because we are human. And yes, we should be ashamed and we should hate ourselves.

The only alternative is to pretend that we can make the world better.

let’s say the non-borrowed reserve stabilizes at the current level, what are the parameters you will be looking at to determine how long it will take for the banks’ non-borrowed reserve to return to positive territory?

That's a good question. At this point I am taking things one week at a time. The current H.4.1/H3 data does not yet include the +$25 billion from the latest TAF auction. Will be interesting to see if the non-borrowed reserves continues to improve.
Supposedly the TAF auction was a success:
London interbank offered rates (Libor) are gradually falling, and spreads over Overnight Index Swaps (OIS) -- a key gauge of money market stress -- aren't widening out to record levels, the British Bankers Association's daily fixing showed on Thursday.

"The Fed's upsizing of the TAF, the BoE's SLS and increased ceiling on bank reserves, and the cumulative impact of aggressive central bank innovation should allow further normalization."

That is, Bank of England's Special Liquidity Scheme (SLS) -- hey, at least the Brits are frank with their terminology. Other analysts are more skeptical:

But many analysts argue that any easing in money market strains is superficial. Libor rates and spreads remain extraordinarily high and wide despite all the central bank liquidity-boosting measures so far, which have been unprecedented both in size and scope. "We continue to believe that the underlying problem is not so much one of liquidity but one of excess leverage, and (liquidity injections) can only provide a temporary reprieve," Citigroup strategists said on Thursday.

Quotes are from the Reuters article Libor strains ease across the board, marginally.

Can we please elect a Democrat and get on with it! Democrat House plus Democrat Senate with Obama to seal the deals. You cannot BUY entertainment
like we're gonna get!

Oh, and by the way... We're not leaving IRAQ for a LLLOOONNNNGGGG time no
matter who's elected. But we'll give Obama a pass on that, he such a great orator.

I ordered a Nader yard sign last week.