XPost: alt.support.attn-deficit, alt.support.tourette   
   From: jpalmer1@ix.netcom.com   
      
   On Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:49:01 -0700, "Frank"  wrote:   
      
   >   
   >"stanw"  wrote in message   
   >news:055c467f-39cd-46e3-971d-0e9716164f5e@v39g2000pro.googlegroups.com...   
   >Come November 4th, I honestly have tremendous hope that we will see   
   >the return to health of not just our economy, but our morale,   
   >reputation, and culture as well.   
   >===================================================   
   >Really? Our economy started turning south about two years ago, the land   
   >mines were set up then. The socialist idea for every man there is a   
   >house is what caused this problem, yet you want more of the same?   
      
      
   The economic issues were not caused by people buying homes. It was   
   caused by speculation, greed, and stupidity in an underregulated   
   market.   
      
   I know, it's a common game people are playing right now. Somehow, they   
   think, banks were forced to make idiotic loans that they knew wouldn't   
   be paid back.   
      
   But lending standards still exist. No one has ever been forced to make   
   a loan that they could show wasn't a good risk. And more importantly,   
   loans made under the CRA tend to be good quality loans, with lower   
   default rates.   
      
   No, the problem was, a lot of people smelled a lot of money in making   
   loans without concern about risk, and then selling those loans, so   
   some other poor loser gets stuck holding the bag.   
      
   There's a lot more to it. Not only were the loans sold, they were   
   securitized and backed by tricky investments known as Credit Default   
   Swaps (basically a form of insurance against an investment losing   
   value). And, people leveraged themselves to the hilt - I believe   
   Lehman Brothers was investing 30 borrowed dollars for every "real"   
   dollar - because they thought it was raining soup, and wanted a bigger   
   bucket. Once they learned that it was not raining soup, it was just a   
   sewage pipe bursting, it was too late for them to back out in an   
   orderly fashion.   
      
   But don't worry - if you think the Bush administration's record on   
   economics and regulation are the kind of thing you need to help rein   
   in a problem like this, then, sure, vote for McCain; he and Bush see   
   eye-to-eye on economic issues. If you think that Obama is more likely   
   to understand what's going on, and come up with sensible regulations,   
   then maybe you should vote for him instead.   
      
      
   John Palmer   
      
   *Email should be directed to my first name, no space, my last name, at   
   newsguy, with a com extension.   
   --   
   Everything I needed to know in life I learned in Kindergarten.  Like:   
   A pain one has chosen is easier to bear than one unchosen, and knowing   
   that one can leave makes the leaving less necessary   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)