FreedomTalks

Tell me again: Why is the federal government bailing out banks and irresponsible borrowers?

Take action AngryRenter.com.

Read enough national op-ed columns and you’ll very quickly start to recognize a pretty common strain of thought which argues that bipartisanship is a good thing.  That sounds plenty nice, and maybe there’s something to be said for getting along with your political enemies. But bipartisanship isn’t in and of itself something to applaud, because […]

FW Chairman Dick Armey has an op-ed in RCP on how John McCain should address economic issues:
That John McCain places great importance on honor and fairness is plain to see in every speech and every campaign appearance. These values have made him a strong and steadfast leader on foreign policy, but on economics, his direction […]

Was I the only one who noticed that in Obama’s speech on financial regulation, he said:
Deregulation of the telecommunications sector, for example, fostered competition, but also contributed to massive over-investment.
And then about 5 minutes later said:
And to ensure that America stays on the cutting edge, we’ll expand broadband access…
Too much! Too […]

A few hours ago, Barack Obama gave a speech on financial regulation. As always, he’s a strong speaker.  But I have to take issue what some of what he said.  For example:

But the American experiment has worked in large part because we guided the market’s invisible hand with a higher principle. A free market was […]

To read the financial pages these days, you might believe that’s so. James Pethokoukis thinks not, and reminds us that we’ve heard similar sorts of gloomy forecasting before before.

Hillary Clinton wants Congress to put up $30 billion to prop up investors and others who can’t made bets on the housing market and can’t afford their mortgages. Meanwhile, she’s reiterating her call for a five-year freeze on subprime interest rates, an idea with serious potential detriment. Clinton is doing her best to […]

One of the things that makes Ezra Klein such an effective liberal advocate is that he’s policy-smart and spin-smart. In other words: He knows what he’s talking about and how to shape effective messages using what he knows. So he can dive into wonk shop-talk on one hand and deploy with tough rhetorical maneuvers on […]

Over at the Atlantic, Megan McArdle predicts that more regulation is certainly in store for the financial sector — but isn’t sure it’ll do much good:
[T]he broad demands for “stricter scrutiny” and “more transparency” are meaningless…
The problem is not transparency but complexity: The value of the securities was as opaque to those who held them […]

Oh boy.
The government on Wednesday relaxed capital requirements at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as part of a plan to inject an additional $200 billion of financing for home loans.
…It was the third step the government has taken in recent weeks to allow Washington-based Fannie and McLean, Va.-based Freddie to shoulder larger burdens in the […]