Bush: Intervention not 'cure-all' for financial crisis

Friday 14th November, 06:07 AM JST

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15 Comments

some14some at 07:28 AM JST - 14th November

Neither economic experts nor politicians but hedge funds managers will 'cure-all', believe me, invite few of them confidentially, and see the results, atleast they will not 'kill-all' !
Good_Jorb at 07:56 AM JST - 14th November

“I’m a market-oriented guy, but not when I’m faced with the prospect of a global meltdown,”

Global meltdown referring to to rich people losing money.

People losing thier jobs to outsourcing = market-oriented guy.

Hedging turned to speculation = market-oriented guy.

Speculators manipulate markets = market-oriented guy.

Bankers and Investment manager forget about risk management = market-oriented guy.

People defaulting on their mortgages = market-oriented guy.

Banks default on their debt = Socialist-oriented guy.

Investment firms default on thier debt = Socialist-oriented guy.

If intervention was not the "cure-all" then why did Socialist President Bush intervene? Now that the banks have been their welfare cheques, oh well to everyone else. Besides that when and where in modern times has a truely free market place ever existed? Just as true socialism has never existed, true capitalism has never existed, because they both assume the average human is much smarter and a lot less susceptible to vices then they actually are.
smithinjapan at 08:03 AM JST - 14th November

If only bush could have walked the walk during his eight year reign instead of simply trying to talk the talk now; were he to have actually DONE something to prevent what he caused here, as he was warned on quite a number of occasions would happen, we might not all be in this mess.
GJDailleult at 09:38 AM JST - 14th November

“The crisis was not a failure of the free market system,” Bush said.

George got that right actually. It was a failure of the AMERICAN free market system. The Friedman/Greenspan/Reagan/Bush/Republican system that attempted to impose American mythology on capitalism and then attempted, to borrow a favorite phrase of right-wing nutjobs everywhere, to ram their system down everybody else's throats. They gave us a blind belief in the magical powers of free markets, a dismantling of regulation and oversight, a hatred of all things "socialist", and a philosophy of don't tax but spend, baby, spend. And don't forget wage arbitrage based "free trade". None of which have any place in a true free market capitalist system.
SezWho2 at 11:02 AM JST - 14th November

Our aim should not be more government. It should be smarter government.

Wrong messenger.

skipthesong at 12:20 PM JST - 14th November

Can't believe how gulliable many of you are.. Hopefully, one day everyone will learn that a president, thankfully, has very little to with an economy in terms of controlling its current.

Not putting a lock on your door doesn't constitute a robbery at your home to be your fault... So, Bush not putting in a better oversight, which probably would have received negative responses anyway... does not make him the culprit.

While we hear all the negative, let's be thankful many here on this board were able to make a lot during these last few years.

The Real Deal

So who is to blame? There's plenty of blame to go around, and it doesn't fasten only on one party or even mainly on what Washington did or didn't do. As The Economist magazine noted recently, the problem is one of "layered irresponsibility ... with hard-working homeowners and billionaire villains each playing a role." Here's a partial list of those alleged to be at fault:

* The Federal Reserve, which slashed interest rates after the dot-com bubble burst, making credit cheap.

* Home buyers, who took advantage of easy credit to bid up the prices of homes excessively.

* Congress, which continues to support a mortgage tax deduction that gives consumers a tax incentive to buy more expensive houses.

* Real estate agents, most of whom work for the sellers rather than the buyers and who earned higher commissions from selling more expensive homes.

* The Clinton administration, which pushed for less stringent credit and downpayment requirements for working- and middle-class families.

* Mortgage brokers, who offered less-credit-worthy home buyers subprime, adjustable rate loans with low initial payments, but exploding interest rates.

* Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, who in 2004, near the peak of the housing bubble, encouraged Americans to take out adjustable rate mortgages.

* Wall Street firms, who paid too little attention to the quality of the risky loans that they bundled into Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), and issued bonds using those securities as collateral.

* The Bush administration, which failed to provide needed government oversight of the increasingly dicey mortgage-backed securities market.

* An obscure accounting rule called mark-to-market, which can have the paradoxical result of making assets be worth less on paper than they are in reality during times of panic.

* Collective delusion, or a belief on the part of all parties that home prices would keep rising forever, no matter how high or how fast they had already gone up.

The U.S. economy is enormously complicated. Screwing it up takes a great deal of cooperation. Claiming that a single piece of legislation was responsible for (or could have averted) the crisis is just political grandstanding. We have no advice to offer on how best to solve the financial crisis. But these sorts of partisan caricatures can only make the task more difficult.

–by Joe Miller and Brooks Jackson

so there folks,

smithinjapan at 03:12 PM JST - 14th November

Skip: "Not putting a lock on your door doesn't constitute a robbery at your home to be your fault..."

Perhaps not, but walking out of the house and giving potential burglars the nod while you leave the door wide open does nothing to PREVENT such things from happening, now does it? Bush should have locked the door like everyone told him to.
Nippon5 at 05:47 PM JST - 14th November

Isnt a lock just a tool to keep honest people honest?

If the crooks didnt abuse the system then the system would work?

What change as a goverment can we make that the army of coporate lawyers wont find the gaping holes in_?

Seems to me that no matter what protection you try, someone tries even harder to by pass it.

So I personally think that the goverment cant create the perfect law based on the fact it is coporate America that lines the pockets of said goverment.. And to do so would limit the goverment officials to be goverment officials...

But I hope we can stop some of the major issues without making the goverment our boss/mortgage holder, bank, and everything else...

Smith who told bush to restrict the markets? Did congress pass a bill to do so and Bush vetoed it? Did the senate pass such a law and Bush spearheaded the failure of it in the house? Im asking because I havent heard this before.. Please can you explain this better for me...
Everton2 at 08:36 PM JST - 14th November

Who really cares about George Bush's opinion on capitalism and the financial services industry. The man can't string two words together and so often forgets where he is.
powderfinger at 09:03 PM JST - 14th November

"The U.S. economy is enormously complicated. "

Truest words on this thread. You would think, reading everything else here, that the American economic model has died of self-inflicted wounds. So why can't the clever Europeans or the Chinese leapfrog ahead of us? What is stopping them?
powderfinger at 09:09 PM JST - 14th November

You really can't argue with what all those gathered at this conference heard from President George W. Bush:

"Free-market capitalism is far more than an economic theory. It is the engine of social mobility — the highway to the American Dream. And it is what transformed America from a rugged frontier to the greatest economic power in history — a nation that gave the world the steamboat and the airplane, the computer and the CAT scan, the Internet and the iPod.”

Capping all this off, Bush said, “The triumph of free-market capitalism has been proven across time, geography, culture, and faith. And it would be a terrible mistake to allow a few months of crisis to undermine 60 years of success.”
SezWho2 at 10:59 PM JST - 14th November

You certainly could argue with that. But it would be pointless. And it wouldn't be pointless because opposing points of view are wrong, but pointless because the proponents of so-called free-market capitalism are convinced that the system is a great success and will not be persuaded otherwise. And it would also be pointless because arguing about what system is best is not going to solve the problem.
adaydream at 11:17 PM JST - 14th November

george bush's cure for financial stability has been wonderful. he gave away $4Trillion dollars, started a war in Iraq by choice and continued giving tax breaks to the rich.

george bush's legacy of total irresponsibility will be remembered long after other presidents long forgotten. < :-)
FromEurope at 05:25 AM JST - 15th November
The G-20’s Secret Debt Solution

by Larry Edelson 11-13-08 Larry Edelson If you think this weekend’s G-20 meetings in Washington are only about designing short-term fixes to the financial system and regulatory reforms for banks, hedge funds, brokers, mortgage companies and investment banks … think again. Behind the scenes, a far more fundamental fix is being discussed — the possible revaluation of gold and the birth of an entirely new monetary system. I’ve been studying this issue in great depth, all my life. And given the speed at which the financial crisis is unfolding, I would be very surprised if what I’m about to tell you now is not on the G-20 table this weekend. Furthermore, I believe the end result will make my $2,270 price target for gold look conservative, to say the least. You’ll see why in a minute. First, the G-20’s motive for a new monetary system: It’s driven by and based upon this very simple proposition …
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“If we can’t print money fast enough to fend off another deflationary Great Depression, 
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then let’s change the value of the money.”

I call it … The G-20 may propose devaluing all currencies, including the U.S. dollar and the euro. The G-20 may propose devaluing all currencies, including the U.S. dollar and the euro. “The G-20’s Secret Debt Solution” It would be a strategy designed to ease the burden of ALL debts — by simultaneously devaluing ALL currencies … and re-inflating ALL asset prices. That’s what central banks and governments around the world are going to start talking about this weekend — a new financial order that includes new monetary units that helps to wipe clean the world’s debt ledgers. It won’t be an easy deal to broker, since the U.S. is the world’s largest debtor. But remember: Debts are now going bad all over the world. So everyone would benefit. (continued)

http://www.stockhouse.com/Blogs/ViewDetailedPost.aspx?p=84985
GJDailleult at 07:56 AM JST - 15th November

So why can't the clever Europeans or the Chinese leapfrog ahead of us? What is stopping them?

hmm, a 20th century history of blowing things up in two wars and a communist revolution may just mean the USA had a head start.

Free-market capitalism is far more than an economic theory. It is the engine of social mobility — the highway to the American Dream.

Nonsense. It is an economic theory. A very good one too, but it is not a religion and there is nothing inherently "American" about it either. But don't worry folks, America was great, has always been great, and so will continue to be great. The sun shall never set on the British Empire!!!!!

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