Thursday February 16, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

EU warns sink or swim in financial meltdown

World Oct. 24, 2008 - 04:38AM JST ( 6 )

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6 Comments

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SezWho2Oct. 24, 2008 - 11:23AM JST

"Sink or swim." An unfortunate phrase.

Now more than ever I expect to see the argument that we cannot take strong measures against global warming because it will impose an additional burden on already beleaguered businesses. Yet, failure to act may present many people in low-lying areas with exactly that choice, literally.

Europe and Asia may have differences in regard to economic prospects and philosophies. But it's good that they are talking. I think it's good that Bush has also convened a coalition of the economically willing. However, equally important with solving this crisis is a reordering of every nation's priorities (or those of as many nations as possible).
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coulrophobicOct. 24, 2008 - 12:51PM JST

Sink or swim?

First they need to look at who gave em the push off the deep end.

American 'liberals' dream of remaking the country in the image of W Europe.

Odd to think that with the toxic loans US Democrats flooded the economy with by forcing banks to provide loans to customers who would have been ineligible in a sane world, pols like Barney Frank, Harry Reid,Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama (received from F Mae and F Mac more money in less time than anyone currently in office) have sewn what could well be the seeds of the EU's destruction.
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SezWho2Oct. 24, 2008 - 08:52PM JST

coulrophobic,

How did the Democrats force the banks to do this?
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Helter_SkelterOct. 25, 2008 - 06:33AM JST

I used to think there was plenty of blame to go around between the democrats and republicans for this crisis. I was wrong. Check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtN1AZxheKU
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goodDonkeyOct. 25, 2008 - 08:40AM JST

coulrophobic

Odd to think that with the toxic loans US Democrats flooded the economy with by forcing banks to provide loans to customers who would have been ineligible in a sane world,

Never happened; he is referring to the Community Reinvestment Act. A huge percentage of banks not covered by the act made sub-prime loans. The Community Reinvestment Act did not require sub-prime loans; only that loans needed to become available to lower income families. There were plenty of eligible families for these loans. They were paying rent amounts that were adequate for mortgages. Banks often lowered that monthly cost when approving their loan along with the monthly escrow costs. Why would a bank do that, to make more money because it was for a longer term. Blaming our current financial problems is an argument Larry Kudlow and a few other conservatives cooked up, which William Kristol, Fred Barnes and a few others have disseminated. Every respectable economist has disavowed the claim. If this claim has any value at all please quote an economist who supports this nonsense. In light of Allen Greenspan's recent revelation that he was wrong and that more regulation was needed it has moved from the ridiculous column to become widely known as a falsehood. I saw a version of the video Helter posted some time ago. It has been out there for some time now; a hell of a lot longer than the under two week time frame this video was posted.

I love it when these JT posters believe they have found the simple solution that everyone else missed. There are other financial wizards then economists that fall under the study of business rather than economics. It would be considered a major in Business Finance. So all of these PhD's and economists just can't seem to understand what Helter_Skelter and coulrophobic know to be the cause of all our financial difficulties. I don't feel like digging right now but the percentage of Banks that were exempt from the Community Reinvestment Act made a huge percentage of toxic loans; how do they account for that? Greenspan also spoke of the lack of regulation on financial instruments. Look into the packaging of loans which are sold by banks as another huge factor. I definitely think sub-prime loans were a major factor. Nobody said the low income loans had to be sub-prime.

This act incidentally goes back to 1977. Legislative changes took place in 1989, 1994, 1999 and 2005. Let's see, a Republican President with a democratic congress, a Democratic President with a Democratic congress, a Democratic President with a Republican congress and finally a Republican President with a Republican congress working on the Community Reinvestment Act. So even if it was the CRA that was the cause, which it was not, the Republicans had the chance to fix it before these terrible circumstances occurred. And these Republicans on this thread want to say it was totally the Democrats fault. The nerve.
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SezWho2Oct. 26, 2008 - 07:37AM JST

Helter Skelter,

Thanks for the calm and rational music video. Darn those Republican Congressional majorities!