Already 5 Years Into a Lost Decade

[Rich Toscano]

[quote=briansd1]
This Administration inherited a horrible recession would have turned into a Great Depression without government intervention. They have done a great job in preventing the world from falling into economic calamity.
[/quote]

This is just nonsense… all they did was borrow a bunch of money they didn’t have. They didn’t even do a good job spending it. They just crippled future growth (or future dollar purchasing power, depending on which way it plays out), spent a huge amount of money, wasted most of it on propping up the most incompetent industries, and then announced “Mission Accomplished.”

Let’s revisit this thread in 5 years and see what a fantastic job they did when all is said and done.

[gandalf]

Interesting, I was thinking about that same “Mission Accomplished” thing the other day, same mistake Bush made with the Iraq War, failure to grasp the underlying nature of the crisis, false declaration of victory, protracted quagmire in the aftermath.

Although in fairness, I’m not sure what I would have done differently. The situation was fairly precarious a couple of years ago, from everything I understand. Here’s my starter list though:

– Guarantee all bank accounts and transactions
– Immediately seize insolvent financial institutions
– Fire management and remove board of directors
– Prosecute fraud where applicable, enforce laws
– Begin restructuring troubled banks for workout
– Break up “Too big to fail” banking institutions
– Implement serious financial regulatory reform
– Workout pricing imbalances in the housing market
– Expedite foreclosures with social assistance

Feedback and critique welcome.

Rich, what would you have done?

Anybody else care to venture into a real economics and policy debate? Imagine you are an economic advisor to the President in early 2009. What would your practical recommendations have been to respond to the banking crisis and housing bubble?

(Avoiding party politics here. No talking points, please.)

[gandalf]

Interesting, I was thinking about that same “Mission Accomplished” thing the other day, same mistake Bush made with the Iraq War, failure to grasp the underlying nature of the crisis, false declaration of victory, protracted quagmire in the aftermath.

Although in fairness, I’m not sure what I would have done differently. The situation was fairly precarious a couple of years ago, from everything I understand. Here’s my starter list though:

– Guarantee all bank accounts and transactions
– Immediately seize insolvent financial institutions
– Fire management and remove board of directors
– Prosecute fraud where applicable, enforce laws
– Begin restructuring troubled banks for workout
– Break up “Too big to fail” banking institutions
– Implement serious financial regulatory reform
– Workout pricing imbalances in the housing market
– Expedite foreclosures with social assistance

Feedback and critique welcome.

Rich, what would you have done?

Anybody else care to venture into a real economics and policy debate? Imagine you are an economic advisor to the President in early 2009. What would your practical recommendations have been to respond to the banking crisis and housing bubble?

(Avoiding party politics here. No talking points, please.)

[gandalf]

Interesting, I was thinking about that same “Mission Accomplished” thing the other day, same mistake Bush made with the Iraq War, failure to grasp the underlying nature of the crisis, false declaration of victory, protracted quagmire in the aftermath.

Although in fairness, I’m not sure what I would have done differently. The situation was fairly precarious a couple of years ago, from everything I understand. Here’s my starter list though:

– Guarantee all bank accounts and transactions
– Immediately seize insolvent financial institutions
– Fire management and remove board of directors
– Prosecute fraud where applicable, enforce laws
– Begin restructuring troubled banks for workout
– Break up “Too big to fail” banking institutions
– Implement serious financial regulatory reform
– Workout pricing imbalances in the housing market
– Expedite foreclosures with social assistance

Feedback and critique welcome.

Rich, what would you have done?

Anybody else care to venture into a real economics and policy debate? Imagine you are an economic advisor to the President in early 2009. What would your practical recommendations have been to respond to the banking crisis and housing bubble?

(Avoiding party politics here. No talking points, please.)

[gandalf]

Interesting, I was thinking about that same “Mission Accomplished” thing the other day, same mistake Bush made with the Iraq War, failure to grasp the underlying nature of the crisis, false declaration of victory, protracted quagmire in the aftermath.

Although in fairness, I’m not sure what I would have done differently. The situation was fairly precarious a couple of years ago, from everything I understand. Here’s my starter list though:

– Guarantee all bank accounts and transactions
– Immediately seize insolvent financial institutions
– Fire management and remove board of directors
– Prosecute fraud where applicable, enforce laws
– Begin restructuring troubled banks for workout
– Break up “Too big to fail” banking institutions
– Implement serious financial regulatory reform
– Workout pricing imbalances in the housing market
– Expedite foreclosures with social assistance

Feedback and critique welcome.

Rich, what would you have done?

Anybody else care to venture into a real economics and policy debate? Imagine you are an economic advisor to the President in early 2009. What would your practical recommendations have been to respond to the banking crisis and housing bubble?

(Avoiding party politics here. No talking points, please.)

[gandalf]

Interesting, I was thinking about that same “Mission Accomplished” thing the other day, same mistake Bush made with the Iraq War, failure to grasp the underlying nature of the crisis, false declaration of victory, protracted quagmire in the aftermath.

Although in fairness, I’m not sure what I would have done differently. The situation was fairly precarious a couple of years ago, from everything I understand. Here’s my starter list though:

– Guarantee all bank accounts and transactions
– Immediately seize insolvent financial institutions
– Fire management and remove board of directors
– Prosecute fraud where applicable, enforce laws
– Begin restructuring troubled banks for workout
– Break up “Too big to fail” banking institutions
– Implement serious financial regulatory reform
– Workout pricing imbalances in the housing market
– Expedite foreclosures with social assistance

Feedback and critique welcome.

Rich, what would you have done?

Anybody else care to venture into a real economics and policy debate? Imagine you are an economic advisor to the President in early 2009. What would your practical recommendations have been to respond to the banking crisis and housing bubble?

(Avoiding party politics here. No talking points, please.)

[bearishgurl]

Well, hindsight is always better than foresight here, but I would have advocated foreclosure within the legal time limits of default . . . and at the same time, funding for rental assistance programs (such as Section 8 in CA). Many of the foreclosures seem to be due to job loss, so Section 8 can set the rent as a percentage of the tenant’s income (i.e. mo. unemployment compensation).

[bearishgurl]

Well, hindsight is always better than foresight here, but I would have advocated foreclosure within the legal time limits of default . . . and at the same time, funding for rental assistance programs (such as Section 8 in CA). Many of the foreclosures seem to be due to job loss, so Section 8 can set the rent as a percentage of the tenant’s income (i.e. mo. unemployment compensation).

[bearishgurl]

Well, hindsight is always better than foresight here, but I would have advocated foreclosure within the legal time limits of default . . . and at the same time, funding for rental assistance programs (such as Section 8 in CA). Many of the foreclosures seem to be due to job loss, so Section 8 can set the rent as a percentage of the tenant’s income (i.e. mo. unemployment compensation).

[bearishgurl]

Well, hindsight is always better than foresight here, but I would have advocated foreclosure within the legal time limits of default . . . and at the same time, funding for rental assistance programs (such as Section 8 in CA). Many of the foreclosures seem to be due to job loss, so Section 8 can set the rent as a percentage of the tenant’s income (i.e. mo. unemployment compensation).

[bearishgurl]

Well, hindsight is always better than foresight here, but I would have advocated foreclosure within the legal time limits of default . . . and at the same time, funding for rental assistance programs (such as Section 8 in CA). Many of the foreclosures seem to be due to job loss, so Section 8 can set the rent as a percentage of the tenant’s income (i.e. mo. unemployment compensation).

[briansd1]

[quote=gandalf]

Although in fairness, I’m not sure what I would have done differently. The situation was fairly precarious a couple of years ago, from everything I understand. Here’s my starter list though:

– Guarantee all bank accounts and transactions
– Immediately seize insolvent financial institutions
– Fire management and remove board of directors
– Prosecute fraud where applicable, enforce laws
– Begin restructuring troubled banks for workout
– Break up “Too big to fail” banking institutions
– Implement serious financial regulatory reform
– Workout pricing imbalances in the housing market
– Expedite foreclosures with social assistance
[/quote]

That’s a good list Gandalf, and certainly one I would support.

But reality is different from the ideal situations.

There are entrenched interests which much be dislodged over time. We have to do that step by step. You can’t reform the financial system overnight.

[briansd1]

[quote=gandalf]

Although in fairness, I’m not sure what I would have done differently. The situation was fairly precarious a couple of years ago, from everything I understand. Here’s my starter list though:

– Guarantee all bank accounts and transactions
– Immediately seize insolvent financial institutions
– Fire management and remove board of directors
– Prosecute fraud where applicable, enforce laws
– Begin restructuring troubled banks for workout
– Break up “Too big to fail” banking institutions
– Implement serious financial regulatory reform
– Workout pricing imbalances in the housing market
– Expedite foreclosures with social assistance
[/quote]

That’s a good list Gandalf, and certainly one I would support.

But reality is different from the ideal situations.

There are entrenched interests which much be dislodged over time. We have to do that step by step. You can’t reform the financial system overnight.

[briansd1]

[quote=gandalf]

Although in fairness, I’m not sure what I would have done differently. The situation was fairly precarious a couple of years ago, from everything I understand. Here’s my starter list though:

– Guarantee all bank accounts and transactions
– Immediately seize insolvent financial institutions
– Fire management and remove board of directors
– Prosecute fraud where applicable, enforce laws
– Begin restructuring troubled banks for workout
– Break up “Too big to fail” banking institutions
– Implement serious financial regulatory reform
– Workout pricing imbalances in the housing market
– Expedite foreclosures with social assistance
[/quote]

That’s a good list Gandalf, and certainly one I would support.

But reality is different from the ideal situations.

There are entrenched interests which much be dislodged over time. We have to do that step by step. You can’t reform the financial system overnight.

[briansd1]

[quote=gandalf]

Although in fairness, I’m not sure what I would have done differently. The situation was fairly precarious a couple of years ago, from everything I understand. Here’s my starter list though:

– Guarantee all bank accounts and transactions
– Immediately seize insolvent financial institutions
– Fire management and remove board of directors
– Prosecute fraud where applicable, enforce laws
– Begin restructuring troubled banks for workout
– Break up “Too big to fail” banking institutions
– Implement serious financial regulatory reform
– Workout pricing imbalances in the housing market
– Expedite foreclosures with social assistance
[/quote]

That’s a good list Gandalf, and certainly one I would support.

But reality is different from the ideal situations.

There are entrenched interests which much be dislodged over time. We have to do that step by step. You can’t reform the financial system overnight.

[Author]

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