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I Saw the Crisis Coming. Why Didn’t the Fed?

nytimes.com

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Re: I Saw the Crisis Coming. Why Didn’t the Fed?

#81

Post by anamax »

btilly wrote: post #79
anamax wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the revoking of Glass-Steagall under Clinton? Irrelevant because it didn't have any effect on the crisis. In fact, it allowed some transactions that had some hope of slowing things down. Note that the non-regulated institutions did better, as did the non-regulated arms of regulated institutions. AIG was regulated up the wazoo.

Some of the "too big to fail" issues we saw was definitely because companies got into multiple lines of business that Glass-Steagall would have prevented.

> Some of the "too big to fail" issues we saw was definitely because companies got into multiple lines of business that Glass-Steagall would have prevented.

Those "other lines of biz" provided some diversification that gave them some chance of survival. It also made it possible for banks to save some of the trading firms.

You clearly disagree, so let's have names.

Re: I Saw the Crisis Coming. Why Didn’t the Fed?

#82

Post by grandalf »

anamax wrote: post #80
grandalf wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't give campaign promises much weight in this discussion. You are correct that both McCain and Bush paid lip service to the idea, but Bush, the guy who could do something about it, didn't do anything. You can try to argue that Bush -- the guy who had control of both houses of congress and was able to sell an unpopular war -- was politically powerless do do anything, but that's just not persuasive. He decided not…

> I don't give campaign promises much weight in this discussion. Huh? 03 wasn't campaign season. And Mccain wasn't running for re-election every time he went after Fannie and Freddie. I'm not claiming that Repubs, notably Bush and McCain, did a lot - I'm pointing out that they did do what you claimed that they didn't do. And, that they weren't pushing the other way, as Dems were. As I've written before - manslaughter…

I don't think we share enough common ground to reach agreement. I am surprised you don't see how Bush benefited from deciding to ignore the GSE's misconduct.

Re: I Saw the Crisis Coming. Why Didn’t the Fed?

#83

Post by anamax »

grandalf wrote: post #82
anamax wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't give campaign promises much weight in this discussion. Huh? 03 wasn't campaign season. And Mccain wasn't running for re-election every time he went after Fannie and Freddie. I'm not claiming that Repubs, notably Bush and McCain, did a lot - I'm pointing out that they did do what you claimed that they didn't do. And, that they weren't pushing the other way, as Dems were. As I've written before - manslaughter…

I don't think we share enough common ground to reach agreement. I am surprised you don't see how Bush benefited from deciding to ignore the GSE's misconduct.

I agreed in couple of messages that Bush benefited so it's disheartening to see you claim otherwise repeatedly. Do you find that misrepresenting what other people say is helpful in reaching agreement?

Lots of people benefited, but that doesn't make them as culpable as folks who pushed and defended the GSE's misconduct.

Plus, Bush did make some attempt to try to rein in the GSEs. Yes, he could have done more, but again, that distinguishes him from folks who opposed those efforts.

Surely you're not arguing that "Bush was a disaster on the war" implies "everything bad that happened is completely Bush's fault"?

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