I've been shocked into silence at the idiocy coming out of the White House this morning
"Look, I'm sure there are some of my friends saying, 'I thought this guy was a market guy — what happened to him?'" Bush said. "Well, my first instinct wasn't to, you know, lay out a huge government plan. My first instinct was to let the market work, until I realized, being briefed by the experts of how significant this problem became. And so, I decided to act and act boldly.
“It turns out that there's a lot of interlinks through the financial system. The system had grown to a point where a lot of people were dependent upon each other and a collapse of one part of the system wouldn't just affect a part of the financial markets, it would affect ... capacity to borrow money, to buy a house or to finance a college loan. It'd affect the ability of a small business to get credit. In other words, the systemic risk was significant, and it required a significant response. And Congress understands that, and we'll work to get things done as quickly as possible.”
"My first instinct was to not give a shit, then smarter people than me pointed out that hey, there might be a real problem here. Turns out [TURNS OUT!?!] this shit is actually kind of complicated and could fuck people up real bad Who knew?"
“It turns out that there's a lot of interlinks through the financial system. The system had grown to a point where a lot of people were dependent upon each other and a collapse of one part of the system wouldn't just affect a part of the financial markets, it would affect ... capacity to borrow money, to buy a house or to finance a college loan. It'd affect the ability of a small business to get credit. In other words, the systemic risk was significant, and it required a significant response. And Congress understands that, and we'll work to get things done as quickly as possible.”
This is a surprise? boggles
blinks
cocks her head
blinks again
... I just have ... no words. This is why he was a lousy business man and rotten president. If he wasn't surrounding himself with yes men, read the newspaper, and paid attention to the world around him maybe the government would have figured this out BEFORE everyone else did and it got to a crisis. I want a president who can actually think.
Okay maybe I do have words.
I'm going to watch Owen and go look at cute overload and save my sanity.
In an attempt to stave off the COMPLETE AND UTTER DESPAIR induced by Bush's thoughtful precis on the current international financial crisis, I offer the cutest ever picture of Matilda.
And now I have to go back and spend a few hours with Owen trumpeting with the marching band to wash the Bush bleakness out of my brain.
In an attempt to stave off the COMPLETE AND UTTER DESPAIR induced by Bush's thoughtful precis on the current international financial crisis, I offer the cutest ever picture of Matilda.
Best cure for presidential idiocy ever! What a smile Matilda has! It's amazing because whenever she is in a picture with Hec, she looks so much like him, but when she is in a picture with you, she looks so much like you.
I offer the cutest ever picture of Matilda.
Oh dear me, that IS just one of the cutest pics ever. And the Owen cuteness is killing me ded as well.
Shrubwit I would just like to beat senseless with a flaming spear. askye, you going to the game tonight?
I offer the cutest ever picture of Matilda.
Ded of cute, again. This IS one of the cutest pics, ever.
Also, as usual even when Bush decides to take action he gets it wrong.
Duncan Black (Atrios) and Dean Baker (two very smart economists) make the same point. The whole bailout is being structured on the premise that this is a liquidity problem - that the assets really are worth close to what was loaned on them, that if the Government buys them at close to valuation, this will stop people from panicking. The problem is that there are not just a few problem loans. It was not just a matter of subprime - that was just the canary in the coal mine. Loans are outstanding economy wide with a balance far greater than the value of the assets that secure them. Buying up a trillion in financial toxic waste at a multiple of its value won't solve the problem.
