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Originally Posted by skysidhe

I knew this would happen when Bush took the cap off government regulation. Somehow his 'small government' mission was skewed. Well we all know HOW.

Problem was being created long before this. What Warren Buffet discusses is the same finance games that were also called Enron, et al.

Clinton administration tried to institute some responsibility. Massive budget increases were recommended for the SEC. A Republican Congress threatened to eliminate the SEC if law enforcement was increased. It was well known the lowest paid lawyers in Washington are SEC lawyers. No smart lawyer stays where they are not wanted.

Enron was added to a list that included, Global Crossing, MCI, Waste Management, etc. All directly traceable to money games with the spread sheets. George Jr was elected. Harvey Pitts (SEC Commissioner) refused to prosecute these. The State of Oklahoma filed suit against Enron - embarrassing Pitts, et al. So the SEC reluctantly prosecuted Enron - what wacko extremists did not want.

Well the Congress was so appalled when the public complained about Enron as to ask Harvey Pitts if he would accept a doubling the SEC budget. Harvey Pitts refused - live on TV. After all, tax cuts, et al are for enriching selective Americans. They could do this since so many middle class Americans remained so ignorant as to also even believe lies that justified "Mission Accomplished".

Warren Buffet was quite vocal back then (along with a clear majority of America's richest men). On Nightline, Buffet noted how his receptionist paid higher taxes percentages than Buffet did. People who got rich by actually producing something (Buffet, Bill Gates, etc) were also critical of eliminating inheritance tax - more welfare for the rich by wacko extremists. After all, others who get rich using money games and corporate welfare also bought politicians - K Street, et al.

So where are we today? Income of the average American has fallen about 2% since George Jr came to power. Dumb supporters of George Jr will blindly deny this reality.

Mortgage crisis is not about balloon loans. It's about NINJA loans because those loans will be bundled into financial instruments - sold as bonds or stocks. Nobody cared whether the borrower had an income or a job apparent. Even Merrill Lynch's president (once a conservative company known for fiscal responsibility) ordered massive investments in these risky investments. Where did those investments appear on spread sheets? Nowhere. Just like Enron - ie SIV - risky investments were also called off-balance sheet investments. Classic money games.

This past spring, financial markets just locked up. Why? Everybody feared doing business with others. Nobody trusted anyone else's spread sheets because lying was acceptable - all but encouraged by the SEC and George Jr's administration. So dangerous was this complete financial seizure that the Government had to go in with $billion loans on low interest rates. IOW the government was again bailing out the people who were irresponsible, protected by George Jr's administration, and had been reaping massive financial rewards.

How corrupt was this? A senior VP at Merrill Lynch warned of it a year earlier. So he was fired. Only finance firm that appears to have seen the corruption (and hedged accordingly) was Goldman Sachs.

When government throws money at an economy to create false wealth, then that economy takes revenge four and more years later. We will now suffer a recession directcly traceable to George Jr money games. This poster was also warning of this years ago because so many responsible people were warning of it long ago. For example, how many denied the so many symptoms such as an impending housing price crash?

So what are politicians saying? We must keep interest rates low and inflict inflation for economic incentives. Deja Vue Nam? Stupid fools did this exact same thing as Vietnam debts came due. Back then, America ended up selling the world's third largest industrial base (America's foreign owned businesses) to pay for economic incentives and too many dollars held overseas. And then came stagflation. What eventually fixed it back then? 13% and 22% interest rates. There is no free lunch no matter how often George Jr denies it.

How dumb are we to forget lessons of 35 years ago - complete with rising oil prices, rising commodity prices, excessive energy consumption, crappy American cars, too many dollars held overseas, record high gold prices, falling American dollar, denial of those problems by a dumb extremist president, an unjustified and useless war, and American allies almost universally warning us of our mistakes. Our more wacko Democratic and Republican politicians advocate economic incentives - forgetting that also created the 1970s economic nightmare. This resulting recession is directly traceable to a government that solved problems by throwing money like a grenade. That even spent the Clinton surplus in the name of corporate welfare, etc.

Totally irresponsible policies such as tax cuts are now doing to the economy as this author warned back in 2002.

Meanwhile, what did Warren Buffet also say about wacko George Jr tax cuts back on 2002 (on Nightline)? The only tax cut is one that cuts spending. Instead, George Jr did exactly what Nixon did. Massive spending. Even "Mission Accomplished" spending does not appear in the Federal Budget so that he can spend more money using myths. How many 747's packed full of $100 bill pallets were distributed in Iraq without any accounting? Three. There is no free lunch. With a dollar depreciated to only 60%, we have still to see the looming economic disaster (massive recession) created by wacko extremist spending and no fiscal responsibility.

None of this is new or difficult to understand. Responsible people have been warning about this for years. My posts years ago summarized their warnings from responsible rich mean - ie T Bone Pickens. Were you so deaf as to ignore them and listen to wacko extremist Cheney? Did you not worry when Cheney said, “Reagan proves that deficits don’t matter?” We have yet to pay for his fiasco.

Well Donald Trump just came back from a world tour of foreign nations. He was most blunt and honest on Fox News noting how the world is building - becoming even more productive. Trump cited George Jr’s war and wacko spending for an America that is not and cannot do the same construction ongoing throughout the world. Whereas all those other nations are building, instead, America is spending on useless wars. Meanwhile, America had no effort and is still not trying to find bin Laden.

We are spending massively on a war justified by lies. We have no dollars or economic reserves for building or growing America. Eventually the GDP numbers will reflect that reality. Trump could not have been blunter. And Donald Trump – like the majority of wealthy men (ie Ted Turner) – was telling you what to expect because of George Jr et al.

Let’s see. How anti-American are companies, such as GM, who will seek corporate welfare and government protection from free markets? GM stock has just set a new low because their products are so crappy. GM stock is now worth less than its worth in 1982. Why? GM products are that bad. GM debts are now that massive (ie 0% financing to sell autos). GM is another trophy of what happens when bean counters and wacko extremist politicians play money games four and more years ago.

Who would not expect a recession? Everything posted here should have been obvious to everyone long ago. Above - nothing is a mystery. Why have so many rich men been warning about these coming problems years ago? Because the mistakes we were making six years ago now must be paid for.

It's called a recession. God help everyone if we stay so much in denial as to suffer stagflation. We no longer have the world's third largest industrial base to sell off - to pay for fiscal irresponsibliity.