Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Lest we forget, it was during the Reagan era when the Iran Contra scandal took place.  High-up government officials were blatantly ignoring U.S. laws forbidding arms sales to Iran.

Also, lest we forget, it was during the Reagan reign that the savings and loan industry collapsed under its own weight of corruption.  This savings and loan bailout cost the taxpayers $500 billion.

Reagan had boasted about the fact that his economic policies would balance the budget.  The fact is that under Reagan's Republican run the national debt tripled.  By the time his Republican successor and former vice president, George Bush the Elder, had completed his single term in office the budget had been quadrupled from what it had been when Reagan took office for his first term.

Nevertheless, Republicans promptly changed the name of Washington National Airport to Ronald Reagan National Airport.

If tripling the national debt is the logical reason to name an airport after a president, every airport in the U.S.A. should be named George W. Bush.

Why?  Because George Bush succeeded in plunging the U.S.A. into the largest national debt of any leader of any nation on planet earth.  The Bush Administration was left with a budget surplus.  

When Bush leaves office the U.S. national debt will be greater than all the national debts of the U.S. combined since it was founded as a nation.  It currently stands under a half billion away from a whopping, virtually numerically incomprehensible $10 trillion.

It may skyrocket another $800 billion since Congress approved a bailout package for the government-backed mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac risky loans brought these shabbily supervised mortgage loans brought housing mortgage organizations to near collapse.

With an economic track record like this, does it make sense to be fighting wars to bring this lifestyle of an almost bankrupt nation to others?

In speaking of bungling White House resident George Bush, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said in the August 4 Time Magazine:

"Bless his heart, president of the United States - a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy - you name the subject."

If Nancy Pelosi truly believes these words, why did she say, "Impeachment is off the table?"

By removing impeachment, could one claim that Pelosi is complicit in George Bush's failed presidency by letting him carry on his tragic policies?

How did the U.S. find itself in the mortgage meltdown with 2 ½ million homeowners facing foreclosure?  

2 ½ million is the same number of foreclosures during the Great Depression is this a re-run?

Following the high tech stock meltdown, people weren't buying stock briskly.

Fed guru Alan Greenspan lowered rates to a 40-year low.  Loan officers at major banks began making high risk loans to people with bad credit histories.  Developers hired illegal U.S. construction workers, cutting building costs by not paying union labor scales.

Suddenly the housing market took off.  People bought homes for investments, like a stock market transaction.  They "flipped them over" fast, buying one year and selling the next.  Home prices skyrocketed faster than ever before in U.S. housing history.

Who got hurt?  Senior citizens who had worked all their lives to save retirement money were betrayed big times.  Their trust in the U.S. maintaining a stable currency cost them dearly as the U.S. dollar was demolished in its value.  Certificates of deposit went down to 2%, less than inflation.

As home values soared, U.S. citizens hastily spent equity money on fancy cars, vacation homes, even yachts.

These risky mortgages provided fresh red meat for con artists.  Certain financial institutions packaged these risk-laden mortgages, selling them in what they called "bundles of mortgage securities."

Bankers around the world nibbled on this cleverly packaged bait.  The key trick word achieving this deceptive sale was "securities."

Banks around the world lost an estimated $3 to $4 billion on these so-called "mortgage securities."

Yes indeed, the Reagan mantra "get the government off the people's backs" generated boom times for bank fraudsters.

Now the cost of the bailout must be paid.  That is a potential $800 billion.

Newsweek ran a story on the mortgage meltdown June 2 entitled, "Mortgages and Madness."  The sub-headline for this article read, "Questionable lending practices turned a peaceful Cleveland neighborhood into a blighted slum"

Now, thanks to crooked bank loan officers, risky loans made by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and developers, there is a tremendous number of houses on the market that aren't selling.  

But there is a shortage of prison space to house killers and con artists.