to help millions of struggling mortgage holders and shore up the US housing market.
Barack Obama, briefing reporters in Dayton, Ohio.

"And there are plans - bipartisan plans - to bail out the U.S. auto industry, as well as the national highway fund." From your own link. Har. Blog in haste on bipartisan waste.

Even a dead midget is far from light. - Confucius

There were basically two big movements, one in the 80s and one in the 90s. The one in the 80s gave us the S&L crisis and laid the groundwork for our current issues. The one in the 90s didn't (to me) seem to contribute much; it was more about enabling predatory lending than anything else.

It's impossible to debate if people simply hold beliefs that have no grounding in reality.

...for illustrating my point above so well.

Look! Joe Biden was nice to MBNA! Hey! Sarah Palin was neck deep in the pork trough!

You are correct that the problem here is bipartisan in nature. The solution (if we're smart enough to find one) is going to have to be bipartisan, too, and no-one is going to be happy when the bills finally have to bet paid.

heh-

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Invest in Democrats

Not my headline.

"We should not tie the hands of law enforcement in the effort to bring these terrorists to justice"- Leon E. Panetta

They're gonna have to add MBNA to Sarah's acronym list. So much headspace to fill. So little time.

To think is not enough; you must think of something -- Jules Renard

It was almost like dueling political robots.

"speaking as a lifelong (republican woman with children / female Hillary supporter) I am (disgusted / excited) by how the Republican party (parades Palin around / finally has a woman on the ticket)"

Gah.

Over here on E Street, we're proud to support Obama for President. - Bruce Springsteen

...because they lost their job due to government policies that directly rewarded the moving the job overseas.

That's Socialism!!!!!!

Amazingly, the poor deluded fool stripped of everything to include his pride will vote Republican because they are anti-gay....and by God, since this fool has nothing else, he'll place his faith in making life worse for gay people.

Is there any wonder I despair?

Traveller

But what choice did Paulson have? Letting Freddie and Fannie sink was never a real option. Our creditors wouldn't have allowed it.

The italics are mine, because I think that's a point that begs some serious thought. It's been a great party here in the USA over the course of the past 28 years or so. Nobody cared all that much about deficits when there were taxes to be cut and pork to be served in big, steaming piles. Yes, the Clinton Administration did try to restore some fiscal restraint in the nineties, but they had the advantage of a booming economy and unwilling help from a GOP that still clung to some tattered bit of fiscal conservatism.

So here we are in 2008, with a ballooning national debt. Add to that a crumbling national infrastructure, an expensive war in Iraq with no clear goals, and a complete lack of willingness to talk about our financial problems from either candidate. I don't agree with everything Paul Krugman writes, but I think he got it yesterday:

It's long past time for a grown-up conversation in the United States about this country's future. And what we don't need is the usual crap floating about over whether Sarah Palin is really for or against earmarks, or whether or not Barack Obama is an "elitist." Here's some issues I'd love to hear a politician discuss:

• Is nearly universal home ownership still an achievable goal? Should it be?

• What interest does the government of the United States have in bailing out troubled industries? (I'm thinking of Detroit here, not the banks.)

• How do we rebuild our crumbling infrastructure? How do we pay for it?

• What should transportation look like in the 21st Century? Can we afford to continue to be a car-centric country? If not, what are the alternatives? How do we put those alternatives into place? How do we pay for them?

Any thoughts out there?