30-year deregulation era dies a sudden death

Source: MSNBC/Business Week

By Michael Mandel

updated 12:01 p.m. ET, Thurs., Sept. 18, 2008
The 30-year era of deregulation came to a sudden and surprising end on Sept. 16.

Late that evening the Federal Reserve extended $85 billion to take an unprecedented 80 percent stake in American International Group in order to save the floundering insurance giant. Less than two weeks earlier, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had announced that the federal government was taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the colossal mortgage agencies. Suddenly the U.S. financial sector could not survive without government help.

Since the long-ago days when Jimmy Carter was President, regulation has been a dirty word in Washington. Politicians of both parties vied to see how much of the economy they could free from the oppressive yoke of government control. The deregulation movement started when Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Later, as it spread from energy to trucking to telecommunications to financial services, the rallying cry was the same: Less regulation, more growth.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26774653/

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Time to dig up all the video we can of Gramps screaming for more de-regulation.

most can be pinned on him

He repealed the Glass Steagall act, enacted in the 1930s to prevent just what's happening now. Clinton repealed the act and gave the signing pen to a giddy Sanford Weill, CEO of Citigroup.

Remember Bill Murray's greatest ever line on SNL. He's begging some rich folks for little food, maybe a buck or two, in the snow outside a restaurant I think. They reply harshly that it's own fault or something like that, and mention Reaganomics. Bill replies "Yeah, I feel trickled on".

I've been trying to tell Republicans this for years - and it fell on deaf ears.

I was in my last year of college when he was elected, and I'll never forget how many of my classmates had to drop out because one of his many early attacks on the poor and middle class was to cut College Financial Aid.

And then came taxing tips and unemployment benefits.

Fucker.

Yep.

drive a fucking stake through its heart.

I waited in vain during both the Nixon and Reagan funerals for someone to have the presence of mind to drive a stake through their hearts. No one did -- and we've been sorry every since.

We cannot continue on this present track into the economic abyss.

Why do you think they push for it so hard, legally or illegally.

If you understand the market cycles enough, you too can benefit. For a simple example when present pResident was elected it was only a matter of time til banks/stock markets started collapsing. Allowing home equity loans? Same thing but more so for inflation. Printing more money? More inflation.

At that time I shifted. Pay off house ASAP. Don't sell it for inflated price! Then ya gotta buy another one, at an INFLATED PRICE. That takes credit for most people.

Remember the first laws GWB got passed? You know, credit card company protection and less ability to declare bankruptcy. Actually, that second part ain't too bad of an idea, it was just designed to protect backs and not consumers.

Don't buy stocks with your retirement funds! What a greedy gamble! Don't extend your credit especially with home equity loans! What a greedy gamble. Get the idea and you can apply it to lots of things, with good predictive value.

Guess I left out was/war machine production, lack of improvement in healthcare, and higher gas prices. But I I think you can see how they fit in here.

And remember:

Ya just don't need all that STUFF anyway!