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Author Topic: 20th January, 2017  (Read 44130 times)

JoeKitchen

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Re: 20th January, 2017
« Reply #200 on: January 31, 2017, 05:42:11 pm »


There is a huge amount of source material out there and I follow most of it for investment purposes as I am in the "trust but verify" school of investing.  I take issue with a lot of what you have stated but if you point to any original source material that back up those contentions I will gladly revisit things.  The blunt fact is that the CRA had nothing to do with the meltdown.  Mortgage underwriting standards are not controlled by the government.  NINJA (No Income No Job no Assets) loans were made by the private sector.  The quasi-government entities Fannie and Freddie have standards regarding what kind of mortgages they will purchase from lenders and then seculritize.  The real toxic mortgages were not purchased by those two but rather repackaged by others into the complicated bonds that were given AAA ratings despite the ratings agencies not knowing what was in them.  No government role here as it was all the glorious private sector. 


I dont negate any of this.  I just add to the premise that the government had some culpability in the meltdown with overly encouraging home ownership without thinking about any consequences.  They created an environment where bad loans and bad borrowers could thrive.  Maybe not wrongdoing, but negligence. 

You are suggesting government had no guilt what so ever, which I consider wrong. 

It's just like my brother who insist only the banks were at fault and the borrowers hold no culpability what so ever.  I mean they were targeted right, so how could they be at fault?  However I hold both the banks and the borrowers guilty.  I consider it a requirement to have a certain level competency in mathematics and finance to be considered intelligent and if you fail to obtain those by the time you're an adult, you are at fault for it. 

I think this recession is a great example of "never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers."  As a former mathematics teacher, trust me, there are a lot of stupid people out there.  And it annoys me to no end that we as a culture consider it acceptable to be deficient in mathematics.  "Oh, I am horrible at math, don't give me a math problem, I won't be able to do it." 

You never hear, "oh, I can't read, don't give me a book, I would not be able to read it."  Saying the phrase above should be just as embarrassing as saying the this. 

Insofar as the economists you just list, I do not consider them (very) to big government, however you did mention Krugman, whom I view as extremely biased. 
« Last Edit: January 31, 2017, 05:55:48 pm by JoeKitchen »
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Alan Goldhammer

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Re: 20th January, 2017
« Reply #201 on: January 31, 2017, 06:00:28 pm »

Insofar as the economists you just list, I do not consider them (very) to big government, however you did mention Krugman, whom I view as extremely biased.
I'm breaking my rule.  I never cited Krugman as a source.  Someone else said that I did and I point out that the link I posted was from Mark Thoma, professor of Econ at Oregon.  Krugman is opinionated (and he admits so) as he writes an op-ed column and blog.  I have never seen anyone dispute his academic work as biased.
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JoeKitchen

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Re: 20th January, 2017
« Reply #202 on: January 31, 2017, 06:03:01 pm »

I'm breaking my rule.  I never cited Krugman as a source.  Someone else said that I did and I point out that the link I posted was from Mark Thoma, professor of Econ at Oregon.  Krugman is opinionated (and he admits so) as he writes an op-ed column and blog.  I have never seen anyone dispute his academic work as biased.

Okay, sorry about this.  I did not read back to check.  With that said, I am not a fan of his school of thought on economics. 
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