Who likes Paulson (poll)?

[Daal]

Quote from Landis82:

It was ALL about how free-markets without oversight or smart regulation would be the arbiter of capitalism.

yeah, the day I found out free markets werent a solution to every problem wasn't fun. but everybody must became an adult eventually

 

[Frank Thomas]

Quote from Landis82:

Many of you guys on this thread are forgetting that Republican Dick Armey, who was the House Majority Leader from 1995-2003 simply sat by and did nothing while all of this mortgage crap was going on . . . It was ALL about how free-markets without oversight or smart regulation would be the arbiter of capitalism.

Paulson and Bernanke are simply trying to "clean-up" the mess of others by putting a "bid" in the Tier-3 marketplace that has been ravished by "mark-to-market" accounting changes and ratings agencies that have no clue what they are doing.

If you guys think that what is going on here is "No Big Deal" then feel free to take a look at how well the CP market is working.

It's not.
It's frozen.
Just ask CAT.

And yet for much of this year idiots on ET have been pounding the table and advocating rate hikes . . .

Go figure.

Landis,

Thanks for a rationale post.

I just can’t believe all these people with this attitude of “just let the banks fail”.

 

[Frank Thomas]

For all those who don’t like Paulson:

Would you rather have John Snow in there?????


Secretary, what should we do about Bear Stearns?
“It is in our interest to support a strong dollar and we support a strong dollar”

Secretary, what should we do about the GSE’s?
“It is in our interest to support a strong dollar and we support a strong dollar”

Secretary, what should we do about LEH and MER?
“It is in our interest to support a strong dollar and we support a strong dollar”

Secretary, the banking system is on the verge of collapse, what are we going to do?
“It is in our interest to support a strong dollar and we support a strong dollar”

I don’t agree with how Paulson has handled everything, but what should the govt. do? Handle things the way they did in the late 20’s and just take a hands off approach and let the markets sort everything out lassie fare?

 

[Cutten]

Quote from Frank Thomas:

For all those who don’t like Paulson:

Would you rather have John Snow in there?????


Secretary, what should we do about Bear Stearns?
“It is in our interest to support a strong dollar and we support a strong dollar”

Secretary, what should we do about the GSE’s?
“It is in our interest to support a strong dollar and we support a strong dollar”

Secretary, what should we do about LEH and MER?
“It is in our interest to support a strong dollar and we support a strong dollar”

Secretary, the banking system is on the verge of collapse, what are we going to do?
“It is in our interest to support a strong dollar and we support a strong dollar”

I don’t agree with how Paulson has handled everything, but what should the govt. do? Handle things the way they did in the late 20’s and just take a hands off approach and let the markets sort everything out lassie fare?

Reread on the 1929 crash and Great Depression. Hoover was anything but laissez-faire, and obviously FDR was the exact opposite of a free-marketeer. There were numerous interventions into the economy that prevented markets from clearing during the 1930s, that's why unemployment stayed at 10-20% levels for an *entire decade* despite the New Deal and its make-work programs.

The 1930s was similar to Japan in the 1990s except more heavy handed. Both times massive intervention was tried, and every effort made to stave off liquidation and market clearing. Both times the economy went nowhere for 10 years, resulting in a lost generation. Repeating those policies would be disastrous.