Did TIME's 25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis have you tearing your hair out? ***Not enough emphasis on some people, too much emphasis on others, and too many obscure ringers?
Well then, read David Fiderer's excellent analysis of TIME's "muddle-headed narrative" and see where and how they got it wrong!
And if that doesn't make you question the prevailing mantra that it's really all OUR fault (yes, according to Time, WE THE PEOPLE are in the Top 5, with no mention of Republican Tax Cuts or the Republican Congress), then I hope you watched PBS Frontline "Inside the Meltdown" this week.
If you missed it, click here to watch it online (you have to scroll down to their TV box to start it; if you don't have an hour, just mouse over the meltdown timeline below the TV box for quickie summaries).
Frontline kind of answered a question I've been wondering for some time about why Bear Stearns was bailed out but Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail thus bringing down the whole house of cards. As I suspected, the top people at Lehman Brothers were not favored by the Bush Administration. In particular, Henry Paulson had a longtime antagonsim for Lehman CEO Richard Fuld.
So, ummm .... could it possibly be that Hank's hard-on for Dick F. brought down the world's economy? We are so screwed ...
*** image is Cassandra who was gifted with prophesy. The gift carried a curse that she could only foresee bad things which she was doomed to reveal but no one believed her. ***
12 comments:
wow great find DK. I've been out of the loop for a while and the corrections are fascinating. I'll need to print it out and sit and read it to let it digest. After all, all that economics is not something that comes to me naturally and it's a whole confusing mess/muddle to begin with. Keep it simple stupid!
great post! [s]
Ingrid
Ingrid:
Hey you just caught me adding/correcting links before I head out to do final battle with our Home Show (just a stupid local phenom that has tied me up for awhile)! Economics does not come easy to anyone I know (there's a reason it's called The Dismal Science). The Fiderer link explains a lot.
DK I did a post on the CNBC show House of Cards that was really good too.. it ties in with this to a certain extent. Really good. I haven't watched this yet..but am planning on it sometime today.. have it bookmarked to watch later on. Thanks for reminding me...lol
That list is biased BS! I discounted that crap when I saw they had Clinton as number 13 and I am flummoxed that he was on it! Bush who should have been at the top and all alone on the list wasn't even on it!
DK, yes, I watched Frontline and couldn't hardly believe my eyes and ears when the debate got down to "capital infusion" (government takeovers almost) versus market forces with GREED being the operative word. It was a great program and should be watched by anyone at all concerned about our economic situation. My problem now is not having much faith in Tim Gaithner, a partner in the "maybe some regulation is good" crowd. I want the government to take over the banks and get rid of those really responsible for this mess. Bush wasn't on the list, AP, because he is too dumb to even know what was going on and that's why Paulson was the front man and the president wasn't to be found anywhere. So much for an MBA in the WH. Oh, that's an MBA given to a "legacy student" at Harvard.
Thanks for pointing this out, I hadn't seen it. And how terrible if Paulson's antipathy to Lehman Bros. brought down the whole economy!
**** Sorry Sorry Sorry, out all day and then we went to a college basketball game tonight, so I'm zonkered ****
Annette: I saw House of Cards, I think. I'll check your link tomorrow. Isn't it amazing how much analysis is being done afterward, but so little beforehand.
Avg Patriot: TIME placed Bush at #14, just below Bill Clinton ... but not for reckless tax cuts or promoting all that privitization and ownership society BS ... no, TIME awarded Bush 14th place for "fostering a philiosophy of deregulation" ... makes him sound like he was just auditing a class, not running the show.
Eprof: I was amazed at the chutzpah of Paulson to cite "moral hazard" and then proceed to wipe out the global economy. Now Tim Geithner, I don't know what to make of him. I keep waiting for him to make a positive impression that he's up to "the task", but so far he's left me cold unhappy & without much hope. "The task", in my mind, is the guts to recommend nationalizing some of the big banks. We could learn a thing or two from those dour Swedes!
MauiGirl: I know! Frontline said Paulson was thunderstruck when the markets melted down after he allowed Lehman to fail. Paul Krugman said, "This is the utter nightmare of an economic policy-maker. You may have just made the decision that destroyed the world."
Wow! That linked article really laid out the reality check!
But to be honest, I don't so much credit Bush with a "strategy" per se, but more of an anti strategy-- as in *ignore the economy & it will go away*. He did push for the tax cuts for the wealthy, and he blew the wad getting his war on-- but the debt seems to creep up, just like so many supplemental requests for more & more billions for war.
A clueless decider if you will. But interestingly the current right wing creed is this is ALL Clinton's fault.
Pay no attention to Reagan's mass deregulation efforts that unleashed this bankers folly.
Plus even though Clinton's NAFTA may have done more harm than good... he left office with a budget surplus.
It's all water under the bridge now.... but still just a bunch of horse pucky - the TIME assessment of who broke the economy.
Fran:
I do think Bush had an economic strategy ... unfortunately (for us), it was screw everyone except his friends! TIME really blew it in placing him so low on the blame list.
As for Reagan, I vividly recall the massive increase in homelessness under his reign. It was the first time I'd seen homeless families! In a guv'mint cuttin' mood, he also threw many institutionalized mental patients out onto the streets. If that is the repub ideal of a perfect prez, I don't know how they can look themselves in the mirror.
dearrest DK...
you always find the most amazing finds....really interesting and I love how you wove Cassandra into the mix...I am watching the Economic Forum on tv right now- monday 2.23....and I am watching our leaders talk about the whole mess...but NO one ever mentions the Greed and some of the horrendous decisions that have been made....that have hurt all of us......Corporate Greed has hurt america...not us the little people...
and you are right HOW do they look at themselves in the mirror.....how ?
Enigma:
I just watched that Forum! Actually I listened to it while touching up my, ahem, grayish roots. This AM I watched the Obama panel address the house/sentate participants before they adjourned into discussion groups. So what we just saw/heard was Obama calling on each group leader to summarize certain aspects of what they discussed. I don't think we've ever seen anything like this before -- a president standing up & taking charge & (hopefully) providing a framework for the congress to work together. While there is plenty of blame to go around, the focus at this forum was not how we got here (greed, etc) but how to get us out. Now let's see if there are any positive results, or if the repub spin will still be screaming about how many million per day you would have to spend "since Jesus was born" to equal a trillion. jesus!
it was pretty amazing.....and you are right I have seen nothing like it before...mccain got up and had a snit about Obama's heli- what an ass....and cantor grumbled about something...and some other repug got up preached some parable bible crap...but I still give Obama alot of credit for trying to make these people think in a critical way and attempt to problem solve....and a president teaching them to do...very impressive...
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