Failed firms gave big to both parties

The CULTURE OF CORRUPTION that permeates 'business as usual in the stinking septic tank known as Inside the Beltway makes real people want to puke their guts out. Both parties are guilty of moral and intellectual bankruptcy to a degree hitherto unknown. Dirty Harry Reid, the biggest junketeer in Washington, is also its biggest hypocrite. Like the Clintons, he would take anything that wasn't nailed down. When legislative bodies operate their own 'ethics' oversight, you can be absolutely sure that they will all turn out to be a bunch of dirty rotten crooks, and that's exactly how it is in Washington these days. First step to cleaning it all up is to restrict campaigning to one election at a time, and for no more than 60 days before that election. Violators would be banned from holding any office at any level of government. Second step would be to ban PACS of all kind and the fake charity scams run by the crooked politicians so they can siphon off the money by appointing family members to senior charity positions. Not to overlook the payments to the government for any travel they take with their wives. This crooked business of reimbursing at lowest equivalent fare is not only sickening, it should bring a jail term to the CROOKS who use it. The third step would be to force every member to report every dime of income they receive in a fiscal year, and ITS SOURCE, subject to FULL AUDIT by an outside agency with full subpoena powers. The taking of even a cup of coffee, and I don't mean a Starbucks cup either, from anyone other than an immediate family member (and that should be reported as well) should be cause for reprimand and possible banning from any/all public office. Lastly, there should be government ethics office which is responsible for establishing the rules for ethical behavior by public officials. The rules should not only be tight, but rigidly enforced, and that office should be staffed by ordinary citizens whose background is completely clean. Nor should anyone serve in that agency more than 5 years to preclude the CROOKS buying them off after they learn the rope tricks of Washington. I am SICK TO DEATH of these political SCUM, and it is high time we brought a modicum of honesty and decency to our elected, anointed and appointed leaders. Obviously they won't clean up their acts except at gunpoint, so let's haul out the BIG GUNS and INSIST ON IT!

This is what happens when government gets involved in free markets. Essentially the government runs a protection racket. You had Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, two quasi-socialized institutions being used for social engineering. They are terrified to run afoul of groups, like the CBC (Congressional Black Caucus), who want them to make mortgages easier to come by for those who have no business getting loans in the free market, due to there inability to repay the loans. ($0 down on a house?! Give me a break!) But no one dares say, "No!", lest they be labeled a racist and investigated for not meeting the arbitrary racial and income level quotas set by some very corrupt politicians who's only concern is reelection. The answer: Start by restricting Congress to a membership, no more than 10% of which can be made up of lawyers. The level of integrity would skyrocket right there.

Tighter regulations do nothing but choke the system. It's an overall pattern of irresponsibility and unaccountability. At a global level, its like the dysfunctional multilateralism of the 1990's, exceptions become the rule and there is consensus without compliance. At a national level it is the immigration debacle, no enforcement of existing laws. Obama is wrong, what needs to be done is a complete review of the existing regulations on RISK MANAGEMENT to bring them into 21st Century, and proper oversight, NOT more regulation. "If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law." -Winston Churchill. McCain understands this, Obama doesn't. "All these functions of government were designed before the rise of the global economy, the information technology revolution and the end of the Cold War. We have to catch up to history, and we have to change the way we do business in Washington." - John McCain Linear risk management only extends to the nodes of the original assumptions. Once past those nodes (variable interest and subprime) risk become exponential in impact and foresight horizons of uncertainty become exponentially larger. This cannot be regulated or managed using current linear analysis methods. (Welcome to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Enron, Gray Davis, Lehman Bros, AIG, the transition of U.S. Free Market to Regulated Market and a very possible transition from U.S. Democracy to Socialism depending on the election).

I vote for Buzzog to head the new Government Reform Agency. Anyway, I trust it will be under a McCain administration since under Obama there will be a full-blown Depression. Buzzog is dead on. Government has encouraged lawlessness by not enforcing current laws and regulations and letting cronies get away with murder by looking the other way and getting sexual and monetary favors for doing so. That's government and it is no different now than it has ever been. What has to change is that government should be cut to the bone, down to oversight agencies and ENFORCEMENT agencies. Is everyone corrupt? There has to be one honest person left. When people start going to jail for cronyism, for failing to do their jobs, for letting their companies go under while getting multi-million dollar golden parachutes, for gambling with tax payer money, when they all start doing the perp walk, maybe then something will change.

Gee, no, say it isn't so. Obama, the Messiah, ranks 2nd for his greedy handout from Freddie/Fannie in his 143 days in the senate. UMMM, that's kind of like the $1M earmark he got for his wife's boss who in turn gave her over a $200K pay raise. Doesn't that make him a "typical politician"? What will all of his fans say? Nothing. They have made their stand and they are voting on emotions, not logic.

Don't forget who ran Fannie into the ground and who was running Fannie when it got caught cooking the books Enron style. Raines and Johnson are those great Democrats that were in charge of Fannie and now are part of Team Obama. Both are classic Democrats in the vein that they got rich helping the poor. The poor are still poor but that's not what matters. Raines is one of Obama's top advisors on the economy. And Johnson was the head of Fannie that got Countrywide to give Chris Dodd and Kurt Conrad their special "VIP" loans. Who knows, perhaps he also got Rangle his 0% interest loan for his off-shore tax haven property (at least Rangle thought it was a tax haven). In any case if those two are advising Obama on the economy we are in for a rough time if how they managed Fannie is any indication of their economic skills. Both made millions and now have cost tax payers billions (200 and counting). Gee what a surprise, that's the Obama plan too. And as their misdeeds work their way thru the economy from the bottom up, other institutions like AIG are going down in flames. Brilliant! And Obama wants us to put these jokers in charge of economic policy for the whole country?