Democrats vow to refine rescue plan

"Mrs. Pelosi promised that Democrats would "strengthen the proposal by ensuring that the government is accountable to the taxpayers in any future actions under this broad grant of authority, implementing strong oversight mechanisms, and establishing fast-track authority for the Congress to act on responsible regulatory reform." " NOW they want oversight and accountability. It's a little bit late to start bragging about how they are going to protect us.

Other than the home districts of the House members, no other Americans are able to cast their votes for or against. Yet, these very people unelected by ourselves control every aspect of our lives. Currently, leadership is in the control of the Democratic party. The only way the leadership can be changed is for voters in every district of the nation to push their elected democratic party members out of office. It is a shame to push good men and women out of office for the sins of their leaders but it must be done.

Just follow the money. It leads to Dodd, Hillary, Obama, and Barney Frank on the legislative side, and Obama's closest advisers on the non-legislative side, Raines and Jim Johnson. Meanwhile, Obama is out there trying to get out the big lie that it was McCain's passion for deregulation that caused it, in the hope it will stick before most voters wise up. That excuse won't withstand scrutiny, and scrutiny is coming in spades, Mr. Obama. You are gonna go down hard. Real hard.

Pelosi and Kerry must have the same Botox doctor, btw.

Follow the DemoCrooks..... First they whine that poor people can't get loans because of prejudice. Then they pressure banks to loan money to anyone who 'looks poor' without verifying their claimed income. The home builders, who aren't exactly stupid but are very GREEDY, up their prices and liberal(sic)appraisers foretell that real estate prices will ALWAYS go up, at least 15-25% per year..... So the 'poor guy' who says he's earning $100,000/annum (Really $35,000)makes no down payment on a $300,000 house which is then appraised for $400,000 for an equity loan. Then the 'poor guy' takes the bonus 100 grand and buys new cars and a boat and clothes and other stuff.....And then the loan's interest rate gets 'adjusted' due to a tightening market.... and the 'poor guy' can't make the new payments, so he trashes the house and drives away..... And then here comes the government and says WE can't just let this happen.... YOU TAXPAYERS really are the guilty ones, and you must pay for what the LIBERALS HAVE WROUGHT..... In the meantime, liberals have drained hundreds of millions of dollars out of these questionable establishments, and other operations like them in phony bonuses based on rigged profit statements, and stuffed the money in their pockets. Then they have pointed to the conservatives as the truly GUILTY ONES. My question is: WHERE do the taxpayers go to complain about this monstrous scam?

There are two parts to this equation, accountability and oversight. If history proves itself a baseline, the Democrats will be clear on oversight and fuzzy on accountability. How else can the politics of blame work. Jim Bunning is correct, with this much power in the hands and minds of the government, we are going to become part of the global socialist order. Instead of free trade, it will now become regulated trade and the Democrats will be more than happy to regulate it and delegate (blame) the accountability. They will probably put Charles "Rangel your way out of anything" in charge. His view is that accountability is all relative, relative to the power you hold in Congress, the morals (or lack thereof) of the social intellect and the tolerance to dumbed down proletariat.

Hey, I am a card carrying liberal Democrat and I don't like Nancy or Harry. They are too connected with the DNC and that is why Barack has always had my vote. We can't afford more CONservatism in the Congress when it comes to the economy. We need real leadership that is not afraid of big business and doesn't buy all their lies about unfettered capitalism being good for the country. Get ready folks, the times they are a changin' again!

I agree Congress should "refine" the bill. What it should include are provisions to Title 18 so that members of Congress that got sweetheart mortgages at below market rates are given mandatory prison time. To keep "liberals" on Earth, it would allow them to continue their Congressional voting, electronically of course, from their cell so no one is "disenfranchised". But be sure of one thing, the refinements will be just another mechanism the Democrats use in their ongoing campaign of "Buy The Vote". Its a true pity that the few taxpayers remaining have to be pay even more taxes to pave the road for the Neo-Marxs (that's Neo-Marxists for those on the Left and includes everyone hiding behind "liberal", "progressive", "social reform", and "community organizer").

Our government, after setting the stage for this mess by insisting that our financial institutions place social responsibility above fiduciary responsibility through misapplication of the Community Reinvestment Act, is now going to get us out? I'll believe it when I see it. In the meanwhile keep following the money...fortunes are going to be made out of this.

Buying securities means support for their price and as such helps the security owners to get more for them then they are worth on the free market. This will mainly help the rich stockholders who can afford to loose some money. One could imagine the government to do this when the value of those securities sank far below their intrinsic value. In that condition there would be no net cost to the tax payer and the government would only stem an irrational panic. But beyond that I can’t see a role for the government in this market. On the other hand the plan does not help the people who are loosing their houses because of sinking house prices. And these people will spend much less because they are pushed into poverty. The negative effects of the buyout of the big financial companies (higher taxes, more inflation) will mean that these people will only see their position worsen. A much better alternative would be: - make it much more difficult to throw people out of their houses because of arrears in payment. Simply being behind will no longer be enough. You should be at least a year behind before the money lender is entitled to throw people out of their homes. This will mean that less houses come on the market. As a consequence the price fall will decrease and so even the people who lent the money will be happy. Also: In the present system there is a reward on pushing people in destition as fast as possible: if you don't do it another lender may do it and you won't get any money. - make it much more difficult to charge people for collection costs when they have arrears. For many people these costs are a trap from which they can't escape. - turn back the "reforms" of a few years ago that in effect abolished bankruptcy. Just like the previous point it creates a trap from which people can't escape. - make it easier for people whose house price has sunk below their mortgage to sell their house. They should be able to pay the remaining debt in the same schedule as they did before. - make it easier for people to accelerate the redemption of their mortgage. If people want to redempt more in a certain month this should be subject to a small fee (less than $10) only. - in exchange the money lenders only need to declare the payments from mortgages for the tax office when they actually receive them. The proposals above don’t distort the markets. They only fight market distortions that now drive much more people into poverty than is necessary and that even for the money lenders have a net negative outcome. The proposals will decrease the number of bankruptcies and stop the price fall of the houses. This in turn will stabilize the financial markets and decrease the amount the government has to spend on market interventions.

Congress was in a hurry to adjourn for their much needed recess after their grueling 3 days in session stating that no one knew what to do about the crisis. They hoped to turn the problem that Democratic control in the 90's put in place under Clinton into votes this November. Well, when President Bush implements a plan to start the healing, they suddenly want to add their 2 cents “for the people." I believe we need to shore up what we still have, and at some point make people accountable for their actions. Crooks in high places and citizens who own a home on my tax dollar. I do not look to Government to pay me out of debt so why would I want to pay miscreants out of debt! Congress should go home and forget about it, as Pelosi is correct, they haven't got a clue what to do. Maybe they could follow obama's economic plan he is toying with. Our future is not a game and toys is all he should be playing with, as he is a big part of the do nothing congress and now we know why they are the do nothings!!!

meowoman - Obama is a member of the party running CONgress that just happens to also have started this whole mess with their beloved Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Make no mistake about it, F&F are at the root of this entire mess and Democrats are at the root of F&F. And the guys who ran Fannie and worked with Democrats in CONgress, including Obama and Black CONgressional Caucas, to make banks give out all these risky loans are now part of the Obama campaign. Democrats and the Obama economic advisor Franklin Raines managed to implement socialized housing and the mess we are in is nothing other than the bill finally coming due. Now we are even hearing from Obama that people that actually are in the homes they cannot pay for should be allowed to keep them! That's a green light to all those that are still making payments to simply ask themselves why even do that. Obama is not the answer. Getting rid of F&F as the Republicans have been trying to do and which McCain called for long ago is.

I think all this hyperventilating is going to make matters worse,not better. First of all, you get the predictable knee-jerk response by this Dimocrat Congress saying "More regulation!" and Obama blaming McCain because he was against regulation. Duh. Regulation would be the worst thing for this economy. In fact, I urge all readers to go back and read up on the Great Depression. When Wall Street crashed in 1929, we didn't go into a depression right away. It was the governmnet regulations on the banking industry that DROVE the country into a depression because the banks hands were tied and couldn't adjust. The other great illusion is that FDR and the New Deal brought us out of it. It didn't. World War II brought America out of the Great Depression by putting everyone to work and getting the country focused again. LESSON: Do not regulate! But do increase OVERSIGHT. Congress failed, the SEC failed, the Fed failed, all of them failed because they took their eye off the ball. Lastly, what congress and government have to do is remember this one word: INCENTIVE. When there is an incentive to file for bankruptcy, or NO incentive to keep paying a mortgage, you can predict the behaviour. One last word: CREDIT. Government and Business MUST keep credit available---for business and individuals. That is what ultimately caused the Great Depression---Credit completely dried up. Credit MUST NOT DRY UP!

Are the Democrats not smart enough to understand that "protecting the poor homeowners with their mortages" is what has brought on the mortage mess in the first place? They are unreliable to even deal with their own finances let alone the nations.