How sad that hope and change has just turned to Fear and Lies. Obama and Biden should be ashamed. If they had any sense of patriotism they would simply drop out of the race and resign right now.

Stop Obama's war on capitalism, stop his war on America, stop his war on Medicare!

Obama/Biden, the worst presidency in modern history. His ineptness even surpasses Carter.

By all means, let's deregulate the banks some more, and give them a free hand in things! They did such a bang-up job last time!

After they lose every ones money again, we can watch the CEOs and hedge fund managers cash their 7 figure bonus checks!

They did such a bang-up job last time!

Yes, fuzzy, Romney's plan is to enact the same type of dishonest and dangerous economic policies that nearly destroyed our country during the Bush administration. It seems it is their aim to kill our economy completely this time. I don't know if it is greed, hate, or incompetence that is driving them to try to commit these crimes against America but it is fortunate for all of us Romney will not win the election in November.

Yeah. Let's deregulate the financial institutions. It's not like they caused the global financial crisis of 2008 of anything...

Republicans want deregulation, Romney says it every stump speech.

It's funny that Republicans want America to hand the reigns back to them, and they want to go back to the same policies that caused the financial crisis in the first place.

Xabre

Yeah. Let's deregulate the financial institutions. It's not like they caused the global financial crisis of 2008 of anything...

Wait a minute... I thought that was Bush's fault?

(who me the clown nose, fisty!)

Wait a minute... I thought that was Bush's fault?

Did I say that? Or was I merely commenting on the thought of deregulation of corporations that have a proven track record of risky and destructive behavior?

I want to you tell me how this 'deregulation' is a good idea. Otherwise I will take it as you agree with me, but had to throw in partisan jabs for the sake of being partisan.

Romney/Ryan= Wipe out Medicare; increasing the retirement age 2 years (for now); eliminate Social Security; cut tax deductions on everyone making less than $250,000; increase the taxable amount on those earning less than $40,000; increase deductions for those earning more than $250,000 increase our military budget cut regulations on Wall Street.

Sounds like a recipe for a monumental disaster of epic proportions for everyone except the top 2% earners and corporations in America. But hey, they have theirs, so who cares what happens to us?

Biden is exactly correct when he said that this has become a stark difference between the candidates. Obama/Biden still care about the average American and try to help. Sometimes it doesn't work to the desired expectations. At least they try. With Romney/Ryan we would get two people bent on the idea that government should not help anyone in need. Romney has stated that a person going to college should ask their parents to pay for it. In other words, if you already dont have a lot of money, you don't deserve an education because the government shouldn't have to loan you money. With Ryan, you get a person who would effectively eliminate the programs that sustain the well being of the elderly, out of work Americans who need health/dental care and a person who would like for the average American to pay taxes with little if anything given back unless you are in the military. The republicans will always find a way to up the budget for the military so they can declare war at a moments notice.

Stark is correct. The choices are obvious.

OBAMA/BIDEN 2012

You tell them Joe.

Obama – Biden 2012 - Still Cleaning up the Bush-Ryan Mess!!!

MITT ROMNEY SAVES AMERICA (Just not the way he had planned)

Yes, let's give credit where credit is due. Mitt Romney, with his selection of Paul "Hurry up and die" Ryan as his running mate, has doomed his ticket and his party which means we can save America and end our decade long nightmare begun by Bush/Cheney and maintained by the Tea and Antipathy of the "new" GOP.

So let's not think unkindly about the man. He has single-handedly saved America from becoming the new Germany ala' 1933.

Now we can move forward with a progressive agenda of equality and healthcare for all. The middle-class will stop sliding into extinction and new opportunities will be presented to those on the bottom rungs of society. We can stop the assault on the Constitution and begin to build a society founded on the principles of tolerance and acceptance, not some mythical exceptionalism that only exists in the minds of elitists, xenophobes and bigots.

Thanks Mitt, America is grateful.

Obama/Biden 2012

What an awful thing to say by VP Biden.

But the Robert Byrd wing of the Democrat Party must have loved it. They likely *want* those chains.

SickOfTheBickering

Wait a minute... I thought that was Bush's fault?

2004, Voluntary Regulation - the SEC proposes a system of voluntary regulation under the Consolidated Supervised Entities program, allowing investment banks to hold less capital in reserve and increase leverage.

Result

AIG's credit default swaps (CDSs). AIG exploited a huge gap in the regulatory system and allowed no oversight of their financial product division. One unit of the company, AIG Financial Products, was the source of many of the company’s woes. The AIG FP unit specialized in derivatives that generated billions of dollars in profit over the years. AIG issued the swaps and promised to pay these institutions, counterparties, if the debt securities defaulted. Banks all over the world bought CDS protection from AIG. However, AIG did not have a large enough safety net to weather the subprime mortgage collapse. These insurance contracts became essentially worthless because many people could not pay back their subprime mortgages and AIG did not have the creditworthiness for the big collateral call.

So the moral of this story is: since we know what we know today, based on the 2008 Financial Meltdown, why does Romney want to go back to deregulation?

thats comforting texan. slowly things are coming back. good job

Why so serious, Xabre?

Because you took my quote and attempted to put words in my mouth that were not there. I don't appreciate that. Saying Bush caused the crisis is a stretch at best. Saying he didn't do enough after the fact is another topic.

RedSoxRule

You must be proud of your idiot badge. Uh, like evrything else, you have it on backwards.

Really.

I'd take a look across the pond.

There won't be SS if we collapse.

Keep running up that debt and see what happens.

Indeed, let's look across the pond. The unrest in Greece, etc. is being caused by massive austerity (i.e. spending cuts). Funny how the Ryan Plan reeks of austerity...But I guess smaller spending cuts and tax increases must be out of the question.

• Patriots pay their taxes.

Slackers move their wealth to offshore accounts and pay tax lawyers to find every loophone they can so as to deny paying their fair share.

Remember: Every huge tax cut for the wealthy leaves our country under funded. The rest of us have to pick up their slack... Republican tax holidays for the rich mean the middle class workers pay MORE taxes!

Why should bankers, brokers and investors pay a lower tax than working people??? Republicans want working Americans to pay for our bills after they run up the bill and skip the bill, leaving the rest of us to pay.

I don't see how anyone could argue our Banks are a train wreck waiting to happen? Their too big and complicated to function without stimulus or a booming economy.

I say regulate the Banks to the hilt! If consumer deposits are being backed by Tax Payers then too bad if they don't like it.

Let them separate out their investment divisions and un regulate those. They can gamble all they want without risking tax payers money.

Folks, stop blowing out talking points and think for a minute! If you make $40k to $50k per year, why in the world would you apply for a 100% loan to buy a $300k house? If you can't afford it, don't buy it! The chances are really good that you don't need it anyway.

Everybody seems to be a lot more interested in placing blame than in solving the problem. We can play the blame game for another 50 years and will no closer to a solution than we are after blaming everyone in sight for the last 4 years.

Can we work together toward a solution that won't kill or impoverish us all? I hope so; otherwise, we are doomed like the Kilkenny cats were.

Wah Wah Wah- stop whining- "This ain't beanbags".

if each president has to fix the previous presidents problems,,,i would hate to follow obama if he gets another 4 years..hell,if romney gets elected,in november..the earth wont last long enough to fix obamas mess...

The government has us in chains. How can we be put BACK in chains???? Biden is a world class dumbass.

Morons blame it on the banks.

Smart people blame it on BAILING OUT the banks.

Don't bail them out next time. Force them to reduce loans to proper reserve fund ratios. That puts the money back in the hands of the people and doesn't disrupt the people that have money in the banks only investors that made poor investments.

Joe Biden; if that is the case, why the hell did your administration ram Thu Congress the largest giveaway of credit in the history of the world, you bailed out the banks, insurance company's, large industry to the tune of 7 trillion dollars of money you raided from future social security taxes, with no strings attached, talk about trying to re-write history !

socialist @ 1.58 -- spiting lies with the quickness of Faux News.

i have asked many folks to provide an example of a lie from Fox News. Never any takers.

Now before you send something about Hannity or O'Reilly please remember that just like matthews and maddow they are entertainers and not news reporters.

#1.52 Bob in KC - You talk too much commonsense for the Newsvine. Work together doesn't happen in liberal ideology anymore just smearing someone without even knowing them. Democrats and Republicans use to work together in a civil manner about 8-12 years ago. Sadly, no adult conversation is going to happen on the Newsvine or government for that matter. The entire political system of the U.S. is pathetic. See a problem - fix it regardless of political party. FIX IT!!!

Romneycare could take a page from Dick 'Head' Cheney's book. Deficits don't matter - except when it works in our favor, and then they matter.

Who was Biden talking to? 98% of Americans.

And mcpaddywhack, calling The President and Vice President of the United States low-life scumbags shows what kind of trailer park trash you are. Right or wrong you are the poster boy for the Tea Party. There are some intelligent people in the tea party that have their beliefs and convictions, I just don't agree with them. That's called being an Adult.Unfortunately the uneducated Teanuts that take the word of a drug addled high school dropout or a Fox "entertainment" channel as gospel, like yourself, are the reason nobody takes the Tea Party seriously.

biden is a racist career politician of whom we are all appalled and embarrassed.

why does obama allow this idiot to remain on the ticket.

and why for heaven sakes does the black community accept these repeated racist insults from the democrat leaders (dont forget harrys comment about a nice negro).

That is a very, very sad comment from Biden. Let's focus on the issues and solutions to the countries problems - and stop the mud slinging. If Biden doesn't like an idea - that's fine - say why he doesn't like it and what he would do differently.

We have some real problems in this country and we need to have adult conversations to solve them. Comments like these from Biden make those adult conversations very difficult.

Biden's right; if we deregulate the banks, they will put us back in chains. They had us in chains for 30 years, we just didn't know it until the collapse of 2009. Dodd-Frank isn't perfect; it ain't simple, it's not as strong as it should be, and above all, it does not break down the banks. But considering that we have a polarized Congress, it's as good as we can get (for now). In a few years, when Congress cools down, we can get an overhaul of the financial industry, with simplified regulations and agencies and forceful authority that will de-monopolize the financial industry.

OBAMA BIDEN 2012

RomneyRyan,

Are you a re-reg of BigBenAlaska? S/He also always used "lol" in their posts. If you are, you need to drop annoying habits like that because it is something very noticeable.

I don't know about the banks putting me in chains; but I do know that Biden puts me in stitches every time he opens his mouth and says something really asinine....which is pretty often!

Some of the biggest donors donated to the Obama/Biden campaign.

Paul Ryan is going to devour Biden during the debates.

RomneyRyan

Are you really, lol, as dumb, lol, as your comments, lol, and name, lol, make you sound, lol.

You would think after looking like a complete idiot twice you would stop posting.

Bob in KC: No, it is not possible to work toward such a solution, because there is fundamental disagreement about the goals of the game. You take it for granted that any solution 'wouldn't impoverish us all', but you assume too much. Economics is a zero-sum game; the money needed to make the rich richer has to come from somewhere. For the past 30 years, that great sucking sound of money has come from the middle class.

Since Ronald Reagan came in as a champion of Milton Friedman's market theories, attacking labor and deregulating wall street, only 5% of middle class families have made enough real money to keep up with home prices. That means 95% of our once vibrant middle class has now slipped below the line, into the ranks of the 'working poor'.

But Reagan didn't want to go down as the guy who lost the American middle class. His solution? Loosen credit. The rapid decline of the middle class (as the money now flowed into the coffers of the wealthy) could be masked by their new ability to borrow more, and thus continue to 'own' homes. The economic numbers are startlingly clear on this point: we became a debtor nation under Reaganomics, when the Milton Friedman plan required us to borrow our way into the middle class.

Now, of course, the republicans have done a 180 on the issue. Instead of thanking us for 'playing ball' with them by masking the damage their economic philosophy has done to the middle class, they excoriate us for 'buying what we can't afford' - all the while maintaining that Reagan, whose political life depended on our borrowing, was some kind of national hero.

In 1980, neither Reagan nor Carter held a single campaign fundraiser; the American people funded the elections by checking a box donating $1 on their tax returns. Now every politician spends the majority of their time begging the wealthy (with their own political agendas) to give them the money needed to mount a serious campaign. These are the people who now run our political system, and generally speaking, these are not people with a great social conscience, who want only the best for the American people. The 'solution' for a greedy person is the satisfaction of their immediate desires, no more, no less. Your livelihood does not interest them in the least.

Your 'solution' is not theirs. Therefore, no solution is forthcoming.

RomneyRyan.... If you want to truly understand the Great Recession why don't you read a book... I recommend reading "A failure of capitalism" by Posner.

Bill Clinton's administration had very little to do with creating the financial crisis. Other than signing into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which had a veto proof majority in the REPUGNICAN senate. Therefore he had NO choice but to pass this TERRIBLE piece of SH_T legslative hand-out to the banking industry which OWNED and still owns ALL of the Grand Old Plutocrat party.

In addition to this under GWB the Fed was convinced by the banking lobby to use the bank version of determining risk and therefore allowed the banks to reduce their reserve requirements.

Blaming the GSEs is simply wrong and if you had actually read anything FACTUAL (not fox, rush limbaugh or other OPINION) then you would understand that the GSEs were pressured to start buying mortgage backed securities (including CDOs) by GOP congressman and other financial industry groups.

I'm going to head you off at the pass now and KILL your next excuse which is the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) caused all the problems with subprime mortgages... WRONG!!! Studies by MANY groups (including financial industry groups) found that the agencies under the CRA were LESS likely to offer sub-prime mortgages. In fact, the CRA states explicitly that "all activities {lending} should be undertaken in a safe and sound manner." in other words there is ABSOLUTELY nothing that FORCES, through the power of law, banks to loan money to high risk, sub-prime applications.

The banks saw an easy way to make money... offer no paperwork loans to everyone and there pets then bundle them into CDO then into tranches of CDO then sell them to pension funds, other banks, international funds, basically anyone foolish enough to buy them . They had the ratings agencies rate sh_tty CDOs as AAA (99 subprime + 1 A paper aka "Prime" = AAA rating) so they could sell them off. This made them MASSIVE amounts of money and at the same time reduced their exposure to the inherent risks.

Go back to fox news, Rush, B orielly or any other MORON so that you can live comfortably within your bubble you blindly partisan hack.

What would it take for you to actually listen to FACTs about the economy? How about articles written by a REAGAN economic advisor like Bruce Bartlett? Would that help you?
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/blaming-obama-for-george-w-bushs-policies/?emc=eta1

RomneyRyan

"Barney Frank - What's up? How married life?"

"How" married life?? Wow...you fit right in with Mitt's base.

Dumb as sh1t....

:)

notliborcon

Bill Clinton's administration had very little to do with creating the financial crisis. Other than signing into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which had a veto proof majority in the REPUGNICAN senate. Therefore he had NO choice but to pass this TERRIBLE piece of SH_T legslative hand-out to the banking industry which OWNED and still owns ALL of the Grand Old Plutocrat party.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was passed in 1999 with broad bipartisan support. It was not forced on anyone, and the Republicans didn't have a filibuster-proof Senate majority so Democrats could have stopped it if they wanted to. At the time, most people thought it was a good idea - although there were some dissenting votes in both parties.

Here are the vote counts from Wikipedia:

On November 4, the final bill resolving the differences was passed by the Senate 90-8, and by the House 362-57.

LOL. I'm laughing at all you idiots over here...you honestly think any of the politicians care about you? You, who willingly give them money that they are entitled to spend, even though you earned it? You, who so hastily come to their defense and stood to such low levels and mudslinging in your blind devotion of them?

If you want to know who really caused the financial crisis...look in the mirror.

Case in example: my aunt bought three houses she couldn't afford in an attempt to flip them for more money and to "get rich quick" during the housing bubble. Human greed, by both real estate agents like her, regular people, and banks caused the housing collapse. Not Bush, not Obama.

Would it have helped with regulation at the time? Maybe, maybe not. Would banks have found loopholes and other ways to capitalize on the demand for loans? Hell yes!

In fact I'm surprised why you even bother supporting a politician or team of politicians who treat you like sheeple, only to win your vote, put the blinders on you, and do what they please with your money. You have no real choices, and don't even bother to see what's plainly in front of you: bureaucrats who care for their own career and ideology over you, your family, and everyone's welfare.

NO ONE 2012 :P

In all these comments, not one Republican... NOT ONE... has explained why they want to deregulate the banks AGAIN.

They complain about liberals and Biden, but not one decent explanation of how Biden is wrong and why we should remove all banking regulations.

So please, Republicans. Enlighten us. Explain why we should trust the banks, after what they did the last time. Go on... tell us how the banks will not f*** everyone, all over again.

Because the REPs don't want to dereg the banks

The REPs from 2002-2006 tried to hold the GSEs and Banks from giving out the bad loans and DEMs stonewalled it in committee. I have been trying to purchase a home since May and might just now get it done 3 months later.

I have 3 sources of income , meet all debt to income ratios , and have 20% equity in the home yet all the knit picking like having to prove all deposits over $1,000 for the last 6 months and many many many other BS requests.

Oh my wife after giving 3 months of pay stubs had to have her HR dept give her a signed document saying she was employed and I had to prove my employment in a company I OWN.

The regulations are tooo tight and thus hurting home sales. BALANCE is needed and REPs will bring that to the USA.

RomneyRyan:

I have long marveled at the ability of partisans to forget their own past. I have not forgotten Clinton's repeal of Glass/Steagall, which I think was another nail in the coffin of our economy. But you seem to have forgotten Bush's housing policies to encourage home ownership. He ran on it very hard in '04, as an example of the success of his economic policies, and took credit for getting minorities into homes with his policies, never once mentioning help from democrats.

From a Fox report, March 26, 2004:

President Bush on Friday promoted his efforts to help Americans, especially minorities, "realize their dreams" of home ownership as he wooed the large Hispanic population of a state he barely lost four years ago.

"We want more people owning their own home in America," Bush said. His goal is to have 5.5 million minority homeowners in the country by the end of the decade.

Touting his tax cuts as the economy's savior — and pointing to the strong housing market as proof — Bush said "more people own their own home now than ever." More than 50 percent of minorities owned their own homes in the last three months of 2003 for the first time ever, the president said.

Biden is such a moron, it's impossible to read about anything he says without first visiting the head for a good barf!!!

good try mguy....go ahead and steer the whole debate away from anything that points to Obama's term as an EPIC FAIL...he's done NOTHING. Romney 2012

MGuy,

In all these comments, not one Republican... NOT ONE... has explained why they want to deregulate the banks AGAIN.

Ummmmmmm....... because it's not true. Romney has made it clear that the regulations need to be changed especially to address issues affecting smaller banks. Democrat spinmeisters hear the word "regulation" and start spouting off about "deregulation".

They complain about liberals and Biden, but not one decent explanation of how Biden is wrong and why we should remove all banking regulations.

That's easy. Biden is wrong because he's talking about something that isn't true.

TonyD,

Biden is such a moron, it's impossible to read about anything he says without first visiting the head for a good barf!!!

You may be able to avoid that by hitting the local bar/pub and downing a few cocktails first. If the brain is numb enough, it can possibly withstand the "Biden Effect". Of course, there's always the chance that you may need to drink enough that you'll still end up in the head paying homage to the porcelain god.....

What did the banks do? Took our deposits and, not content with the paltry interest they got from us for their work, threw the money to the four winds through their newly deregulated investment arms, trying to make a buck. Then they lost our money, and forced us to give them even more so that their failure didn't bring down the entire economy, etc. etc. etc.

Where have you been living the last few years?

I have been trying to purchase a home since May and might just now get it done 3 months later.

I have 3 sources of income , meet all debt to income ratios , and have 20% equity in the home yet all the knit picking like having to prove all deposits over $1,000 for the last 6 months and many many many other BS requests.

Oh Please... spare me the sob story.

I am going through a new home purchase, full approval, and I did not go through half of what you claim. Now maybe your credit rating is s***, and you have to jump through more hoops, but that is your own fault.

Yes, the requirements are more strict, but look what happened last time. People who could not get approved for a credit card were getting approved for $300k homes. You want to go back to that?

Sorry, call me a snob, but I live in a very upscale area and I don't want some deadbeat moving in next to me because of shady lending practices.

Holy Comment collapsed by the community Batman!!!

Something ****ing you Republicans of today or something? :)

RomneyRyan,

The legislation that stripped away Glass-Steagall was authored by Phil Gramm (R) Texas. It passed the Senate 99-0 on like Christmas Eve. Clinton signed it because if he had vetoed it it would pass both the House and Senate by a 2/3 vote.

It was a bi-partisan clusterphuck and neither party can blame the other for the financial disaster and housing market crash.

Does anyone want to mention Stupid Joe Biden's most recent stupid statement which is the focus of the article you are supposedly writing about ??? Or is Stupid Joe's most recent stupid statement simply so stupid that...once again...we need to read about how folks feel about former President Bush again.

If Mr. Romney or Mr. Ryan had used the line "back in chains again" this website and the TV newscasts this evening would be calling for an apology to the black community...once again...and our whining president would be echoing the line in any speech given to members of any black community over the next few weeks.

Rod, you are arguing using real facts and you know that's not allowed here. ;)

Does anyone want to mention Stupid Joe Biden's most recent stupid statement which is the focus of the article you are supposedly writing about.

:)

Maybe some don't think it's stupid; maybe there are just more than a few 99%'ers here. Just maybe. ;)

Clinton was solely responsible for "encouraging" banks to make loans under the Community Reinvestment Act that did not meet normal banking requirements. In essence, this created subprime.

No he wasn't and you're making that up because that's not factual. Don't blatantly lie to try and make an argument go your way.

Hey RomneyRyan,

I am a democrat, and we just found two serious points of agreement: we should bring back Glass/Steagall, and goosing the economy by loosening credit is not a sustainable fix.

A good start. Wish the guys in Washington could do as well as you and I did in just a few minutes of our afternoon.

Cheers.

Ok another reminder who got us into this mess and read this. Its the FACTS and TRUTH. Not some LIE that the OBAMA CAMPAIGN came up with.

Who put who in Chains?

January 3, 2007?

This is just a
History lesson. I am sending it to all regardless of party. I bet I
know who wouldn't read it -- those afraid of the truth. It is history
and nothing can change it.

The day the Democrats took over was
not January 22nd, 2009, it was actually January 3rd 2007, the day the
Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, at
the very start of the 110th Congress.

The Democratic Party
controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the
end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.

For those who are listening
to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is "Bush's
Fault", think about this:

January 3rd, 2007, the day the
Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress:
The DOW Jones
closed at 12,621.77
The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%
The
Unemployment rate was 4.6%
George Bush's Economic policies SET A
RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB CREATION!

Remember that
day...
January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over
the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the
Senate Banking Committee.
The economic meltdown that happened 15
months later was in what part of the economy?
BANKING AND
FINANCIAL SERVICES!

THANK YOU DEMOCRATS (especially Barney)
for taking us from 13,000 DOW, 3.5 GDP and 4.6% Unemployment...to
this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars
of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
FIASCOES!
(BTW: Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie &
Freddie -starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US
economy). Barney blocked it and called it a "Chicken Little
Philosophy" (and the sky did fall!)
And who took the THIRD
highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac? OBAMA
And who
fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie?
OBAMA and the
Democrat Congress, especially BARNEY !!!!

So when someone
tries to blame Bush...
REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007.... THE DAY THE
DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!"
Bush may have been in the car but the
Democrats were in charge of the gas pedal and steering wheel they
were driving the economy into the ditch.
Budgets do not come from
the White House.. They come from Congress and the party that
controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party.
Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for 2008 &
2009 as well as 2010 & 2011.

In that first year, they had
to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on
spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending
increases.

For 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid
bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep
government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that
time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the
2009 budget.

And where was Barack Obama during this time? He
was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive
spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to
complete 2009. Let's remember what the deficits looked like during
that period:
If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the
2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was
the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit
spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending,
and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets.

If
Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.
In a
nutshell, what Obama is saying is "I inherited a deficit that I
voted for, and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since
January 20th."

There is no way this will be widely
publicized, unless each of us sends it on!

DO IT NOW,
PLEASE!!! FOR THE SAKE OF OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN....AND
AMERICA!!!!

"The problems we face today exist because the
people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a
living."

Ok another reminder who got us into this mess and read this......a bunch of copy/pasted BS.

And right at us with complete BS of your own. Thanks...

/next

Strange, I'm 60 and I was doing fine under every administration except Carter, not too bad w/Clinton, and horribly with Obama. Oh my, they're all Dems. Oh gee, they wanted to give all MY hard-earned money to somebody else.

Ooooh, I did learn math in grade school and am quite puzzled how we're almost $17 Trillion in debt (and lefties don't want to admit it) whereas one of the #'s I've heard from Bush was $5 Trillion something. Let me see, 17 minus 5 = 12. Oh, even 17 minus 6 = 11. And even I know that if you pull in $2 Trillion, you can't spend $3.3 Trillion without going further and further and further into debt until you totally collapse. Throw out the big spenders and replace them with people who are more responsible -- and then keep and eye on them and hold their little footsies to the fire.

Oh, and please don't blame the banks for Everything. Right now they're not supposed to loan money to those with much less than a perfect credit history.

Why are you Republicans upset that Joe Biden used the term "chained" when Romney was the one who said the banks had been "shackled" and should be "unshackled?" Romney said in the first 100 days, he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules – unchain Wall Street and that is his words exactly!! Sounds to me like Romney does want us back in "chains"... all of us!

maybe there are just more than a few 99%'ers here

Probably there are more 47%ers here than 99%ers, like me (don't even try to associate me with your group)...... you know, those who actually pay Federal Income Tax.......

@Tony

The headline would have read:

"Romney to repeal slavery first hundred days in office"

Strange, I'm 60 and I was doing fine under every administration except Carter, not too bad w/Clinton, and horribly with Obama. Oh my, they're all Dems. Oh gee, they wanted to give all MY hard-earned money to somebody else.

So because YOU have personally FAILED during those times in your life, it is the President's fault?

Have you ever heard of something called PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY?

If YOU are doing horrible under Obama, that is because YOU are a failure.

Let me give you some specifics. When Obama took over, the stock market was at a record low. If YOU did not invest at that time, you are a failure. That was one of the single greatest opportunities to invest in your entire life. (Of course, if you were listening to the "doom and gloom" from Fox News, then you were not aware of this golden opportunity. AGAIN, your own failure.)

Fast forward to now, still under Obama. We are seeing record low rates, and ALSO low home prices. Again, a golden opportunity. Are you taking advantage? Does your credit prevent you from taking advantage? Who's fault is that?

This all comes down to a choice: You can just let life wash over you, and blame a President for every bad thing that happens to you. Or you can take charge of your life, and seize opportunities when they come around.

I have obviously followed the later path. And I can tell you that under Obama, I have made between a s***-load, and a metric f***-ton of money.

Don't worry lady the Republicans under Ryan and Romney are setting up aging camps for the elderly and poor. You will be transported to Arizona and held in Sherriff Joes prison untill you receive your expiration date at which time you will be sent to the desert with a letter from Billy Grahm asking for forgivness see you there

Joe Biden; if that is the case, why the hell did your administration ram Thu Congress the largest giveaway of credit in the history of the world, you bailed out the banks, insurance company's, large industry to the tune of 7 trillion dollars of money you raided from future social security taxes, with no strings attached, talk about trying to re-write history!

Talk about re-writing history, saxon, you're sure eager to do so. The TARP bailout was pushed and signed by President Bush Jr. in 2008, with his finance man Paulson insisting that it be done quickly, with no strings attached. That's why AIG was able to party hearty on the taxpayer's dime. The Obama administration was left with the task of trying to fix the TARP fiasco, and did manage to get some repayment. Obama also managed to divert some of the TARP funds to better uses, such as keeping GM operating during their bankruptcy, instead of the "no bailout" bankruptcy liquidation that Romney favored.

Oh, by the way, President Bush Jr. also was the one who signed the GM/Chrysler bailout bill, and the "Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing" loan program bill that went to Fiskar Motors, and the "Alternative Fuels" tax credit bill that gives up to $7,500 credit to purchase a Chevy Volt or other plug-in car, and even the "Alternative Energy" loan program that funded Solyndra. Yep, Bush Jr. started all those programs, but for some strange reason, the far-right pundits try to "blame Obama" for all of it!

To the idiots that say Obama has not produced a budget in 3 years - you all need a civics lesson.

Obama submits budget to congress (which he has for every year he has been in office) - house and senate reconcile the budget and send back to Obama - Obama signs it or vetoes it.

You people need to be mad at congress.

Clinton was solely responsible for "encouraging" banks to make loans under the Community Reinvestment Act that did not meet normal banking requirements. In essence, this created subprime.

Wrong. The Community Reinvestment Act did not require, or even encourage, the issuing of sub-prime mortgages. That act did ban "redlining", the practice of refusing to loan solely on basis of race or ethnicity of the neighborhood, but it did allow bankers to take income and credit-worthiness into account, and it encouraged bankers to make loans in a fiscally prudent manner.

It was the Republican push to deregulate banks that allowed sub-prime mortgages to flourish, and many banks were eager to issue sub-primes. Why? Because as long as property values kept rising, they were highly profitable - the interest rates were higher, and if they had to foreclose the property would be worth much more than the loan amount. Buyers looking for easy money would take out sub-primes, often interest only, with the thought of selling at a profit in a few years. But of course, property values didn't keep rising, speculative bubbles always burst, and when property values dropped the whole sordid mess collapsed, and threatened the whole economy in the process.

BTW, the racists on the right are the ones that think loaning money to any minority, or in a minority predominate area, must be by nature a "bad sub-prime loan". That's where they got the erroneous idea that the "Community Reinvestment Act" somehow required the banks to make bad loans as they assume any loan to a minority must be "bad".

I admit to being completely perplexed as to why Andrea Saul, and so many Romney supporters who are posting, have their skirts in such a bunch over Mr. Biden's remarks, when they are the ones constantly talking about "unshackling" banks, Wall Street, and business in general.

Truly perplexed.

Unless, of course, it's just the gripe of the day from the Romney camp.

When a Conservative says something outrageous and inflammatory, it is hate speech.

When a Democrat does the exact same thing, it is a metaphor.

The only thing worst than a lying democrat is a complicit evil democrat, of which Biden is their leader. Disgusting doesn't begin to describe these dirty people.

Aside from all of the off topic bickering, do any of you believe anything Biden says? The fool didn't even know which State he was in!

What part am I making up?

EVERY GD BIT OF IT.

Prove your lazy BS claims or shut up. Saying it doesn't make it so. And lying about it makes you dishonest.

I wait your PROOF. Put your money where your mouth is, on second thought I don't want it to smell so keep it in your wallet and post your FACTS Mr Lazy.

Another DeadbeatTeaxan ....Wrote how Rove and friends just lied on Fox news once more. More proof for you rt wingers....when you do search on ...Fox news dumber.....see studies that prove you get dumber for watching Fox news because of lies and wrong info. That's Fox news dumber!

mike ritter deerhunt1 - There was a time in the United States, where average people could be put in prison for having debts they could not pay - that in addition to being placed in chains and stocks, to be put on public display for mockery.

More likely than not, that is what Mr. Biden was referring to when he mentioned the chains comment.

Far right wing conservative Christian Republicans still cannot get over the fact that a "Black Man," a man of mixed race, actually won election as POTUS.

Rather than trying to do positive things to help other people, all they can think about is finding every way possible to discredit, denigrate, and try to illegitimize President Obama.

I am a moderately conservative Republican, but I am not part of that crowd.

However, the fact is: Mr. Obama's election is the direct responsibility and fault of the Republican Party. The Republican Party hung their hopes on a cranky old fart who could not remember how many houses he owns, and what's her name from Alaska.

Those two were very bad, extremely poor, choices. The same thing is going to happen this year, IF the Republican Party selects Willard & Ryan as the nominees.

The Republican Party needs to get very serious, and quickly, about finding a better-qualified candidate to oppose Mr. Obama.

Willard is running around as if he has already won the nomination, prior to the convention, and that is fueling his penchant for making goofy statements such as those he made in London recently. Oh, and Willard’s announced choice of VP. (Prior to the convention, I believe that is not acceptable.) Plus, Willard has the charisma of a rutabaga.

The basic bottom line: Willard is not a good choice.

The best thing that could happen at the GOP convention, would be to have the delegates select a different candidate, and leave Willard in the dust, wondering what happened.

I do not support Romney or Ryan, because both of those "good Christians" want to tell everyone else how to live their life. If it was up to Romney and Ryan, women would be pregnant during summer, and barefoot during winter. Women better wake up and realize that.

The Republican Party hierarchy needs to rethink their goals. Instead of tax cuts for the rich, the GOP needs to focus on creating jobs, bringing the troops home - with honor, reducing the deficit, balancing the budget, and becoming more caring toward others who are less fortunate. Unless and until that starts happening, the Democratic Party will be in power for a long time.

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!

Ah yes, I see the DNC has released the bobblehead Joe "Bite Me" Biden to babble their typical talking points.

Lowering his voice, Biden added, "They're going to put you all back in chains."

First of all, if a Republican or Conservative said this he would be assaulted and demonized by the Liberal Lamestream media as racist. But if Joe “Bite Me” says it,,,it’s OK. The hypocrisy never ends.

"As the full quote makes obvious, the vice president was clearly using a metaphor to describe the devastating impact of deregulating Wall Street and the financial industry, as well as how Governor Romney’s policies would take us back to the same failed formula that led to the 2008 financial crisis – the same failed formula that benefitted a few, but crashed our economy and hurt the middle class," an Obama campaign official said after Biden's speech.

SO WHAT?

Yes, you heard me,,,,SO WHAT? Who cares how many regulations we have when a criminal Attorney General, Eric Holder, wouldn’t prosecute Golden Sacks (Goldman Sachs)? What difference does it make? Yes they slapped a few fines and sanctions on Golden and let them go.

The $550 million the SEC fined them for civil FRAUD and yet our criminal justice system lets them walk. The fine was equal to 2 weeks of profits for Golden Sacks, they made $3.3 billion in that QUARTER! You can have all the rules, regulations and laws in the world, if you don’t enforce them STRONGLY, they mean nothing.

But hey when Barrack Hussein was the biggest recipient of Golden Sack money in 2008, you gotta keep that cronyism alive don’t you Libbies.

Ron-1861300... Comment #1.84

I did NOT say filibuster proof I said veto proof. The GLB act was coupled with the stricter rules within the CR Act. The democrats at the time where not like the current moronic congress (worst EVER) and use the filibuster anytime and every time something came to them.

In my mind, this is not a partisan issue but rather an issue of how the financial industry is better represented in Congress than WE THE PEOPLE. Both parties are beholden to their campaign contributors EVEN if it adversely affects the safety/protection/will of their constituents. Dingell stated that the repeal/de-fanging of Glass Steagal would make banks to big and low and behold what happened?

So a truthful metaphor outrages the GOP Tea Party.

What does that tell you about how Republicans have become? Back in the days of Reagan they would have shrugged it off as just being more political hyperbole in an election year. Now, they demand the apologies and resignations of everyone that even thinks of it, and talk of private lawsuits.

The GOP has become "thin-skinned." Fear, Lies and Big Money have become their shields.

Sic-n-tired

• Patriots pay their taxes.

~~~~~

Guess that leaves out Geithner?!

Asked what surprised President Obama most in the first 100 days in office, he replied, "The number of people who DON'T PAY their taxes!!"

Is it any wonder that the economy is still in such bad shape, when we have a Secretary of Treasury who isn't even bright enough to make sure that his OWN taxes are paid??

As to Papa Joe - INAPPROPRIATE COMMENTS AND FORGETFULNESS, are two of the first signs of Alzheimer's ... which explains a lot of politicians on BOTH sides of the aisle. Poor dear Senator Byrd didn't even know where he was half the time; his staff did all the work and rolled him onto the floor when a vote was needed! The DINOSAURS have to be go. It's the 21ST CENTURY already.

"Try using truth and facts." I watch Fox News! Derp derp derp.

None of you googled GDP chart, jobless claims chart, and DOW chart....did you.

Pictures are worth 1000 words....no spin....just evidence.....

Erica, so the patient is no longer on death's door, but is still in a coma with no sign of recovering. Yeah, lets stick with that doctor. LMAO.

JT, what dog are you talking about? I'm not a hunter. I'm a hard worker and investor. Gotta use those smarts that God gave me to better myself.

Your cat don't set the table. ?.?.?

I also have children that I care about. The money I have made will be used by them to pay the bills for all his wasted spending

So how will this come about? All the European countries are practicing austerity.

Good day Xabre.

JC in G: exactly what parts of this country are you talking about that Americans, devoid of all government, would be great.

Certainly not our military... you are correct, lets eliminate that, along with the 20% it puts into the GDP.

Well, how about the non-military part of the government spending, leaving only the congress, the president and the courts... take out another 30% of the GPD.

Well, gee, if we try hard enough and follow the Republican plans, we can truly destroy this country in very short order.

Caesar and whoever,

I am not in anyway averse to capitalism. I run my own business. I am against an unfettered market place that allows debt to be manipulated into financial instruments that in the end have no other value than one that is in the negative column and is so huge that it brings down economies on a global scale. I suggest a reading of Michael Lewis's books if the academic literature is too dry for you.

My use of shrug is a play on words, basically Atlas Shrugged and @!$%#ed.

Folks, stop blowing out talking points and think for a minute! If you make $40k to $50k per year, why in the world would you apply for a 100% loan to buy a $300k house? If you can't afford it, don't buy it! The chances are really good that you don't need it anyway.

Everybody seems to be a lot more interested in placing blame than in solving the problem. We can play the blame game for another 50 years and will no closer to a solution than we are after blaming everyone in sight for the last 4 years.

Can we work together toward a solution that won't kill or impoverish us all? I hope so; otherwise, we are doomed like the Kilkenny cats were.

Caesar Augustus-

sure blackcat, you're not averse to it. but spreading the wealth (yours and obamas words) don't mesh real well with capitalism

Got any other words to put in my mouth Caesar? Shrug you at this point comes to my mind.

Ursula wants to blame Romney for being a smart business man. LOL. Meanwhile her President she voted for can't even do a budget! Also, I suppose Ursula is saying that she doesn't trust the IRS.

After all, if Romney wasn't a smart business man, Obama's campaign wouldn't have received the donations from BAIN that they took!

I love your spin on the 1% BS too. It's not government's job to make you a part of the 1%. If you want to be Mark Cuban, Steve Jobs (RIP) or Donald Trump, you're not going to do it spinning your BS on this bulletin board.

It's a very well known FACT that the 99% cannot be helped because they do not want to help themselves become a part of the 1%. And if you're counting on Government to do it you're just kidding yourself.

In fact, Obama just added millions to the 99% with all the illegals. Enjoy!

Why does it matter to you how Romney made his money? If you were smart enough, you would have been shorting the market then, too. It just sounds like the typical liberal class warfare jealousy whining that Obama encourages and counts on. By the way, in which "percent" does he fall?

Bob in KC-545426

Folks, stop blowing out talking points and think for a minute! If you make $40k to $50k per year, why in the world would you apply for a 100% loan to buy a $300k house? If you can't afford it, don't buy it! The chances are really good that you don't need it anyway.

We've bought 3 houses over the years...in each case the lender said we could easily be approved for something 2 to 3 times more expensive...we always said why would we want to do that? What's going to happen if one of us loses our job?

At the government and personal level we need to be much more fiscally conservative. We need to stop trying to "have everything immediately" and go back to being patient and responsible. Personally, I think this is the downside to easier credit - people stop feeling they need to earn anything since they can get credit to get it immediately.

When will you realize that we are the govt. we just need better reps.

Caesar Augustus-

sure blackcat, you're not averse to it. but spreading the wealth (yours and obamas words) don't mesh real well with capitalism. as for unfettered market, in which way? Housing? Auto? Banks? kind of sounds crony capitalism that runs rampant within DC. Its quid pro quo Clarice but utimately has nothing to do with regulations. plenty of those that arent being enforced.

Unfortunately, pure capitalism is unsustainable. You need government intervention, whether it requires bailouts to save industries (and the economy) or more regulation. And Adam Smith advocated for programs like education and infrastructure that would be provided by the government. By the way, the government has distributed wealth for centuries via the tax code; the old consumption taxes transferred money to the rich, but that only became visible with the urbanization of America. The progressive tax transfers wealth from the rich to the poor (and we had great growth under it). The flat tax will transfer wealth to the rich from the poor; no tax code cannot distribute wealth.

JC in G

When we get a leader that understands that Americans, not government can make this county greater than it is, we will not run down the road that the european socialist have. We will get our debts under control and grow our economy. We don't have to be Greece, we can make a better choice. That choice does not include advancing socialism.

First of all, WE THE PEOPLE are the government. Secondly, nobody is talking about making America 100% socialist; what we are saying is that we need to find a healthy mix of socialism and capitalism. Neither of them in their purest form will work. And that means we have to spend money in the short term (and in the long-term) on things like education, infrastructure, clean energy, and R&D to fix the economy while RESPONSIBLY reducing our deficits and debt over the long-term with a healthy mix of tax increases, entitlement reform, and defense cuts. THAT is how we can fix the economy, retake the edge in crucial economic fields, and avoid getting into a debt crisis. HOWEVER, Europe (excluding Greece) are in debt because of the recession's effect on unemployment and their bank bailouts.

OBAMA BIDEN 2012

izzy,

The Birther's tirade was built on lies. The tax return thing is because Mitt is lying. See the difference? We do not care how much or how Romney made his money though that will play on his character. What we are more worried about is that:

1. Is he stashing money in tax havens and not contributing what he should be to this country

2. Did he lie in 1999-2003 about his influence at Bain to the SEC (this can get him jailed)

3. Why is he hiding his returns, does he have something to hide

4. Why does he feel his Father was wrong to release 12 years of returns

Those are the most pertinent but not the only questions raised by his incessant refusal to proffer his returns. This is on a different level from the Birther's stupid crap. Romney is a businessman and if he is into playing fast and loose with his money/businesses that could be very bad for the country.

We are not going to be destroyed if we have a non-American President. We may be destroyed if we have a President that wants to make us a pure capitalist country and remove any and all regulation or wants to cut massive chunks out of the Government causing a skyrocketing unemployment and crippling many of the agencies that make America one of the leading innovators (Department of Energy and NASA for example) of new technology.

Obama's birth certificate is irrelevant, his mother was an American so Obama is an American; citizenship passes through the matriarchal blood line. He even offered up his BC to the yells from those Brithers that it was fake and he was still a Muslim and that no document or expert could convince them otherwise (that last part was supposition but we all know that is what is going on here).

If Mitt has nothing to hide he would release his returns. Everyone expects him to, even in his own party, because his father did. People expect Romney to rise up to the standards that his Father set, to not do so, and be running for the same office, is a sign of disrespect for a standard that his father set when he released 12 years of returns.

This is one reason I do not trust Romney. The other reason is that he tries to keep things secret. He will not tell us what he is planning to do when he is President, all we have heard is what the crowd he was in front of wanted to hear. Well there may be a few things that he will do like repealing Obamacare, implementing the Ryan plan if it gets to his desk, and a few other things that do not bode well for his chances of wooing the middle.

I split either way on about equal the number of issues but many of Romney's proposed plans and ideas do not sit well with me. The fact he wants to go back to deregulation scares me and so does anyone that agrees with him because that means they felt the last 4 years was sunshine and daisies. This means either they played the system on the backs of everyone else who has suffered or they are delusional; neither makes me want to vote for Mitt if those are the people supporting him.

Time will tell if Romney is going to be another McCain or if he is going to actually have a chance at winning after picking someone that represents the bottom 20% of the real GOP (before the TP drove away all of the moderates) as a VP.

couched in there was a reply to the person who asked why how Romney made his money should care. I will not point it out specifically; let's just say I am testing comprehension skills again.

Geowil

I never believed the birthers, didn't give them a second thought either becausethey were built on "FACTS NOT IN EVIDENCE"just like your case against Romney.

......and how do you know he is lying....do you have any proof - you know those pesky things called facts that seem to be left behind in most poster allegations? As I said before he released what was required by law - your assumptions are lies because they do not support your accusations. When will people learn the difference. Unless you have irrefutable facts your position is not supported. AND if any one had proof - anyone with the power to do something, not you though - would be out there doing just that -something about it. You and I can speculate all day long about the whys of things but the difference is I will not use assumptions and speculations to accuse anyone of anything - I want facts, which I've said before, YOU don't have.

So, show me the proof/facts and I might believe you....maybe!

Romney the tax dodger, now Ryan and Romney want to take away taxes on the capital gains taxes that they only pay 15% on, and want to raise taxes on the middle class and poor to make up for the lost income to the nation. How much greedier can it get? Well a lot more. Ryan plan kills Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and hands it back to privatization which will raise costs extremely on every middle class and poor person. Romney and Ryan would keep the fed health planm for themselves and their families while kicking you and your family off of it. Back in 1995 even Gingrich said the voucher system will cause Medicare/Medicaid to die wither and die on the vine. Ryan and Romney for a worse tomorrow today!

Romney has hired 17 of 24 of his foreign policy and economic advisors from Bush? cheney fiasco team...YIKES!!!! No more Bush/Romney on steroids!!!

Vote Obama/Biden and Democrats 2012 Save Soc. Sec, Medicare and Medicaid.

Romney foreign policy.........I can see BeckyBeckyBeckystan from ALL of my mansions!

Ryan foreign policy plan...I can see Milwaukee from my kitchen!

Yeah...I think we have lost any hope for intelligent debate here. Good day.

Have to agree with you on that Xabre. But then again, any hope for intelligent debate is lost on those that primarily rely upon the myopic view of the GOP and Fox News. Intelligent debate is not possible with all the mud slinging on these blogs - it is worse than the political commercials!

BTW - was I the only one that noticed the GOP ran mud slinging, nasty commercials during the Olympics? I took offense to that one - give us a break, it is a crying shame when they drop that low in ethics, and spend that much money. Ruined the whole Olympic viewing experience for me. Had to turn off the TV and go vomit from the foul slime oozing out of my TV from those commercials.

Obama/Biden 2012

Geowil

I admire Romney for his stance on his tax returns. He has provided what the law requires. It has been obamas M.O. to dig into his opponents life, in any way possible, to find something he can use to defame or discredit them. By merely painting a unsupported or questionable fact obama can raise non-essential or fact less innuendo which his followers jump all over and make in to a political issue - that's nothing but smoke and mirrors. Romney knows this about obama because obama used these same tactics when he was operating his campaigns in Illinois and destroying them politically, in fact everyone knows this of obama.

So let me pose a question to you, hypothetically speaking, if you were in a shoot out and your opponent ran out of bullets would you be dumb enough to supply him more bullets to use against you? So lets get real here Romney's refusal is based on my hypothetical question and nothing more! Romney is NOT a stupid man! Just open your eyes.

NEW LEADERSHIP IN THE WASHINGTON, DC… Obama developed strategic relationships with the most godless and morally debased segments of our society thinly veiled effort to secure votes from those and others the “Obama administration characterizes” as one imensional, intellectually compromised, single issue constituencies.

In response the Coalition of African-American Pastors, a group of leading black clergy, has responded to Obama’s morally compromised strategy by extolling blacks to withdraw and reevaluate their support of Obama.

Essentially, they and an every growing segment of principled members of the democratic party believe they must abandon Obama's candidacy and return to fight another day when the Democratic party can submit a candidate who is more willing to uphold traditional American values rather than to functional as an architect of policies that will ultimately destroy the country from within.

ECONOMICS… Obama has increased our debt by more than any president in U.S. history! In fact, in less than 3 ½ years he has increased the debt at double the rate Bush increased debt over his entire 8
year term!!!

Obama is absolutely out of control and has totally refused to follow the recommendations of his own democratic deficit-reduction commission! Think about that for a minute. As a result of his socialist agenda and reckless fiscal policy, Obama ratcheted up America’s Debt to GDP ratio at an unthinkable rate placing America in a very similar position to that of of Portugal, Ireland and Italy.

Anyone with even a scintilla of intellectual acumen need only glimpse at the impact "Obama style socialism" has had in Europe to bear witness to America's future under Obama. On the verge of defaulting on government debts, people are living under crushing austerity measures. Countless jobs have been wiped out; the official unemployment rate is 15-21%. Salaries have been cut to the bone. Pensions and health benefits have been slashed. Tourism industry is a shambles. Tens of thousands of workers have taken to the streets to protest a problem they thought they'd never see in their lifetime! In picturesque plazas, beggars outnumber tourists and protesters outnumber beggars. In front of Parliament, riot police stand watch to protect big spending socialist lawmakers from angry mobs.

It is this kind of chaos that lies in wait should Obama be reelected! Even if clear thinking Americans unseat him, the damage he has done will require an austerity pill and a good dose of Cod liver oil to ease the pain! God help America! Obama has built his house on shifting sand and when the winds of the "most reckless fiscal policy in American history" blow, he and his godless house will surely fall!

Bob in KC,

If you make $40k to $50k per year, why in the world would you apply for a 100% loan to buy a $300k house?

That's easy. Because they know that you can make a lot of money. Since the value of a house only goes up and NEVER goes down, the house will be worth $600K in no time.

Hey! Don't blame me. Of course it's absurd. But you asked.......

Reagan Adviser Bartlett: "Bush Is More Responsible" For "The Current Budget Deficit." In a June 12 post on the New York Times' Economix blog, former Reagan and George H. W. Bush adviser Bruce Bartlett called the Republican claim that "all increases in the debt or deficit" since his inauguration are President Obama's fault "is, of course, nonsense" because "[George W.] Bush is more responsible." From The New York Times:

Republicans assert that Barack Obama assumed sole responsibility for the budget on Jan. 20, 2009. From that date, all increases in the debt or deficit are his responsibility and no one else's, they say.

This is, of course, nonsense - and the American people know it. As I documented in a previous post, even today 43 percent of them hold George W. Bush responsible for the current budget deficit versus only 14 percent who blame Mr. Obama.

The American people are right; Mr. Bush is more responsible, as a new report from the Congressional Budget Office documents.

[...]

They would also have us believe that all of the increase in debt resulted solely from higher spending, nothing from lower revenues caused by tax cuts. And they continually imply that one of the least popular spending increases of recent years, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, was an Obama administration program, when in fact it was a Bush administration initiative proposed by the Treasury Department that was signed into law by Mr. Bush on Oct. 3, 2008.

Lastly, Republicans continue to insist that tax cuts are highly stimulative, often saying that they add nothing to the debt, when this is obviously ridiculous. [The New York Times, 6/12/12]

RedSoxRule: Actually, Red, the stimulus DID work and the Budget Office confirmed that; however, the problem was that it was too little too late. You may want to FactCheck this information. I have a chart that I wish I could send you in this vine that would show you what happened with the stimulus.

Izzy it would depend.

If it was an honorable fight I would. If it was not, if it was me vs him fighting with dirty tricks then no. Honor, pride, integrity still count among some groups and I happen to be one of them. I would never want success at the sacrifice of someone else whether it be their job, their life, or anything else.

For example if I were a CEO I would never take a pay raise while asking my employees to take pay cuts; it would be unethical and immoral. I will never shirk my responsibility as a citizen of this country to pay taxes and I will never try to pay less in taxes then someone who makes less then I do.

Again it is only fair that I pay proportionate to my success because that is the way this country has worked since it was founded. I value personal integrity above all else, if that means I have to turn down a pay raise then I will. Greed does not have a large influence on me.

It has nothing to do with what Romney has done legally. It has to do with his image and traditions set by his father that he does not want to subscribe to. That is his right but we also have the right to claim he wants to hide something because of his choices.

Most of us are just asking him to release his returns to clear his name and make us go away. That is the easiest way to do so and Romney knows this. So why delay and allow us to "poison" the debate? A smart guy like Romney should be able to add 2 and 2, but he still refuses to release more than two years. This is why we think he is trying to hide something.

Also the fact that McCain passed him over as VP eve though he has that business experience everyone is so adamant about. Why did McCain pass him over? Is business experience not something the GOP wanted back in 2008? How was Shara Palin more qualified for VP than Romney?

These questions raise doubts about Romney's character in my mind. If he is not a man of honor and integrity I do not want him as President. The President must care for all Americans equally by the actions of their administration. If Romney is more sided with the tycoons that want to see deregulation at the expense of those that are affected by such decisions, such as in 2008, then I do not want him as a President. Greed is also not a value I find worthy of a President either and neither is secrecy.

ClearVoice2: As I responded to you in another vine, you are incorrect about the national debt. Let me repeat myself AGAIN. According to FactCheck.org, the national debt rose 190% under former President Reagan. It rose 52% under President George H.W. Bush, 37% under Bill Clinton, and 86% under Bush II. During his first 3.5 years in office, President Obama has presided over ONLY a 45% increase in the national debt." So, I'm not sure where you got your information, but it's clearly wrong.

As David Lazarus (LA Times), writes, "As these numbers make clear, Republicans are just as fond of government spending as Democrats."

My issue is with "just as fond." These numbers show that under Republicans, government spending increases are significantly higher. Am I missing something? And, according to Ryan's budget, our debt will climb even higher with his budget plan....not the way I want to see our future!!

Anyway, please check your facts before you start spouting off stuff that isn't totally correct....it's a waste of everyone's time.

Geowil

I agree with you but beating a horse to move when it refuses to is useless motion, Romney will never do it. I get your point, the issue would go away with some but not with so many others that only want Romney's skin, obama included - no matter what it takes, . Anything, at this point, that obama can use will be used, so you see the senselessness of the quest, right?

Politics has become a dirty and nasty game - a game that I abhore for it's ruthlessness. It demeans and divides people and lends itself to be the acceptable norm for people. Once we begin to commonly accept this behavior by our "honorable" leaders we have christened a new day of in which we accept lies as truth simple because the liar is a leader and an "honorable" person who would not lie to us.......are we such fools? Even with my own "team" I only believe what I can see as fact through my own devices, too bad others are such blindless followers they will believe any thing their "team" tells them.

Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan said that Frank-Dodd was good before Congress. Now, Jamie Dimon is a job creator. Why aren't you Tea Partiers kissing his hind-parts on this? Both Ryan and Romney defer to the job creators!!!

Didi - to add to your point above. Clinton actually shrunk the govt. But the size of govt increased under both Reagan and GWB. The govt shrinks under Obama. Read this a bit ago, but not sure where. So much for the small govt folks.

BTW I am an independent conservative. Just that I hate the Republican party and all that it has become.

Funny watching rt wingers heads explode when their lies are met with a wall of facts........! Remember...studies show that people who watch Fox news are dumber for watching Fox news!

Romney Ryan campaign motto...I've got mine...and I want yours too! 2012!

starsailing

Romney Ryan campaign motto...I've got mine...and I want yours too! 2012!

Hahahaha, that's so ridiculous it's funny!

Romney and ryan WILL put us back in chains. The audience he spoke in front of was 50/50 black/white and destroying Medicare and Social Security WILL PUT US ALL BACK IN CHAINS, beholden to banksters, fraudsters and crooks whose intention was to tank, destroy the economy and destroy union organization and our social safety net system, even their presidential pick GWB added a ridiculous, unfunded mandate to Medicare with the specific intent of bankrupting it so that every American would be, hat in hand beggars for scraps from "their" tables. We will all be the puppets of the rich, basically gang members, if these people are allowed to buy back our government from the only REAL, WORKING person to hold the Presidential office in 3 generations, one Mr Barack Obama.

If you find it distressing that we are in "serious debt" and have a "Government that's too big" when the Republicans have ALWAYS increased BOTH MUCH MORE than Democrats (it is a fact based on the Congressional Budget Office's records, and Obama compared to Bush is NO EXCEPTION) then you must, as a small gov't conservative or logic based person, vote for OBAMA/BIDEN 2012 to make sure that the big-government spendthrift Republicans can't balloon our deficit and government again.

Ursula: That's because he is smarter than you. If we were all that smart we would all be rich and not wasting our time on NBC one sided brainwashing lib media.

Biden is such a dope. I think he is on the verge of dementia. I can't wait until he debates Ryan. Ryan is going to kick his a$$. It is going to be great to watch. If only Ryan could debate Obama, the great America hater, I would pay to watch that! I am so sick of the lefts catchy phrases like the GOP is going to put you "back in chains": or the "GOP wants to kill granny", or "you're a racist", or the "GOP is against women and want to take away their birth control pills" (guess what!!!... birth control has been around for 50 years and I don't think it's going away anytime soon with GOP leadership) and my favorite is; where are Romney's tax returns? Who cares!!!! Who cares if his wife has a one third share in a horse!! Who cares!!! We need jobs and Obama is sending them out of America because he is "spreading the wealth". Do you know exactly what that 'phrase' means???? You better see the movie 2016 because then you will know!!

Romney/Ryan 2012

So you are admitting to the tea party that you have a low IQ? IT IS OBAMA THAT IS TRYING TO KILL YOUR FOLKS WITH HIS SCREWED UP HEALTHCARE PLAN.

if you mom and dad are under fifty-five then you are probably too young to be on this blog anyway.

BTW, show me the tax return where Romney paid no taxes.

you can have Biggy Rat (Willard) and Itchy Brother (Dum-dum Ryan). No SANE person supports a return to those policies that CAUSED this FIASCO in the first place.

Do what you want with them - after this election they are TOAST, oats after they pass thru the horse.

OK, here's the truth. It was the repeal of Glass-Steagel that caused the financial collapse in the first place. Glass-Steagel was enacted during the Great Depression to separate investment banks from commercial banks. It was wild speculation by commercial banks with depositors' money that caused the market to crash. Sound familiar? The same thing happened again some 80 years later.

So now, Romney and Ryan want to make things worse by removing even more checks and balances on Wall Street. Huh? And these guys are supposed to be fiscal conservatives.

Romney wants to run on jobs and the economy, but he really can't. The president's record is quite good on jobs. He's had steady private sector growth every quarter he's been in office. Unemployment continues to be high because of all the nutjob tea baggers in state offices cutting GOVERNMENT jobs.

Any economist will tell you: the only way out of a recession is through government spending. Makes sense- the government is the biggest employer in the country. Ask the Greeks how well austerity works. Or the French. Or the British.

Obama is a good president and Joe Biden is a great vice president. Let's give them four more years to finish what they've started. And let's vote them a majority in the House and a filibuster-proof Senate while we're at it.

Obama/Biden 2012 Clinton/Clinton 2016

Who cares where HIS income came from?! Good for him if he multiplied his fortune. Are you jealous?

What matters is how he got his income. I have no problem with people making lots of money, if they've earned it in an honest and ethical way. I have no complaints about Bill Gates or Warren Buffet or Steve Jobs or George Soros, they come by their fortunes honestly. But I do have a big problem with money earned in a dishonest or unethical way.

It's unethical for executives to raid pension funds just to pay themselves more. It's unethical for executives to load a company up with debt just to line their pockets then spin the company off to go bankrupt and cause losses to creditors and lost jobs. Unfortunately, not everything that is unethical is illegal, so it is possible to get away with some types of unethical behaviour - and Romney did just that.

Maybe you should diversify a bit so that all your eggs aren't in one basket.

I did diversify, but 3 of my "baskets" got crushed during the Bush Jr. depression. It gave me a rather cynical view of Wall Street.

What Mitt Romney had going for him while he was in business, it is not against the law to be an azzhole.

It's amazing how the conversation strayed from the actual article supposedly being commented on....that Joe Biden is a complete idiot.

How does Mr. Biden's repeatedly stupid statements lead to discussion of Mitt Romney's tax returns...and of course, the grandest diversion of all, George Bush ???

WiteSoxFan: and how does the total destruction of America by following Romney/Ryan plans solve any of the issues you have laid out ?

ZOMBIES for Romney/Ryan 2012 !!!!

@WhiteSoxFan#4.2: The debt is small worry, especially since we owe nearly all of it to ourselves. We'll handily take care of it when we rid ourselves of the gwaddamn GOP thieves.

Wanting a better society for all Americans isn't "socialist". Thats just a scare word someone put out that seems to have sunk into the heard. Wanting to have the America we used to have where people were given opportunity for themselves, their children and their neighbors....communities, States and Nation is Not Socialism. Its common sense.

But that is the problem. The America we used to have did not GIVE people anything. The opportunities that people had for themselves, their families, their children, etc. were what they went out and worked for themselves.

Okay, so the right wingers that are commenting are perfectly fine with the theft of their money, as well? Oh wait! I forgot! As long as their money is being stolen in the name of Capitalism, and it's going to the people who hide their money offshore, it's fine. But when you ask them to pay a little extra in taxes so children aren't starving and can get proper medical care, it's like you just asked them to mutilate their own genitalia.

By the way, if those people didn't hide their money, and paid their workers what they are worth, instead of pennies on the dollar (putting many in teh government assistance bracket), and didn't make 25%+ profit off of people who are on government assistance, we wouldn't be in this predicament. You can try to look at it differently, and try spin it, but in the end, THAT will always end up being the real problem.

When Lincoln was a Republican, Republicans were the "liberals" of the day.

The "Democrats" who fought civil rights were southern Democrats, most of whom defected from the Democratic Party to become Republicans when the Civil Rights bill was passed because they were so angry. For example, Strom Thurmond, the notorious racist, was one of them.

So, yes, Americans need to know the facts. Doesn't look like they can get them from you.

But if we bribe the "job creators" with even more of our money, they may eventually trickle on us again. Maybe... Eventually.

The TRUTH HURTS. Sorry GOP if Joe Biden upset your sensibilities but he was TOTALLY ACCURATE.

And it was NOT RACIST! All of us, white, black, yellow, red, green blue and pink will be IN CHAINS if the GOP and their NEW SLAVERY policies get put into place. All you GOP members that are NOT in the 1% are voting for SLAVERY - YOUR OWN!

Nowadays GOP stands for: Greed and Oligarchy Party

Sleepy Joe still suffers from foot in mouth disease! For Obama's sake we have to hope the guy isn't given any time at the Demo convention!

From the article:

Biden:

"Romney wants to, he said in the first 100 days, he's gonna let the big banks again write their own rules,"

Absolutely. Romney would "unshackle" and put the greedy Big Banks back "on the loose."

"They're going to put you all back in chains."

Wall Street and the banks will do more than put the middle class and the poor back in chains. These scheming entities will place many of our citizens in huts and on corporate owned plantations.

the devastating impact of deregulating Wall Street

Devastation indeed.

There is not one logical reason to put these selfish folks back in complete control.

The Romney campaign reacted sharply to the vice president's remarks.

The GOP does not want the truth to be known about this country's financial fall.

Romney's spokeswoman: After weeks of slanderous and baseless accusations leveled against Governor Romney, the Obama campaign has reached a new low.

Romney's campaign has the opportunity to factually dispute what Biden said.

yet again that the Obama campaign will say and do anything

Is Ms. Saul kidding?

Does Mitt's campaign expect President Obama to give these reactionaries "free political passes?"

Obama/Biden 2012!

arrogance dwells in the gut of the GOP (we might be arrogant, but we are always right). so Joe, a few more low blows to the gut is what they need. hit em were they can no longer breathe! don't let up!

UAL714 What about the Bird man, he was a KKK and a Democrat until his death.

For Obama's sake we have to hope the guy isn't given any time at the Demo convention!

left is fuzzy.... correction - we hope Joe keeps doing what he does best... letting everyone know that the demos are in deep dodo! Keep it up Joe, you are the bomb!

The Democrats are the same people that brought us the KKK. Biden should learn to keep his mouth SHUT. He is not only stupid, he is a stupid jerk. Obama and Biden... what an administration...ROFL. If they were not so pathetic, they would truly be laughable.

Woooosh:

How far back are you going with your 'analysis'? If you're going back to the '20's and earlier, then people who went out and worked hard 'were given' nothing other than bare survival and the 'opportunity' of dying early in debt to the Company. If you want to use the 'golden years' of the middle class, say the '50's and '60's, then those who went out and worked hard 'were given' a living wage - but only because of the efforts of Labor, not because the wealthy suddenly had a Dickensian change of heart.

Hard work did not make the difference; leverage and a powerful ally at the negotiating table to get a fair wage for your hard work - that was the difference between the hard worker in the '20's and the hard worker in the '60's.

"This is a big f*cken deal"

I'm not entirely sure that this type of irrational fear mongering has any traction left. On the contrary, it seems to portray those espousing it, such as Biden here, as buffoons.
What idiot audience is this diatribe directed at?

So many things wrong with Biden's statement. If a Republican even hinted at slavery he'd be slammed for being racist. Come on folks how desperate can you get?

Go get 'em Joe! I love Joe Biden, OMG he calls it like he sees it and he's ever so spot on. I can't wait for the VP debate so he can prematurely end Paul Ryan's political career. Just like he put a stop to that bully Rudi Guilliani's presidential ambitions with that famous line -- all you ever hear from Guilliani is a noun, a verb and 9/11.. there is nothing else there folks". Thank you again for that Mr Vice President!

Moving along, I see here republicans crying about the debt & trying to blame it on the President. It never ceases to amaze me the degree of hypocrisy and shamelessness they exhibit. Where were you when Bush was putting 2 wars, Medicare prescription drug plan, Bush tax cuts and billions in subsidies to Oil companies all on one credit card??!!

This is just like the left. Make a baseless accusation and hope it sticks even though there is no truth to it. Then when people start pointing out how dumb and false this is then we all get called stupid liars. Then let’s attach all the greedy rich people and corporations. Please give it a rest. If you do not like those rich corporations then do not support them. Do not shop at evil Wal-Mart or buy gas from the evil oil companies. Go out and start your own damn company and show us how it should be run. Whats stopping you?

To Get Real... when real people talk real things to other real people... there is an understanding... racism and reality...we know the difference.

I'm confused; how does having controls in place to watchdog Corporate and big business-or, just business practices in general, work out as Socialism?

I think it's safe to say that a "Free" Capitolist society won't work, since greed becomes the norm. Social responsibility goes right out the window. Banks CANNOT regulate themselves, Corporations CANNOT regulate themselves, the Federal Government has to have an organization, and part of the legal system in place to monitor and prosecute abuses, as necessary. The Bush Administration and the GOP controlled Congress proved in 2001-2003 by relaxing regulations, businesses become out of control and there is no accountability-resulting in the housing crisis, out of control interest rates that caused the unemployment and more and more people to default on credit card debts.

The dems have down troten the black since they came over from Africa. The Reps got them from the chains and gave them civial rights and the vote. Not the dems you fools. Better learn history. or has the dems revised that and lied about that as well. Biden is a jerk not saying it twice.

Funny how comments get deleted or collapsed, sometimes.

I thought Romney and the GOP was going to kill everybody, now they are just going to be put in chains. What is next, Dog Food again? Or they'll burn crosses on your lawns?

The Dems are looking for the boogie man, they ought to be looking at a way to fix things; if they really cared. But they don't, DC is a cesspool of opinions and virtually no original thoughts.

But Joe is always good for a laugh!

Hey Military Man,

Is it possible to you that there is a slight difference between your claim that people like me want no regulations, and my claim that people like me want fewer regulations? Anyhow, that said, there is a simple answer to your false alternative. No one suggest, or has ever suggested, that banks will regulate themselves. The suggestion is that the market can regulate them.

Here's how. Your money matters to you. You don't put your money at risk blindly. Because risk exists in everything you have to evaluate the risk alternatives and choose the one that best suits you. So, the regulation we need in this kind of environment is fairly simple--it's simple language disclosures. If you want to invest your money into financial instruments that you cannot understand you should be able to, but if you lose your money there should be no insurance fund to bail you out. People, then, will operate within the marketplace and select what works best for them. Firms, wanting your business and operating within the simple language disclosure regulatory environment, will provide those things you want, whatever they are. Economic liberty is a wonderful thing. Too bad modern liberals hate every aspect of it.

But there is an even more practical answer to the regulatory question. If regulations are so darn good at preventing all the bad things they intend to prevent, then why have so many bad things still occurred? I know, the simple answer the left offers is that Bush deregulated everything and let capitalism run amok. Which might make a cute talking point, but it is anything but true. Bush, for instance, did go to Congress to try to rein in Fannie and Freddie, to reform FHA so that loans could not so easily be given to anyone with a pulse.

And for this effort what did we hear from democrats? Well, Barney Frank said nothing was wrong, that these reforms were simply unneccessary. Maxine Waters, sounding a frequent liberal refrain, called Mr. Bush racist. And then the you-know-what hit the fan, and people on your side blamed Bush for it all, ignoring everything which came before.

Your side has been wrong about everything economic or financial. Why should I trust you, having not yet even been able to see your own errors, to continue on with yet more regulations and market controls? The goal isn't really to make markets work, is it? Isn't the real goal to control behavior? This is why it is socialism.

Seems minorities of all shapes and sizes faired much better under Bush than Obama. So please explain how record black unemployment, record teen black unemployment, record levels of food stamp recipients, record numbers of people losing unemployment and then filing for disability, record levels of a loss of family wealth, record levels of permanent unemployment are anything but CHAINS brought to you by Obama, Harry and Nancy? Economic CHAINS provided by those who spent $800 billion before admitting there were no SHOVEL READY JOBS. These people define incompetence. Any other analysis is complete foolishness.

Rich: Your reference to controlling behavior being Socialism, does that apply to ALL laws against malfeasance in all areas of society or do you think it's just for "The Market"? Shall we deregulate rape? I mean, it IS, after all, in our instinctual makeup to mate with any/all females we wish and some that we may "wish to" WITH may not "wish to" with us, but it will work itself out with the propagation of the species, therefore there's no need for THAT PARTICULAR regulation, by your logic, right?

LAWS that control against MALFEASANCE and CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR ARE NOT SOCIALISM. Only idiots think this, only those who would tear asunder this Great Expereriment called America would dare claim such horsepatty.

Ridiculous, moronic nonsense seems to billow from the halls of the disciples of Ayn Rand thru "Trickle Down Economists" chambers like the flow of effluent thru the sewers of NYC. REE-DIC-YOU-LUSS!

Simple... don't put you money in the bank. They can't take from you what they don't have.

Stuff your money in a mattress where it will be safe. Then when your house burns down we can all take care of you.

Gambling money on wild investment schemes ...... like Solyndra ?

Or Enron?

"They're going to put you all back in chains."

Is that why he and Obama robbed the taxpayers to bail them out?

Enron was fraud by the company execs. Solyndra was FRAUD by our government for failing to recognize you don't invest money in a company that had received a "going-concern" letter from their independent auditors.

Did you not get your $300.?

Union - everybody lost money on Enron.

Do you know what is so priceless about Solyndra?

A few weeks back Obama attended a fundraiser hosted by a number of executives of the now defunct Solyndra. They not only netted tens of thousands of dollars for Obama's campaign, but Contributed $50,000 of there own money.

What's up with that? That $50,000 should have been returned to the taxpayer and not given to Obama.

Second, why are they fundraising for Obama? Does this mean he may give them another loan for some other bad risk company they are working on?

BTW: Enron gave the lion's share of their political contributions to Democrats. When Reid and Pelosi found that out they clammed up real quick about getting congressional investigations.

Isn't it wonderful how unshackled we have been for almost 4 years with Joe and Barack as our liberators. Persistent record unemployment, runaway deficit, amnesty for illegal aliens, huge stimulus that went to cronies and boondoggle greenworks projects (Solyndra), leaked intelligence, bailout of the very banks now criticized, reduced welfare work requirements, invasive goverment growing like a tumor.

Bring back my chains, PLEASE!

Romeny/Ryan 2012

Biden is such a BUFFOON...

I can't wait to see Ryan in a debate with that mental midget.

It's gonna be HILARIOUS!

DB,

How much more do you think you can twist what really happened? Solyndra's grant was created under the Bush administration as part of a series of such grants to promote green technology research. The fact that it was passed under Obama does not really mean anything. Are you saying the Bush administration was also wrong for planning to give a grant to this company?

If so make sure you state it so people do not think you are distorting the truth to stick it to Obama.

I know how hard that can be sometimes when you have people like Rush doing it daily. Frankly Rush has mastered the art, I do not think most Newsvine RWNJ have the chops to do what he does. They need to abuse Oxycontin first then go on a drinking binge to maybe approach his level of mastery.

Biden will kick Ryan's butt. Ryans budget is a whack job put together by a bunch of GOP hacks behind closed doors and Paul is just the frontman. Ryan is cuter than Biden but Biden is SMARTER. Ryan is really all hot air and no substance. I am from Wisconsin and have watched him fumble and stumble through several campaigns.

Linefeeder

You are right- all that illegal activity under corrupt government regulations and Fannie and Freddie was the biggest violator of them all.

Funny, I haven't seen anyone mention a trillion dollar war that caused the U.S. not only the money, but THE LIVES OF THOUSANDS OF OUR MILITARY...that was BUSH AND DICK...and if you want more of the same, then yea, vote for Romney. All he sees are dollar signs, just like bush and dick.

Geo,

LOL, Funny Stuff... Bush administration, you got me with that.

Solyndra, was fast tracked, by the Obama White house, and sloppily at that, after President Obama referenced them in a speech as being an example of where the future 'green' jobs are coming from, that will save this country...

Solyndra's backers, where Obama campaign contribution bundlers so naturally he took care of them. It's what Libs think capitalism is. This type of 'crony capitalism' is a stones throw away from fasicm... But Obama and Co. wouldn't mind that either...

Geowil

DB,

How much more do you think you can twist what really happened? Solyndra's grant was created under the Bush administration as part of a series of such grants to promote green technology research. The fact that it was passed under Obama does not really mean anything. Are you saying the Bush administration was also wrong for planning to give a grant to this company?

how about people like you tell the truth! or just stop listening to lies. solyndra was on the list while bush was in office but they never received one dime! the bush admin saw that it was a bad investment for government loans and never approved the loans! when obama came into office with his pie in the sky promises, obama approved solyndra loans knowing that the company would fail, this was just a con to move tax payer money around and it worked. it was illegal for the obama admin to knowingly approve government loans to a company that was on the verge of bankruptcy and some of the investors had ties to obama and his campaign. conflict of interest with intent to fraud which is a high crime while in office. solyndra was not his only bad investment and as soon as you take that office of the presidency YOU ASSUME ALL FAULTS AND FAILURES! thats called being a leader!

people like you have no business discussing matters you know nothing about. tax payer money was knowingly wasted on a failing company and all you can do is blame the 'other guy'. im mad if one cent of MY MONEY is wasted let alone 500 million but hey you go ahead and point fingers.

Diverdown1

Funny, I haven't seen anyone mention a trillion dollar war that caused the U.S. not only the money, but THE LIVES OF THOUSANDS OF OUR MILITARY...that was BUSH AND DICK...and if you want more of the same, then yea, vote for Romney. All he sees are dollar signs, just like bush and dick.

hmm i wonder what clinton and the dems were saying in the 90's about iraq, oh thats right, they were saying that sadaam had WMD's and we needed to do something about it. hmm i wonder how the dems voted when bush wanted to attack iraq for dozens of cease-fire agreement breaches and dozen of UN resolution breaches along with the whole WMD thing, oh thats right, they all voted to go to war. hmm wonder how bush and dick went back in time to get the dems to warmonger then hop back to the present to wage war and get the dems to vote for it, damn that sneaky time traveling bush and cheney, they fooled us gain.

So I'm wondering how Obama's financial reforms have helped the current economy?

Well, we've all lived through a time without said reforms and the havoc that was caused, so how is this even a valid question?

What was so bad prior to the reforms? Employment was better, deficit was lower. Do you have an example of how it was worse?

What was so bad prior to the reforms? Employment was better, deficit was lower. Do you have an example of how it was worse?

The deficit is higher because with higher unemployment and lower salaries, comes lower tax income for the government. Granted this is just one contributor.

Employment % may have been better, but let's look at the rate of change. Do you really think a lower unemployment rate while losing 750,000 jobs in the blink of an eye was 'better'?

So now the diversion is about financial reforms?

I wouldn't consider Financial Reforms a diversion at all. I would call it a serious topic of debate in this years election. It's no secret that the financial industry played a significant role (majority) in the 2008 downturn. It had run recklessly for years on end, the public now understands what happened and why it happened.

Calling it a diversion is simply you wanting to continue with this one trick pony of Obama owning a "bad" economy.

There's more in play here. You know. We all know it. Wake up.

Xabre - You are partially right. The deficit is higher because of higher unemployment and lower salaries, but on top of this was continued spending, while borrowing from the Chinese. Obama did not react quick enough to the obvious crisis, and went blindly ahead with his multi trillion dollar health care plan, at the expense of the American People. He wanted it so bad, he screwed the US Citizens in the process.

Tea Party -

"the financial industry played a significant role (majority) in the 2008 downturn"

I'm asking how so?

Are you being serious? Does anyone here in 2012 have to explain how the financial industry was involved in the downturn?

OK folks, ROMNEYRYAN is another retread/rereg. They just started posting today. Click "ignore" until the moderators get around to pulling the plug on them. They are just another RWNJ troll. Don't waste your time on them.

Obama/Biden 2012

hey skip, still think people should be imprisoned for critizing obama?

Obama/Biden Serfdom for all 2012

You do know that the lack of regulation before this current set of "reform" is what caused "This Economy" to begin with, don't ya? Then again, let's not put blame where it's due. Let's instead blame presidents for the job of the Congress like always. President = political whipping boy.

Look up derivatives...

do you really think all these banks and finatial institutions came crashing down and had to be bailed out because of subprime lending on its own?

Financial institutions were gambling and rigging derivatives markets with other peoples money and lost it all, and there was no regulation that said this was wrong, they were bailed out so their clients did not lose everything because of the institutions bad choices.

If you think financial institutions don't share any blame for the economic downturn that started august 2007, and need less regulation, you are truly a ignorant of the world around you.

xber

Let me remind you. The collapse was over congressional pressure for banks to give loans to low income people. Once the loans were made they were sold to any bank, insurance, finance company. NONE of the bad loans were from businesses other than individuals who purchased rental properites. Even then the rental properities were not a problem until renters started losing their jobs.

Tell me, Which mess is worse? Giving loans to some people who don't merit them, or not giving loans to anybody? Trust me, if more business loans were made, there would be a whole lot more jobs out there.

Obama is pro Banker. Wall Street, Corporations (multinational now) and Banks (multinational now) are doing better than ever before in History. People and American society has never done worse. Obama is Not a Socialist. I wish he were so we could all get back on our feet. And Mitt is even worse. We need someone new who cares about us and the way we have to survive everyday. We need Bank regulation. The World needs us to regulate Banks. They cause a crash all over the globe for most of humanity while a few are getting outrageously rich. We need to Regulate Corporations and make them hire here reguadless of the fact that their profits drop from trillions to mere millions. We Need Work Here. Mitt will create jobs There..with MultiNationals. The superpacs proove it.

RomneyRyan.... If you want to truly understand the Great Recession why don't you read a book... I recommend reading "A failure of capitalism" by Posner.

Bill Clinton's administration had very little to do with creating the financial crisis. Other than signing into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which had a veto proof majority in the REPUGNICAN senate. Therefore he had NO choice but to pass this TERRIBLE piece of SH_T legslative hand-out to the banking industry which OWNED and still owns ALL of the Grand Old Plutocrat party.

In addition to this under GWB the Fed was convinced by the banking lobby to use the bank version of determining risk and therefore allowed the banks to reduce their reserve requirements.

Blaming the GSEs is simply wrong and if you had actually read anything FACTUAL (not fox, rush limbaugh or other OPINION) then you would understand that the GSEs were pressured to start buying mortgage backed securities (including CDOs) by GOP congressman and other financial industry groups.

I'm going to head you off at the pass now and KILL your next excuse which is the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) caused all the problems with subprime mortgages... WRONG!!! Studies by MANY groups (including financial industry groups) found that the agencies under the CRA were LESS likely to offer sub-prime mortgages. In fact, the CRA states explicitly that "all activities {lending} should be undertaken in a safe and sound manner." in other words there is ABSOLUTELY nothing that FORCES, through the power of law, banks to loan money to high risk, sub-prime applications.

The banks saw an easy way to make money... offer no paperwork loans to everyone and there pets then bundle them into CDO then into tranches of CDO then sell them to pension funds, other banks, international funds, basically anyone foolish enough to buy them . They had the ratings agencies rate sh_tty CDOs as AAA (99 subprime + 1 A paper aka "Prime" = AAA rating) so they could sell them off. This made them MASSIVE amounts of money and at the same time reduced their exposure to the inherent risks.

Go back to fox news, Rush, B orielly or any other MORON so that you can live comfortably within your bubble you blindly partisan hack.

What would it take for you to actually listen to FACTs about the economy? How about articles written by a REAGAN economic advisor like Bruce Bartlett? Would that help you?
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/blaming-obama-for-george-w-bushs-policies/?emc=eta1

RomneyRyan,

So you are saying this is nothing wrong with a derivatives market that is worth over 1.4 quadrillion USD? If the derivatives market crashes we all get sent back to the stone age and you are even questioning the fact that it was unregulated lending/financial practices that go it up to such a high point?

Man, if the financial industry can fool you for 8 years and another 4 after the truth comes out and the economy came crashing down they must be good at manipulation.

Oh, and a cite for the 1.4 quadrillion number since I know you are going to ask how I know this (a simple Google search seems to be outside of the purview of many RWNJ;s here for some odd reason):

http://economicedge.blogspot.com/2009/04/global-derivatives-14-quadrillion-up-22.html

http://rense.com/general83/quad.htm

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/05/top-derivatives-expert-finally-gives-a-credible-estimate-of-the-size-of-the-global-derivatives-market.html

http://deadlinelive.info/2011/12/09/the-1-4-quadrillion-dollar-derivatives-crisis-growing/

http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_08/demeritt061608.html

http://jutiagroup.com/20080724-global-derivatives-market-now-valued-at-114-quadrillion/

I am not saying your point about sub-prime loans is incorrect but it is misplaced. The banks were not forced at gun point or by extortion to obey the Government they went along with it of free will and are making out like bandits because of it. They chose to go along instead of raising hell about it and so that makes them accomplices at the very least and at the most makes them responsible for the fallout.

Yet not one bank has had any legal action taken against it, not one. They even got tax payer money to help them out and only got fined an easy 25 billion collectively. No jail sentences and no true investigations, hearings, or trials over the predatory foreclosure practices now being practiced that force people out of their homes from a recession that those banks caused by their complacency.

The two biggest Culprits of the financial disaster

FANNIE and FREDDIE which leads directly to the Government.

Its time to throw away all the corrupt government regulations and bring all the financial markets together to write simple rules similar to those in the Caymans.

No congressional pressure on banks to issue loans to lower income borrowers required then to.

Allow no documentation loans selling 500K homes to McDonalds workers because they claimed to make 120K a year.

Make loans with less than 20% down without requiring mortgage insurance.

Create teaser loans at 1% and no down so someone making 30K a year could finance a 300K home knowing when the interest rates reset it would exceed their gross income.

Hard to understand how bank CEO's making 10's of millions a year couldn't figure out homes couldn't increase in value 25% a year forever when within 10 years it'd mean one room shacks would cost 1 million dollars.

Nothing like the Obama campaign trying to play the race card whenever possible. Biden is obviously a racist, because perpetuating it is what keeps Democrats and civil rights leaders in power. It is amazing that somehow the Democrats have become the party of civil rights, self anointed. Maybe because their liberal supporters so freely ignore history. But there is no mistake that a long history or racism and racial divide exists in the Democratic Party.

Democratic President Woodrow Wilson was the one that brought segregation into the federal government. After the Civil War it was the Democrats that initiated Jim Crow laws designed to keep the black man down. Bull Conor who turned fire hoses on the civil rights marchers in Birmingham Alabama was a Democrat. The KKK was founded as the terrorist wing of the Democratic Party. Most telling is the fact that in September 2011 blacks filed a class action lawsuit against Obama and the Democratic Party for their history of racism.

http://www.federalobserver.com/2011/09/14/blacks-file-class-action-racial-discrimination-suit-against-obama-democrats/

When you have the Democratic Party in control of the House for 46 of the last 60 years, and Democrats in control of the Senate for 40 of the past 60 years, is there any question why racism is alive and well in America?

Geowil

Who deregulated the derivatives market and explain how? Or even better who prevented the derivatives market and show me how?

If you can't answer that question, then the only conclusion any reasonable person can have it that you have your head up your ass and you are merely spouting Rachel Maddow talking points.

That should have read who prevented the derivatives market from being regulated.

notliborcon

RomneyRyan.... If you want to truly understand the Great Recession why don't you read a book... I You are either a liar or just ignorant.recommend reading "A failure of capitalism" by Posner.

Bill Clinton's administration had very little to do with creating the financial crisis. Other than signing into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which had a veto proof majority in the REPUGNICAN senate. Therefore he had NO choice but to pass this TERRIBLE piece of SH_T legslative hand-out to the banking industry which OWNED and still owns ALL of the Grand Old Plutocrat party.

You are either a liar or just ignorant. The Senate did not have a super majority and did not have enough republican votes to over ride a threatened Clinton veto. It is a matter of public record. The democrats only came around after the republicans agreed to amend a beefed up version of the CRA.

The entire purpose of Gramm-Leach-Bliley was ot remove Glass-Steagal restrictions of mergers of Commercial and investment banks. Amendment of the CRA required that the banking entities prove they were not redlining. Just in case you are too lazy to look that up, redlining is when a financial institution purposely avoids a certain group or location because of high credit risks associated with the group as a whole. So if a lending institution wanted to merge with an insurance company they had to show the regulators that they were not redlining.

Follow this link to find out why the derivatives market was not regulated in the 90s:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/interviews/born.html

And if you really want to know who did what I suggest you read "Reckless Endangerment" by Gretchen Morgenson and co-author Josh Rosner

But so far you liberals have proven you have no interest in what happened but your goal is to lay blame on George Bush.

mghall,

You are nuts! Obama added 7 states to the country. Pretty good accomplishment in my opinion.

Again... HAHAHAHAH!!!!!!

There are 57 states and territories of the United States.
Scratch the "and territories" and I'll look like an idiot.

mghall

Biden and Obama will talk about anything but their accomplishments. Reason? they have none!

Don't you people get sick of regurgitating the same bull shi+ every day?

You should be awarded a 9th place trophy for creative journalism. That should fluff up your ego enough to get you to 2016.

By 'you people' I assume you are talking about the libs here... That's what makes this so fun!

Ursula's comment was collapsed - too close to the truth?:

I'll say it again...the real issue with Romney's tax returns is not how little he paid in taxes, but where all his income came from. While we all took a 40% hit to our 401Ks in 2008-2009, Romney was likely working a huge short-sell of stocks, effectively multiplying his already vast fortune. From my pocket to his...bottom up economics!

Mghall, I bet you're one of these people who will blame the economy on the president (when it is actually the Congress who controls all of that issue) and give the military the credit for Osama Bin Laden's assassination (even though the President is actually in charge of that part of the government). Get with it.

Pure speculation ..... "Romney was likely ....." blah,blah,blah ad nauseam simply has NO VALUE. Libbies like you swallow it as "FACT".

yeah it is fun to tweak libs and see them get their panties in a twist........however, it is sort of like taking candy from a baby...too easy!!!

Ohhh Arrdtard...you whimpering Blowbama spineless sheep...Show me Obama...oops, I mean Osama Bin Laden's body. Oh, that's right. It is supposedly at the bottom of the briny blue. The whole thing wrapped up nice and neatly and swept under the proverbial rug. How convenient. So what happened to Blowbama's promise to bring Bin Laden back alive? What happened to the military tribunals that he promised? How much did he pay off Seal Team 6 to keep quiet? Why were there no pictures, or TV coverage? There was PLENTY when Barack...oops I mean Saddam Hussein was captured (ALIVE)...Bin Laden was already dead and Mr. OBlame-a used the operation for political gain. The sheer gall and egotism of the man for taking all the credit for something that was purely staged. Amazing. So next time you LIBTARDS try playing the Bin Laden card...DON'T. You just end up looking stupider than you actually are.

witesox- Boy, its been a bad four years for you. You should really do something about that anger. Try to not watch TV or go on the internet for a week or two-and definitely do not follow the election results-that stuff can kill you.

@Amy B. I did not take a 40% hit in my 401K I actually had a 13% growth. I am sorry if you do not have the knowledge or ability to maintain your own financial assets. But just because someones else has to foresight and ability does not make them a bad person. Also all this talk about hidden money and lower taxes on the rich is for the birds. How many of you have ever accepted a tip or a cash gift? Did you add that to your untaxed income on your 1040? Oops you just hid untaxed finances from the federal government. The bottom line is they have money and you want money (more likely you want them to just give you some rather than earn it), jealousy is a very powerful tool.

Trot the president out on tv and have him tell you that Romney is hiding millions of dollars in offshore accounts (jealous because Obama only has hundreds of thousands in those same offshore accounts). The American people are so easily brought into the fold, they all want a better life and they cannot have one because Romney is hiding his personal funds in offshore accounts like every other rich person. Wake up America, you want to be rich then go figure it out, earn it, and hide your money in offshore accounts.

Amy, Ursurla's is correct, however, I think the main problem with romney's tax records is they are going to find out that he really did not have residence in MA when he ran for governor, voted for himself, and served as governor in a state where he really did not reside - can you say felony? By the way, rest asured, robme is not going to carry MA, folks up there told us there were two good things he did for them, 1 was the healthcare overhaul (they think he is nuts now that he no longer likes it), and 2 - he left the state after 2 years to run for another office, which ment he was not there doing other crazy stuff.

@Union Baby - One only needs a residence in state and meet the minimum requirements for residency in order to claim residency in any state within the union. For instance, President Obama claims Illinois residency even though he lives in Washington DC. I know it is hard to understand but this might help a little.

Xabre. There are only 6 US Territories, not 7. There were 57 Islamic states at the time. Obama spent a number of years in Indonesian schools. He simply reverted back into what he was taught as a kid. This has happened many times as shown by his bowing to the Saudi King, stating how Islamic Architecture was such an advance.

The most significant Architecture is Greece followed by Rome and of course by the middle ages Cathedral construction. Islamic architecture is noted for it's unique dome construction and it's use of vibrant colors, but is is not an important turning point in construction or direction of architecture except in Islamic countries.

Right, as if this is significant at all. Romney introduced Paul Ryan as the next President, Perry forgot his lines, Sarah got carried away with her history lessons blah,blah...insignificant opinions because of peoples slips is just so insignificant.

Some of my investments had just a little hit, some went down 25 - 30%. The biggest hit has been to tap our 401k's to keep us solvent, but that may not hurt us because we have paid back a large part at lower prices than when we borrowed against them.

Wow someone taking personal responsibility for their finances. Thank you DB Akron.

Obama is not my choice, however, he is not a Socialist. His Mother worked for the American Government in Indonesia and for awhile at the World Bank. How much do you remember of the 1st or 2nd grades. His most significant education was at a elite Private school in Hawaii. His Grandmother was VP of the Bank of Honolulu. He is not a socialist. I wish he were. That was a rumor to get left votes and make the right wet their pants. He is Pro Bank. Pro MultiNational Corporations just like Mitt/Ryan. They all get richer and American people get poorer. Mitt/Romney will bring this about quicker. Expect twice as many layoffs and outsourced jobs created with them. Expect another Sunani from the Banks which hurt the whole world (not just us).

Banks are not regulated. They make their own rules. They work in the Fed Reserve. Ask Jamie Diamon. Their is vertually NO Regulation.

What DMD said....

Who cares if Romney has offshore accounts in the Caymans, Switzerland, or Timbuktu...it's all LEGAL.

Any far left LIBTARD that says they'd do anything other than minimize their tax bill is a lying POS.

Money is kept offshore by corporations as well because we have one of the HIGHEST corporate tax rates in the WORLD.

Libs just can't understand the concept that lowering taxes spurs INVESTMENT because that money's going somewhere. This creates JOBS...which we desperately need.

This was all proven after Reagan took the reins after Carter.

We're re-living history. Obama, is the new Carter....

Bye, Bye, Barry.

Some of us care about your $1,000,000,000,000 + borrowing every year, and we're sick of it.

As Paul Ryan said, we've got to stop spending money we don't have. It isn't a revenue problem, it's a SPENDING problem.

Julea,

That may be the case but at least he is not going to bow down to the Evangelicals and start advocating banning things based on "God says so". He is also not going to, based on these past three and a half years, try to reinstate the deregulation that allowed the crash to happen.

Romney/Ryan are the worse worst.

Obama doesn't need to spend all his time talking about what he's done it's public record. Whether you agree with what he's done or not if you need him speaking constantly about it that would mean you live under a rock and wouldn't vote anyway. The only real issue this election is whether what Romney or himself plans is best for the country. I think Romney, Ryan, Obama and Biden spending their time explaining the differences are exactly the right idea.

Reagan got us out of our recession with the biggest peace time buildup of the military in history. With Star Wars, increasing our carrier task forces from 3 to 10 and huge increases for the Air Force tripling our deficit. Thinking his shifting the tax burden did it is absurd. His trickle down raised my taxes $5,000 a year and lowered those at the top $400,000 on every million. The middle class was far better off even under Carter than today. Most of the middle class worked in manufacturing jobs paying 4 to 5 times minimum wage. Now the definition of middle class is service jobs paying maybe twice it. Only those born after Reagan idolize what he did.

Or maybe it was the people who signed the loans on properties that far exceed thier means. You can't regulate stupid.

Or maybe it was the people who signed tiloans on properties that far exceed thier means. You can't fix stupid.

Who's more stupid? The individuals or the banks that were selling it to them, then overvaluing it to their shareholders?

Who should the onus of responsibility fall upon?

Government regulates the products that are sold in the marketplace. Marketing and advertising is what regulates consumerism.

Explain to me what was broken. Now explain to me what needs to be fixed.

Xabre,

It obviously affected all those people who are being foreclosed more than it affected the banks who are being bailed out.

You Obama supoporters are so against banks and big corporations, why do you care if the banks did something stupid and took a hit. That's what you want don't you?

It obviously affected all those people who are being foreclosed more than it affected the banks who are being bailed out.

Yet if they hadn't been bailed out, it would have affected us all in grave ways. Washington has said the banks are on their own now, and have to put in contingency plans to deal with the threat of collapse again.

You Obama supoporters are so against banks and big corporations, why do you care if the banks did something stupid and took a hit.

Because giant banks going under does horrors on the economy?

Tea Party,

Don't believe everything the Government, Marketing and Advertising people tell you. It's simple. You do make your own choices don't you? You don't buy a house you can't adfford because someone told you to do you?

I'm stumped at your logic.

Exabre,

"Yet if they hadn't been bailed out, it would have affected us all in grave ways."

"Because giant banks going under does horrors on the economy"

Because that what you have been told? Scare tactics used by the government to get their way. You really need to disregard much of what you hear, especially from the government and especially the current administration.

I am hoping some day sanity prevails in our elected officials, but i don't have much hope.

Thanks for the discussion - gotta go for now.

Can You Spell:

No, because that's when the stock market was in free fall.