We had some pretty serious economic pain in 2008, but it was the culmination of so many things really. We keep listening to President Obama, and VP Joe Biden run around the country claiming that we need more regulations on Wall Street. But we had plenty of regulations prior to the crash, they just were not being enforced. Overregulation isn't the answer, and attempting to regulate morality doesn't work either. Further, I would submit to you that if we want more regulation on Wall Street, maybe we should start with more regulation against insider trading in Congress, and crony capitalism of the executive branch.
You see, it was not a lack of regulation on Wall Street which caused the banking crisis rather it was failure to enforce the rules already on the books. It was also the incestuous relationship of Washington DC with regards to Freddie and Fannie, plus the attacks on AIG and Hank Greenberg by Elliot Spitzer. Hank who built the company would never have let a small AIG office in London sell insurance policies for those mortgage bundles of credit default swaps at that level of risk, that's just too much exposure.
Further, Treasury Secretary Snow and President Bush told Congress that the Freddie and Fannie thing was out of control, but it seems everyone wanted an "ownership society" and we made rules for credit lending to ensure "equality" - oh so, there we go again, that socialist motif of; Equality and Sustainability.
Next for those who say that we need Obama in office to keep an eye on Wall Street - well that's just ridiculous because it was the banks and their lobbyists and lawyers who wrote the Dodd Frank Bill, which now sets big banks up for big advantages over smaller banks and community banks who are generally the ones who lend money to small businesses, and there isn't a lot of lending going on for smaller companies who provide 2/3rds of the jobs in this great nation. Look, I was a founder of a franchise company, so this point is just un-debatable, if Obama had run a business at any time in his adult life or teen years, he'd know this already.
It seems that every time we put more regulation on Wall Street, all that happens is they are engaged in the lawmaking, and those laws turn out to put barriers to entry for any smaller companies which wish to compete with them. Meanwhile, under the backdrop of anger from the population, Congress is able to pass these bills on the fast track to getting signed into law, and all the congressmen are able to get tons of campaign contributions to stave off their political competitors at home. This just means the same Congressman which are taking campaign contributions to create laws favoring the very Wall Street keep getting reelected to do even more damage later on.
If we would have been enforcing the regulations already on the books, the 2008 economic crisis wouldn't have happened. Who's to blame for this crony capitalism? Both sides of the aisle, but president Obama keeps blaming President Bush. I'd say that's rather hypocritical, and although it makes for nice debating points and political rhetoric, it simply isn't so.
Further, if President Obama and his administration were so good the economy, we'd be recovered by now, but as you've guessed; we're not. Yes, I realize that we as Americans know that all the promises that he made were false realities, it's just that I don't think we should fall for it again the second time, not after the performance we've seen. Please consider all this and think on it.
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