Dumb Letters to the Plain Dealer, Part DCXVIII: Are these people HATCHED from a lab run by Cato?

[HughBeaumont]

http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2010/04/watching_wall_street_we_ought.html

So . . . there's this saying . . . "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

And . . . I guess there's this OTHER saying . . . "The Free Markets WILL correct and regulate themselves; it may take decades of time and many, many attempts, but it WILL work! Besides, who are you going to believe? Milton Friedman or Einstein, who looks like Karl Marx??"

Yeah. And I'm sure those at the top of the pyramid will get busy on that tricklin' aaaaaaaaaaany day now, John. (quadruple Facepalm) -

The intensified condemnation of Wall Street and other private financial institutions by the current administration and Congress -- along with threats of heavier regulation -- is off target: It's the power-addicted, corrupt politicians who are out of control. Our current economic mess is the result of their mandates forcing the lending of subprime loans, with little or no down payment, to unqualified borrows -- a recipe for disaster off the get-go. :wtf: :wtf:

Indeed, virtually all of the bad things going on with our entire economy are the results of the seeds sown by Congresses and presidents over the past many decades. They have been using their dictatorial powers to mandate, subsidize, overregulate, punish or grant privilege -- all of which have been hindering the natural and effective free-market forces that would have kept prices and profits in line and unethical financial practices in check. And then they continually distract us from their culpability by falsely blaming the free market while trashing our fundamentally capitalist Constitution. That's what really deserves condemnation.

John Sanders, Lakewood

Well, aside from obvious spelling, grammatical and factual errors . . . I wasn't aware that anyone in the House or Senate made a "borrow" buy a bad loan.

And if the "past many decades" have taught us anything, it's that our presidents and "Congresses" have worked hand in hand with corporations to DEregulate and un-bridle "teh Free Marketz" to the point of Wall Street becoming Las Vegas East and for CEOs to have most of DC in their tailored pockets.

And our Constitution is capitalist. Wow. Yyyyyeah, that's news to me.

Free Markets cannot "correct themselves" or keep ANYone in check when they've proven to do the exact OPPOSITE of what Johnny Boy is blathering on about.

Man . . . can anyone clue me in as to what the HELL this munch is talking about? Seriously, I don't speak deluded idiot.

[gratuitous]

1. What is he talking about? I have no idea

But it has become an article of Faith amongst the Free Marketeers that when Congress began the process of outlawing Redlining in the 1970s, it opened the door to all the financial excesses now seen today. Yes, the nefarious 35 Year Plan has worked, comrades! All hail Marx and Lenin!

In the fact-free land in which Mr. Sanders operates, poor people without a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of have become the new Bulliez of the Market, forcing big banks and lending houses to write loans so they can purchase overpriced McMansions. Naturally, these laughable assertions don’t stand up to the slightest scrutiny, so a veritable forest of code words has to be employed: regulation, government, mandates and so forth.

Mr. Sanders also overlooks completely the actual facts of the latest Goldman Sachs peccadillo. Goldman worked with one of its clients to put together an investment vehicle (Timberwolf, the famous “shitty deal”) of their crappiest loans. They connived with one of the bonding companies to get Timberwolf certified AAA. Then they sold Timberwolf to their customers, all the while knowing it was going to tank, skimming their commission (never forget the commission, that’s the good part) and actually betting through short sales that Timberwolf was going to tank. Not a government regulator or poor person in sight through any of this.

Well, that’s not exactly true. There were plenty of poor people (and government agencies and pension funds) left holding the bag as Goldman Sachs pocketed a hefty profit. All because Goldman Sachs and other investment firms prevailed on Congress not to regulate these investment vehicles or the market for them. With nobody looking over their shoulder, Goldman Sachs felt free to fleece investors with impunity, putting together shitty investments, getting bogus ratings, and then betting against their own investors to grab as much dough as they could.

But why let facts get in the way of a perfectly good fairy tale spun by Mr. Sanders? More to the point, why does the Plain Dealer feel compelled to publish such nonsense?

[HughBeaumont]

3. Because the Plain Dealer is a right wing fishwrap.

Look up the name Kevin O'Brien. He has buck teeth, looks like a combination of a young George Will and a beaver and writes weekly essays that make David Brooks look like a leftist. He's also being groomed to take over their editorial board, so forget about anything remotely Democratic ever being endorsed in one of the most Democrat-friendly areas of the country.

If one reads the LTTE section enough, they'll notice the same names over and over again get submitted, and it's the same direct-from-Rush message re-worded.

[Rex]

2. Nonsensical drivel, anyone ever been to the CATO institute?

Whenever I hear that name, I can't help but have the image of Cato Katlin pop into my head. Free markets are a myth created by the uber rich - to the victor goes teh spoils!