History Repeats Itself. Best ever comparison between the 'crisis' of 1995 and 2011.

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/162213/special-schadenfreude-edition

Scroll down to Reed's article.

"Nevertheless, if one was to step back and examine the broader themes being pushed and goals being pursued by today’s Republican Party in this political battle, it’s not at all difficult to find numerous examples seemingly ripped from the headlines of 1996. To me, the striking similarities between these two eras help to dispel two popular myths about the GOP circa 2011. The first of these is the idea that its fierce obsession with the current deficit is born out of a real concern for our country’s dire fiscal situation when, in fact, it’s little more than a tried-and-true tactic of sheer political opportunism. The second is the belief that the core constituency now charting the GOP’s ideological course is some newly conceived breed of conservative heretofore unseen in American politics, rather than the same-old aggrieved, pro-rich, anti-entitlement, culture warriors from decades past."

Theme #1: Budget experts at CBO decry the counterproductive nature of debt brinksmanship; GOP repeatedly ignores them.

Theme #2: For Republicans, raising the debt limit is really an excuse to attack entitlement programs.

Theme #3: Republican leaders identify the real budget problem—a Democratic President sitting in the White House.

Theme #4: Congressional Republicans accuse the President of being too coy and passive about slashing the budget.

Theme #5: Doctrinaire conservatives in Congress show no compunction about blowing up themselves and the government.

Theme #6: As a result, the crazy and slightly less crazy Republican factions in Congress can’t come to an agreement.

Theme #7: Then, Congressional Republicans whine loudly when confronted with the potential consequences of their political recklessness.

Theme #8: Nevertheless, the GOP holds debt limit hostage up to the deadline, pushing for repeated stopgap measures tied to its draconian policy goals.

Theme #9: The public slowly comes around to the seriousness of the debt crisis and begins to realize who’s really at fault for not finding a solution.

Theme #10: In the aftermath, one party’s stand against gutting entitlements during the debt limit crisis gives it a powerful (and winning) message in the next presidential election.

Edited to remove excess space.

[snot]

1. I can't help but notice,

the 1996 crisis also occurred at a time when the economy was still recovering from the S&L meltdown, which resulted from the deregulation of S&L's under Reagan some years earlier.

Only in those days, we let S&L's and banks fail -- and quite a few did, and we survived -- and also sent some executives to jail.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. But we did 'bail out' the S & L mess to the tune of $124 Billion.

http://useconomy.about.com/od/grossdomesticproduct/p/89_Bank_Crisis.htm

By 1989, Congress and the president knew they needed to bail out the industry. agreed on a taxpayer-financed bailout measure known as the FIRREA provided $50 billion to close failed banks and stop further losses. It set up a new government agency called the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) to resell Savings and Loan assets, and use the proceeds to pay back depositors. FIRREA also changed Savings and Loan regulations to help prevent further poor investments and fraud.

How Much Did the Savings and Loans Crisis Cost?:
Between 1986-1995, over 1,000 banks with total assets of over $500 billion failed. By 1999, the Crisis cost $153 billion, with taxpayers footing the bill for $124 billion, and the S&L industry paying the rest.

[ThomWV]

4. And as loud as everyone screamed $124 Billion seems like chicken feed today

[snot]

5. It wasn't a bailout; it was administrative costs to liquidate the bad institutions.

The money did NOT go to keep bad institutions afloat, and it did NOT pump up those institutions' executive bonuses.

And taking the same approach in 2008 would have ended up costing us a small fraction of the true costs/damage to our economy that we've suffered and will likely continue to suffer now.

[loyalsister]

3. Lawrence O' Donnel on Grover Norquist

He said that Norquist told him that if the Republicans did not have the presidency, the goal would be to make it impossible for a Democrat to govern like a traditional Democrat.