Public Supportive, But Not Overwhelmingly So, of Obama Economic Agenda
A couple of data points on public opinion. First Gallup on the budget:
Second, a peak at the new WSJ/NBC poll numbers:
Here’s one set of numbers we’re releasing before the entire NBC/WSJ poll comes out at 6:30 pm ET: By a 48-20 percent margin, Americans believe the Democratic Party would do a better job of getting the U.S. out of recession than the Republican Party.
I think this confirms the basic point that the Democrats have a golden opportunity on their hands, but no kind of sure thing. Support for the Republicans has completely collapsed and people are generally supportive of the new administration. But even in the midst of whatever kind of honeymoon Obama’s going to get, these numbers aren’t going above fifty percent. If the Obama administration actually produces a return to prosperity they’ll have a lock on re-election. But if their efforts don’t work, then I bet these numbers will turn around fast. And while I’ve been very pleased with the social policy aspects—health care, energy, education, etc.—of the administration thus far I’m not at all sure that we can see recovery unless we get better finance policy and more effective international coordination of anti-recession efforts.
65 Responses to “Public Supportive, But Not Overwhelmingly So, of Obama Economic Agenda”
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March 3rd, 2009 at 6:34 pm
It would have been smarter for President Obama to focus solely on the economy at first, by demanding a stimulus bill from Congress that would provide most of its stimulus this year, instead of using the opportunity to advance a lot of other policy objectives.
March 3rd, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Imagine if the stimulus got the same sort of coverage Bush’s Iraq war did. Same themes, this is a situation that threatens our nation’s very existence. Americans have to pull together to get through this thing. Anyone opposing the President is an Un-American fringe crazy.
Bet that would shift these numbers a bit.
March 3rd, 2009 at 6:38 pm
But even in the midst of whatever kind of honeymoon Obama’s going to get, these numbers aren’t going above fifty percent.
The budget was released, what, two days ago? The “no opinion” number is still 30%!
The stimulus bill went well over 50%, once it was debated for a week. Chill.
March 3rd, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Joe,
The budget has gotten a cooler reception from moderate pundits than Obama’s stimulus bill did. See, for example, David Brooks or Clive Crook on it.
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:07 pm
If people were honest, “Don’t know enough to say” would be around 99%, for the budget or the stimulus.
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Shorter DaveinHackensack:
I am a very, very reasonable wingnut. Please listen to me, because my ideas are much seriouser than other wingnuts.
APS
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:10 pm
This is why I think it’s important for the administration to educate the American public to make us less an easy mark by the next election cycle.
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:14 pm
“The budget has gotten a cooler reception from moderate pundits than Obama’s stimulus bill did. See, for example, David Brooks or Clive Crook on it.”
Uh, did you actually read Crook’s reaction to the budget? It was highly positive.
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Matt’s right. Look, budgets are never hugely popular. They’re compromises.
But the politics of the thing (the optics, if you will) are beside the point. Right now, we Democrats are largely winning the spin war. But Matt’s point — if I understand it — is that we shouldn’t congratulate ourselves, because spin has a very short shelf life. We have to make the economy better. That’s the whole game right there.
And frankly, it scares the shit out of me, because right now turning the economy around is like trying to catch a falling freight train.
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:38 pm
The corollary to the public’s uncertainty as to methods of accomplishing recovery is that if recovery is not happening, support for more drastic methods is likely to increase.
Bank “nationalization” is a scary word to many today. By June, maybe not so much.
The same holds true for the administration itself. Half-measures may simply become inoperative, and half-measure proposers on the outside looking in, even if they’re Cabinet secretaries or “senior officials.”
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:57 pm
shorter Ape Man:
I have the intellectual capacity of a retarded chimpanzee. Ignore everything I write.
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Let’s see. The market was about 9,600 on election day. You know, the day that we knew that Obama was taking the reigns. It is now at 6,700. So far, I think I am safe in saying “well done sir”. He appears to be ahead of schedule in destroying the private sector and replacing it with a socialist state.
After a non-stop parade of tax cheats coming onboard (not the least of which leads the treasury department), we get lectured about how obamanation is going to be “more fair”.
I guess that 20% of the people paying 80% of the taxes was “unfair” and that his stated goal of 20% of the people paying 90%, with 50% of the populace paying ZERO is “fair”.
That is a real recipe for long term prosperity. A smaller and smaller group of people shouldering more and more of the burden while everyone else whines about “fat cats” and fairness.
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Matt’s pointing to the big, and most important challenge, of actually restoring growth, and demonstrating a positive trajectory by the 2010 elections so that all the other priorities of the out-years don’t just become dreams of what could have been.
Wiley brings up the parallel challenge, also tricky, of keeping an effective spin campaign going even if recovery is not happening by election season 2010.
“This is why I think it’s important for the administration to educate the American public to make us less an easy mark by the next election cycle.”
Some elements of education would be to denigrate the capcity of the Republicans to come up with anything better, pin the origins of the crisis on them, hold any of those who held office during the Bush Administration and Republican majority years responsible for it, so that the GOP has to worry about running well-known faces as a liability.
Clearly, actual recovery is the more important of the two, but Democrats need a back-up plan to keep their majorities (and current margins) even without it. this is not just a partisan political imperative, it’s a national well-being imperative, because I’d bet alot of money that the GOP of campaign season will not be a reformed party worthy of trust and capable of following an economic policy of running deficits without socially redeeming value.
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:14 pm
The market didn’t fall below 7000 until the Obama adminstration decided to keep AIG alive. It appears the market demands nationalization if we are to protect the economy from socialism.
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:19 pm
wiley says
This is why I think it’s important for the administration to educate the American public to make us less an easy mark by the next election cycle.
Is anyone here capable of rational and logical thought? The administration has to “educate” us? Really? On what basis do they provide their “education”? So far, their policies have killed the stock market, created a huge deficit, and there is no end in sight.
I have an idea. LET”S SEE IF IT ACTUALLY WORKS BEFORE WE GET “EDUCATED”!
The last time we were lectured by Obama, he was telling us that we couldn’t keep our houses at 72 degrees and drive SUVs and have a big carbon footprint and that we needed to pay our taxes.
That was before he got into the white house and juiced the thermostat to 78, went to the RV plant to whine that we weren’t building enough RVs, flew AF1 all the way to denver to sign a bill (spewing CO2 the whole way) and before the cavalcade of tax cheats that he can’t wait to get in his cabinet
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:25 pm
The question is how public opinion will change if the economy continues to tank, which it probably will. If there’s widespread unemployment, will people rise up and demand tax cuts and reduced spending? Time will tell, I guess.
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:26 pm
RW,
You expect Obama to live in a shack.
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:28 pm
FP
I think it depends on economic strata your in. Rich people are more obsessed with taxes. The poor would demand job programs like what you saw in the WPA.
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Micheline = The reason that “rich people are more obsessed with taxes” is because, um, they are the ones, you know, who are, um PAYING THE TAXES!
50% of the population pays no taxes and gets additional tax rebates. That’s negative taxes (in case you are calculating).
You have a small percentage of people, most of whom worked very hard to get where they are (doctors, business people etc.) or took enormous personal risks (small business owners and entrepreneurs). These are the best and brightest, and yes Micheline, they pay most of the taxes. You have a society with a small number of people pulling the wagon and a large number of people sitting in the wagon. That’s not sustainable.
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Let’s see, only 2% of Americans think Obama is responsible for economic conditions in his first two months in office. 84% say economic problems were inherited.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/03/03/wsjnbc-poll-when-will-it-be-obamas-economy/
Looks like we have some of the 2% posting on this thread.
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:43 pm
largely agreed, and I think the more massive handouts of public money to failed banks and insurance companies with no transparency will drag Obama’s numbers down fast, as this polling is already indicating. ARRGGHH!!!! this SUCKS! there is so much good already about the Obama administration. and then there they are defying the orders of Federal judges in Oregon and California, trying to hide George Bush’s corpses from his overzealous warmongering. why?
and then there’s Geithner and Summers. these guys are way, way too up close to the situation at hand to properly asses it or its scope. these people’s concept of exactly how big the bubble really is, is off by several orders of magnitude. now I’m just waiting for him to eventually replace the economic team, which will probably take a year or two. sucks how much money will have to vanish in order for that to happen,
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:46 pm
there is no debate that Obama inherited an economic mess.
My question is what evidence do we have that he has any clue on how to fix it? So far the markets are giving him thumbs down.
Don’t you think that before we sit at his knee and get “educated” that we should first find out if his great socialist plan really brings us the unicorns and butterflies that we are all hoping for?
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:51 pm
onceler- Let go of the kool-aid for a second. Just put it down and take a deep breath. There is “so much good already” in this administration? Really? Could you point out the “good”?
He had a scandalous list of tax cheats nominated for his cabinet.
He instantly went back on his “no lobbyists” pledge
He added trillions to the deficit and the market is nosediving.
He kept the “warmongering” defense secretary that supported the Iraq war, and put another big Iraq war supporter (hillary) in as sec. of state. — Good moves, but what a hypocrite—-
Issued directives to close guantanamo with no plan to do with the prisoners
what is the “good” exactly?
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:54 pm
don’t forget the massive new carbon tax in a recession when, oopsie!, looks like global warming isn’t so “sure” anymore….
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Sum29,
Most people payroll taxes which are very regressive. There are other types of taxes that people. I really don’t understand this reaction to letting the Bush tax cuts expire. We’re going back to Clinton which was a time of prosperity.
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:02 pm
This does not bode well for far-left progressives with loftier ambitions. Any substantive climate change legislation will be immediately sacrificed for health care concessions as will any other economically harmful liberal policy. I can’t wait to see how the media responds to this inevitable political posturing Obama will be making to his base. Will the Matts accept pragmatism or will they demand idealistic policy that could ruin them in 2010? I hope the latter.
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Sum29,
If the top rich is the best and brightest then why the economy has been tanking since 2007? Right now the rich do not have any credibility.
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:05 pm
ah yes, the payroll taxes. That’s all getting stored up to pay benefits when we retire right?
No? You mean that those taxes are paying off people today (many of whom didn’t pay a fraction of what they are receiving), and that there is no money when I retire unless the govt extorts it out of a smaller working population?
Isn’t that a Ponzi scheme? Isn’t that what fat cats like Madoff do?
Oh, I guess it’s not because the govt is doing it….
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:05 pm
There’s really no precedent for our predicament. The collapse is pretty global. Who knows what will work? All we know is what won’t.
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:13 pm
as, hehe, you’ve already named some of it. closing guantanamo is a no-brainer. and there’s really any number of things to be done with the prisoners. like, trying them in court if there is evidence against them, and sending them back to their home country if not. how about that? you do know, don’t you, that many of the people there, never committed any crimes other than just, you know, being there when we arrived. we don’t know shit about them, didn’t know shit about who was who, and rounded up bodies. we were paying huge bounties to anyone who would turn in anyone else for pretty much any reason. there are some genuine criminals, and some totally innocent people at guantanamo. and can you tell me, what the fuck are WE doing running a prison on Cuba? really, why do we have a torture chamber, on Cuba? think about it, just a little. promise me, ok?
the rest of your observations are just drivel. go back and read the accounts of any president getting their cabinet sorted out. Clinton had far more nominees denied that Obama has had, proportionately. the Repugs are obstructionists. good on them for actually doing what their constituency, small as it is, wants. but, everyone smells the rot, and it will be a decade or more before a republican wins the white house back.
but if you want a laundry list, closing guantanamo, ending the global gag rule, passing a large (but not large enough) spending bill, rescinding Bush’s rule allowing people to refuse to sell birth control and perform basic health care functions based on ridiculous “religious” crap, actually being a decent and intelligent human being, starting in a much more realistic direction regarding Israel and Palestine.
the bad – there’s a lot there too. as I mentiioned in my initial post, Obama is defying federal judges who have ordered that materials be released regarding cases involving Islamic charities which were busted under Bush’s “GWOT”. they shouldn’t be doing that. on the economic front, they’re not quite spending enough directly into the economy, and need to allow just a few failures, with visible results. some people have to pay, in the public eye, for the economic crimes committed against the country. people need to see that. Obama is far too conciliatory for my tastes in this regard. some businesses have to go down, and their boards, CEOs and investors, have to lose their shirts, just like everyone else is.
at least I’m honest, and I’ll give praise and criticism where its due. we all spent 8 years listening to you folks practically worshiping George W. Bush as the fucking second coming and you’re going to criticize Obama for the way he goes about cleaning up YOUR god damn mess?
get real, motherfucker.
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:18 pm
onceler- I would respond, but I think the last line of your post speaks volumes about your intellectual capacity…
spoken like a true liberal….
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:19 pm
hehe, spoken like a loser
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:20 pm
indeed.
Thanks for straightening me out. I am no match for your staggering intellect.
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Imagine if the stimulus got the same sort of coverage Bush’s Iraq war did. Same themes, this is a situation that threatens our nation’s very existence
It didn’t?
“Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around [...] Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.” (em added)
-Barack Obama, “The Action Americans Need”, Washington Post Op-Ed February 5, 2009)
(the writer is president of the United States)
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:35 pm
jablome:
What are the top 20% going to do? Emigrate? Find a better country. The thing is Americans are loathe to emigrate, and even if they were more willing to move on economic grounds, all the USG needs to do is keep a lower taxation rate than any other first world country…oh wait, it already does that.
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Man, the conservative trolls are out IN FORCE today. This blog must have been on Redstate or something as one to mass post on saying how Obama wrecked the economy, since I’ve never seen 80% of these posters before.
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Adam: I know. I’m just scrolling down rapidly. Trollish arguments are too contorted to disentangle at this hour of the evening.
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:29 pm
These posters are base as well as stupid and selfish.
The top 20 percent don’t pay 80 percent of the taxes. Everyone pays sales, and payroll taxes, tolls and the like.
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Quite frankly I don’t think “coordination” is the right word European governments and the ECB are acting as if the recession is no big deal. They are willing to stimulate so long as it doesn’t cause budget deficits. That is they are totally confused or trapped by ideology or … well it doesn’t matter much. Obama needs to light a fire under them.
Now I know the idea was to be all internationalist and respectful and stuff, but he can’t let the world fall into a depression because the alternative would be to be rude.
Now how can this fire be lit under them ? I think the appropriate agency of the US gov is it’s AIG division which is sending tons of money to European banks. That is currently the US Treasury is sending tons of money to European banks. The Treasury has a limited liability stake in AIG. Beggars can’t be choosers and sometimes neither can ceditors.
I think that Obama has to say to Trichet, Merkel, Sarkozy, Brown and Berlusconi “nice banking system you have over there. It would be a shame if something were to happen to it.”
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:30 pm
“Uh, did you actually read Crook’s reaction to the budget? It was highly positive.”
I think “mixed” is probably a more accurate description of Crook’s reaction, but, in any case, I think it’s fair to say he gave it a cooler reception than he did Obama’s stimulus bill. Readers can judge for themselves: Crook’s essay. Here are a couple of excerpts:
March 3rd, 2009 at 11:14 pm
JFC, where did all the fucking trolls come from? What’s the matter folks, your 401k going up in flames cause you to stop taking your meds?
March 3rd, 2009 at 11:22 pm
DaveinHackensack,
Nice cherry-picking! I can do that too:
“I am not what you would call an instinctive leftist Democrat, yet so far as substance goes I like a great deal of what is there. The intelligence of this administration shines through at many points.”
“I am for comprehensive healthcare reform. It would have been easier to do in a strong economy, of course–but Obama has the momentum to get this job done. It is urgent and has already waited too long, and so I applaud his determination to press on. It is good that he plans a big reserve to cover perhaps a third to a half of the likely eventual cost: better to leave that crucial line in the budget half-blank instead of entirely blank. I am also glad to see substantial cap-and-trade revenues make their first appearance.”
If that’s a cool reaction from a moderate, then may all of Obama’s proposals get just as cool reactions.
March 3rd, 2009 at 11:48 pm
I have to agree with this. I think it’s what a lot of people fail to notice, and if they did, they hate admitting it. Not that I want Democrat domination or something like that, but in my own opinion Republicans have blown things out of proportion just at tad bit lately.. If there’s less of pride and more of balance, maybe the new administration would work even better than it already is doing.
March 4th, 2009 at 1:28 am
Adam,
“Nice cherry-picking! I can do that too”
Of course you can: as I said, Crook’s response was mixed. That means he had positive and negative things to say about Obama’s budget.
DTM,
Thanks, hadn’t seen that. I responded in that thread.
March 4th, 2009 at 1:32 am
@ jablome:
The wealthiest 1% in this country own about half of our nation’s assets. I see no reason why they shouldn’t pay accordingly.
March 4th, 2009 at 1:44 am
They’re better people, Alan. That 1% works so hard ya see. It’s not fair to tax them more. The 1% are breaking their backs carrying the rest of us. We should be so productive.
March 4th, 2009 at 5:44 am
I think that Obama has to say to Trichet, Merkel, Sarkozy, Brown and Berlusconi “nice banking system you have over there. It would be a shame if something were to happen to it.”
That’s very true. No reason for American taxpayers to be bailing out European banks when all indications are that they are even worse run than their American counterparts. I know collective action is difficult in the EU, but that’s some leverage to light a fire under their schlerotic butts.
March 4th, 2009 at 8:04 am
I’m not at all sure that we can see recovery unless we get better finance policy and more effective international coordination of anti-recession efforts.
If by recovery you mean everything looking the way it looked two years ago, I’m not at all sure that we can see recovery unless we get all the children of the world to clap their hands.
Unless Obama has a time machine that he’s not using, this crisis isn’t his fault, though electorally it may not matter that it isn’t really his fault.
March 4th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Knowledge is power and that is why there was very little reporting done by the Republican-owned media, that it was George Bush who pushed for minority home buying…. not Clinton as they love to distort about, and gave Speculators the go ahead to get minorities to buy homes in the hundreds of thousands.
Bush – “Calling a home the “foundation for families and a source of stability for communities,” President Bush proposed three new initiatives designed to enhance existing federal home buyer assistance programs by helping African- and Hispanic-Americans buy homes. According to the White House, fewer than half of all African and Hispanic Americans currently own their homes, compared to nearly three-fourths of white Americans. “We must begin to close this homeownership gap by dismantling the barriers that prevent minorities from owning a piece of the American dream,” said the President in a nationwide radio address. To close the homeownership gap, President Bush proposed legislation funding the following new initiatives:
American Dream Down Payment Fund
This program would provide money to qualified low-income families to assist in making the down payment on a home. “The single greatest hurdle to first time homeownership is a high down payment requirement that can put a home out of reach,” said President Bush. White House analysts estimate that the American Dream Fund will assist some 40,000 low-income families annually in making down payments on homes.
Tax Credits to Create Affordable Housing
This proposed initiative would provide home-builders and developers with nearly $2.4 billion in tax credits for building affordable single-family housing in distressed areas. The tax credits would help make 200,000 new affordable homes available to low-income buyers over the next five years.
Home Buyer Education
To assist home buyers deal with the complexity and difficulty of the purchasing process, this program would provide funds to agencies working to better educated first-time home buyers. Consumers would be advised of their rights and responsibilities as home buyers, and trained to recognize and avoid abusive and unscrupulous lending practices. “Financial education and housing counseling can help protect home buyers against abuses, greatly improve the loan terms they are offered, and help families get through tough times with their homes intact,” said President Bush “Owning a home lies at the heart of the American dream,” Bush said. “My approach to broadening home ownership focuses on empowering people to help themselves and to help one another.” Source: Dateline: 06/18/02
http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa061902a.htm
And because there were no Regulations to protect said homebuyers who had a balloon interest at the end, well we see what has happened, and they still want to blame the homebuyers instead of the scam perpetrated by lenders who first lowered interest rates to put people into homes then raised their interest rates so they could no longer afford their homes. Someone should go to jail for this!
March 4th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Dave in Hackensack,
The budget has gotten a cooler reception from moderate pundits than Obama’s stimulus bill did. See, for example, David Brooks or Clive Crook on it.
Lol! That’s funny stuff.
March 4th, 2009 at 9:13 am
This thread is a mess.
The right is losing its mind, and lashing out.
Ha ha!
March 4th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Typo:
“Second, a peak at the new WSJ/NBC poll numbers…”
should be
“Second, a peek at the new WSJ/NBC poll numbers…”
March 4th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I read that if their marginal rates go up, republican trolls won’t bother commenting because 60% return for the extra work is not worth it.
March 5th, 2009 at 6:55 am
Wow! what an idea ! What a concept ! Beautiful .. Amazing
March 5th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Market down another 280 today. This Obama keeps getting better and better. Feel the change and hope! Love it. Keep doing the “focus groups” and expensive state dinners. It’s working really spectacularly! I could not have been more wrong about this guy! Really outstanding. Brilliant really.
By the way, how classic– Tim Geitner is going after tax cheats. I guess irony is all we have left.
March 5th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
oh yeah– let’s not forget about the new energy tax right in the heart of a complete economic meltdown. Brilliant sir! I tip my hat to your godlike intelligence.
Oh yeah, that tax is for the global warming that isn’t happening…. What is it now? a 30 year “lull” in the global warming… I thought we were supposed to be in cataclysmic global meltdown by now….
March 5th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Looks like a unilateral war on capitalism based on fearmongering. How about we stop carpetbombing with the marxist WMDs and pull out of this quagmire…
March 5th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Upon heads of state meeting for the first time in official capacity, it is customary to exchange gifts as tokens of friendship between the countries involved.
Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of Great Britain seemed to get the sincerity and solemnity of the occasion.
Mr. Brown gave Obama an ornamental pen holder constructed from the timbers of the anti-slavery ship HMS Gannet, once also named HMS President.
He also gave a framed commission for the HMS Resolute. The desk in the Oval Office is itself made from the timbers of the HMS Resolute. The Resolute has symbolic history between the two countries.
Lastly, Mr. Brown gave Obama a first edition set of the seven-volume classic biography of Winston Churchill, written by Sir Martin Gilbert.
The thoughtfulness and symbolism of these tokens of friendship given by our most treasured ally cannot be understated.
Of course, President Obama would have to reciprocate with something uniquely special to underscore our uniquely special bond to Great Britain, no?
Apparently not.
President Obama’s well thought out gesture was a 25 DVD set of classic American films.
Go ahead.. Read that again.
Obama gave the Prime Minister of England something which probably could be purchased from Amazon.com, or found at a flea market.
Now just imagine if George Bush had done this.
March 7th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
“Man, the conservative trolls are out IN FORCE today. This blog must have been on Redstate or something as one to mass post on saying how Obama wrecked the economy, since I’ve never seen 80% of these posters before.”
Not a big fan of dissenting opinions around here, are we? Is this the famed appreciation for tolerance and diversity of opinion that I’ve heard liberals brag about so incessantly? No wonder you love Obama so much. Saying one thing and practicing another seems to be a hallmark of liberal lunacy.
March 8th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Really great post, well written, concise and comprehensive. Thank you.
March 12th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Thank you for your help!
March 14th, 2009 at 12:42 am
I just wanted to leave a quick comment to thank you for your post! I really like your blog site!!! Would you mind terribly if I put up a backlink from my site to your site? Keep up the great work!
March 18th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
a lot of bloviating on here. Do yourself a favor. Read this article from the new york times (a real conservative newspaper)
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&&scp=3&sq=%202003%20fannie%20freddie%20labaton&st=cse
Barney Frank’s response to this proposal?
“These two entities—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. “The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”
There you have it. Right from his mouth….