No Lessons to be Learned

Congress loves the idea of a bailout for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and of course many on Capitol Hill are convinced that millions of Americans caught up in the housing crisis should be saved as well so they’re moving forward. Apparently the stock market likes the idea of the government coming to the rescue yet again because certain sectors like pharmaceuticals, mobile phones and Internet companies saw increases they haven’t seen in almost a half a decade. I understand that some people were victims of cheating lenders, and the law should slam the scammers hard but millions more liked the idea of buying a $750,000 house even though their income never soared about $50,000. And, if that wasn’t good enough, the lenders made sure that the deal offered extra cash just for moving in. So, the borrowers yelled at politicians to take care of them or their votes would go elsewhere and, voila, it’s done.

Now, Wall Street responds favorably by showing strong gains after the announcement of a deal and the cycle continues. Our nation’s economy is caught up in issuing and servicing debt. It used to be centered on tangibles like goods and services—now, it’s all about the paper and because we get a free pass we don’t learn the necessary lessons and when the Street posts big numbers, they don’t get the lesson and so we’re all but certain to repeat it again in the future. By failing to get back to basics now, our kid’s futures are in jeopardy but that doesn’t matter either because by then, the government will be raising them for us. We like that idea.

July 23, 2008

Today on Ankarlo Mornings: Can the “bitch switch” be turned on and off by women? Ankarlo takes that one on. Author Don Corace just wrote a book eminent domain called Government Pirates. He stops by. Ankarlo chats about the economy too. Who is to blame for the credit mess, the spenders or the lenders? And who has more campaign gaffes so far, Obama or McCain?

Ankarlo Daily Links

Today on Ankarlo Mornings:

Author Don Corace stops by. His new book is called Government Pirates and it details all the ways the government can take your home and your rights. Do we really have any rights left?

Economy: Some are paying $150 for a massage and a nap. The economy must be bad! John Berry in Bloomberg expects the American economy to grow at 2.5% in the second quarter. Who is to blame for America’s debt? The spenders or the lenders?

The surge in gas prices has many more customers shopping online. Of course, this means the shipping companies are still buying gas…

Thomas Sowell says there is a certain amount of hypocrisy about the mortgage crisis. In the 80’s and 90’s the government complained because not enough people were getting home loans. So the government pushed policies to ease lending rules to increase home ownership. In 2008, the government says too many people received home loans. So, which one do you want?

The Olympics start in a couple weeks. There are 8 questions you aren’t allowed to ask. Read them here.

Police are fighting a rash of vacant home robberies.

Check out the fight on the View over the n-word. You guessed it, the division, er debate, is along racial lines. Also, could Obama actually hurt black people in this country? Some are saying if he become the President he might. Why? Because white people won’t worry about the plight of minorities anymore.

Son mugged while putting up campaign signs for his dad in Chandler.

One gas station with stations in Arizona has been caught rigging their pumps to their benefit. The company was caught in Texas and no violations have been reported in Arizona.

Talk show host Michael Savage called autism a “fraud” and a “racket.” Yesterday, he defended his comments by saying, “My comments about autism were meant to boldly awaken parents and children to the medical community’s attempt to label too many children or adults as “autistic.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last week Bush was a “total failure.” Melanie Scarborough says Pelosi and her cronies enabled the president to fail. Remember our government consists of three branches and all spending bills start in the legislative branch.

McCain gaffes continue to pile up.

New Jersey is going to require an organ donor decision for all people getting their driver’s license. Is it a simple yes or no question? Or is it something the government is forcing you to do?

Those sexist “Men At Work” signs in Atlanta will be changed.

McDonald’s had bigger revenues in Europe than in the U.S.

Sean Connery drops his son from his will saying he should provide for himself.

Vanity Fair takes a stab at satire at the expense of John McCain.  He’s pictured with a walker.