Dr. Stan Liebowitz makes some good points in his article, including that we need to get back to the basics and impose an equity requirement on residential mortgages. Unfortunately, he also omitted some useful data that clearly discloses his bias and gives credence to the old saw that: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.”
I do not agree with Dr. Liebowitz's conclusion that the increase in subprime defaults is statistically insignificant such that we can summarily dismiss allegations of inappropriate conduct as being purely partisan politics.
A quick survey of the internet confirms the following: subprime mortgages account for 25% of residential mortgages and the default rates in 2005 were 2.2% for prime and 14.6% for subprime borrowers. And while I am not an economist (like Dr. Liebowitz) or a mathematician, it seems to me that 200% of 25% of 14.6% is a statistically bigger number then 488% of 75% of 2.2%. In fact, the increased subprime default rate is almost 300% larger than the increased prime default rate!!! Clearly Dr. Liebowitz should have been able to figure this out for himself. So I can only conclude that he has an undisclosed agenda.
Regardless, I would highly recommend that Dr. Liebowitz revisit his conclusions (and perhaps a remedial statistics class) and suggest some strategies to prevent Democrats like Rep. Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd from further hurtful meddling.
Showing posts with label Chris Dodd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Dodd. Show all posts
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
The Obamanation Continues ...
The Obamanation made it all the way through Chicago dirty politics exactly by not being the point man on anything. He promoted himself by associating himself with everything that succeeded. Now, while the economy tanks, the Obamanation is joking with Leno that he bowls like a special Olympian! Obviously the trend continues ... Meanwhile the Obamanation's henchmen, Pelosi, Dodd, Hoyer, Frank, Waxman, Conyers, Waters and others carry out and implement his socialistic "Change." I wonder how he will throw them all under the bus when the economy continues to tank.
When the Obamanation started talking about wealth redistribution the country should have known that he would behave and think like the welfare recipients he organized. Clearly education and hard work mean nothing and the government owes them everything! That the Obamanation wants wealth redistribution after having excelled to the Presidency is incredibly ironic given that he has excelled precisely because he worked and studied hard. I guess in the end, its all about what others can do for you, not what you can do for yourself. How sad.
When the Obamanation started talking about wealth redistribution the country should have known that he would behave and think like the welfare recipients he organized. Clearly education and hard work mean nothing and the government owes them everything! That the Obamanation wants wealth redistribution after having excelled to the Presidency is incredibly ironic given that he has excelled precisely because he worked and studied hard. I guess in the end, its all about what others can do for you, not what you can do for yourself. How sad.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Who Created this Economic Mess?
Professor John Taylor of Sanford University thinks our government created the financial crisis and I think he has a very strong argument.
However, Mr. Taylor gives to much credence to the increase in oil prices, which were driven by speculators, and the public's reaction to TARP, which was a need jerk reaction to such large sums and not a studied and thoughtful response to Messrs. Bernanke and Paulson. In my opinion, Jay Leno's person-on-the-street interviews and John Ziegler's HowObamaGotElected.com suggest that the vast majority of Americans probably have no clue who either person is and what they did. So it is highly unlikely that their poor congressional performance elicited a strong response.
Artificially low interest rates and undervaluing the risk of mortgage back securities due to the wrong headed meddling of congress, lax oversight and partisanship where in my opinion the major forces. With stories everywhere about the steep increases in housing prices and a steep increase in the numbers of homes purchased by investors the Fed should have raised interest rates. Unethical relations with the industry like Senator Chris Dodd's with Countrywide and Representative Barney Frank's with his lover at Fannie Mae were probably unethical and diminished congressional oversight to the point that they became cheerleaders for new excesses in the housing mortgage market. And when President Bush and regulators complained, Democrats led by Dodd and Frank defended with partisanship rancor instead of investigating the complaint or providing a reasoned response.
However, Mr. Taylor gives to much credence to the increase in oil prices, which were driven by speculators, and the public's reaction to TARP, which was a need jerk reaction to such large sums and not a studied and thoughtful response to Messrs. Bernanke and Paulson. In my opinion, Jay Leno's person-on-the-street interviews and John Ziegler's HowObamaGotElected.com suggest that the vast majority of Americans probably have no clue who either person is and what they did. So it is highly unlikely that their poor congressional performance elicited a strong response.
Artificially low interest rates and undervaluing the risk of mortgage back securities due to the wrong headed meddling of congress, lax oversight and partisanship where in my opinion the major forces. With stories everywhere about the steep increases in housing prices and a steep increase in the numbers of homes purchased by investors the Fed should have raised interest rates. Unethical relations with the industry like Senator Chris Dodd's with Countrywide and Representative Barney Frank's with his lover at Fannie Mae were probably unethical and diminished congressional oversight to the point that they became cheerleaders for new excesses in the housing mortgage market. And when President Bush and regulators complained, Democrats led by Dodd and Frank defended with partisanship rancor instead of investigating the complaint or providing a reasoned response.
Friday, February 6, 2009
President Obama's Speech to Fellow Dimwitocrats
We are in deep, deep, trouble. There is no way the Dimwitocrat's borrow and spend policy is going to stimulate anything but the national debt. Obama said no earmarks. Wrong. Obama said no partisanship. Wrong. Obama said change. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! President Obama is the very embodiment of partisan politics he derided during his campaign and a bunch of people hoping for better times bought into the canard and elected a consummate politician.
I did not understand the venom the left spewed at President Bush, but I am beginning to get a sense of it. Especially when President Obama laughed at the debt he inherited like it was not something that he did not need to consider. President Obama was wrong when he said tax cuts were discredited. President Bush and Republicans were voted out of office because of the Iraq war and borrowed spending on the war amplified the mortgage crisis we had been teetering on for years. A mortgage crisis made more terrible by Senator Chris "I did not know I was getting special treatment from Countrywide" Dodd and Barney "Supporting my lover at Fannie Mae is not unethical" Frank.
This is a time for sound fiscal responsibility, not unbridled borrowing and spending. We can not and should not rush into a trillion dollar, pork laden, social engineering experiment. Unfortunately, no one seems strong enough or poised to stop it.
I did not understand the venom the left spewed at President Bush, but I am beginning to get a sense of it. Especially when President Obama laughed at the debt he inherited like it was not something that he did not need to consider. President Obama was wrong when he said tax cuts were discredited. President Bush and Republicans were voted out of office because of the Iraq war and borrowed spending on the war amplified the mortgage crisis we had been teetering on for years. A mortgage crisis made more terrible by Senator Chris "I did not know I was getting special treatment from Countrywide" Dodd and Barney "Supporting my lover at Fannie Mae is not unethical" Frank.
This is a time for sound fiscal responsibility, not unbridled borrowing and spending. We can not and should not rush into a trillion dollar, pork laden, social engineering experiment. Unfortunately, no one seems strong enough or poised to stop it.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Deregulation? Nobama the fault lies with YOU!
No Senator Obama, it was not deregulation that caused the economic morass we are in, it was ferocious and persistent protection of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by you and Representatives Barney Frank, Maxine Waters, Lacy Clay and Senators Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Chuck Schummer and Chuck Hagel that enabled Acorn and others like them to give billions in "affordable" mortgages under the Community Reinvestment Act to people who could not afford them. Clearly YOUR policies are not good for America. Everyone needs to view this video on Burning Down the House: What Caused our Economic Crisis to understand that Nobama's philosophies are bad for America.
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