Defending the American Dream

Steve, the major point here is that it is government over-reaching, government's attempt at social engineering, and government corruption that has caused this problem. It is not the free market, but the opposite, that has caused this problem. To be more clear, it is the Democrats, for the most part, that have to account for this disaster ... yet still, many Americans are believing that it is our President and Republican policies that actually caused it. What does that say those that just don't get it.

Right you are Steve. It was government meddling in the economy that caused this mess in the first place. We have seen time and time again that our government in inept at managing money... that's even more true right here in NJ! The notion that fruther government intervetion will fix the damage it has caused is preposterous (for you Democrats, that means it's a bad idea).

"Reaganomics" resulted in the longest run of prosperity this nation has ever seen; a run the Bill Clinton rode through his 7th year in office.

3 weeks ago, Barack Obama stated that if elected, he would do a better job a "managing" the economy. Someone please inform Barry that it is not the job of the President to "manage" our 'free market' economy and please don't try. Government's role should be to provide oversight/law enforcemnt to protect us from illegal practices and provide a safety net such as with the FDIC to protect investors from loosing all through no fault of their own. Other than that, it should get out of the way and let us carry on our business.

The Reagan model did just that. By allowing people to keep more of their money, it encouraged more private sector spending and investment. Someone should also tell Mr. Obama that the "little guy" is best off when the economy is strong and often the frist to be laid off when it is not. I ust can't see how Obama's plan helps any of us at all... unless of course you work for the government.

No disrespect to Steve Longan intended, but to say that "so far this Chris Christie blows" is beyond understanding. In what way are you evaluating and judging Mr. Christie's accomplishments? If nothing else, Christie has shown a great deal of focus and integrity in targeting government corruption. He is an excellent prosecutor with many successful prosecutions of our elected crooks that think that our tax money is open for their spending as they see fit, or for personal gain.

From September:
"The hypothetical matchup between Gov. Jon Corzine and prosecutor Christopher Christie is still a dead heat, but at least this time the Governor is two points on the right side of the split," said Clay Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Corzine's job approval rating has slipped a couple of more points and Christie is leading among independent voters who often decide New Jersey elections."

When was the last time you saw a Republican in NJ match up so well, without even officially running?

If we keep trying to spin the current economic problems onto the democrats, we will remain a minority party for a long time. It's time for us to stand up and admit that GWB screwed it up big time and the GOP controlled congress went right along with him. The GOP violated the trust of the American people and were thrown out of power for their failure.

GWB presided over 8 years of out of control spending, the largest increase in the size of our government ever and the largest budget deficits in history. You cannot prosecute two wars at $12 billion a month and cut taxes! If you want to cut taxes you better cut spending. If your going to spend $12 billion, you better implement an additional $12 billion month in tax revenue. What, did you think fighting the terrorists was going to be free? That's called putting your money where your mouth is.

Whether you like it or not, Clinton turned out to be more of a republican than Bush. He reduced the size of the government along with spending, signed welfare reform and gave Bush a balanced budget with a surplus. Also, don't try to give Reagan credit for the Clinton economy. Clinton inherited an economy in recession from Bush 1.

All that being said, I believe that the republican party has the right positions, assuming we stick to our core beliefs. Smaller government, a balanced federal budget (if you spend a dollar, you better collect a dollar in taxes), reduction of our national debt, a strong defense and the defense of personal freedom.

We need to stay out of social issues that have no bearing on government and are frankly none of our business. In many ways, the libertarians have stolen our thunder, and if we don't bring our party back on track we will continue to lose support to them.

Take a step back and look back at the last sixteen years. Who was to blame for the current housing and financial crises, the Republicans or the Democrats? The answer is both.

Bill Clinton's first Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Henry Cisneros, was the one who got the ball rolling on the housing crisis without anticipating it. His goal as HUD Secretary was to bring levels of American homeownership to new levels, especially among minorities, and you know what? He succeeded...but not without paying a price. In order to do so, however, he had to deregulate: He loosened mortgage restrictions so that first-time homebuyers qualified for loans they could never get before. Families had to prove three, not five, years of stable income. Lenders could hire their own appraisers instead of a government panel. Lenders no longer had to meet government-insured borrowers face-to-face, and they no longer had to keep physical branch offices. Mortgage companies like Countrywide loved these changes, and they worked with the government to be proactive about giving more people, especially lower-income and minority homebuyers, the opportunity to get a mortgage. Companies everywhere set up mortgage companies, and homeownership increased 3.4%. Now Cisneros meant well of course, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. People in the private sector were excessively greedy and subprime lending became a craze, rife with abusive business practices and failures to comprehend the long-term consequences of actions. And that's what causing the housing crisis right now, and that's a large part of what's bringing down our economy right now.

The George W. Bush adminstration is to blame for the crisis as well; after all, they presided over the collapse. The Bush adminstration's Department of HUD expanded subprime lending. Ancient regulations were left in place that no longer fit the bill of the modern financial sector. The Bush administration failed to update them. Obama keeps saying that it's the deregulatory policies of Bush's eight years that got us here, but that's not exactly true: It's not that Bush deregulated, it's just that he regulated the wrong way.

Also to blame: Greedy Wall Street investment bankers who didn't have the foresight to see the problems that would be created by their actions. Subprime loans were pooled into mortgage bonds and were packaged into mortgage securities, now referred to as "toxic" -- which both brought down such Wall Street veterans as Merill Lynch and Lehman Brothers.

Both parties are to blame, as are overly greedy mortgage companies and a deeply flawed Wall Street. Now then, can we all stop pointing fingers at the other party and solve the problem without completely undermining the free market?