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oh for fuck's sake... NOTHING was bush's fault and now the random fluctuations of the markets (if down) are obama's fault. Typical.



Banks & mortgages have long been a bipartisan problem, with Congress using those industries as their own fifes and preventing Presidents of both parties from interfering. Bush actually did try to reign in Fannie Mae's lending a couple of years ago and was slapped down by members of *both* parties. Bill Clinton suffered the same fate before him. Even now TARP has seen some meddling from Congress.

The "fluctuations" in the market aren't "random". They're essentially uniformly down, down in way that hasn't been seen since the 1930's. Most people have limited exposure to the market, but even limited exposure hasn't prevented ~ 4.5M from becoming unemployed.

For "the rich" - the ones directly exposed to market changes - it's been much worse than a decimation. Obama wants to pay for his budget with taxes on the rich alone, but the problem is that there are far fewer now than before the recession. About 75% of everyone who was a millionaire at the beginning of 2008 wasn't a millionaire at the end of 2008, and I'd bet another 10%-15% have vanished since then. That's not cause for cheering because the more they become extinct the more the middle class has to pay for Obama's spending.

(Obama's tax plans were based on 2006 numbers, hopelessly outdated now, and if he tries to rescue "the rich" so they can plan for his spending plans it will take them at least five years to recover, meaning the middle class has to pay at least until then)

(here's another reason you need "the rich" - the top 1% of tax returns paid 40% of taxes in 2006. If the can't pay that much this year it means that the middle class has to make up for it somehow)

The reason the markets are reacting so badly right now is that there seems to be no plan for a recovery (a stimulus and the mortgage program are kinda pointless without addressing the financial market problem first, and even TALF only does any good while cash is being poured into it). The blip on the Chinese announcement was because it seemed that at someone had a plan.
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"If they can't picture me with a knife, forcing them to strip in an alley, I don't want any part of it. It's humiliating." - windsock