Thursday, September 18, 2008

Economic Meltdown

Fresh Air is just a wonderful show and this 9/17 interview between host Terry Gross and Michael Greenberger is no exception.

Greenberger is a law professor and a former director at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and he explains the AIG situation and why it was so important to do a bailout. Greenberger's clear and articulate, and if you have questions about what this meltdown is all about, it's definitely worth a listen!

And... I don't know his political leanings, but he goes a step further to say that:
  • the bailout $ (Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, etc.), as well as the $ spent on Iraq are not being counted in the federal deficit #s the current administration is reporting to the public
  • the current situation is a result of deregulation that was pushed through by the 1999-2000 Republican congress
  • Obama and his advisors have a better grasp of the problem than McCain. McCain & the Republicans aren't talking about regulating these problem products; they're talking about making it easier to do government bailouts.

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