Obama and McCain are going to be integrally influential in this bill if they participate in the congressional session. I don't think it is appropriate to campaign and argue while something of this magnitude that will affect us all is being negotiated and voted upon. While 3,000 lives were lost on 9/11, this next week could have a similar impact. If this is handled wrong, the entire economy of the United States and the world could collapse. That's worst case scenario.
Yea, but the government could have intervened in the situation to prevent such instability. However it would have slowed the economy somewhat in the short-term, because more mortgages = people have more money to spend, = the economy doing better.
the problem was that people had more money to spend through Home Equity Line of Credits, which contributed to this credit crisis.
How so? So they should just wash their hands clean of it and argue about things they aren't directly involved in implementing? The resolution of this conflict WILL decide the White House. Whomever is going to take the lead here is more than likely going to win.
McCain's real influence is with house republicans. They're looking for direction from the leader of their party. This bill is a really big deal. It's not guaranteed to work at all, and the price tag is a 25% jump in the budget for this year. The budget is already huge. We're talking about as much as a $1.5T deficit for ONE YEAR if the bill passes as-is. I applaud both men for taking even a small break to go back and lead their parties. Yes, it injects presidential politics into the mix, but maybe they're already in the mix anyhow. McCain radically reduced his convention on the day the hurricane was to hit New Orleans. It really does seem to me that it would look like Nero fiddling while Rome burns (stole that from someone here!) if they continue their partisan bickering while a bipartisan effort is required to do anything on the Hill. Sure, McCain's move today was a political move, too. He definitely knocked Obama for a loop. Obama went on stage and talked about 40 days from now, the economy becoming the next president's problem. I couldn't help but think to myself how from Nov. 4 to Jan 21 is 3 more months, Jr. Senator! McCain asked for the meeting with Bush and Obama. Obama accepted. I guess it doesn't matter if the president is W, when he calls for you, you do go as asked.
Ironic, if Obama just votes "Present" on this bill, eh? That's the sentiment that the "stay out of this and continue on" contingency of cynics and want to be comedians are saying.
Like it or not, but both the Democrats and the Bush Administration need McCain right now. This bill would pass with only Dems voting for it, but the Democrats need the Republicans to vote for it as well or politically it's Kryptonite. The Bush Administration needs McCain to support it as well. McCain is now the de facto leader of the GOP, not President Bush. McCain will thrust himself center stage and get Republican votes for this bill so both sides have political cover and it appears bi-partisan. In this sense, Obama is right. He's not needed to perform the duties of his job. He can just continue to campaign. Pelosi and Reid have done all the heavy lifting for him. Who were your friends at Cantor? Todd Pelino and Kaleen Pezzuti I was very close with.
I dunno, but the way things turned out. The government of Bush's time cared about improving the happiness of the people during his terms at the expense of the people during the next terms.
Beat me to it. McCain is needed to ensure this is a bi-partisan bill. House Republicans don't want to touch this thing and the Democrats don't want to be the only ones on the line along with a lame-duck President.
Actually the change in policy came under the Clinton Administration. This problem has been a long time in the making.
Carlton Valvo . . . was in his wedding and met his co-workers. Called me on his cell phone day it happened. It was chaos, he told me it was crazy over there, he said he was OK and then said "I got to go". Last time I taked to him . . . then I watched the building go down. Feel empty just thinking about it. Had a wife and one beautiful daughter.
If you ever wonder why I'm such a vociferous proponent of the War on Terror, it's stories like these. It's been seven years and I still think of my friends. I also had one on the plane that hit the North Tower. What a fucking day that was.
The Bush administration had the power to intervene at any point in time, and the situation would have been less servere if done earlier.
Umm, Hey Bush don't create a situation that will F up the economy for later years. Let poor people rent if they have to, not everyone in the world can afford to own their own house. I'm not saying it would be a popular move, but it'd be one that made sense, maybe asking too much? lol
oh i would have loved to see the riots after that one. face it, america is greedy, america is stupid. this was highly obvious. I am saddened that nothing was done about it.
My wife and I are good friends with a United pilot and his wife who's a United stewardess. They live in PA. On 9/11 he almost took the jump seat on flight 93, but he was lucky that something came up and he decided to take the next flight. Needless to say, they knew the crews of the two United flights downed that day, and spent the good part of a month at funerals for their good friends. He's 65+ years old now and was forced to retire, but she still flies the friendly skies. I am obviously thankful they both survived that day, but I cannot even begin to empathize with what that month of funerals was like for them. I remember the Cantor CEO on TV that day, showing grief like I've never seen on a human being in my life. He had an appointment that day and was out of the office when the planes hit. He lost 658 employees, probably knew most of them well, and enough of them to call good friends.
