Bush Discovers Mortgage Crisis: Says He Is Watching
Author: Charles Feldman • URL: http://www.thefeldmanblog.comJanuary 9th, 2008 •
Will wonders never cease? First, Hillary Clinton proves the media wrong and wins the New Hampshire presidential primary with a comfortable number of votes just 24 hours after some polls said she would lose by as much as 15 percent.
And now, George W. Bush has finally come to recognize what most of the world already knew–the economy is sick and the primary cause is the subprime mortgage debacle.
Bush actually has said that he is watching the U.S. economy carefully now (wasn’t he doing that before?) to help him decide whether the federal government needs to do more before the ship of state takes on too much water.
Of course, Bush is not one to come out and just say, Hey, I was wrong! But, this comes close: “I’m optimistic, as I’ve seen this economy, you know, go through periods of uncertainty,”Bush said. “I like the fundamentals, they look strong, but there are new signals that should cause concern. And, one of the signals is the fact that the housing market is soft.”
Well, yeah! Guess you could say the housing market is soft: the value of homes all across the country has gone down;more and more homeowners find themselves in foreclosure or are about to be;and, the credit market is tighter than a clam shell.
So,yeah,guess you can say the housing market it soft.
And, the President admits this is no short term crisis : ” It’s going to take awhile to work through the downturn,” said Bush.
In another sign that the administration is starting to sweat it, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told CNBC the administration is thinking about new ways to help some borrowers who will take a beating from adjustable rate mortgages.
It is, of course, welcome news that the President now understands there is a real problem here. Too bad he didn’t come to that realization months ago.
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Tags: Henry Paulson, hillary clinton, president bush, subprime mortgage
Joshua Dorkin
Charles Feldman
Ted Karsch.
Troy Schuricht
Anwell Tsai
Richard Warren
Jim Watkins
Happy to know that Hillary win. If I was an American I will vote for her.
One of the worst things Bush could have ever done was submit that government bailout of the mortgage companies who were failing because of sub-prime loans. This sends a strong message to businesses that prudence and due-diligence are slowing becoming a thing of the past as governments will eventually control everything.
I am highly upset over this. This will slow down how fast we come out of this recession.
Some of these blogs are about laughable. What type of leader will tell people “Yes we are in big big trouble”, or show doubt. What do you think the market would do then? If someone had simple education and leadership skills you would know this.
Only a closed minded individual would pick a candidate now.
I do agree it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out trouble is ahead.
I agree with Ken. What kind of leader would tell everyone we’re in a great big mess. Hopefully, the new law eliminating the need to include amounts of forgiven debt to the home owner will help them when they re-negotiate their mortgage and help the housing market rebound.