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Proposed student loan bailout rule makes no sense
As the Federal Register approached its previous record of 95,894 pages in a year (set in 2016), the Biden administration devoted a few more…
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Free the Economy podcast: Understanding the national debt with Thomas Savidge
In this week’s episode we cover whether Americans feel better off than they were four years ago, why we have more billion-dollar…
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Can moderators ask debate questions that don’t presume a progressive policy agenda?
Numerous policy issues are shaping this year’s first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, as well as the entire campaign atmosphere. These include…
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Lehman Bros hearing — Rep. Maloney blames deregulation, ignores her own role as Fannie’s enabler
At the hearing being held today by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in which former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld is now…
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All of the bailouts are expected to $1.8 trillion and we get “green credits” and IRS fun!
Thanks to Declan McCullagh for his article that highlights the non-financial portions of the bailout. Particularly useful is his chart (with information from Reuters)…
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Market down on bailout — Don’t compound damage with overregulation of ‘Main Street’
Today -- five days after a courageous independent vote against Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's $700 billion bailout for Wall Street -- the U.S. House of…
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CEI President Issues Statement on the Bailout
Statement of Fred L. Smith, Jr., President of CEI: The bailout bill that passed the Senate is no improvement over the bill the House rightly…
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Bailout Bill Grows More Bloated, Ignoring Alternatives
There are alternative approaches to the bailout that would cost taxpayers less. But instead, Congress is expanding the bailout bill to stuff it with more…
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Kling hits secondary market — misses benefits
Arnold Kling hits the creation of the secondary market for mortgage loans as the major factor -- 50 percent — causing…
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Bailout Bill Gets More Expensive and Dangerous
The politically dangerous $700 billion financial system bailout bill is getting even more expensive as supporters load it up with pork to get wavering…
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Duplicating Bailout efforts
ACORN is speaking against it—maybe it will actually help! This past summer Congress passed “Hope for Homeowners” which took effect Monday. Distressed borrowers can…
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Why the Bailout Won’t Help Money Markets
It will actually divert money to the Treasury from commercial lending. Naked Capitalism has more, concluding: When Paulson dumps out his 700 billion in…
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Bailout Bill Is A Threat to Democracy
At least in its original form, the $700 billion bailout bill was unconstitutional because it gave the Treasury Secretary boundless discretion to buy, or…
Op-Eds
Greens Exploit Wall Street Bailout
Will the Wall Street bailout be the beginning of the New (Green) Deal?…
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Deregulation Didn’t Cause the Financial Crisis, But It Might Help Solve It
Banking expert Peter Wallison explains why deregulation didn’t cause the financial crisis, while Steven Malanga explains how government regulators foolishly pressured banks to drop prudent lending…
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CDS’s House of Cards
It’s been called a ticking time bomb by Investor’s Business Daily. CNNMoney asks if this will be the next disaster. Yet the Feds…
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Another bad bailout idea — raising deposit insurance cap is regressive and counterproductive
As the Wall Street crisis has expanded, politicians are falling all over themselves arguing on behalf of the “little guy” against “fat cats.” But in…
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SEC Loosens Rigid Accounting Rules
Rigid mark-to-market accounting rules may have triggered the current financial crisis by artificially undervaluing mortgages and securities (making financial institutions appear insolvent). Even the…
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The Market’s Winners and Losers
The People have spoken. They have picked the Market over the Government to be the chooser of winners and losers. Here are the Market’s choices…
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What Are Markets For?
There are all sorts of people today who normally talk about free markets but who have got themselves into a tizzy over the failed bailout.
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Republican Study Commitee plan now best viable alternative
The stunning defeat of the Hank Paulson’s socialism-for-Wall Street bailout on Monday has just made planks of a pro-free market alternative much more viable. As…
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Bailout fails — Move on to Mark-to-Market Reform
Oh, Happy Day! And it certainly is for all those who value freedom, responsibility and the true free market in which individuals are free to…
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Investing in Communal Failure: The Current Economic Crisis as a Result of Regulation
Unfettered greed is the suspect many point at to explain the current economic crisis. To some extent, they are right, but it isn't irrational…
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Stocks Climb as House Rejects Bailout
Though the bill may have been defeated for the wrong reasons—like the lack of freebies, giveaways, and handouts that many on the left had hoped…
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BREAKING NEWS: Bailout Vote Fails in House
The House of Representatives just voted down the $700 billion corporate finance bailout, despite earlier urging from President Bush to push the measure…
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Bailout Bill Just Got Worse, But Congress May Approve It Without Reading It, Based on Misleading Claims
The bailout bill has been larded up with additional welfare that will increase its cost, but the House will likely approve it today without…
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Bailouts to local govts and also foreign authorities
Andy McCarthy on National Review’s Corner points out, The scheme “[a]llows the government to purchase troubled assets from pension plans, local governments, and small…
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$700 billion to worsen economy? — Berlau in American Spectator
Here are excerpts from my story in today’s American Spectator Online on how the $700 billion bailout could actually make things worse — in terms…
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Hurry up with that exchange
Credit default swaps remain a large part of this financial crisis, with some analysts crediting the failures in the $58 trillion market as more important…
Op-Eds
Doing Something
"The government has to do something to keep markets from falling and the economy from getting worse." How many times have you heard…
Citation
A Roundup of Bailout Reactions From People I Respect
Op-Eds
Doing Something?
“The government has to do something to keep markets from falling and the economy from getting worse.” How many times have you heard…
Blog
Beachcombing on the Bailout
Here are a few treasures I found this morning: Kathryn Jean Lopez on National Review Online points out that some of the 20% of…
Blog
Bailout Bill Drafted by Senator Dodd Is a Scam on Taxpayers to Bankroll Left-Wing Extremists
The $700 billion bailout of the financial system just got worse, thanks to a rewrite by Senate banking committee chairman Chris Dodd. If the government…
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Welfare Added to Bailout to Appease Liberals
The cost of the $700 billion bailout bill, criticized as unconstitutional by legal scholars, is rising, as Congressional leaders demand new handouts for deadbeats (and…
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Bailout Bill Is Unconstitutional Delegation
Constitutional experts have concluded that that the $700 billion bailout bill is an unconstitutional delegation of power, in violation of constitutional separation-of-powers safeguards. I earlier reached the…
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Kudos to Republican Study Committee for bailout alternative
Those of us (and CEI is among the “us”!) who oppose Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s $700 billion bailout of Wall Street have been challenged to…
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Bailout Bills, Illegal Aliens, and Weird Lending Practices
The proposed $700 billion bailout is “dangerous, inflationary, unnecessary, and unconstitutional,” funds left-wing special-interest groups, ignores less costly ways of propping up financial markets, and fails…
Blog
The new 4th branch of government
I’d rather my government individually bail out each institution that is “too big to fail” and let the smaller imprudent ones fall, sending them a…
Op-Eds
Fannie, Freddie Critic Ridiculed In 2000
It is now consensus that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are at the heart of the systemic meltdown we are seeing in the…
Op-Eds
It’s Paulson’s Own Mess
They said it was "too big to fail." This multi-billion dollar firm was now on the brink of bankruptcy. Although not a bank,…
Blog
Cost of Bailout Gets Bigger; SEC Regulation Backfires
The financial bailout bill is not just “dangerous, inflationary, unnecessary, and unconstitutional.” It’s also a lot more costly than the government admits, judging from the hypocritical arguments…
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Strictly circumscribed containment
From today’s Washington Examiner editorial: “There are credible alternatives to the Bush administration’s bailout approach. Economist Brian Westbury, for example, suggests allowing troubled…
Blog
Bailout Bill Dangerous, Inflationary, Unnecessary, and Unconstitutional
The $700 billion financial bailout bill being pushed by Bush and Congressional leaders is attracting broad opposition. Not only does it rip off taxpayers…
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Republicans Oppose Democratic Plan to Aid Burdened Homeowners
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Kill the Bailout: Newt Gingrich Gets on Board
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Bailout Threatens Economy, Shreds Constitution, Rips Off Taxpayers
The stock market sank as the Bush Administration capitulated to liberal demands that its proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial system be expanded to add more…
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The Mother of All Bailouts = The Death of Fiscal Conservatism
Op-Eds
Lehman bankruptcy: In capitalism, failure is not a dirty word
My reaction to Lehman Brothers’ declaring of Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the refusal of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and…
Op-Eds
Trust-Funding Fannie and Freddie
Almost every time Congress creates a "trust fund" for a certain policy issue, the money flowing into this "trust fund" is diverted to…
Citation
More on the Mother of All Bailouts
Op-Eds
The Wind Cries ‘Bailout!’
Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens launched a media blitz this week to announce his plan for us "to escape the grip of foreign oil." Now…
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Shady HUD Secretary to Resign
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