It was a great day for America. Enough members of Congress had the courage to respond to the people of America instead of their donors and sugar daddies.
Tennessee Democrats -- Cohen, Cooper, Gordon, and Tanner supported Nancy Pelosi and big business by voting Yes for the bailout.
Tennessee Republicans -- Blackburn, Davis, David, Duncan, Wamp, and Davis were joined by Democrat Lincoln Davis voting AGAINST the bailout as the vast majority of the public wanted.
Nothing could more painfully demonstrate what is wrong with Congress than the current financial crisis.
Among the Congressional "leaders" invited to the White House to devise a bailout "solution" are the very people who have for years created the risks that have now come home to roost.
Five years ago, Barney Frank vouched for the "soundness" of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and said "I do not see" any "possibility of serious financial losses to the treasury."
Moreover, he said that the federal government has "probably done too little rather than too much to push them to meet the goals of affordable housing."
Earlier this year, Senator Christopher Dodd praised Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for "riding to the rescue" when other financial institutions were cutting back on mortgage loans. He too said that they "need to do more" to help sub prime borrowers get better loans.
In other words, Congressman Frank and Senator Dodd wanted the government to push financial institutions to lend to people they would not lend to otherwise, because of the risk of default.
The idea that politicians can assess risks better than people who have spent their whole careers assessing risks should have been so obviously absurd that no one would take it seriously.
But the magic words "affordable housing" and the ugly word "redlining" led to politicians directing where loans and investments should go, with such things as the Community Reinvestment Act and various other coercions and threats.
Does anyone else think this is akin to "vote buying?"
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