Ya, that sums it up pretty well. Of course, maybe not all the blame should go to Bush regarding management of the financial crisis. He was pretty much checked out at that point and Hank Paulson screwed the pooch on that one.
Hopefully Obama will do something with the rest of the bailout money to actually affect home foreclosures, which is what is behind the capitalization problems at banks and the problem with mortgage-backed and other credit-related securities. And if Obama succeeds in reducing foreclosures and stabilizing the banking sector, home prices should start to rebound, and the rest of the economy along with them hopefully. If this chain of events happens, it will be another judgement on Bush (as if history or his legacy need any more damning judgements on Bush) that he wasted months dilly-dallying with a bailout that doubled the size of the annual deficit without actually acheiving any results.
I’m hopeful that Obama can do this and that the rest of the bailout money will be managed better and more productively. The crash in home prices has had a huge impact on the economy, as well as on the psyche of the population. Yes, housing prices were overvalued and unrealistic (in some markets more than others), but the market needs to find a pricing floor, so people can accept their losses and move on. People shouldn’t have to worry that their primary investment (or if thinking about buying a home, future investment) is going to be losing them money or is basically worthless (if you have a mortgage that is underwater). Keeping foreclosures from flooding the market is an important step for stabilizing housing prices and stimulating the economy as a whole.
sneaky
