We Need To Move Toward A REGULATED Economy (loans, free market, real estate)

[KevK]

One thing that has become painfully obvious this week- and for awhile- is that deregulation is a complete and total FAILURE in the way we do business. If we don't do anything else, we need to re regulate virtually everything and we need to heavily regulate business in ths country.
For beginners, the government needs to update and enforce the anti trust laws BIG time! We need to stop allowing big banks and big business to merge and buy each other out. They then become "too big to fail" and we end up having to bail them out.
Another thing is to really clamp down on speculators. Speculators caused this mess. A good first step was banning "short sellers". These are just dirt ball criminals that actually bet that a company will fail. They are also the ones that drove gasoline to $4.50 a gallon this summer. "Investing" is one thing but speculating is criminal. One good way to cure this is to reform capital gains taxes. The tax should be 90% for any stock that is sold within a month of purchase, 75% for any stock sold within a year, 50% for 2.5 years, 25% for 4 years and 10% for over 5 years. That would curb alot of nutty speculation and "bubbles".
The final thing is real estate reform. We need to get back to when houses were for people to buy and live in and NOT for people to speculate on and "flip". Mortgages need to go back to when you had to pay cash down, have at least decent credit and have the income needed to actually make the payments. Smoke and mirror loans should be outlawed. So should pre payment penalties. And mortgage interest tax deductions on 2nd homes should absolutely NOT be allowed.

[HappyTexan]

Radical bailout plan has a jawdropping price tag - Yahoo! News

snippet:
"Paulson rejected Democrats' calls to include tighter regulations, corporate reforms or limits on executive compensation as part of the measure, Sherman said. "He's doing his best to paint a picture of the sky falling, and then he says, because the sky's falling, you have to do it my way."

Looks like the Fed is running the government these days. Congress only has a rubber stamp.

[Wild Style]

^^

May Paulson's days be filled with pot holes and speeding tickets. And his nights with incontinence and a under supply of toilet paper.

[BankREO]

Originally Posted by KevK

One thing that has become painfully obvious this week- and for awhile- is that deregulation is a complete and total FAILURE in the way we do business. If we don't do anything else, we need to re regulate virtually everything and we need to heavily regulate business in ths country.
For beginners, the government needs to update and enforce the anti trust laws BIG time! We need to stop allowing big banks and big business to merge and buy each other out. They then become "too big to fail" and we end up having to bail them out.
Another thing is to really clamp down on speculators. Speculators caused this mess. A good first step was banning "short sellers". These are just dirt ball criminals that actually bet that a company will fail. They are also the ones that drove gasoline to $4.50 a gallon this summer. "Investing" is one thing but speculating is criminal. One good way to cure this is to reform capital gains taxes. The tax should be 90% for any stock that is sold within a month of purchase, 75% for any stock sold within a year, 50% for 2.5 years, 25% for 4 years and 10% for over 5 years. That would curb alot of nutty speculation and "bubbles".
The final thing is real estate reform. We need to get back to when houses were for people to buy and live in and NOT for people to speculate on and "flip". Mortgages need to go back to when you had to pay cash down, have at least decent credit and have the income needed to actually make the payments. Smoke and mirror loans should be outlawed. So should pre payment penalties. And mortgage interest tax deductions on 2nd homes should absolutely NOT be allowed.

Deregulation in a free-market economy works when you reward companies for making good choices and let them FAIL when they make bad choices. The problem is we keep trying to privatize profits and socialize losses. We obviously don't know how to run a free-market and use regulation to do what I believe is most important --- Protect the investor from predatory practices.

[TexianPatriot]

We just need to surrender complete control of the economy to the government. Nationalize everything, bring back the soviet gulags for those pesky rabble rousers (who dare speak for liberty and private property rights?), reward the well connected at the expense of everyone else, and things will be merry. Everyone knows the command economy is the only true path to prosperity.

[jimmyP]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

^^

May Paulson's days be filled with pot holes and speeding tickets. And his nights with incontinence and a under supply of toilet paper.

Two fascinating things I haven't heard from the talking heads.

Paulson is a grand part of the problem from his tenure as CEO of Goldman Sachs. Now he is the fixer. Absolute BS.

Morgan Stanley and Goldman went crying to SEC (and Paulson) about short selling when they became the targets. Morgan Stanley and Goldman have made more money shorting other people's equities than anybody. These are two of the most unethical, immoral, and politically connected firms in existence.

The american public should have zero confidence in wall street.

[jimmyP]

There can be no free market without failure. The problem with Wall Street is people routinely are rewarded for failure (I.E Stan O'Neal, Dick Fuld, Chuck Prince ad nauseum).
The shareholders are routinely punished but not the chosen few that drive these firms off a cliff.

[Bob The Builder]

How about just ENFORCING the rules and regulations we already have? Lots of fraud occurred. Just no enforcement. What good is more regulation? It just makes it harder for honest people and easier for criminals. It also provides more makework for regulators, lawyers and bureaucrats.

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by Bob The Builder

How about just ENFORCING the rules and regulations we already have? Lots of fraud occurred. Just no enforcement. What good is more regulation? It just makes it harder for honest people and easier for criminals. It also provides more makework for regulators, lawyers and bureaucrats.

I haven't seen any SEC comments on why they let the short selling and rumors go on and on with no intervention. Surely they have a good answer as to why they turned a deaf ear ?

And the accountants who did the books for all these companies losing billions ? I'm sure they have good answers too why all these toxic investments were kept off books while they made money but came on the books and got bailed out when they lost money.

[BankREO]

Originally Posted by TexianPatriot

We just need to surrender complete control of the economy to the government. Nationalize everything, bring back the soviet gulags for those pesky rabble rousers (who dare speak for liberty and private property rights?), reward the well connected at the expense of everyone else, and things will be merry. Everyone knows the command economy is the only true path to prosperity.

Here Here!