I seem to be hearing a lot of democrats saying that we should be avoiding the blame game at this time, and we should just be solving the issues at hand. They are saying this while they try to craft bills to take more money from the taxpayers to fix some horrendous problems on Wall Street.

I get the impression that they want to avoid the blame game because they know they are at fault. They know that if we focus on the fact that they are at fault, that they won't be able to get the support to get any bailout (socialism) bills passed. They know that they will lose their majority in the house and senate next month.

A buddy sent me an article that is very interesting. It's entitled "Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending" and it was written by Steven A. Holmes. The article talks about how Fannie Mae's lending money to borrowers that couldn't afford the mortgages they were signing up for. The article talks about how the company may run into trouble during an economic downtown. The article says this could require a rescue similar to that of the S&L industry in the 80s. The article was published in 1999. The article states that Fannie Mae was easing it's lending requirements due to pressure from the Clinton administration. Yes, the article was published in 1999. The article was dead-on. The article can be found here, on the NYTimes.com website.

The republicans had several years to address this problem. Housing was booming, employment rates were fantastic, the economy was very, very strong for several years. This was a problem, and it went seemingly unrecognized. Wait, "this was a problem?" you ask. Yes, I think the economy was doing too well, and it should have been recognized as an issue. Someone needed to pull back on the reigns and slow things down. Growth like we saw in home ownership was out of control, and it was headed for disaster. We should have been able to prevent ourselves from slipping into this state that we're in now.

I guess everyone's to blame, but I see it mostly as a problem with entitlement. I believe democrats generally feel that the American people are entitled to more things than republicans do. Home ownership is not an entitlement; it's not a right; it's a privilege. And if you cannot afford it, I'm sorry, you should not own a home. If you cannot afford a new car, you shouldn't be able to get the loan for one. And good god, if you cannot afford a 61" plasma TV, you should not be able to get one on 28% interest credit. And Mr. American, if you cannot afford to make your house payment, sell that fucking 61" plasma TV!!