Please God, Save Us From The Crusaders

On the list of human sins, Pride is undoubtedly the most insidious. Especially among men. I've commented here before about how men are biologically programmed to think of themselves as The Star Of The Show. Our lives are an action movie, starring us. Everyone else is supporting cast, and everything else is just props and fluff.

The problem is when that mindset is combined with any amount of power or ability to get results in the real world. It's simply human nature (or male nature, as the case may be), for us to assume that we know best, and that people should do what we tell them to, and that we could live most peoples lives for them far better than they could manage themselves. And when things go wrong, it wasn't our fault. If anything, we should have taken MORE control of the situation, since whatever went wrong was clearly someone else's fault. We're the Star! It can't have been our fault!

This sort of thinking is inherent in the Democratic point of view, which really boils down to government controlling as much as possible of people's lives, to spare them the trouble of doing things on their own that might get them into trouble. (Thinking, for example.) While I can get behind the idea that most people who walk the face of the earth are dolts who benefit greatly from having someone to tell them what to do, I can't be a believer, since I don't do well with people telling me what to do.

Additionally, where people honestly believe that they, as The Star Of The Show, are working for the benefit of some grand cause, they can become oblivious of just how idiotic their position is or becomes. I've posted before about how people are largely incapable of believing that an idea that they hold so dear (such as communism) can be capable of any sort of evil (such as Stalin's murder of millions of his own people), and claim that such reports are merely propaganda against their Chosen Cause. This is much the same thing: regardless of the weight of evidence against them, people acting as The Star Of The Show for the benefit of A Great Cause literally CANNOT be convinced that they're wrong. They are the Star! It's a Great Cause! How could they be wrong?! Haven't you read the script?!!

As an example of this, take Bill Clinton. Talk about a guy who was the star of the show, and not just in his own mind. He was on Letterman earlier this week, talking about how America came into its current financial woes, and what needs to be done. He blames it all on the housing crisis, including on Fannie and Freddie, and even went so far as to admit that what happened was that a lot of loans were given to people with questionable credit. When those people ended up unable to pay the loans, the banking system was saddled with the collective loss, and needed a bailout. That was Clinton's explanation, which I agree with. Of course, he neglected to own up to the fact that Fannie and Freddie knew those loans were going to people were bad credit risks, and that Fannie and Freddie needed to be pressured into making those loans by - notably - THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION. The bad loans that resulted in our economy being fucked were made at the urging of Bill and his cohorts!

But I can forgive him for glossing over his own involvement in the collective screwing of the pooch. I'm still bitter, but it is water under the bridge, and involved a lot more players than he, even if he was one of the primary culprits.

The part that made me gape was what immediately followed his admission that Fannie and Freddie made loans to bad credit risks. His position was that there should have been MORE REGULATION. Specifically, that Fannie and Freddie (and other banks) should have been required to have more capitol on hand to back up possible defaults. In effect, they should have had enough liquid assets on hand to provide a hedge against massive defaults, guarantee the banks' own solvency, and thus ride it out any crisis without needed needing a bailout and/or without fucking the availability of credit.

Frankly, I cannot believe that a man that smart actually said something that incredibly stupid. And I find it even more amazing that people listen to him and agree. Seriously, WTF?

First of all, how exactly were banks supposed to come up with that capitol to back up those loans? Summon it from the sky? Banks are just businesses! They control the flow of money, but not even they are able to make something out of nothing! Where exactly were Fannie and Freddie (and the rest) supposed to come up with billions in capital as a precaution to guarantee solvency in the face of Fannie and Freddie (and the rest) being compelled to make thousands or millions of bad loans? They wouldn't have been able to do it! Money and assets don't come from the sky, not even for banks! The end result is that if Clinton's hypothetical regulations had been in place, and required banks to limit loans to levels that are balanced by a certain amount of capital, THE LOANS TO "SUBPRIME BORROWERS" WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED! Clinton says that the solution to the problem was that the government should have enacted regulations that prevented the banks from granting the loans the government was ordering them to make!

Besides which, the heart of Clinton's position is that banks should not give out so many loans that they would not be able to survive if many of those loans went into default. Well guess what? THAT IS EXACTLY THE BUSINESS MODEL THAT BANKS FOLLOW, EXCEPT WHERE THEIR GOVERMENT STEPS IN AND TELLS THEM TO GIVE MORE LOANS TO BAD CREDIT RISKS! Enacting this regulation is like telling a merchant that he need to sell his wares for more money than he buys them for! Of course, this type of regulation makes perfect sense from a Democratic standpoint, which sees no inherent conflict in (a) We depend on your business, so you must follow sound business practices, and (b) you must soften your business practices, to give your services to people who cannot afford your services. Have I mentioned what happens when governments confuse regulation of wealth with creation of wealth? THINGS DO NOT WORK OUT JUST BECAUSE GOVERNMENT ORDERS IT TO BE SO!

Clinton's position is that the banking system was at fault, because the system could not simultaneously follow the good business sense it exercised of its own accord, and also follow the bad business sense being forced upon it by government! The root of his position: When the admistration decided it knew the mortgage industry better then the mortgage industry, and stepped in to enact bad economic policy, it made a mistake by not enacting ENOUGH bad policy!

People, keep the government out of banking and industry! Stars Of The Show are fun to watch, but there is a reason that Tom Cruise makes his money with his looks instead of with finance or industry! Things work the way they work for a reason, and your politicians and other Stars do NOT know more about business and finance than the professionals who work in business and finance! Do not let their confidence and egos to convince you that a Star actually knows what they're doing! They're actors and politicians ferchristsake! They will play you with those sort of bullshit policies and promises and drama if you let them! They might promise you prosperity and happiness, but if they give you prosperity and happiness you haven't earned, they do it by either borrowing against tomorrow, or by looting someone else in an exercise of Robin Hood economics. If we want to have lasting success and prosperity, the only way to get it is to WORK! No amount of charisma, whether it comes from a guy named Bill or a guy named Barack is going to change that!

Remember, The Star of The Show, be it in a movie or in politics, is just an actor, who doesn't really work for a living. He just puts on a Show, and expects you to pay not only his salary, but also the cost of the Show as a whole!

How much can you afford?