News of a Sandra Bullock murder plot reached our editorial desk today. Not normally a topic for political blogs, this year there is unquestionably something in the air. Read the story and tell us what you think about the national mood during the Obama recession.
We read and see everyday that people are angry. The electorate is turning against incumbents and the president himself. Neighbors are out of work and desperate. Tensions are high under Obama as risky economic policies lead to despair among the people.
There is a strong correlation between our economic health as a nation and crime rates. Crime is sharply higher during bad times, and lower during the good times. The current situation is no different than the norm.
Clearly not all of our economic woes are Obama’s fault but he has unquestionably made a bad situation worse. Since taking office the nation has lost 5 million jobs, racked up 10 trillion dollars in additional debt, and interest rates are spiking. In many ways our government’s policies are sacrificing our childrens’ futures for our own benefit, yet we are benefiting very little from the selfishness of our elected body politic.
In this climate there are no untouchables as the Sandra Bullock murder plot shows. America’s quintessential girl next door is reportedly the victim of a murder-for-hire plot that would have been inconceivable before this year.
And so we learn that the FBI investigated a curious case indeed. For the culturally obtuse, the background is that Sandra Bullock’s husband is rumored to have several affairs with gals from the other side of the tracks. One of them is a well-tattooed woman named Michelle McGee.
Her husband Shane Modica claims to be in touch with a “hit man” from Missouri who was hired to kill the famous actress. The FBI investigated, and although an angry local resident was identified they deemed him not a credible threat to our favorite actress.
You can read about this story here and here and here.
So a question posed to our readers for which we would like to read your response in the comments. Why is the country so angry? Why are we even talking about a Sandra Bullock murder plot in 2010?
April 17th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
That was like saying FDR caused the Depression because the worst of it happened during his presidency. We were sailing toward this iceberg long before we hit it, and Bush was in the wheelhouse.
April 17th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
John Rodgers Says:
“The Obama Recession? You’re on crack.
There was a recession and financial crisis 1-2 years before Obama came into office.”
Yeah, and in those two years both Bush and McCain asked the congress, a democratic majority to do something about the looming housing crisis and F&F.
Dodd, Frank etc told em everything would be just fine.
Ya missed that part, didntcha ?
April 17th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
I clicked on this because the link was picked up by google news. What appalling trash! First, the premise that there were no death threats against actors before the Obama administration is demonstrably false. So the commentator is a liar. Second, calling this the Obama recession might go over well with the far right but it is economic nonsense. This shows the commentator is stupid or deceitful. I’m not sure which is worse. It is one thing to hate Obama’s economic policies, but to spread drivel like this shows a lack of moral character.
April 17th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Obama recession?? The country went into recssion in Dec 2007, almost a year before Obama was elected. We, the United States, was in recession more than a year the day he took office on Jan. 20, 2009. I guess when your trying to blame Obama for a plot on Sandra Bullocks life, you can blame him for everything, even when they started during another presidents watch.
April 17th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
oh rewriting history to spin out a theory are we. I think they were supportive of fannie longer than they should of. I would have morphed it to the private sector simply because the .6 percent of rate savings was insufficient to justify it, but the trick would have been to get the banking industry to step up to the plate with comparable rates which of course they didn’t do. However, still in the game, Dodd and Frank did step up to the plate on health reform and financial reform, while bush simply went into a comfy retirement dropping it all in others hands as to our fate. he appears happy too. Rob, I too notice that a two blog threads here started with innaccurate or false thesis and they should know better. This is the spin I speak of.
April 17th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Micky – I give you credit for even trying.
April 17th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Another article: “The FBI apparently had prior run ins with this guy who has apparently had a head injury which has caused him to “lose sense of reality.”
How does this have anything to do with recession, deprivation, anger, Obama, or anything? Except a lunatic who called in a fabricated non-existent threat on a famous actor. Happens all the time, doesn’t it? “15 minutes of fame,” right?
April 17th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
ta Says:
“Micky – I give you credit for even trying.”
I credit you with no response other than your typical bullsht.
Anything for attention ?
==================================
Brian”
“oh rewriting history to spin out a theory are we. ”
No Brian, theres plenty of documentation to support my clams. Something you might want try sometime.
March 28, 2008
McCain Delivers In Housing Crisis Speech
the number one issue for voters. So what are the presidential candidates going to do about it? Dean Reynolds reports.
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., addresses members and guests of the Los Angeles Worlds Affairs Council, Wednesday, March 26, 2008, in Los Angeles. (AP)
National Review Online
——————————————————————————–
Correctly defining a problem is always the first step toward solving it. All three presidential contenders delivered major economy-themed speeches this week, but John McCain demonstrated a better understanding of the housing crisis than either of his potential Democratic opponents. His speech was short on specific policy proposals, but he declared himself open to “any and all proposals, based on their cost and benefits.”
Democrats criticized McCain’s speech for lacking specifics, displaying their fondness for laundry lists of government “solutions” to complex problems. The Democrats’ various proposals indicate that they have misdiagnosed the causes of the current crisis, attributing too much blame to “predatory lending” while absolving irresponsible borrowers who took out loans they could not afford. Conservatives needed to hear the Republican nominee present a broad and accurate overview of the crisis; the specifics can wait.
Rising home prices led lenders to lower their standards, McCain said. “Some Americans bought homes they couldn’t afford,” he added, “betting that rising prices would make it easier to refinance later at more affordable rates.”
Wall Street helped inflate the housing bubble, McCain argued, by betting big on mortgage-backed securities. When housing prices started to decline and foreclosures started to rise, a widely dispersed network of investors found themselves owning a lot of questionable mortgage debt, which sent investors into a panic.
In McCain’s formulation, irresponsible lending and borrowing created the problem, and uncertainty is at the root of its spread throughout the financial community. If accurate, this diagnosis demonstrates the folly of the Democrats’ proposed cures, which would reward irresponsibility and increase uncertainty among investors.
==============================================
“UPDATE: Again, people hear the word “claim” and assume I’m implying something that the word “claim” does not mean. (It means to assert as fact. It does not mean to FALSELY assert as fact.) McCain did indeed deliver a speech on the Senate floor in 2006 in which he warned of a problem with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the risks they posed to the housing market and the economy as a whole. But that said, any attempt to paint him as the Paul Revere of this current crisis doesn’t seem to square with his “straight talk” from November 2007.
==============================================
“John McCain 2006 – Warning On Current Housing Crisis
Posted on September 20, 2008 by mcauleysworld
FEDERAL HOUSING ENTERPRISE REGULATORY REFORM ACT OF 2005
The United States Senate
May 25, 2006
Section 16
Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae’s regulator reported that the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were “illusions deliberately and systematically created” by the company’s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae’s former chief executive officer, OFHEO’s report shows that over half of Mr. Raines’ compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.
The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator’s examination of the company’s accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.
For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs–and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO’s report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO’s report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.
I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.
I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation.
The Deocrats Killed this measure in Committee preventing a full Senate Vote.
Barack Obama voted against this reform.
See the original Senate Record here: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=109-s20060525-16&bill=s109-190
I dont lie and make sht up like you Brian
April 17th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
“Dodd and Frank did step up to the plate on health reform and financial reform, while bush simply went into a comfy retirement dropping it all in others hands as to our fate. he appears happy too. Rob, I too notice that a two blog threads here started with innaccurate or false thesis and they should know better. This is the spin I speak of.”
No you dingaling, we were talking about the two years both Bush and McCain asked the congress, a democratic majority to do something about the looming housing crisis and F&F.
You’re the moron doing the spinning.
WTF does anything in your post have to do with the CRA or Dodds and Franks particpation in it ?
Good greif it must be a nightmare inside that head of yours
April 17th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
You should really thankfully Thank a lot Dodd and Frank for atually working for the American citizen, which is more than you can give the rebpublican barrel heads who can only say no, no, no, and how angry they are at not being charles in charge so they can be sure the country isn’t even governed. You fail to follow because your in dissaray at having your spin machine demagnitized for a few brief moments. Time for more refrigerator pocket magnets I guess oo you can rewind all the spin. And I am simply revealing the republican obscurred truth as to the facts of the sad matter.
April 17th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
““Dodd and Frank did step up to the plate on health reform and financial reform,”
Stepping up to the plate ?
Stevie wonder could of done better than them.
All they did was use the CRA as did Clinton to garner votes by pressuring the banks/F/F to sell housesto those who couldnt afford then.
There were no other indicators in our economy at the resonsible for thisother than shtload of people that couldnt afford their AR mortgages or even the ones granted at below market interest rates.
Too much house for too little incomes at predatory practices that the 111th congress did nothing about.
April 17th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
Brian, thats as arrogant as Obama saying we should thank him.
This is what liberals do. Convince minorities they’re victims of the rich right (yet were all idiot hillbillys) and them offer them a cure at everyone elses cost with entitlements.
The left hasnt done a damn thing for minorities in the last 50 years but keep them on the dole
April 17th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Brian;
“And I am simply revealing the republican obscurred truth as to the facts of the sad matter.”
There you go again !
What fckng proof ?
All you did was submit a bunch of claims and assertions.
I supplied you with senate transcipts and articles, links and all to make my point and you like some delusional nut expect me to just take your word for it ?
April 17th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
well here is proof. Karl Roves ministrations over the years. He’s got quite a playbook. He’s even still on fox roger ailes great antidote to reality. So go read up on karl and I think that alone is proof enough. hey you won’t read my youtube vidos on george bushjr.s wmd tapes and you said you weren’t going to look at them. Now your projecting the very foible on me. how conveinent.
April 17th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Democrats take control of congress in 2006 economic collapse in 2008. Coincidence? I think not!
April 17th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
@Andy – that bears repeating …
Democrats took control of Congress in 2006. That precipitated the economic collapse in 2008. The policies put into place by Barney Frank and his ‘friend’ (the head of Freddie Mac) have been continued and expanded with Obama and his super-majority.
April 17th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Seriously – the democrats excuses are wearing thin.
April 17th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Brian.
“Now your projecting the very foible on me. how conveinent.”
LMFAO
Hardly, I brought it right to you baby !! Transcripts from the floor of the Senate.
Not some link to a video of a speech were you assert that “anyone could see he was lying”
All you have is opinion. I presented fact.
My claim was that McCain tried to prevent the housing crisis by bringing his case to the senate and i backed it up by showing the actual transcript and news articles reprting the same in statement #33.
Have a seat
April 17th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
no, you simply presented a jazz apple and refuse to tolerat the macntosh apples from connecticut. they are both apples no matter what demented central says. Now you may simply like the jazz apple, ok. but my mac’s are still apples as well. I think I already agreed both parties kicked the fannie mae can down the road. And robert rubin was resoponsible for getting rid of the glass steagall act that in many ways created too big to fail institutions and he was a clinton apointee. Hank Paulson was a goldman sachs ceo at one time, and oh, wait, robert rubin was a cochairman of goldman sach’s last I heard. I think even congress as well as the white house thought the crash of 2007 just couldn’t happen, till it did. what I admire, is that Frank and Dodd both stepped up to the plate to start doing meaningful reform congressional work as late as last year and it was a gruelling thankless task. Now that is what I call Great Americans, arising to the challenge, even when they are older and really putting their all behind the wheel. They are not idiots, but yes they are political party loyalists, as that is our system. I admire them actually doing something other than saying no, no, no, were gonna get you. you know??? I don’t think McCain made any such in depth- arduous effort regarding it, and if in fact he hadn’t been deposed i believe in the Lincoln s&l scandal back in papa bush days he probably wouldn’t have even noticed any problem. He is not evil, just not experienced as he should be or focused as he should be. but Frank and Dodd are putting all their experience and focus on very specific reform issues and putting their total reputations on the line, not just boiler plating it. They are engaged to the problems. I admire that kind of hard workingness and risk taking at this stage in their careers. McCain could have gone back to being a maverick and challenging the republican leadership, but he didn’t. I think for the good of the country, McCain could have come out with a few senators from both aisles and offered a simplified but effective plan and put out a third option. thats leadership. I would have.
April 17th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Regarding the comments that are taking offense at McCain’s use of the term ‘Obama’s recession’. Did anyone know we were in a ‘recession’ until the Obama Administration and its propaganda wing (the main stream media) started telling us we were in a recession that Bush caused and Obama was going to save us from?
Also, are you better off today than you were 2 years ago?
Yes – that’s what I thought. This is Obama’s recession and unless something changes fast, its likely to get a lot worse. No one is selling apples on the street to feed their children quite yet.
April 17th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Brian;
“no, you simply presented a jazz apple and refuse to tolerat the macntosh apples from connecticut. ”
Apples shnapples you got nothing but bullsht and bunch of conjecture.
I hardly think your suggestive bullsht stands up to senate transcipts and the many articles backing that transcipt.
You lost.
McCain did in fact try to warn the senate of the impending housing and financial bust.
Its all right there.
April 17th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Look Beth the big banks and brokerages took it all. And they paid themselves handome bonus’s again, in the millions still. Yes I see that money is tight for more people now and some ahve been layed off. I tip more to the restaurant and servers to help a little. This is really the great post reagan recession, as reagan, clinton, and bush policies are all to blame. Short of obama starting the Civilian Conservation Core what whould you have him do? I think they could have done more early on to create jobs though, more than jsut a stimulus package. I would have organized universitys and colleges across the country as job banks, day care centers, health care providers to help. Mickey you still haven’t looked at the fantastic Youtube bush wmd tapes. They make me shudder. Also I do not recall McCain’s clarion call to a financial disaster, but I see he made some short talking points with it but not taking it as seriously as he should. He wasn’t running around really pushing the point, just in short comment clips like covering all the basis. Beth basically what you are seeing is the collapse of the lazy fair ideology at this point in time. We realized our little megacapitalistic experiement went off the rails as jack welch would say. Everything has some sensible limits. everything.
April 17th, 2010 at 10:03 pm
The times are finally reflecting the resentment towards those, who by virtue of their wealth and/or position, have taken advantage of their positions and have gotten away with it at the expense of those less fortunate. The few have screwed the many for too long, and now we are pissed.
What is going to come of the new Goldman-Sachs event? Are the people they robbed going to get their money or homes back? Are the G-S folks going to jail, lose their homes, lose their jobs? Or…is this all going to blow away quietly? I think if it does, more crap will hit the fan.
April 17th, 2010 at 10:57 pm
yes, I think we are witnssing the most serious doubts about our financial system in the history of the United States, right now. Its created so much doubt in the very basic tennents of our brand of capitalism I have ever seen as its just such a rigged and priveledge game for a few. The middle class use to believe, but now that its mostly gone there really is no buffer between the rich and the lower classes. We are in a crises in this country that everyone has continued to underestimate until just now. Now its really starting to register with the general public on a large scale.
April 17th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
u democrats are so stupid u don’t know s… about politics stick to your t.v. and to your x box.