E!! The True Conservative Story™

If no bailout bill is passed and no other/better solution can be agreed upon, I am just fine with having us (and the rest of the world) go into a recession where everyone becomes more financially conservative and/or moderate. 

If I personally have to lose a little in the short term, so be it.  It’s what is best and wisest in the big picture that matters.  “Principle over pain.”

(Note to Chris Matthews on his statement that Dems “overwhelmingly” voted for the bailout bill:  sixty percent is not overwhelming.  In fact, I’d say it’s rather underwhelming.)

You simply must read this NYT times piece by Stephen Holmes from September 20, 1999.  A few excerpts to whet your whistle:

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets — including the New York metropolitan region — will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans.

and

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980’s.

and

”From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,” said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ”If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.”

(Hat Tip:  Nicky Cheese)

From the American Enterprise Institute:

The nation’s GDP grew at a surprising 3.3 percent rate in the second quarter, up from 0.9 in the first quarter. That is welcome news for the nation’s 154 million strong labor force on this Labor Day holiday. The Census Bureau reported that, in 2007, real median household income rose for the third straight year, a point Douglas J. Besharov made at an AEI conference on August 25.

Although most Americans are uneasy about the nation’s economy, they remain optimistic about their personal prospects. In a recent HarrisInteractive poll, only 18 percent said the country was on the right track; 76 percent felt that way about their personal lives.

Here’s the opener to Jonah’s column today.  It’s a Must Read.  As usual.

The US economy — yes, that economy — grew at a 3.3 percent annual rate last quarter. This no doubt caused consternation at the highest levels of the Democratic Party, perhaps forcing some to consider a new convention film at the last minute: “Dude, Where’s My Recession?”

To hear the Democrats at their convention this week, you’d get the sense that a recession is merely a technical term for the worst human misery ever visited upon a once-great people. You’d think Americans were listening to the Democratic speeches as they huddled around their kitchen tables (if they hadn’t already been used for firewood), deciding which of their children to pack off to the orphanage and how much tree bark they can afford to eat next week. 

Last night, Barack Obama proclaimed: “Our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more.” He went on to describe an America reminiscent of the Grapes of Wrath (if not Mad Max).

But this was a week-long theme. Over and over again, Democrats insisted that the “American dream” is being snuffed out, crushed, beaten, stabbed and quite possibly dismembered in President Bush’s West Wing bathtub, where Bush and Dick “The Cleaner” Cheney can dissolve the remains in sulfuric acid.  …