Bill Clinton, the Person Who Set the Economy on Its Bubble Driven Path, Has Economic Advice for the

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/11/06-2

The Post reports on a new book by President Clinton which offers economic advice to the country. While the book notes in passing that Clinton's policies contributed to the economic crisis by deregulating Wall Street, it failed to point out that Clinton's policies were actually central to the disaster the economy is now facing.

Clinton promoted both the growth of the stock bubble and the over-valuation of the dollar. The latter came about when his administration organized the "saving" of East Asia following its financial crisis in 1997. The harsh terms of the bailout required the countries of the region to run huge trade surpluses in order to meet their payments. This meant raising the value of the dollar against their own currencies.

Other developing countries wanted to avoid ever being in this situation so they too began to accumulate reserves at a huge pace after 1997 by keeping down the value of their own currencies against the dollar. This led to the huge run-up in the dollar and therefore the large trade deficit that we saw in the last decade and continue to see today.

The demand gap created by the trade deficit was filled by the housing bubble in the last decade. With the bubble now burst it can only be filled by government budget deficits until the dollar falls enough to bring trade closer to balance. Given the enormous disaster that resulted from his economic mismanagament (which could have been reversed had anyone in the Bush administration been awake), it is highly ironic that President Clinton would write a book offering economic advice to the nation.

More at the link --

[polichick]

1. Reminds me of Greenspan offering advice recently. Really?!

[roseBudd]

2. Personal responsibility, the deregulation belongs to the Contract w/america Republicans

senate roll call

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Roll call

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=106&session=1&vote=00105#top

The Nays
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
BIDEN (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Breaux (D-LA)
Bryan (D-NV)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cleland (D-GA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Daschle (D-SD)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Edwards (D-NC)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Graham (D-FL)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerrey (D-NE)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Moynihan (D-NY)
Murray (D-WA)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Robb (D-VA)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Torricelli (D-NJ)
Wellstone (D-MN)
Wyden (D-OR)

POTUS is not magic

[Better Believe It]

6. What Senators said 10 years ago when the bank deregulation bill was passed by the Senate 90-8.

You do know that only 8 Senators voted against the bank deregulation bill .... right? The roll call vote you posted is not in fact the final roll call vote on the bill and in my opinion is extremely misleading.

Would you like me to post the actual roll call vote approving the final bill that was adopted in conference?

What Senators said 10 years ago when the major bank deregulation bill was passed by the Senate

Back in November 1999, Congress passed legislation pushed by then Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX), rescinding the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act. The measure, backed by the Clinton administration, and overwhelmingly passed by the Senate (90-8) and the House (362-57), opened the way for banks to merge with investment banks and insurance companies, and led directly to the current financial cataclysm.

What they said in 1999 about repealing the Glass-Steagall Act:

Larry Summers, he wasn't a Senator but is the director of President Obama’s National Economic Council:

"Today Congress voted to update the rules that have governed financial services since the Great Depression and replace them with a system for the 21st century. This historic legislation will better enable American companies to compete in the new economy."

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY):

"If we don't pass this bill, we could find London or Frankfurt or years down the road Shanghai becoming the financial capital of the world. 'There are many reasons for this bill, but first and foremost is to ensure that U.S. financial firms remain competitive."


Senator Phil Gramm (R-Texas):

"The world changes, and we have to change with it. We have a new century coming, and we have an opportunity to dominate that century the same way we dominated this century. Glass-Steagall, in the midst of the Great Depression, came at a time when the thinking was that the government was the answer. In this era of economic prosperity, we have decided that freedom is the answer."

Sen. Bob Kerry (D-NB):

“The concerns that we will have a meltdown like 1929 are dramatically overblown.”

--------------

And those who spoke out against this insane measure:

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), one of seven Senate Democrats who voted against revoking Glass-Steagall, said in 1999:

“I think we will look back in 10 years' time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930's is true in 2010. I wasn't around during the 1930's or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980's when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness."

Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN), who also voted against repeal said:

“…determined to unlearn the lessons from our past mistakes. Scores of banks failed in the Great Depression as a result of unsound banking practices, and their failure only deepened the crisis. Glass-Steagall was intended to protect our financial system by insulating commercial banking from other forms of risk. It was one of several stabilizers designed to keep a similar tragedy from recurring. Now Congress is about to repeal that economic stabilizer without putting any comparable safeguard in its place."

http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/03/27/a-financial-history-lesson/



President Clinton signs repeal of Glass-Steagall Act.

[roseBudd]

7. you do know that is the conference report vote

I posted the May 6, senate vote 44 nays

[Nye Bevan]

3. Clinton raised taxes on the rich and balanced the budget.

Greenspan is much more to blame for the bubble.

[Donnachaidh]

Clinton also gutted the welfare system and signed NAFTA

six of one, half a dozen of the other. :shrug:

NAFTA opened the floodgates to rip millions of jobs OUT of this country.

[OhioChick]

5. Yep...

NAFTA decimated Ohio.

[WCGreen]

4. He also relaxed a whole lot of financial regulations that started

the casino style of the finance industry...

[girl gone mad]

8. Clinton's balanced budget led to a recession.

It wasn't good policy for the time.