Icebergs, Schmeisbergs...

From 2Millionth Web Log

Full steam ahead for the SS Shrub Mother of All Trainwrecks (mixing some metaphors):

More than three years ago, bank regulators "proposed new guidelines for banks writing risky loans," and looking over the proposals -- "banks would have been required to increase efforts to verify that buyers actually had jobs and could afford houses," and "regulators proposed a cap on risky mortgages so a string of defaults wouldn't be crippling" -- it's easy to see how regulations could have prevented the worst.

The Bush administration, in other words, was told what it had to do to prevent a disaster. Instead, it eventually issued a "Guidance on Nontraditional Mortgages," which was little more than a list of suggestions, and left the dangerous practices in place.

Yglesias' summary was spot-on: "Bush was specifically and repeatedly warned about the need to take regulatory action to avoid a financial system meltdown, and chose to ignore those warnings because he's a really bad president. Thanks to his indifference, incompetence, or perhaps malice, millions of people will wind up losing their jobs and suffering dire consequences."

Bush's record when it comes to disregarding warnings is right up there on the list of his most humiliating failures, isn't it? When warned that bin Laden is "determined to strike" inside the United States, the president humored the intelligence official and told him, "You've covered your ass, now." When warned that a hurricane was poised to destroy New Orleans, the president was satisfied that FEMA would handle the crisis. When warned about a looming financial crisis, Bush's White House paid more attention to the banks that told the president not to worry.

It's quite a track record.