Treasury Sec. Geithner’s confession upends Pelosi’s Bush-bashing presser

This video features a young Barack Obama and others confirming banks were forced to make risky loans that came to be called “Ninja Loans”—no income, no job, no assets required. (Video: YouTube)

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) held a presser on Thursday, blaming President George W. Bush for the troubled U.S. economy. Pelosi told media Republicans want to return the country to policies that caused the “trouble in the first place,” and President Barack Obama wants to take the economy “forward.”

Pelosi actually could have blamed President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but what’s interesting in the present is that her Bush-bashing presser is upended by  a confession from Obama’s Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner when he testified before Congress.

For your amusement, some facts that fly in the face of Pelosi’s purely political statements:

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Bill Clinton rehabilitated: ABC takes his debt ideas seriously

Former president Bill Clinton loves the limelight and he’s come up with philosophical ideas about resolving the “debt impasse”—how Democrats can work with those he calls ideological Republicans refusing to accept tax hikes. ABC hearted Clinton with an article depicting him as a wise statesman.

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Will Basel III lead to another financial meltdown and future taxpayer bailouts?

Will Potter, a second year economics student at the University of South Carolina, has written an account of Basel III for the university newspaper The Gamecock. Bankers recently met in Basel, Switzerland. The weekend meeting updated agreements on bank reserve requirements—how much a bank must have on hand in case customers show up en masse demanding their money. That sounds like a good idea considering the fiasco we call the financial meltdown.

Did those bankers learn anything? Apparently not, other than the fact they can do what they want because they have a limitless government-backed cushion.

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Becerra does C-Span, but clueless on economy ‘obstructionists’

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), vice-chair of the Democrat Caucus and member of the president’s debt commission (also called the fiscal commission), did a stint on C-Span on Thursday. Becerra also sits on the powerful Ways and Means Committee. As he talked about President Barack Obama’s hopes for a green economy, he turned to a major platform for Democrats—blame it all on Bush. 

Becerra suggested Obama’s goals are stymied because of Republican ‘obstructionists’ in the Senate. As he theorized about why the economy isn’t getting better, his positions are a key indicator of the real obstructionists to the economy—Democrats.

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