1) This is an interesting article about the role the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) played in our current financial crisis. The OTS was created in the late '80's in response to the Savings and Loan crisis. It was supposed to regulate S&L's to help prevent another S&L crisis. Two bits from the article:
James Gilleran, former director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, said the agency's goal is to "allow thrifts to operate with a wide breadth of freedom from regulatory intrusion."
The long delay in issuing the guidance allowed companies to keep making billions of dollars in loans without verifying that borrowers could afford them. One of the largest banks, Countrywide Financial, said in an investor presentation after the guidance was released that most of the borrowers who received loans in the previous two years would not have qualified under the new standards. Countrywide said it would have refused 89 percent of its 2006 borrowers and 83 percent of its 2005 borrowers. That represents $138 billion in mortgage loans the company would not have made if regulators had acted sooner.
source: WashingtonPost.com http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/22/AR2008112202213.html, Sunday November 23rd.
2) This is a fascinating post / set of images...
3) There is a lot of discussion going on right now in the media and political-blogosphere about whether the United States is a 'center-right' country. Those on the right have pointed to lots of surveys and history to back up their claim that we are a center-right country. This bit from John Meacham (from before the election) is fairly representative of the arguments coming from the right.
My personal take on this is that we are in fact a center-right country... but that our center is on a fairly steady trajectory towards the left. In other words, most people's opinions on issues lag a few years behind where our leaders are taking us. This should not be surprising to anyone. People are comfortable with what they're used too, and take some time to adjust... but at the same time, when they are exposed to new things, they slowly but surely come around....
So yes, the United States is a center-right country, but the center isn't staying in the same place. It is moving towards the left.
