Hawkeye Republican

The Bailout Proposal has stalled and the Journal is rightly querying experts on potential success. Will it work? Dr. Robert Shapiro of the New Democrat Network (NDN) is one of those fellas and boy does his statement reek of pandering:

...Robert Shapiro, a former Clinton economic advisor and the chairman of the globalization program at NDN, a Washington think tank, said the program outlined by the administration aimed at the wrong target. Rather than buying assets, he says, the government should provide money to people facing foreclosure, which would prevent the assets from going sour in the first place.

"This crisis will continue until the housing market stabilizes and as increasing foreclosures reduce the value of more mortgage-based securities," Mr. Shapiro said.

Yes. Duh. Gotcha. As our economy continues to fail into a million little foreclosed homes, special interest "experts" can't see the forest through the trees, ahem...petrified wood.

So with all due respect, (and you did advise the Clinton White House, so that's something?) this crisis won't turn into a wee little meltdown after throwing moolah to Americans who simply can't afford their home(s).

We must ensure liquidity in the marketplace.

The Journal probably took a snippet out of context and admittedly, the congruent action is to assist struggling homeowners, but come on!

And hey, Republicans, figure out what a Mortgage-Backed Security is and pretend to patch together enough double-speak to convince us that the Hasbro Brothers don't know more about banking than you! That Iowaopoly gets me every time...