http://money.cnn.com/…

The federal government, in what will be its most far-reaching attempt yet to contain the financial crisis, is poised to establish a program to let banks get rid of mortgage-related assets that have been hard to value and harder to trade.

Leaders from the House and the Senate were briefed on Thursday evening by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

“The root cause of distress in capital markets is the real estate correction and what’s going on in terms of the price declines in real estate,” Paulson said at a press briefing after the meeting. “So we’re coming together to work for an expeditious solution aimed right at the heart of this problem, which is illiquid assets on financial institutions’ balance sheets.”

Many details of the plan remained unclear, but it is likely the government would take on tens of billions of dollars in mortgage assets - if not more.

One way the agency under discussion could work is by setting up bulk auctions to buy mortgage assets from financial institutions. The auctions would be for set dollar amount purchases. Companies that want to offload the hard-to-sell assets from their balance sheets bid to sell to the government at a huge discount. The company willing to sell at the lowest price wins.

The government would then be able to sell the assets back into the market when it wanted.

According to policy research firm the Stanford Group, such a setup would allow the government to refinance borrowers in the loans owned by the government, thereby lowering the risk of their defaulting and eventually boosting the price of the mortgage security in which those loans are packaged.

“Lowering the risk” = artificial stimulus = another bubble.

These people just don’t learn. A single school of economists have predicted this and warned against all this for nearly 100 years and yet every time something happens they are ignored. I watch Ron Paul this morning on CNN describing the Austrian position on this crisis and the host shakes his head in agreement. Glenn Beck has him on all the time to weigh in as does MSNBC and Fox, Fox Business. His TV appearances have shot through the roof relative to when he was running for president and yet his words fall on ear unwilling to accept reality. The ocean of fascist/socialist diatribe nearly drowns out one of the only people speaking intelligently on that moving picture box.

Frustrating.

UPDATE: Paul on CNN this morning

http://www.lewrockwell.com/…

Total TimesRomney: 21:11, during 13 times

McCain: 16:00, during 13 times

Giuliani: 13:50, during 11 times

Huckabee: 12:11, during nine times

Paul: 6:31, during six times

MSNBC is, as far as I’ve been able to tell, the most hostel toward Paul. Perhaps they think if they continue to treat him like he’s not their he will drop. I very much doubt that.

Nevada

1. Romney: 51%
2. Paul: 14%
3. McCain: 13%
4. Huckabee: 8%
5. Thompson: 8%
6. Giuliani: 4%
7. Hunter: 2%

South Carolina

1. McCain: 33%
2. Huckabee: 30%
3. Thompson: 16%
4. Romney: 15%
5. Paul: 4%
6. Giuliani: 2%
7. Hunter: 0%

Paul again twice beats Giuliani yet barely a word of Paul in the general MSM. He’s apparently not even talked about on MSNBC and seems he’s considered “a terrorist of the al-Qaeda wing of the Grand Old Party.”

He’s not doing well enough over and above Rudy ad Fred for the New York Times to notice him. One NJ Paul supporter canceled her subscription to the NYT and gave them a verbal whipping over why. The response mentioned that once Paul gets some delegates he’d be put up. Funny… Paul actually has delegates… Rudy and Fred don’t yet are pictured. I think those two should consider dropping out. Rudy may do alright on Super Tuesday but he’s been slipping big in his strong states below McCain even.

Then theres this. Notice a discrepancy between the images and text?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/…

I couldn’t stand to watch the whole thing… nor did I take notes this time but I’ve a few things to point out.

• The very first thing mentioned was the whole race/gender arguments going about. That they all wish to stop talking about it. That race nor gender matter and shouldn’t be part of their campaigns. The second thing mentioned is how the three on stage are qualified to be their. Hillary immediately brings up her gender and talks about what she has accomplished as one.
• They continue to make race and gender an issue throughout the first half of the debate and none of the candidates cared to stop the questions. Even after a member of the audience started yelling about how all the questions where referring to race/gender.
• Just like all the Republicans minus Ron Paul… the Democrats don’t understand economics. Their drivel about the economy was pathetic. It’s like a child’s ignorant view of the world. They speak of surface level issues.
• Hillary accuses all the Republicans of being prowar. Wanting to continue the Bush administration’s plans. Anyone who pays any attention knows that’s not the case. If Mr. Kucinich had been on the stage I’d hope he would have pointed that out along with how none of them on stage have a consistent stance on the war.
• None of the candidates attending obviously care much that others still in the race are ignored. NHGOP had the conviction to pull their sponsership when Hunter and Paul were left out of the forum in New Hampshire. Stereotypically the Democrats are supposed to be for equality even recently wanting to reenact the Fairness Doctrine. Yet Gravel and Kucinich are left out without even a mention.
• They spoke of universal healthcare. Unfortunately they lie and really mean compulsory health insurance. While they usually mean the same thing politically, conceptually they are very different. Universal heathcare as people generally think of is not possible and compulsory health insurance gives better rates and service to those who are worse off and hurts those who are healthy. It’s also a blatant infringement on a persons right to spend their money as they see fit. Throw it on top of workers comp, SSI, etc.
• Opposing Yucka Mountain is retarded. As is opposing nuclear power plants. They are the cleanest and most efficient forms of energy production we have available. I don’t care if opening a new nuke plant a week wouldn’t make a huge difference on CO2 emissions. It’d provide us with more and cheaper power so we can more easily remove coal plants. The nations fear of nuclear waste disposal is fairly unfounded by all accounts I’ve come across including my father’s who worked in the field for >15 years.
• They seemed to all support manditory civil service or at least encouraged it. I thought the 13th amendment stopped that kind of thing.
• I can’t recall much else. They all scare me.

One last thing. Bill Clinton the other day said something like: I don’t think race or gender has cost Hillary or Obama any votes… put it probably got them some. Is it really good to admit that your supporters are bigots and supporting you just because of your gender/race? I thought the Democrats were against that kind of thing. If a Republican had said that they were getting votes because they are male and white in contrast to the woman and the darky their would have been outrage.