Dangereux terroriste pour les uns, gros bon sens pour les autres…
Glenn Beck en entrevue avec l’historien Burton Folsom et l’économiste David Buckner:
N’en déplaise à Richard Hétu, j’opte pour le gros bon sens.
Médecine socialiste (III) 
Aux États-Unis les soins médicaux représentent un privilège que seuls les plus riches peuvent se payer. Si c'est le cas, les États-Unis doivent être très riches…
Voici la proportion de la population affligée par une maladie chronique et qui bénéficie d'un traitement:
Pas mal pour un système auquel personne n'aurait accès…
Source:
Health Status, Health Care and Inequality: Canada vs. the U.S.
Quand l’État réglemente (VI) 
Le "Community Reinvestment Act" (CRA) est une loi qui a été votée en 1977 par Jimmy Carter pour favoriser l'accès à la propriété des classes défavorisées. En 1995, Bill Clinton a réécrit la loi pour lui donner plus de pouvoir. Une des clauses bonifiées à cette époque stipulait que pour fusionner, des banques devaient réserver une partie plus importante de leur capital pour faire des prêts hypothécaires à risque.
 |
— |
"It will guarantee that our financial system will continue to meet the needs of underserved communities, something that the vice president and I have tried to do through the empowerment zones, the enterprise communities, the community-development financial institutions, but something which has been largely done through the private sector in honoring the Community Reinvestment Act. The legislation I sign today establishes the principles that, as we expand the powers of banks, we will expand the reach of that act." |
Concrètement, voici les conséquences de cette politique:
National Community Reinvestment Coalition: CRA CommitmentsThe rise of unilateral agreements also accounts for the fluctuation in dollar amounts on an annual level. For example, 1998 was a year of mega-mergers that included the Bank of America and Nations Bank merger as well as Citigroup’s acquisition of Travelers; CRA pledges totaled $1,1 trillion dollars as a result. The following years saw fewer mega – mergers and considerably less reinvestment dollars. CRA pledges shot up again in 2003 and particularly in 2004. The year 2004 experienced watershed mega – mergers as Bank of America acquired Fleet, JP Morgan Chase acquired Bank One, and Citizens gobbled up Charter One.
Le CRA mis en place par Bill Clinton a contraint les banques à accorder 4,5 billions de dollars de prêts hypothécaires aux classes défavorisées*.
Cette somme a participé au gonflement de la bulle immobilière parce que la demande accrue causée par le CRA s'est propagée à la totalité du secteur résidentiel, contaminant ainsi le marché qui n'était pas directement visé par le CRA.
À lire aussi:
- Quand l’État réglemente (I)
- Quand l’État réglemente (II)
- Quand l’État réglemente (III)
- Quand l’État réglemente (IV)
- Quand l’État réglemente (V)
- Le mythe de la déréglementation (I)
- Le mythe de la déréglementation (II)
- Le mythe de la déréglementation (III)
*Cette somme ne comprend pas les interventions directes telles que "The National Homeownership Strategy" ni les interventions de Freddie Mac et Fannie Mae.
Obama endormant et égocentrique ? 
|
– |
Barack Obama really does go on a bit It is good, in theory, that the new President of the United States is taking so much time to tour Europe. But his long stay means that we are hearing rather a lot from him, way too much in fact. We are told that he is a great orator and in one way he certainly is. He does have a preternatural calm in the spotlight and a mastery of the cadences we associate with the notable speakers in US history – such as JFK and MLK. But beyond that, am I alone in finding him increasingly to be something of a bore? His performance at the first press conference in London with Gordon Brown featured moments in which he sparkled – his riff on loving the Queen was a high-point. But most of the serious answers that I listened to were interminable, windy and not very impressive. At points there were pauses so long that it appeared he had simply lost his train of thought. But Obama was only warming up. « When I was born, » (Everything usually leads back to him, you’ll notice)… « the world was divided, and our nations were faced with very different circumstances. Few people would have predicted that someone like me would one day become an American President. » (Him again)… The Obamas have handled their trip well and in their public appearances have been a credit to their country. But I’ll wager that within a year or so he’ll be marked down as a wind-bag. |