A Recipe for a Tea Party

The nightmare clip of Maxine Waters that's linked in this post underscores the urgency of the upcoming elections. If we don't replace the current crop of politicians in Washington, the US is going to be in real trouble.

Here's the context: Maxine Waters is advocating a new bill she has written, forcing banks to modify their loans before instituting foreclosure procedures. Around 1:16 in the linked clip from CNBC, Mark Haines, the moderator, tries gently to point out to her that modifications involve someone losing money, i.e., the benefit of their bargain.

Waters remains resolutely clueless.

Moderator: In a loan modification, somebody takes a loss. Who do you propose ---

Waters: Not necessarily.

Moderator: No?

Waters: Not necessarily. There are so many different ways you can do a loan modification . . .

What becomes frighteningly and patently obvious is that Maxine Waters -- a member of the House Financial Services Committee and author of a proposed bill on the matter -- has absolutely no clue about the financial procedures she is trying to regulate!!!

She seems to think that the banks can simply wave a magic wand and make the foreclosure problem go away -- obviously ignorant of the fact that banks have already lent the money that paid for houses bought at the height of the bubble. She also repeatedly asserts that banks committed fraud, oh, and accuses them of having engaged in "massive collusion." When pressed on the evidence for these inflammatory allegations, she points to the fact that "millions of people are in foreclosure. HUH?!

It's a slow-moving train wreck and a total horror show -- and just more proof that we need a higher caliber of legislator in Washington. IMMEDIATELY.