[Rhodes22-list] Political - special post for Stanley since he has some time today

[Tootle]

American History By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday, September
10, 2008 4:20 PM PT 

  Jimmy Carter became our 39th president at the young age of 52.  He was a
one-term governor from Plains, GA, where he managed the family peanut farm
and taught Sunday school.  He was also a graduate of the Naval Academy and
served seven years in the Navy, leaving as a lieutenant. 

  He came to power in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the resignation
of President Nixon.  The public wanted change and someone new, and Carter
was an ambitious, hands-on politician who promised better days.  As good as
his intentions were, however, the things he tried were not successful.  In
fact, he created far more serious problems than he ever solved. 

  The centerpiece of Carter's foreign policy was human rights, and he did
achieve one noble success peace treaty between Egypt's Anwar Sadat and
Israel's Menachem Begin.  Unfortunately, that later led to Sadat's
assassination at the hands of Muslim radicals. 

  Many people felt Carter was a good man who worked hard and meant well. 
But he was naive and incompetent in handling the enormous burdens and
complex challenges of being president.

  He wrongly believed Americans had an 'inordinate fear of communism,' so he
lifted travel bans to Cuba, North Vietnam and Cambodia and pardoned draft
evaders.  He also stopped B-1 bomber production and gave away our
strategically located Panama Canal. 

  His most damaging miscalculation was the withdrawal of U.S. support for
the Shah of Iran, a strong and longtime military ally.  Carter objected to
the Shah's alleged mistreatment of imprisoned Soviet spies who were working
to overthrow Iran's government.  He thought the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini,
being a religious man, would make a fairer leader. 

  Having lost U.S. support, the Shah was overthrown, the Ayatollah returned,
Iran was declared an Islamic nation and Palestinian hit men were hired to
eliminate opposition. 

  The Ayatollah then introduced the idea of suicide bombers to the Palestine
Liberation Organization, paying $35,000 to PLO families whose young people
were brainwashed to kill as many Israelis as possible by blowing themselves
up in crowded shopping areas. 

  Next, the Ayatollah used Iran's oil wealth to create, train and finance a
new terrorist organization, Hezbollah, which later would attack Israel in
2006. 

  In November 1979, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranians stormed the U.S.
embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.  Not until six
months into the ordeal did Carter attempt a rescue.  But the mission, using
just six Navy helicopters, was poorly executed.  Three of the copters were
disabled or lost in sandstorms.  (Pilots weren't allowed to meet with
weather forecasters because someone in authority worried about security.) 
Five airmen and three Marines lost their lives. 

  So, due to overconfidence, inexperience and poor judgment, Carter
undermined and lost a strong ally, Iran, that today aggressively threatens
the U.S., Israel and the rest of the world with nuclear weapons. 

  But that's not all.  After Carter met for the first time with Soviet
leader Leonid Brezhnev, the USSR promptly invaded Afghanistan.  Carter, ever
the naive appeaser, was shocked.  'I can't believe the Russians lied to me,'
he said. [Does that sound like Bush's opinion of Putin?]

  The invasion attracted a 23-year-old Saudi named Osama bin Laden to
Afghanistan to recruit Muslim fighters and raise money for an anti-Soviet
jihad.  Part of that group eventually became al-Qaida, a terrorist
organization that would declare war on America several times between 1996
and 1998 before attacking us on 9/11, killing more Americans than the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

  On Carter's watch, the Soviet Union went on an unrestrained rampage in
which it took over not only Afghanistan, but also Ethiopia, South Yemen,
Angola, Cambodia, Mozambique, Grenada and Nicaragua.

  In spite of this, Carter's last defense budget proposed spending 45% below
pre-Vietnam levels for fighter aircraft, 75% for ships, 83% for attack
submarines and 90% for helicopters. 

  Years later, as a civilian, Carter negotiated a peace agreement with North
Korea to keep that communist country from developing nuclear weapons.  He
also convinced President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
to go along with it.  But the signed piece of paper proved worthless.  The
North Koreans deceived Carter and instead used our money, incentives and
technical equipment to build nuclear weapons and pose the threat we face
today. 

  Thus did Carter unwittingly become our Neville Chamberlain, creating with
his well-intended but inept, unrealistic and gullible actions the very
conditions that led to the three most dangerous security threats we face
today:  Iran, al-Qaida and North Korea.

  On the domestic side, Carter gave us inflation of 15%, the highest in 34
years; interest rates of 21%, the highest in 115 years; and a severe energy
crisis with lines around the block at gas stations nationwide. 

  In 1977, Carter, along with a Democrat Congress, created a worthy project
with noble intentions the Community Reinvestment Act.  Over strong industry
objections, it mandated that all banks meet the credit needs of their entire
communities. 

  In 1995, President Clinton imposed even stronger regulations and
performance tests that coerced banks to substantially increase loans to
low-income, poverty-area borrowers or face fines or possible restrictions on
expansion.  These revisions allowed for securitization of CRA loans
containing subprime mortgages. 

  By 1997, good loans were bundled with poor ones and sold as prime packages
to institutions here and abroad.  That shifted risk from the loan
originators, freeing banks to begin pyramiding and make more of these
profitable subprime products. 

  Under two young, well-intended presidents, therefore, big-government plans
and mandates played a significant role in the current subprime mortgage mess
and its catastrophic consequences for the U.S. and international economies. 

  Hardest-hit by the mortgage foreclosures have been the citizens that
Democrats always claim to help most inner-city residents who fell victim to
low or no down payment schemes, unexpected adjustable rates, deceptive loan
applications and commission-hungry salespeople.

  Now we're having to bail out at huge cost Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the
very agencies that were supposed to stabilize the system.  In time, this
should improve the situation.  But the party of Carter and Clinton that
midwifed our mortgage mess now wants to be trusted to take over and have the
government run our entire system of health care! 

  And everyone is blaming Bush for our current problems.

Posted by 
Ed K
For Stan's enjoyment




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