Calm Within Cd

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Admittedly, many politicians are prone to hyperbole, especially when they are campaigning for higher office. Still, we found this quote from Sen. Christopher Dodd today newsworthy: ‘You can’t get a mortgage in America today.’

Context: Dodd’s comment came during a Democratic presidential debate Sunday morning on ABC-TV (we believe this is the 87th such debate). Moderator George Stephanopoulos asked: ‘We saw, on Friday, the Federal Reserve lowered the discount rate for banks. Should they lower rates for everyone else, yes or no?’

A terrible question, but we’ll get to that later; Dodd’s answer:

‘Yes, I think it will happen in September. But we also need more liquidity. And they ought to be allowing Fannie and Freddie Mac to put more liquidity in the market. It has seized up. You can’t get a mortgage in America today.’

Why is that such a terrible question? Because it is unpresidential to answer it; recent American political tradition holds -- correctly, we believe -- that the president should not pressure or jawbone the Fed. Otherwise, the Fed becomes a political football.

What did the other Democrats say? You can read the entire transcript here, but here are highlights: Hillary Clinton punted, saying the problem didn’t lend itself to ‘an easy yes or no’; John Edwards said we need a ‘home rescue fund’ for millions of Americans; Barack Obama also spoke of help for homeowners who are going to lose their homes; Dennis Kucinich said ‘no’ to a rate cut (‘The Fed is actually looking at bailing out the creditors’), and suggested the federal government make loans to those in trouble.

Your thoughts? Comments?