Lessons needed in economics

Re “Bailout is no simple matter,” Sept. 7

It’s again time to take a hard look at why internal and external auditors, chief financial officers, chief executives and boards condoned the persistent practice of so wildly overestimating future revenues and underestimating future expenses.

Precisely the opposite accounting mix is called for in running any sound enterprise that is built to outlast bad weather.

William E. Cooper

Richmond, Va.

The writer is president emeritus of the University of Richmond.

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One can only conclude that the Ivy League-educated Democratic presidential nominee must have been napping in his Economics 101 course.

What other excuse could he have for questioning the bailout and saying, “Investors can’t be allowed to believe that, unlike working families, they can simply invest in a heads-they-win, tails-they-don’t situation” when they invest in government agencies?

Where does he think Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac get the funds to buy the mortgages from banks and other lenders that fund working families’ housing other than from investors, who have regarded these two agencies as quasi-governmental for decades?

How ironic that the one time he should support the government getting involved in a bailout, he opposes it.

The man really does lack substantive experience in economic matters.

N. Richard Lewis

Los Angeles