Bush sold the American people down the river on this one. Why? Because he is incompetent -- He probably hadn't a clue what was going on. Electing John McCain would be electing someone just as clueless or more so. Now, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has complete authority to put a plan in action. Where's the skepticism?
I have a feeling that the situation is so dire that there isn't room for skepticism. Here is a copy of the draft bailout plan if you're inclined to read such a thing.
What if they didn't do anything at all and let these companies fail? This so-called "collapse" -- does that mean all of our 401ks and IRAs and the like would've disappeared? I'm thinking so.
What will be the fallout of the bailout for the average person? No one knows yet but already the republicans are warning democrats not to help homeowners as part of the bailout.
Where's the punishment? These companies and their leaders ought to be financially punished -- they've made millions and now we'll have to pay for it. They ought to contribute to a homeowners fund. They ought to be made to pay.
Bloomberg: The real kick in the teeth is that the executives who inflicted all this financial pain, who forced unprecedented government takeovers, walk away with hundreds of millions of dollars. It's up to us -- innocent little us -- to dig into our pockets, into our futures and into our children's futures to fix their spectacular errors.
Stanley O'Neal took a $161 million package last year when he left Merrill Lynch & Co. (remember Merrill Lynch?), even without a severance package in the mix. Angelo Mozilo, founder and top executive at Countrywide Financial Corp., reaped almost $122 million during 2007 in stock options alone.
NYT: The fifth major federal bailout this year — after Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the American International Group — is now in the works. Taxpayers have every right to be alarmed and angry. The latest plan is not necessarily a bad one, and officials had to move quickly to prevent credit markets from seizing up.Here's some other stuff to read on the bailout. We all need to be informed about this stuff. It's easier to not be informed but that's how we get leaders like George and McCain.
But make no mistake, this crisis could have been avoided if regulators had enforced rules and officials had dared to question risky lending and other dubious practices.
If done right, this bailout could succeed where the others have failed and remove the threat of a systemwide financial collapse. But the upfront cost will be enormous. So will the risk of losses in the long run — on top of the risks already incurred.
The new plan would commit taxpayer money to buy hundreds of billions of dollars of troubled loans and other mortgage-related securities from banks and Wall Street firms. It is based on the reasonable premise that as long as institutions are stuck with those assets, the flow of credit, the economy’s lifeblood, will be constrained, or as in the past week, all but frozen.
Congress, with one eye on this week’s volatile Dow and the other on November’s election, could authorize the plan as early as next week.
Shock forced Paulson's hand.
Questions Paulson needs to answer.
An historic swindle?
A hail Mary pass?
Shut up about the wonders of a free market.
The astronomical cost.
Why the republican economic philosophies are dead. The radio program Left, Right and Center pretty much sums it up:
