The bailout plan was rejected, thank the gods. It doesn’t really matter, though, it’s going to happen one way or another. The government will give them money and/or take over the institutions. That $700 billion plan was just a bandaid anyway. The housing market is more like $12 trillion, so $700 billion is chump change. It’s all about giving money to the executives who’ve paid for their politicians fair and square. In Washington, that’s perfectly logical.
In other disturbing financial news, the government has seized another major bank. Yes, another one, Washington Mutual is NOT the first, it’s just the first that’s been widely publicised. Along with Lehman Brothers, there’s also American International Group which was seized last week to the tune of $85 billion. These are very bad omens indeed.
Bailouts are not the answer – restructuring is. Bailout is just another term for entitlement, which is apparently the new American Way. Why work when the nanny government will hand you money if you whine loud enough?
I’m a socialist when it comes to healthcare and education. I feel that everyone in the richest country in the world (maybe not for long) should be able to go to the doctor and get as much education as he wants with no penalties. Being charged $1000s for 5 stitches is a penalty. Student loans are penalties. This must stop.
However, I am most definitely NOT a socialist when it comes to the financial markets. Government seizure of financial institutions is a very bad idea. The mortgage industry collapsed because of bad or nonexistent regulations and pressure from citizen groups such as NACA to give loans to people who could not afford them. You cannot tell me that people in the upper echelons of the mortgage industry as well as the financial regulators in charge of The Fed (hello Bernanke, you stupid FUCK) didn’t know that giving every poor asshole a 5 year ARM wouldn’t result in massive defaults when the 5 years are up. Even politicians are not that stupid. [Well, YES, they are, as we now know in 2021. -A]
Speaking of that dumb fuck Bernanke, (whose main pastime is blaming financial institutions for problems caused by ALL areas of government, especially HIS) he is of course pushing hard for the bailout package. Hey, why not? It’s not his money and everyone knows that the US Treasury can always make more money, right? RIGHT?
The asshole politicians running this country are reaping what they’ve sown. Reaganomics was the beginning of all this shit, true, but this is not all the government’s responsibility. What about the CITIZENS? Voters have put these assholes in office and voters have sat around counting their “stimulus” money waiting for something to magically make things different. Voters hold all these fucked up mortgages that they could never afford in the first place. Voters are the ones who have become whiney people who feel entitled to anything they want no matter how much bad credit is run up.
Do you think the Federal budget would be anything other than a reflection of how the citizens manage their own finances? Of course not!
The government is gazillions of dollars in the red, yet here we go spending gazillions more to “bail out” institutions that orchestrated their own failure. And let’s not forget to pay those poor, poor CEOs their severance pay. Yes, let’s make sure it’s ONLY $400,000 each. OMG, poor things, how will they ever survive with only a $400,000 reward for fucking everything up?
Hey, I’ve got an idea, pay ME $400,000 and watch me create an empire. I’d be a much better investment than some asshole who is a multimillionaire already.
How’s that for a novel approach? How about we reward the people who are doing fine rather than the rich who beg for government rewards for their bad luck? I say fuck ’em all. Let the chips fall where they may. Those of us who made good decisions will weather this recession just fine. We are not rich, but we can manage our money and pay our bills.
The “bailout” will not bail out anything. It is a bandaid. The economy will still tank and we’ll still have a recession. I’d say now’s the time to get your ducks in a row and brace yourself for a sucky few years, folks. The ride will be rough, but if you’ve managed your finances right and made solid decisions, you’ll make it.
It’s almost enough to make me feel sorry for the next sucker who is president. Almost.
