Gothamist: Congress, White House Reach Tentative Agreement on Bailout

yg

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 15:09:44 -0500

Government owning mortgages, government owning and profiting from companies, government dictating salaries... Can someone tag this story as "communism"??

NannyState

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 14:57:23 -0500

Maybe for once Washington will run Wall Street, instead of the other way around.

blablanyc

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 13:34:22 -0500

"One thing is certain. No one - no politician, no investment banker, no television commentator, no economist - should be able to say again with a straight face that here in the United States we just let markets do whatever markets do and everything works out for the best." - AFL-CIO's President John Sweeney

blablanyc

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 13:12:58 -0500

eisenhut2000 - I think the average American would need to work more than 13 days to earn $4500.

starrygordon

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:19:10 -0500

It is true that the $700B is going to be "printed" money, but its application is even more problematical: it will be used to reinflate the stock and real estate markets, which will almost certainly lead to even larger bubbles and an even larger crash in the not-to-distant future. There is also another shoe in the present set to drop, and that is whether the Chinese and others who have been funding the present regime are going to continue in their role as suckers. They've been hanging in there so far, but even Asian patience must have its limits. Guess it's time to buy gold bricks, get some chickens for the yard, and an AK-47 to hang over the fireplace.

eisenhut2000

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 10:52:40 -0500

Ouch. $700B is roughly $4500 per taxpayer. The average American would need to work for 13 days and pay 100% of the income to the U.S. government to generate that money. In reality the government will just print more money and/or add the amount to the U.S. federal deficit - which is now $10.4 Trillion (it was less than $4 Trillion in 2000). If I weren't already super-cynical I'd be pretty pissed about this.