Gothamist: Agreement on $700 Billion Bailout Plan, But Congress Needs to Pass It

starrygordon

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:58:07 -0500

Insofar as I can understand the bailout proposal -- the craven Democrats are hanging bells and whistles on it to make it more palatable to their justly outraged base -- the money is to be used to reinflate the real estate and equity markets, thus recreating the situation which led to the present crisis. It is not a solution, it is not even the suggestion of a solution. It is a recreation of the problem on a larger scale. If you're going to have capitalism, you have to allow for its destructive seasons, or it's not going to work.

yg

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:03:09 -0500

Well, again, rescue of whom? The immediate beneficiaries would be the banks, and I have no sympathy for them. Not because I have some prejudice against banks, quite the opposite - I think people who make good business decision should be rewarded, and those who make bad business decisions deserve to fail. Then there are the people who are trying to take out the loans. They would benefit as well, but really, people with good credit rating would get a loan anyway. It just would be more expensive. But that's not so bad: sellers still need to sell, so they will be forced to lower their prices. The real estate market is way overpriced anyway. And yes, I know there are severe problems with securing a loan right now, even for good customers. Well, too bad, that's how market economy works, but wait a year, and you'll be able to get a load for that McMansion you've been dreaming about.

jibbly

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:55:45 -0500

You mean Palin will swoop in on a jesus horse and solve it. The original Paulson plan was basically handing over the control of up to $1 Trillion to him with no oversight into how he was going to use it. Hypothetically if his version of the plan was rubber stamped through congress and the white house he could have technically taken the money, bought an island in the south pacific and created an army of mutant monkey clones to build neutron bombs to smite his enemies.

sidenote

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:51:36 -0500

It's not about will you ever be able to get a loan again, it's about what will happen if people and business with good credit that didn't do anything wrong are punished because of Wall St.'s mistakes. Those people just can't go without loans while this whole thing just shakes out. Like you said, YG, it'll take years and alot of those people will go bust between now and then. I'm not arguing that the government was asleep at the wheel here and that a lot of people made a lot of money getting us to this situation. That's not the issue. You want to be pissed off about that, join the club. But like it or not, this country would be headed toward a major depression if we just sat and did nothing. This plan is a rescue, not communism.

tingo

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:39:24 -0500

Palin will swoop in and solve it.

yg

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:31:01 -0500

sidenote, You really think there will be a problem getting a loan in couple of years? Let the markets sort themselves out (with proper regulation of course). When there's profit to be made, there will always be someone to offer the service. Instead, the people in charge of overseeing the markets and the economy are panicking. They slept through the crisis. They deregulated the industry, in the time when they should have created regulations for the new credit markets. Now the taxpayers have to bailout the banks. Yes, BAILOUT, because you, me and everyone else will pay to stop the banks' losses. Check out this bill, included are things like: government taking partial ownership of some companies, government owning mortgages, government controlling salaries. This is communism.

starrygordon

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:23:24 -0500

So we're supposed to allow ourselves to be robbed by improvident, reckless rich wastrels in order to keep our pittances?

sidenote

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:11:09 -0500

You guys are just so clueless. We're talking about the total implosion of the banking system here and that means no loans for anyone for anything. Good luck getting a student loan, buying a house, or running a small business regardless of your credit. This is not a Wall Street handout, it's an investment in the country to stop bank failures and keep regular people out of bankruptcy court. Just look at the markets today - there's basically a guarantee the government is going to pass this thing and the markets are still down 300 points in the first 30 minutes of trading, another major bank is basically gone and the European banks are getting their own bailouts left and right. Imagine what it would be like with no plan at all? I know everyone on this site only thinks rich people own stocks, but most of America depends on them for retirement savings. Can you imagine being 60 right now and watching your nest egg evaporate?

contro

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:59:32 -0500

Can I get a reach around as well since I am paying for this?

gossipgirl

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:57:03 -0500

this.is.bullshit.