I think the government should let all the weak and powerless companies fall flat on there face and let the stong companies prevail,you can’t keep bailing out companies when their doing the wrong things with the money.When the weak compains fall and the strong companies prevail then you start over instead of using all this already taxed money from the federal reserve and having us pay it back double or even triple what we started out with.
i am angry.when my husband,s Hospital is on the brink of bankruptcy the failed bloated CEOs of bailed out AIG are being rewarded.In any other country this would have started a revolution.
I am ashamed at the nation that I was taught to be proud of, not because of our brave soldiers that fight in spite of political agandes, not even the change in moral values of this nation. Instead I am am ashamed of the simplest of you who claim to be American and yet you sell out your brother for the all mighty dollar. We use to fear Communisim as a threat to the FREE WORLD but it has become GREED that has been our downfall. I don’t see a bright future unless hard hearts become soft, and the rich look at the blessings that has been bestowed upon them and pass a little down. You are witnessing a time in history that rivals the great revolution against Britain. These people of our nation have worked and fought hard for their country, now they see the same country turning its back on them. History has proven the out come of this, it will be caous and martial law in the streets. We are a people that wants to abide by the law, but when the law can no longer protect us we become Vagabonds.
my husband owns a my business. we do not qualify for foodstamps or unemployment. we are trying very hard to keep the bills payed. don’t know one week to the next how we’re going to pay the bills. then on top of everything else you have these collections agency (lvnv funding) that they have bought from a department store you had 3 years ago. so now they’ve went to court and added extra charges on to it for something you never got from them the start with and they allow these companies to place leins against any property that you may have manage to hold on to. my husband had to call wells fargo to come pick his truck up thats we’ve been paying on for 2 years becausr they would’nt refinance it to get him at a payment we could try keep it, because this lein that was placed on his credit from lvnv funding is credit score had dropped to low. not because he did’nt make the monthly payments on it because he had made every one of them. then the guy from wells fargo told him if they picked it he was still going to pay if i could have continued to pay for it i would have kept it would’nt think.so after this economy with all the loan defaults this collection agencies will have a field day and will have the courts to help them collect or take what you do have so someone please tell me how this stimulus is going to help the selfemployed ? we have to pay taxes to.
I wrote a song about it:
I Want a Bail Out (‘Cause I’m just too big to fail) and it can be found on my website: http://www.kilikmusic.com
<a href=”http://www.kilikmusic.com/bailout.htm” I Want a Bail Out
Let the big three go bankrupt, it is the best way for the company to restructure.My salary has decreased, I can hardly pay my bills now,where is the bail out for the tax payers.This is crazy, whats next?? Who do we bail out next? The airline industry??Let those poorly run industries die
This is not a class issue. The money would be better spent on letting the auto workers own these companies and build cars that are green, energy efficient and safe. Give these new worker owned car companies tax incentives for building competitive autos, for the new real world we live in. Give the people who buy these “new” cars tax breaks for buying them and make them affordable for the Working Class. Build a better mouse trap is still the best capitalist principle and our workers are up to the task…give them a go and you will see wonders.
Why does it seem the GM and its blue collar workers are not worthily of help. We are punishing the blue collar for the crimes of the executives. There are so many blue collar arenas who share the pain by cutting their hours so that no one has to loose their job while our financial system white collar workers are entitled to the entire kit and kaboddle with absolutely no accountability. We are rewarding the breeding of narcissism in the white collar arena. Here comes 1984. The haves, and the have nots.
The Government and Wall Street are in bed with each other. We need to get the Government in bed with the Average Middle Class Tax Payer.
I put a large down payment. Only offered the stupid loan I got. I have been responsible did not take any equity out of the house. Went to 2 interest increases and was going for my third which would put me at 12%. Fought and got an abusive modification. Mortgage modified for 5 years at initial rate of 7.85% for five years. 100% going to interest and in five years if unable to refie then the loan goes back to in horrific self. Calculated by 6% above the index and an interest increase every 6 months. I already know I can’t refinance.
You tell me how irresponsible I been. Holding on to this house and giving Countrywide and my association every cent I have. My question is who is getting my $2,200.00 a month? Because it aint me. In five years I will still owe the same amount I owe today but will have to pay $132,000.00 to someone who is claiming they are broke and have to Washington bail them out. Who is going to bail me out?
I work four times harder then those rich politicians.
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, Copy and Paste everything you write here to the appropriate addresses!
There should not be any bail out to the Wall Street crooks. The CEO and CFO and all the executives of these failing financial institutions should pay back their bonus and compensation and all the benefits.
I just wonder when America will wake up and realize this is just a play to replace the financial industries fake money that doesn’t really exist (they call them securities and they don’t necessarily need to have real money backing them), with the real stuff.
If you want to fix the economy, increase the wages of the 90% of the population that only make 10% of the wages paid in America.
And we have the gall to call the Native Americans stupid because they sold Manhatten for 24 dollars? To all you morons who bought overinflated homes I say STUPID and you deserve to go out of “our” house not yours because you didn’t pay for it and you got stuck with it before you could flip it.
Early Christmas present before Bush finishes his term. They figured if Obama raises taxes on the top 5% of wealthy americans, they need to get compensated before Bush leaves. That’s what it comes down to.
What some folks here fail to understand is that to “stick it to the pigs” and “let these companies go belly-up” is tantamount to letting the entire economic system collapse, and you are a fool if you think you are insulated from the repurcussions of that scenario. When banks, the banking system, and ultimately companies’ (both big and small) ability to access cash goes away, so does our economy–ALL OF IT. Rampant inflation, massive unemployment, spiraling foreclosure…is it starting to sound like the great depression? It should, because thats what we are looking at, right over the edge of the abyss we stand on. A lot of companies lent money when they shouldn’t, a lot of people borrowed when they shouldn’t. All parties have suffered plenty (writedowns and foreclosures), and the $700billion bailout isn’t going to alleviate pain on wall street–its going to keep it, and main street, from evaporating. The likelihood is that the federal government will recoup if not profit from the bailout, while participating banks will suffer massive losses…but hopefully survive. This isn’t robbery, its about keeping our house from burning down, and we better act now. Venting your frustration is about as useless as it is juvenile. So get over it, and then get better informed. Thankfully people who understand the intricacies and interdependency of our economy are doing something about it as opposed to moaning about how life is “unfair”.
If you, like myself, are fed up with this government…then stop the bailout. Next, do everything you can to allow the companies fail. Next, stop paying taxes.
You see…a government can’t function long without money. We bankrupt the government…then we take control of our own lives. Imagine self determination…can you imagine it?
Could you imagine riding ourselves of a war in iraq? Riding ourselves of federal programs geared to fuel corporate interests (fascism)? Rid ourselves of agencies that tell us how we can carry out our lives?
The federal government was orignally only intended for national DEFENSE (not OFFENSE…ie Iraq war) and to safeguard against monopolies and commerce between states. That’s what our founding fathers intended.
George Washington is rolling over in his grave…so too the great Thomas Paine. Why don’t we return the country to the people…let their hard work be rewarded by giving them the freedom this nation was intended to have.
As things stand now…anyone with less than a net worth of a million dollars is really just a slave to their own debt…credit is nothing more than shakles. Who instituted this “credit” life style?
Who told the people that this “mortgage” society IS NOT a “renter” society. The banks own your home…you rent it with the interest you pay. Who owns the banks? The elites! They are land lords…and you are a servent.
Why did this happen? Cause homes prices were allowed to sky rocket so the land lords could put more of you in their pockets.
Welcome to the “slave” class.
We already have a rescue package for homeowners 300 billion dollars for these I wannabe landlords. These people are so irresponsibile they forgot the government gave them 300 billion dollars in July. These hippie homeowners can’t even collect rent and we are giving them billions of dollars.
Well, the way I see it is that we have to get it approved and pushed through. Not doing anything will result in everyone from CEOs making millions to minimum wage earners suffering serverely. The entire economy would tank. The KEY is to get it right and to get it right now. Failure is just not an option. So, I don’t mind it being held up and not just pushed through. We can’t screw this up. Yep. we are all going to pay for this and so will your children. If we don’t do it, there will be a nightmare…..if we do it right, we can rebound. If we do it wrong, it will again be a nightmare. we don’t have a choice at this point people. Is it fair…? No…but was it the alternative. If the economy tanks, we will all be in a mess that you just won’t believe. I am a principle person but I can’t be one now. Get it done, take your time, and get it done right….but it better be soon..
700 billion dollars,,,?? isn’t that about what we’ve spent in iraq so far? seems to me if we got rid of our foreign policy, we could have already offset that much!! we ‘give’ Israel 2 billion a year! what do we get in return for that money? oh, i guess they had people from israel and iraq here filling sandbags when the last two storms hit the U.S. demand that U.S. taxpayer dollars never leave the states… thats a beginning! we can’t finance the U.N and the world’s problems! they have to evolve on their own!
GET RID OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE, THEY HAVE NO CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS TO MANAGE OUR MONEY! CROOKS !! OBEY THE LAW CONGRESS!
From now on ant bill you recieve, please write “Toxic Paper” on it and return to sender free of postage. What is this country coming to? Ben Franklin must be doing summer saults in his grave.
Those failed banks gambled and they lost. Back in 2000, many banks gambled in the tech bubble and they lost.
The similarity is : in 2000 as well as now, they all whined, lobbied, pulled strings, and used scared tactics to get tax dollars to bail them out.
In 2000, Congress did the right thing : letting risk takers take home the risks they subscribed to. After that:
1. the economy did NOT collapse
even though, 911 happened the year after.
2. It’s clear to all that in America, when you gamble, you win or lose. It’s never that you win or taxpayers lose. Thanks to that, rest assured that NO tech bubble will ever happen.
—-
Congress: please do not use our tax to bail out the banks.
We voters will watch closely your and your party vote records on this issue, more than any other issues.
Presidential candidates: we’ll see how you vote, too.
Your voting record on this issue will tell us a lot more than your rhetorics about who you stand for.
–
Lau Tac
What about the next big financial fiasco-the credit card crisis that is coming soon to a bank near you! Easy credit and all sort of gotcha clauses to push rates up! When people cannot pay the minimums and still buy gas and food {which is where most of their out-of-control balances came from in the first place} WHAT THEN? TIME FOR ANOTHER BAILOUT FOR OUR GOOD FRIENDS -THE BANKERS. THIS WILL AFFECT MORE FAMILIES THAN THE FORECLOSURE DEBACLE, AND THE NEW BANKRUPTCY LAWS WILL HAVE THE ENTIRE SYSTEM CONSTIPATED!IF YOU CAN’T RUN AND YOU CAN’T PAY ,WHAT DO YOU DO? YOU SAY TO HECK WITH IT AND QUIT!
I just did some math.. 700B.. If we, the tax payers, were to spend it, we could buy…
100% of JPMorgan, plus
100% of Bank of America, plus
100% of Wells Fargo, plus,
100% of Morgan S, plus,
100% of MER, plus,
100% of Goldman S, AND
We will still have 117B left.
Why not do that? At leave then the tax payers have a few bank on our side.
Where was the bailout for the thousands of American homeowners kicked out onto the sidewalk?
Where is the bailout for the millions of Americans with little or no access to a decent healthcare system?
Where is the bailout for the American Taxpayers who face jail at the slightest hint of a default ?
Where is the bailout for all of us around the world whose small but very important lives are going to be impacted by the heinous actions of criminal bankers who should be facing some serious jail time – not being bailed out like a teenage kid who has racked up a monster debt on Mom and Dads’ credit card…..
I think we need to get over it and do this bailout now before it brings the whole world financial system to a screaming halt. Yes, we should look at regs and what went wrong but everyone cheering on the failure of these financial firms will soon be bummed to find out how severe the impact on their lives will be- like no more loans for cars, stereos, college….
it will become a cash only economy; you will lose your job because your employer can’t meet the payroll, your bank account could be frozen and you won’t be able to use your credit card for anything.
This does not sound like a good way to punish wall street- we are just punishing ourselves.
So get over, folks. Make some substantive suggestions that can solve the underlying weakness in the financial system and stop whining about how unfair it all is.
What about the rating agencies? They were giving these securities AAA ratings. This should really bring their judgement into question.
This is kind of like the closed door meeting that Dick Cheney had in 2001 with his energy commission (the CEOs of all the big Oil Companies?) you never hear it mentioned when there is discussion about why oil and Gasoline prices went through the ceiling either.
Here’s a novel idea.
Why don’t we just offer the banking industry the same terms that they so willingly give anyone that will accept a credit card.
The Government has no other option but to provide help in the form of a comprehensive bailout plan. It took a lot of people to get us into this mess – from Alan Greenspan who helped make money so cheap after 9/11 to the little guy who desperately wanted a piece of the American dream (you signed your name to a loan document – do you take no responbsibility?) to the mortgage broker who sold a loan to the bank who pushed these loans (and let me tell you with big closing bonuses to boot) to the folks on wall street who leveraged the underlying value of these loans 30-40 times. All of it is just embarrassing but we need help or your 401K will disappear as well as your TIAA-CREFF accounts etc… If wall street is allowed to fail this will have a ripple effect not seen since the Great Depression. The Gov’t will end up making money on this bailout and this will get passed on to the tax payer. What do you think happened in the S&L crises? Do you think if you’re on a beach and a tidal wave is coming at you that hiding behind a tree will save you from drowning? That’s being incredibly naive. And if you think a wall street crash won’t affect you than try standing behind a tree.
Why must we pay more taxes while most of us are already struggling to pay for everything else that is wrong with this economy? Instead of rewarding those with the $700 billion bailout for their bad behavior, why not split the money and create an early retirement reward fund (45 of age and up), for the unemployed who were forced to put up with this crises, and loosen the unemployment bottleneck that is going. Then create a rewarding mortgage foreclosure bailout fund to pay down 1/3 of the mortgage, give them a new 40-50 year mortgages for the owners get on their feet, then they could refinance when the market is better again. In the meantime, hunt those who slept at the wheel, and provided the creative financing that got us all in this mess, and seize their assets and funnel the money back into these funds.
I WANT TO KNOW WHAT I CAN DO AS A CITIZEN TO STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING! i KNOW THAT TECHNICALLY THE GOVERNMENT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK FOR THE PEOPLE SO HOW DO I GET THESE EMPLOYEES TO STOP BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE? STOP PAYING MY TAXES, LIE ABOUT MY DEPENDENTS? IS THAT WHAT I HAVE TO DO TO KEEP FROM PAYING FOR THEIR BOATS, HOUSES, VACATIONS, ETC! DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS BECAUSE I WILL NOT PAY FOR THIS CRAP!
I told you what to expect from this leglislation when all of the special interests and lobbyists that are spending all the millions get a hold of these guys. Now we are going to add credit card debt and college loans to the basket. Great for Mastercard and Visa (they can dump their bad credit card debt onto us also). Next we want to give judges the authority to rewrite mortgages for people. Brilliant. Good luck in getting any credit in the future if that happens. If I am a bank and write a loan and enter into a contract only to find out it can be altered in the future to a lower interest rate and different terms at any time by a judge, I would just quit giving loans. No problem there. This is what you get when you ask a bueracrats to make quick decisions. Idiots.
Set up a clearing organization and rate all the securites (just morgage related)at different levels based on what we will pay. A=60%, B=50%,C=40% D=30%, E=20%. Have someone oversee it and drop all of the other B.S. attached and get it done. This will establish a floor for the securities and also a future market. We did this before with the S&L bailout with the Resolution Trust Corporation and took care of the problem.
A given fact: If the Fed/Gov buy mortgages…it will lead to corruption. Ask yourself…do we need more corruption?
Reason so many people are against this is another simple fact: More americans are unemployed and financialy ruined than anyone has the brass to report. Basically we the people have nothing to loose from a banking failure.
Another fact: Unemployment figures posted by the Fed/Gov is grossly under reported…purposely. Also the “true” inflation rate. Fed/Gov report a rosey picture to make themselves look “good”…no other reason. When a government feeds you lies to stay in power…that’s when the end is near…not when the banks are failing my friends.
When the media/reporters stand behind these lies, rank and file, then hope is hard to find.
Totally irresponsible on everybody’s part, democrats and republicans alike. Talk about taxation without representation, these guys are going to bankrupt the country. No bail out, no way, suck it up and pay for your mistakes. Do it once and they will return for more.
Even the people who overextended themselves deserve the blame. The banks may have led them to the water but, they drank it themselves. I had my opportunity to buy more than I could afford and did the smart thing. Bought something a lot less than what they told me I could spend and now my tax dollars are going to bail out those idiot?
Say, NO. NO NO NO. Tell your Congressman and Senator to vote this one down. Send the message clearly. The dumbing down of America.
This whole debacle is so frustrating. These crooks, from Greenspan to Wall Street, have stole so much without rammifications. Where’s the justice in all this? If I rob a few hundred dollars from a bank, I go to jail. If I screw the financial security of the entire country, I get a golden parachute. Let’s find out who’ll support this bail-out bill and vote their butts off Congress. I don’t care which party they belong to.
McCain is crazy!!!
$10,000 per household. He has lost his mind.
A number of households are on the government “tit”. They won’t pay anything. He said he has no problem with his super rich friends like Carlo Fiorina keeping her money.
Therefore, make that $50,000 to $100,000. How many of us can pay that?
This is unattainable. They are transferring the debt to future generations.
These idiots have destroyed our society. They know it is coming. They just want to bank money for their select few.
It is over. Prepare yourself.
NO WAY!!! NO WAY!!! Do not write this check!! There are starving people in this country, people with out homes, people who are sick and are in need of Healthcare, write them a check for $700 Billion FIRST. Reach out to the poor and needy, show, compassion and love, apparently we must have the money and enough of it but we don’t look at this option why? we turn the other way. I do not support this. I will not pay for this in my taxes. “We need to pray”
As far as I see it, the 700 billion bailout is the biggest transfer of wealth from the lower and middle classes to the rich and could potentially be the biggest tax hike in history perpetrated by the Republicans.
We the ordinary people have to pay for this either through higher taxes, reduced services or currency devaluation (or a combination). All of these are bad. The winner of course will be Wall Street. I do not believe this has anything to do with protecting the economy but is simply a ploy to bail out the rich.
I think it’s ridiculous!! As everyone else has said, these institutions made the bad decisions and now they’re going to bail them out?! Are you kidding me? I pay taxes and I’ve made some bad decisions with my credit as well, so why don’t they just bail everybody out! This is outrageous.
I THINK GEORGE W SHOULD BE IMPEACHED AND THE WHOLE ADMINISTRATION FIRED, INCLUDING LARGE NUMBERS OF CONGRESS. ANY MEMBER OF CONGRESS WHO VOTES FOR THIS IS NOT REPRESENTING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BUT BUSINESS. THE FREE MARKET IS A-OK WHEN THESE PEOPLE ARE WALKING AROUND WITH MONEY COMING OUT OF THEIR EARS, BUT AS SOON AS THEY MIGHT STAND TO LOSE A LITTLE BIT THEY START WHINING TO THE GOVERNMENT! IT’S A BUNCH OF CRAP AND I’M SICK OF IT! LET THE CEO’S WHO MAKE MILLIONS BAIL OUT THEIR OWN COMPANIES, AND STAY THE HELL OUT OF MY POCKET!!!
Paulson, bush and the rest of them are thieves.
The democrats are madd because they’ve been outdone.
It is a race. The republicans want to spend on the “BASE”, the super rich, con-artist, and thieves.
The democrats want to spend on their “BASE”, the super poor, risky behavior, and thieves.
NEITHER PARTY CARE ABOUT THE MIDDLE CLASS OR THOSE USING PROPER SENSE!!!
Listen to their rhetoric.
Bush, Paulson, and McCain cares about the market.
Obama and his side care about homeowners losing their homes because they use sub-prime to purchase homes they could not afford.
These endless bail outs must stop. These has been going on for 20 years and the pigs just get more audacious. The reverse mortgages on the seniors is the next scam we will have to pay for unless this nonsense stops now. Let the pigs go belly up.
sounds just like the panic used to get congress and the american people to go along with the iraq war. ” I’m afraid the smoking gun (proof) will be in the shape of a mushroom cloud.”
Let em fail. No bail outs. No more taxpayer debt to bail out Wall St. This will only add more debt to a already over burdened taxpayer. This will mean NO social programs for the middle or working class, no affordable health care, no jobs program, no, no, no
Bail out yes, but get the bank assets with it. No pain for the stock holders, no gain for the citizens of teh US.
Who the hell is going to help me? They talk about if this does not happen people will lose jobs, companies will close – that’s what’s happening now you idiots! If I have a company and it fails, who helps me? Where’s my bailout? Vote these idiots out. By the way, Paulson did NOT start his job a week ago, it was 2 years ago, he screwed us over for the last year, what makes anyone think this will actually get better?
THE BAILOUT IS NEEDED BUT MAKE THOSE WHO CAUSED THE PROBLEM WITH THEIR GREED PAY THE BILL. FULD SANK LEHMAN AND WALKED AWAY WITH AT LEAST HALF A BILLION, THE GUY WHO KILLED COUNTRYWIDE GOT ABOUT 400 MILLION AND GREENBERG PROBALY TOOK BILLIONS OUT OF AIG. THEY ARE JUST EXAMPLES OF THE THOUSANDS WHO TOOK MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS WITH THEIR GREED.
PETITION WASHINGTON TO HAVE THE IRS GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SUB-PRIME MESS AND RECOVER ANY BONUS MONEY PAID TO ANYONE IN AN INSTITUION DEALING WITH SUB-PRIME. ANYONE HIDING THEIR MONEY OFF SHORE SHOULD BE JAILED. THEY SHOULD ALSO BE PREVENTED FROM LEAVING THE COUNTRY.
I don’t believe that a bailout for these large companies and fat CEO’s will help the little people at all, we’ll just have to pay for it, and how can the govnerment help people who can’t pay thier mortage, why can’t they pay thier mortage? because they borrowed more money than they could aford, thier credit cards are maxed out, thier BMW lease is up and I should have to pay for these people who can’t balence thier own check book. I’ve been paying my mortage faithfully for 20 years and am on top of my own finances, so whats in it for me but to pay more taxs. I’m very angry about this and say absolutey no way should we bailout anyone, if fact the people responsible for this mess (CEO’S and Govnerment officals) should go to prison.
The politician are holding us hostage by reminding us of the Great Depression.
Well remind them of the BOSTON TEA PARTY.
American Taxpayers Revolt.
Take a tax deduction and call it BAILOUT !!!
SPREAD THE WORD
The politicians who failed to regulate this mess should go to jail.
Bailout the innocent depositors, painful for the taxpayer, but it wasn’t their fault.
The shareholders should lose everything. They should have known better.
Recover the management bonuses for the past 5 years.
Put the bank boardmembers in jail as well.
NO BAILOUT!
Let Big Oil step up to their “patriotic” duty and bail their Wall Street buddies and their country! After all, they have been enjoying windfall profits for years! Let Haliburton refund the government for overpriced services! Tax the mega rich for unpaid taxes! Confiscate the exaggerated and immoral golden parachutes!
Bailout the citizens of this country, not these crooks! Vote out any Senator or Congressman who even supports this bailout. There doesnt seem to be a dividing line between Wall Street and Capitol Hill.
Shame on you Mr. Bush, and your Sycophants!
my load application has one new line.
The remaining balance of this load will transfer to Fed national debt balance.
The ultimate reason that people are foreclosing is that they put little to no money down on their home loans and have very little incentive to “struggle” to keep up their payments. An alternative to the Paulsson plan could have the government buy 20% of all home loans taken out in the past 7 years. The homeowners would only be required to pay back 80% of their original loan if they keep up their payments. If they go into foreclosure or refinance however, then they would be required to pay back 100%. This would give a huge financial incentive for people to not foreclose. The foreclosure rate goes down, the value of mortgage backed securities goes up and banks can now clear their balance sheets.
If Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calls this financial crisis embarrassing, who is he embarrassed for? Maybe it’s the current administration’s blind eye toward the literal looting of taxpayers by the crooked, greedy CEO’s and companies who got away with this unregulated behavior? Is it for the government personnel who have been cavorting with big oil’s hookers and bribes? Is it for himself, who should’ve seen this coming towards us about 2004/5? The Bush administration has to be comrised of the most lying and unethical political machines that has been in office during my lifetime. At least Nixon had a shred of political savvy left in him after Watergate.
This whole bailout mess makes me literaly sick. Personally, I’m a recent law school grad who did very well in school, but yet can’t find a job. My wife and I have a mortgage, school loans coming due, and we’re paying double in home heating/natural gas prices. What good does this do for us? We’re going to pay for this mess, a mess caused by the “elite” of our society who already sat at the top of the food chain, and who will now remain there thanks to our incompetent government. Let them suffer. What’s amazing is that I was in New York recently as a “tourist” and went over to the financial district, specifically Lehman Brothers. I was amazed to watch executives pull up in their limos, ridiculous suits, etc. and it mad me sick to watch. I realize that we live in America in a capitalistic free market society, but to me that means earning enough money to be comfortable and having the ability to give your heirs a little bit of something to get started with. I can’t wait until Obama gets into office and puts the tax structure back to where it ought to be. If I’m ever lucky enough to make more than the 250,000 that Obama is proposing, I will pay my taxes with pride, because I realize that by doing so, I’m helping rather than causing the problem in America. I had a Constitutional Law Professor in law school who would routinely say that he would gladly pay more taxes because he realized how lucky he was to live in America. I agree, because despite the current mess, I’m lucky that I won the genetic lottery and was born in the U.S. I really hope that CEO’s and executives that put us in our mess today are prosecuted and sent to “real prison” not the country club type places where they customarily go. They’ve affected and screwed up literally millions of lives, and will now retain their ridiculous salaries/pensions at the behest of people like me. When I think about situations like these, I like to compare it to the drug dealer who sits at urban street corners. While this individual is admittedly screwing lives as well, the dealer will never affect the quantity or breadth of individuals that the CEO’s, etc. have or will. Yet, their sentences and treatment in our judicial system are a joke in comparison. They get 20 years for having enough drugs to sell to 5, yes 5 people, whereas, I’ve personally witnessed executives in the Enron type scandals of the early 90’s getting 30 – 90 days in protected custody for affecting millions. It’s sad, but our government is quickly, well expansively, creating a class divide in our country, and once again this bailout is proof of it. I apologize for the bumbling and stumbling rant, but as anyone who reads this can probably tell, I’m upset, frustrated, and embarrassed.
Are we all nuts?!?!?! Did we forget what this country was founded on? THIS IS OUR GOVERNMENT!!! How dare they even consider bailing out anyone BUT “the people”. We must demand that the homeowners be the ones that are bailed out. Not the idiot making 2.5 million per year!! The economy WILL NOT GET BETTER by taking care of the companies, it will only improve by making sure people can live indoors. No one purchases a house with the intent of losing it. They should consider providing longer terms to the loans – 60 yrs, lowering the payments, forgiving the past debt, allowing for tax free automatic roll over to spouses/children/next of kin, and allow the consumer to keep the home. By doing this, the companies will be bailed out, as the homeowner will be able to make the payments, as well as give the homeowner hope of providing a roof for themselves and thier children. It’s a win-win.
Congress tapped into this site today.
Financial Crisis Fundamental Foundation Flaws and Solution
The flaws are articulated in detail as well as the solution which involves a New Global Value Exchange Accounting System they have a list of power questions that media and journalists can ask.
We have a fiat currency bubble burst.
One interesting ironic insight is a small fortune can be made off pennies as a result of the amazing paradox resulting from current market conditions. 1 lb of pennies is worth $6.00 tangible and only $3.00 intangible.
They make an interesting point why shouldn’t the bail out (citizens going into debt) go to pay off the mortgages and then trickle down to those firms needing to be bailed out?
Read the power questions. http://coinage.me/power_questions.htm
Are you proposing for all 300 million people we get $1 million each? That equals $300 million — fall less than the $700 BILLION that are bilking us for.
They would save an enormous amount of money. Why is this not a mortgage solution that benefits everyone? Where is the $700 going. That is enough to pay off every mortgage in this country how many times over for anyone making less than $250,000 a year?
This Bailout PLAN is as creative as those loan programs that led us to such a position! What ifthis plan would not work? We all finished!
Are those nuts out of their minds!
Here, here ex-banker. Thank you for your courageous honesty.
When I worked at the IRS I saw the same kind of calculated corruption. Accounts take enormous risks knowing if they get caught they have money tucked away that makes a stay in jail worthwhile. It is unbelievable the schemes they come up with. AND, yes they would push their own beloved child under a bus to make a buck.
CALLING FOR CHARGES OF TREASON…This unbelievable $700 BILLION burden of national debt they want to quickly pass by us while we are in shock significantly benefits a small part of the population. The bailout falls squarely on the middle class worker who is already stretched beyond their limits. AND, the corporate execs are screaming for their golden parachutes. These people shouldn’t be given any parachute and should be charged with TREASON.
Why aren’t legislators crying for TREASON charges to be filed against the execs of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, AIG, and George W. Bush and Alan Greenspan?
Wikipedia: “In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more serious acts of disloyalty to one’s sovereign or nation.”
If you don’t agree that they committed TREASON, then what do you call it? A lapse in judgment or fraud? I think it was a giant confidence scheme to rip-off homeowners while giving them temporarily what they thought they needed. In the meantime, Bush and Greenspan would slip out of office, the execs would get paid millions of dollars, and the next administration would bleed the taxpayers saying it was our duty to bail them out. LIES, LIES and more LIES. Treason, treason and more treason.
I pay more than 50% of my net pay for my mortgage and work 3-4 jobs to keep going. I am 59 years old and have $500 dollars (not a typo) in the bank.
I could spend lavishly on my credit cards, buy new clothes, vacations, ski trips, basketball hoops, new SUVs and file bankruptcy asking the government to bail me out. After all, I’m following the same example set by U.S. corporations. My wages haven’t increased in 5 years but everything else has.
Since treason is in style these days, maybe I should just follow the herd and do the same.
I am demanding that TREASON charges be filed for those who betrayed their shareholders, employees, citizens, Wall Street, and homeowners with unbridled greed, negligence, and mismanagement. You can’t tell me these highly educated people didn’t know that they were doing was negligent and malfeasance. They knew they were committing treason, weighed the odds, and the payoff was worth it for them–that is why they are crying for more. Now let them pay the penalty. If they don’t file charges of TREASON this country will continue to ride the taboggan slide to financial hell.
Taxpayers stop hiding and demand your representatives represent your interests and appropriate legal recourse against those could caused this debacle. The damage done to this country and our reputation makes 9/11 look like an amateur game of domestic terrorism. AND, we are still pouring our money in that little war that push George W. Bush on the map and made him “look” presidential. He is the puppet of these power mongers who have ruined our country but he needs to be brought to task on his responsibility.
It looks like the American public are finally waking up to the fact the criminals running the country are trying to pull another fast one. the Patriot Act…need I say more?
Remember that this is a 700 billion line of credit! Read the small print! This isn’t a 700 billion dollar package. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson effectively has a 700 billion dollar credit card that he can use to bail out his lunch buddies on Wall Street. The question is…how many times will he use the credit card? The true cost can be in the trillions!
A few of you asked for the links to the website for the bills on Economic Stimulus pkg, HR5140. Here it is:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-5140
Please note the list of sponsors for the bill.
and also for the testimony by Ms. Cook before Congress concerning the stimulus package and potential impact by Senate Committee legislation:
http://www.freddiemac.com/corporate/company_profile/pdf/CookHFSCTestimony_052208.pdf
The last time Bush cried “Wolf!!!!”, we wound up with the patriot act, fighting a war in Iraq over oil rights. No he does not want us to take a close look at this. We might laugh and say say, “NO!!!”
It did not get this way overnight. Suddenly it is an “EMERGENCY!!!”. FIRE!!! FIRE!!! DON’T THINK!!! DON’T QUESTION!!!! Just GIVE my buddies the money they ask for.
I still remember his speech when he said to his rich buddies: “You are my base: the haves and have mores”
If the paper that congress is considering buying from these banks has such a future of profitability, then how come nobody else is looking at buying it. There are many American banks that are still solid who won’t touch it.
TO CONGRESS INSTEAD OF BAILING OUT BANKS WHY DON’T YOU HELP HOMEOWNERS. BY MAKING ALL MORTGAGES FIXED AT 4%. THAT WOULD GIVE US ALL A FAIR SHAKE AND IN TURN FIX THE ECONOMY.HOW YOU MIGHT ASK. THAT WOULD GIVE MOST OF US MORE MONEY TO SPEND AND GET PEOPLE INTO HOMES INSTEAD OF THROWING THEM OUT…….
Someone asked why the rush?
The reason for the haste is, once the plan is autorised, it will enable all the people that caused this mess enough time to get their money out of YOUR country.
These people are so rich that they will be able to move to anywhere in the world and continue the great robbery. Make no mistake they are on the hook and are using every means available to try and get off paying their debts.
American’s need to ask themselves what would the founding fathers of your once great country do? They certainly wouldn’t allow fraudsters, mobsters and gangsters to perpetuate this blatant lie.
The banker’s are parasitic creatures that have bled YOUR country dry – don’t let them get away with it.
I have a suggestion – create an independant Gov. Sponsored Enterprise with the $700bn. Only allow tax payers access to this money to help stabilise YOUR economy. Allow every US citizen to open accounts at less interest than the commercial retail banks. Allow a gradual move from existing commercial retail banks to this new ‘Peoples Bank of America’. Allow all the other banks to go Chapter 11. If they are good at what they do then they will survive.
Remember the world is watching and your country will become a banana republic if this plan passes and the dollar will be completely worthless.
I am against bailing out these fat cats. I do not trust Bush at all, something feels very, very wrong here. He can get his billions if he stops the war in Iraq and uses the billions he spends on the war only he seems to want.
If Congress gives him the money he wants, no CEO should get any bonus of any kind with the taxpayers money.
Here’s a novel thought. Let those who were the chief beneficiaries of the credit industry’s excess profits that led to this debt crisis, repay the debt required to support the finance companies being bailed out. This would take a significant rework of your tax system – put an end to corporate welfare and tax breaks for the wealthy and elite and institute a progressive tax system.
The bill should be borne by those who were the cause and beneficiaries of the problem taxpayers bailing out the financial institutions bail out
Why are we not considering the obvious? We use “our” money for the new “good” credit and let the “free market” fail just as they have profited from no regulation? Free market means free to fail. The system didn’t work IT NEEDS TO FAIL or it will happen again…and again…and again… Meanwhile we pay, they profit. Merry Christmas!
This plan is absolutely unbelievable! A bank bail out should only come at the expense of the shareholders otherwise it is money down the drain (see how they did it in Sweden in 1992). Not only will it sink the U.S., the ramifications for the rest of the western world are quite scary.
Financial Crisis Bail out for 700Bilion that is crazy. Let them fold stupid decision that was made by the CEO’s of Financial banks. Why spend tax-payers money. Funny thing is that if the goverment bail’s out these companies the CEO’s gets paid and I am sure they kept billions dollars in there name’s. I strongly believe that they assetes should be put online as relief money. The CEO’s of the mortegagee company do not another house 10 million dollar house. let them sink with the ship.
This plan to me represents the end of the American Dream to me. I have been a life-long Republican. I will leave the party over this one and become an Independant. I think all Democrats and Republicans are pretty much the same now and expect to be sold out by all of them. I know how painful it would be to watch many American financial businesses fail. But where does the moral hazard end? I think there are businesses outside of the financial sector that we will end up nationalizing as well…..car companies, airlines…who knows. We have already nationalized Fannie, Freddie and AIG….stop the madness now…please! If this plan does work you are hanging this deal on my unborn grandchildren! If it doesn’t…well the USD had a good 232 year run didn’t it….
“the risk of doing nothing far outweighs the risk of the package”…whatever bush, are we afraid? what are you scared of, huh?..hahahaha..i hope you don’t do it and if you do i hope it don’t work…here is an idea..burn it all, every last dollar for all i care…
I keep hearing the same mantra from those pushing for the bailout, which generally comes in the form of, “It’ll be much worse for tax payers if we don’t step in.”
Why? I want more detail about what might happen. How is it going to be worse for tax payers? I’m simply not convinced of that yet.
Democrats, beware! The bailout is a trap. It’s the October surprise. The Republicans are setting up the Democrats by forcing through this proposal, which Obama supports for the good of the country. At the last minute, McCain is going to go to Washington, vote AGAINST the bill and do some grandstanding about how he’s not going to support the largest bailout in history. Then, McCain is going to go on the campaign trail and say (1) he is the true Maverick who went against the Bush Administration and (2) he’s the true fiscal conservative. Democrats: you need to make sure that any proposal has the backing of both McCain and Obama so that this can’t be used as a political tool! Beware! McCain is going to vote AGAINST any proposal and use it as a campaign tool!
I like Scotts comment ,give US Citizens 1 million and let us pay off our mortages,etc .If we screw up and get into a mortgage we can’t afford don’t treat us like children and BAIL US OUT
Well, since it appears I may be one of those taxpayers bailing out & buying these companies all I want to know is this…
When does my first dividend check come? YAY, I’m a stockholder!
We have no student loan debt, no auto loan debt, no credit card debt, and no mortgage debt. All the talking heads are saying there is plenty of blame to go around in this situation, but I ask you: “WHERE IS OUR ‘BLAME’ IN THIS MESS?”
And we’re going to get stuck paying for other people’s greed and poor choices? Give me a freaking break! No way, no how!
I laugh at all of you who have lost your homes or are about to because you are living beyond your means. And “Shame on you!” for what you have done to your families and the American public. You are no better than the greedy CEOs of the Wall Street firms that got us in this mess by offering you the proverbial rope by which you hung yourself.
Too bad you are taking us all down with you.
Bush, Bernanke, and Paulson are screaming for urgent action precisely because they don’t want congress to take a good hard look at this. Spend 7/10 of a trillion in taxpayer dollars and not think carefully about it? NO WAY!!!
While I feel the government probably should help in some way, this is just not fair, and how much longer are the American people going to be pawns in this game of lobbyists and special interest groups? I am a married father, an attorney, and I cant afford a home in Los Angeles. It is very depressing to say the least. Where is the help for those of us that can barely now maybe afford a home but need an incentive, a tax break, something? What about those who have graduate school loans? Should we help them out, it only seems fair. The fact is people were given loans that they should not have received causing there to be a huge amount of buyers…its all about supply and demand, and this drove up home prices like crazy. Who let these mortgage companies do this? And now, the tax payers have to pay the price, again. Like I said, I can barely afford a house now, but with the bail out, that chance is now probably gone, while CEO’s, lobbyists, financial firms and un-deserving home owners stand to win.
This bailout is an absolute joke. Every time I think the U.S. government couldn’t be more corrupt, they go and prove me wrong.
Until 8 months ago, I worked for one of those evil investment banks that now no longer exists. I was a Collateralized Debt Obligation structurer and dealt with Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities regularly. I played the market for quite awhile and have a good sense of what these securities are actually worth: NEXT TO NOTHING. I have no doubt in my mind that the “discounted” price the government is buying these at is still WAY TOO HIGH. Otherwise, banks would be buying these securities. These banks have very sophisticated models in place and generally have an accurate estimate of what these securities are worth. I guarantee you that the government not only fails to make a profit on these securities, but does not recover even half of the $700 billion.
I am disgusted that we are going to give the greedy, immoral bankers who got us into this mess a free handout. Working in the banking industry, I met some terrible, terrible people – people that would throw you in front of a bus if they knew they wouldn’t get caught and it would bring a little bit of cash their way. Banking attracts these people because the industry is all about money, and money is all they care about. They will sell their souls for it. These people have crafted scams to defraud others out of money for decades, and just when it’s about to backfire, the government saves them. Believe me, banks are still handing out million dollar bonuses to the con artists who work there and $100 million “golden parachutes” to the CEOs who chose to take ridiculous gambles with other people’s money.
Meanwhile, while the poor bankers are crying about making $1 million this year rather than $10 million, millions of innocent Americans are having their lives torn apart by skyrocketing mortgage rates. Will the government bail them out? Of course not, because no matter what these politicians say, THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE MIDDLE CLASS. They are only concerned about the greedy super-rich that have for a long time been the puppeteers who pull the strings of the US government. The bank executive who is worried about having to buy a smaller yacht or sell their 5th house will be saved. The working family just trying to keep living in a modest 2 bedroom house in the suburbs will be screwed.
Quitting banking to become an engineer was a great move. Heck, quitting to become a garbage man would have been a step up.
Hopefully there’s SOMEONE in Washington with a shred of common sense and decency that will stop this ridiculous plan before it goes through.
We are 300 million people in this country and not all of these 300 million people hold a mortgage or have a house in other words. Most average mortgages for middle class people are $500 to $700×10^5 dollars. If the government would give us a tax break to all tax payers of the amount of $5×10^5 for once lifetime, we all homeowners will be able to payoff or almost payoff our mortgages and the economic crisis will resolve, because we’ll have more money to spend without wondering if can make the monthly mortgage payment or if we will have enough money to buy groceries for our kids. The banks will have their money back and we won’t have to pay with our tax money to save the wealthy people fortune.
To quote a current CNN.Money article — It’s housing, stupid.
Another recent CNN.Money article said that, from 1996 through 2006, the average home’s price went up 86% faster than inflation [which was 28.5% over that decade according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics].
Even if wages went up 10% more than inflation over the decade [ask your neighbor if he's better off than he was in 1996], I calculate that “average” housing prices needed to come DOWN 41% from their 2006 highs just to get housing back to being as affordable as it was in 1996.
Meanwhile, Case/Shiller are reporting elsewhere that houses in movein condition are down maybe 10% from their 2007 peaks. [down 20% if you include the distressed sales of foreclosed houses in questionable or worse condition].
The $700 billion bailout won’t do anything to the fundamentals of the housing market. Wages won’t go up, interest rates won’t fall to 3%, and ordinary working people still won’t be able to come up with a 20% down payment [and thus won't be able to get a loan].
***
That said, only any given day about half the banks and firms in the US economy are lending money to the other half via the markets.
What has happened is that, with housing having so much further to fall [another 30% for move in condition homes in my calculation], no one is able to even guess what the real value of any mortgage loan issued after about 2001 is. And thus, no one knows whether that bank or company you’re doing business with will soon file for bankruptcy and take your money down with it.
Thus, the credit markets are seizing up — no one wants to lend to ANY firm that might have any sort of problem in the future — which could be as far out as 2014.
The SEC has suspended short selling in the shares of about 875 financial firms and other companies with significant exposure to the problems. That’s a fine estimate of how many banks and borrowers might go under if the government sits by and does nothing.
So we must do the program and get the questionable assets off the books of the banks and financial companies — or the economy grinds to a halt and maybe as many as 25% of Americans lose their jobs.
***
That said — there need to be consequences. CEOs should be out if they use the government money at all. And their severance packages should be out, too.
We also need to have the government become first in line to be repaid after the ordinary depositors and creditors. This looks like senior secured debt with voting rights that is convertible into common stock to me. [all prior capital sources including common stock, preferred stock, and capital debt of all varieties will be junior to the government's claims.]
***
We can’t, however, have the bankruptcy courts changing the terms of mortgages — that would make the uncertainty surrounding the value of mortgage assets higher and thus make the run on the banks worse, not better. [Not to mention that Congress would have to compensate the financial firms for the value taken away by doing so -- which might prove to be another $500 billion or more rather easily.]
***
Further, the government can’t realistically be giving more debt relief to people who are living in too much house for their income. Unless and until those houses are sold, the housing markets can’t fall enough to make housing affordable for the worker who didn’t play in the house roulette game. He would cry out that the whole process is completely unfair to him and [justifiably so] “where do I get my fair share of this free money?”.
***
And, the regulators need to rebuild their definitions of a safe mortgage loan. By definition, I think that any loan whose down payment is not at least 10% larger than the level of price depreciation expected in the future, or the level required to allow a landlord to make a profit after buying the house, is a risky mortgage loan and simply should not be made with depositors’ money. Let unregulated hedge funds make such loans if they wish — but don’t save them if they fail.
Further, proof of ability to pay the maximum amount of the likely future payments should be required. If this rules out ARM loans because no one can really estimate the maximum future payments, so be it.
[An alternative approach would be to rule out fixed interest rate loans and require that all mortgages have floating rates that reset once every five years based on then current rates in the market. This would put a wonderful check on the tendency of Congress to spend too much since high spending tends to lead to inflation and that causes high interest rates -- if rates are too high and/or going higher, the party in power would tend to be voted out of office since everyone's mortgage payments would rise sometime in the next 5 years.]
***
The other two ways to put strength into the housing markets would be to inflate the currency some 20 to 35% [which effectively steals that much of the assets of anyone holding cash], and to create a lot of new jobs in America, preferably with high wage rates [if the government arbitrarily sets the wage rates to be high, this is the equivalent of a wage inflation policy, so it has to be jobs with naturally high wages.]
It is going to be a rough and rocky next few years — the S&L bailout took about 5 years to do its job and this one looks to be bigger and nastier, so we should expect it to complete in about 2016 or so.
Hank Paulson who was the CEO of Goldman Sachs from 1999 to 2006 he presided over, HELPED CREATE, and profited wildly from the most horrific housing bubble the world has ever seen.
Now that it is over he wants us, the US taxpayers to help his criminal neglegent greedy brethen to slip off into the night without paying the price for their evil.
Damn you to hell Paulson.
I think the idea of giving ourselves,(the people) the bailout money. $1 million for each tax payer . Let us pay our homes and credit cards off . This would free up our paychecks to buy goods and services and stimulate the economy. We would be in an unprecedented position…
Why is this not a great solution??
Coming soon to a country near us?
September 23, 2008
CEO murdered by mob of sacked Indian workers
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4810644.ece
( Parth Sanyal/Reuters)
Thousands of protesters recently forced Tata to halt work on the plant being used to produce the world’s cheapest car
Rhys Blakely, Bombay
Corporate India is in shock after a mob of sacked workers bludgeoned to death the chief executive who had dismissed them from a factory in a suburb of Delhi.
Lalit Kishore Choudhary, 47, the head of the Indian operations of Graziano Transmissioni, an Italian-headquartered manufacturer of car parts, died of severe head wounds on Monday afternoon after being attacked by scores of laid-off employees, police said.
The incident, in Greater Noida, just outside the Indian capital, followed a long-running dispute between the factory’s management and workers who had demanded better pay and permanent contracts.
The proposed $700 B Federal bailout is just wrong thinking. The problem arose from a misguided idea that all Americans should own houses. Clearly, all Americans who can afford houses should own them, and those who can’t afford them shouldn’t.
This bailout will penalize those of us who have borrowed responsibly, saved responsibly, and not spent money we couldn’t afford on things we didn’t need. Our fuzzy thinking Government who started this mess with a misguided premise, and fostered it with irresponsible regulation, will now penalize the taxpayer by taxing us about $6,000 per employed person. That additional tax is going to hurt my family more than any tightness in the credit market could.
What a remarkable plan, buying up all the bad debt. That goes beyond the stupidity of the bankers who made those loans in the first place. They have to loan money to people who are willing and able to repay it, or they deserve to go out of business.
If the Government really must get involved, then make good loans to qualified borrowers who are unable to get loans from their usual sources. Let the bad loans work themselves out – they always do. That way the pain should come to rest in the right place- with the people who borrowed money to buy things they couldn’t afford, and the people who foolishly loaned them the money – not with the responsible savers who live within their means.
Talking about “supporting the system” is just more fuzzy thinking. It’s getting tougher to borrow because companies made risky loans to people who can’t or won’t repay them. So those companies have run out of cash – big surprise. Any bailout will just funnel money into the pockets of the idiots who got us into this mess in the first place.
Henry Paulson and Ben Bernake should resign over such incompetence. Also, 700 Billion dollars is going to cause massive price inflation. This coupled with higher taxes will crush the American Citizen.
CALL YOUR CONGRESS PERSON AND SENATOR AND TELL THEM NO TO THE BAILOUT!
Kyle
Everybody here is outraged about the proposed illiquid assets bailout. CALL YOUR SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN! They are elected to serve our interests. They need to hear from thousands of people that we do NOT support this bailout!
I noticed that some of the homeowners that can’t afford their mortgages are asking for the baiilout money to be sent directly to them. Here is my 2 cents on that.
If you could not make a good decision the first time, I am not going to hand over my money for you to make another foolish decision.
As it pertains to the bailout in general. Why am I having to pay/be punished by having my tax dollars go towards poor decision making. These companies knew what they were doing, and are aware of what they are doing. They are STEALING money from me, our government, and our future.
This is beyond ridiculous, we should literally be in arms about this.
Our version of capitalism is to punish those that make sound decisions.
When is my mortgage bailout? Maybe I should stop paying my mortgage so the government can place further in debt with our owners (The Chinese).
I think we should focus on erasing our debt, or is it that obvious that nobody cares about the value of the dollar in the global marketplace.
Sam, Atlanta, GA
Where are our “Checks and Balances”? I agree with Dodd that we need more oversight. As a taxpayer I ultimately feel that we can’t give the treasury (which is not a branch of the federal government) ultimate say on where our tax dollars fund. I’m not even surprised at this point that the Republican party’s Bush administration asked for Congress to not add amendments to stop extra money to go to these executives who have failed their own companies. If us citizen’s can’t vote – CONGRESS PLEASE STOP THIS and ADD MORE OVERSIGHT!!!
Who are we kidding? There has been a housing crisis for decades for people making below $40,000. I am a grad student, Boston, MA, Women in Politics and Public Policy. I have been volunteering with Lawrence Community Works. I went to the statehouse with various communities to openly listen to homeowners. They were tricked by real estate agents, brokers, lenders, etc. Homeowners were told, “Don’t worry about the loan, (ballon) you can re-write the loan in a year or 2. But when the homeowners tried tr-writing the loans, their phone calls and any contacts were ignored, causing them to go into foreclossure.
The housing courts are siding for the lenders and landlords these days and are not protecting tenants’ rights. Homeowners want to try to work it out with the lenders. Why should they? The governemnt will bail them out, then they can get rid of the homeowner and make money from the government bailout. See these articles: Washington Post, April 14, about HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson; AP article about cronyismn with Jackson; Washington Post article April n13, 2008, Page A01, written by Carol Leonnig how economists warned of a housing market collapse in 2006 because of HUD’s irresonsible behavior; see also http://www.regulations.gov; look up: SEC-2008-1288 and SEC-2008-1289; look up nfederal laws by putting an issue in the address bar with a comma, (for example): securities and exchange commission, federal register
What the governemnt is doing is called:
Corporate Welfare!
Deutsche Bank in Lawrence, MA refuses to negotiate wit the homeowners. Their loans make up 20% of all the foreclosures in Lawrence, MA. Lawrence is already in an entitlement city where there is a high percentage of minorities whom the real estate agents, banks, lenders, etc. exploited.
These professionals know the law and should know what is ethical and what isn’t.
This group of people are simply being protected. What about the Ricoh Act, since they all conspired with the intent to deceive to gain money.
My prayer for 10 years has been that God expose the hidden things, including fraud and corruption.
Americans need to pay attention to details.
Excuse me, Why in the world are we still dealing with Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke? I should say, why in the world are we still letting them deal with this crisis? The have proven over and over again they have no clue what going on or what to do about it. They never saw any of this coming, YEAH RIGHT! These are the same guys who just a few weeks ago said everything is fine, WELL, they mismanaged that and now they just want $700 Billion to “FIX THINGS” without any oversight?
AH…..NO………………………..
If this were anywhere else but the Federal Government, you would have been fired or in jail.
I SAY FIRE PAULSON AND BERNANKE AND BRING IN SOMEONE WITH A REAL PLAN.
I have already contacted my represnative.
I know many people who bought 4 houses in Brooklyn, kicked all the seniors and children out so he could jack the rents to 2500.00 dollars a month put 6 people to an apartment. and now I have to hear that scum like this is going to get money from the government! I say Hell no. I want greedy landlords and Wall Street moguls like them to rot in hell for all the pain and suffering the caused
What’s the rush? Give our lawmakers (?) time to digest the facts (with the fat) and then write some safeguards to prevent this from happening again; e,g, make bailouts illegal in the future.
From CNN:”Numerous senators pushed witnesses about whether the federal government should get equity in the firms it helps, or whether the bill should put limits on the compensation of executives at those firms.
Bernanke and Paulson both argued such provisions would limit the firms that would participate and undermine the effort. They said it could even cost the taxpayers money by leaving the government with only the worst mortgages from the most troubled firms.”
Seriously? Why should my hard earned money be used to give these High level executives lucrative payouts? Do Bernanke & Paulson really think that not putting a cap on these guys is the best use of this money? I mean come on. Do they truly that believe that it would limit the number of companies that would sign up for this plan? We’re in a big mess and that’s a concern?. Payouts for what? For screwing up the economy? Great job, guys. Way to go.
It’s already costing the taxpayers money. It annoys me that greedy high level financial executives got us into this mess. It annoys me that ignorant wannabe homeowners didn’t do their due diligence and truly looked at their finances/read the fine print before they signed on the dotted line. It annoys me that I, you and everyone else we know is now stuck with this mess even though we’re not the ones that screwed up. It annoys me that everyone believed that the economy was only going to get better and that there was no correction in sight- every economy corrects itself. It annoys me that a very small group of cranky old white men have and continue to put all of our financial futures in jeopardy. It annoys me that this same group of cranky old white men are supposedly the smart ones.
Seriously? My 5 year old nephew could come up with a better plan.
The CEOs of Lehman Brothers and AIG are criminals, much like the CEOs of Enron.
If Martha Stewart can be imprisoned on mere suspicion of insider trading….these men deserve LIFE SENTENCES for what they knew (and hid) from the American people.
Derivatives are a form of speculation (gambling) on how a stock will perform; much like betting on a horse race. They knew the risks involved when they placed their bets.
Every penny we’re being asked to pay to right their erroneous judgements (plural), should be repaid to the American people by liquidating both their personal and business assets in the U.S. and abroad.
These companies have been privatizing PROFIT for years….and socializing their losses. They see money going in one direction only: theirs. They’ve set up the game so they always win and they have continued to engage in risky behavior despite the possibility that it would destroy our economy.
These are the very same people who thought it amusing to watch people getting kicked out of their homes after a predatory lending scandal THEY devised. They’ve come up with the BRILLIANT idea that they’ll hold on to foreclosed homes until the market improves, and then sell them at a terrific PROFIT, while setting up areas for people to live out of their CARS!
So, I say…let them take their lumps! They’ve been caught red-handed BILKING the American people out of a minimum of 7 trillion dollars. That sounds like jail time to me.
I REFUSE to accept that we HAVE TO bail them out of their “horse bets.” And, I for one, will be speaking loud and clear with my vote in this next election, carefully watching how my representatives are handling themselves.
I don’t see any news stations talking about this being the second time this has happened with these institutions. It’s worse than identity theft. We know who’s raking us over the coals and have no legal recourse against them! LET US VOTE to decide. This is supposed to be a democracy!
This is a defining moment in America’s history. Will America and its taxpayers stand by their free market capitalist principles? Or will they allow the political elite to rip them off, racking up even more profits for the few at the expense of the future jobs, health and well-being of the average hard working American!?
My dear Americans, this is what we get for choosing George W. Bush as President. Not only he has become one of the wealthiest man with the war bussines, but know his government plans to say goodbye with a
700 000 000 000 (yes this is the rela NUMBER)DEBT endorsed to US the AMERICNA PEOPLE
Both my wife and I make low 6 digits a year without debt except mortgage and still we are living in a 50- years-old-700K house which we bought at 550K 8 years ago. I know what I can afford comfortably. I want a bigger and newer house but I also know something is not right with the crazy housing price in the Silicon Valley.
Why do I have to pay tax to help those who are too greedy to know what they are dealing with? And I am getting punished because I am not greedy and don’t take stupid risks?
I want my tax money back!
I just want to know exactly where all this money is going. We keep hearing we’re buy up bad securities, but which ones? Who’s going to get “bailed out” as it were? Until they can show us a detailed list of exactly who will “win” and who will “lose” in this situation I say NO!! How did these bad securities get “bad”? Will there be any follow up on how these companies that we’re bailing out are spending the money that we’re going to send them? They say these securities are going to be sold “later” for a profit, but what happens when there isn’t a profit to be made in 5, 10, or even 20 years? Who’s going to continue to fit the bill for these bail outs? US!! There are so many better places America could spend $700b right now. How about creating jobs? Years ago the WPA was responsible for rebuilding or building all across the country. They helping the folks who are hurting the most right now… our soon to be nonexistant middle class!! These people who have payed into the government via Fed. Income tax, Social Security (which we may not even get!), and all the sales taxes that we pay, are the ones who are suffering and I believe will continue to suffer through this hole ordeal. Start putting money back in our pockets instead of asking for more, more MORE all the time!! I too will be watching and voting NO to all of those who approve this bogus bail out for companies that were as irresponsible as this to begin with! Helping the industries who have gotten themselves into this won’t do anything for us!
First we have our president scared us into supporting the war in Irag. Now we have the Federal Reserve and Treasury scaring us about a pending recession without a $700B bailout. Why don’t we just open up our wallets and purses and invite our government to take however much they want…
This too is how the great civilizations of the past died.
Complete gov’t leadership failure, absolute disdain for moral, ethical, and social hazard, hedonistic malfeasance on Wall Street,egregious greed and corruption in the Halls of Power and the utter decay of the memories of those who toiled, labored, fought, and died for a BETTER America. Are we at the tipping point where Americans have traded their liberties for convenience and entitlement? Those who do right now become the socialized victims of the morally bankrupt.
This country has lost its northern star and the compass spins out of control……
I OWN A FINANCE COMPANY AND IF I WERE TO GIVE OUT BAD LOANS I WOULD GO OUT OF BUSINESS THE GOVERNMENT NOT GOING TO BAIL ME OUT.WHY SHOULD THEY BAIL WALL STREET OUT WITH OUR MONEY.NOW WE WILL HAVE BIG BROTHER RUNNING EVERYTHING FROMM HEALTH CARE TO OUR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS,WHEN THEY CANT EVEN RUN A POST OFFICE.THINK ABOUT IT
Why don’t we just bail out the American people. Slice everyone’s credit card debt in half. It’ll boost consumer spending and some of these companies will tank. 
It seems to me that the rate of interest on home mortgages that were made earlier, and perhaps have a balloon payment coming due, is the biggest problem. Why not force the lenders to reduce the interest rate for two years and recalculate the loan without a balloon payment. The interest rates the banks are paying are lower now, so they could afford to. If someone bought a house at a higher price, that’s there problem, they still need to continue to pay it off, but give them a break on the interest rate. The banks might not get as much money as they wanted, but they wouldn’t be lending at less than the money cost them. Both the owner and the banks would be hurt a little, but be able to make it. I also think that the CEOs and other executives of the banks involved should take a cut in pay or be assessed a fine for their negligence. Let all parties take some of the blame. If that didn’t take care of things, reassess the situation in the future.
And Surfta from Brooklyn, N.Y., says the government action is really not a bailout at all.
“It’s NOT a bailout. The government is not handing out cash, they actually stand to make a great deal of money out of this, which will trickle down to YOU. First priority should be to try to control and fix the problem, then regulate sufficiently to make sure this NEVER happens again.”
What planet are you on ? Do you know believe that the money will trickle down to the lonely middle class tax payers like the funds that trickle down to the middle class when the outsource the our jobs to other countries. Wake up people. This bailout will not help those who were deceived by predatory lending which was created by banks. Now you decide to bail them out and give their CEOs millions. NO WAY!!!
I think we should offer the individuals that were part of this mortgage mess, the oppurtunity to reclaim there homes, offer them the oppurtunity to purchase the assets before we have to, at a fair interest rate. After that, then discuss what needs to be done. I feel this buyout plays into the governments “Ivy” league advisors, who were not ready to act to help the everyday consumers/taxpayers, but now want to jump in because corporations are on the line. We (the tax payers) will not be reimbursed for the full amount of the buyout, not only at a purchase level, but also adding on the interest that will be associated with this loan. How will that be recovered? I’m not ignorant to the effect of what this might have on our economy, but I was also not ignorant to the loss of jobs, the rising gas prices, the increasing number of foreclosures, but our government was, they did nothing. When I heard on the news, “we might be in a recession”, the majority of Americans, which are middle class, were thinking, “what do you mean might be, this has already been going on for months”. If I saw this coming, how could these well educated, highly paid advisors and CEO’s not? I applaud those who are not jumping on this buy out and taking a better look at what to do. I (all of us) pay government salaries to provide me with a service, to oversee MY interests and make sure I am not being taken advantage of or mislead when it comes to policy and regulations. Government is a customer service business, I’d like to give them some real suggetsions on how to treat customers.
The continued looting of the American taxpayer is in full force. Bush and his cronies couldn’t give enough away to the war profiteers and bloated off-budget defense department expenditures, so they let their other buddies on Wall Street run wild with speculative investments and now want to give $700 billion of our tax dollars to reimburse these speculators. Of course, the bailout doesn’t include your average person, as these blogs clearly show.
I see no reason for us, the taxpayers, to be forced to buy worthless debt from the companies who created it. If someone came to you and offered to sell you an investment that is not backed by any asset and cannot really be valued, would you buy it? Heck no. These clowns don’t can’t even tell us how much the debt we’re supposed to buy is worth. So why is our government buying this junk with our money and money from our children and grandchildren??? I still haven’t heard an explanation of the “benefits” or “profits” that we, the hard-working American people, could reap from this.
Isn’t it amazing how fast the “let the market forces work” “capitalist” crowd changes to socialist promoters when their fat wallets are at risk! Where are the “get the government off our backs” conservatives now? Feeding at the trough of taxpayer money! Just say “No” to more corporate greed.
This mess started with Carter and was exacerbated by Clinton with their insistence that everyone, even or especially, those without “a pot to pea in” have access to mortgages and home “ownership”. I am nasty enough to believe that the reason for this debacle, was democrat greed for money and for the votes of those on the receiving end of these freebie loans.
Let the free market work. The bailout will not fix the real estate market and may even delay the correction from normal market forces.
NO BAILOUT
This is socialism of the most horrid kind. There is no accountability to those making decisions. This cannot go on.
Expect civil unrest if this bailout goes ahead.
We in the UK think this is criminal and your government should go to jail…
All this irresponsible borrowing and lending ran up real estate prices and now they are too expensive. The reason houses are not selling is they are too expensive – It is that simple.
The government needs to stay out of determining ” Bottom” of the real estate prices. I have good credit and want to buy a home, but still can’t afford it.
Pump this 700 Billion into other parts of the economy, it will do more good than throwing good money at a bunch of crooks
The only thing these people (Feds) understand is money. Everyone, sell your stock now and make a statement. You can always buy it back tomorrow or next week for half the price.
I just sent and email to House Speaker Pelosi and Senator Dodd, who is the Chairman to the Senate banking committee..and in the middle of this storm ….letting them know I as a taxpaying American want my country back and not to bail out the greed and irresponsiblity of Wall Street. I also said there are many other ways Americans can think of using $700 billion dollars to help us and our country.
I suggest if each of you can take 5 minutes…please do the same….let your voice be heard…the alternative is being railroaded into something we as a country will regret and our children will have to pay for.
the websites are:
I AM ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED AFTER TODAY’S HEARING THAT THIS BAIL OUT IS NOT NECESSARY! AT LEAST IT’S NOT NECESSARY TO THE TUNE OF $700 BILLION. OK, NEED TO DO SOMETHING, GIVE THEM $150 BILLION AND THEN COME BACK IN 6 MONTHS. NO TO $700 BILLION!!! NO! NO! HELL NO!
Did you hear Paulson just try to evade the question from the Ohio Senator? He wouldn’t commit to an independent appraisal of what a mortage is worth. For example, if a mortgage is worth TODAY only $300,000, but the BANK wants to sell it to the US for $500,000 — then Paulson wants to give the BANK $500,000. And now Paulson is going into his canned speach: gotta get this done now, gotta get this done now! THIS IS A BAILOUT OF THE FAT CATS ON WALL STREET AND WILL NOT SOLVE THIS CRISIS! ROBBERY!!!!
this is the fiscal version of the patriot act- we can do whatever we want- whenever we want- with whomever we want- with YOUR money!
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
PLEASE, Copy and Paste everything you write here to the appropriate addresses!
Anybody actually interested in what happened and why the demise? It started with H.R. Bill 5140 sponsored by Nancy Pelosi. Also, there was a warning as to jeopardy linked to other legislattion senate banking committe which could place the stimulus bill in jeopardy causing failure -see Ms. Cook report to Congress on Freddie Mac website. Freddie Mac’s purpose after bill to offer cheaper loans ARM’s etc to overpriced areas so they would be affordable.
Hey, if I go to Vegas, gamble and loose my money. Do you think there’s a Federal grant somewhere that will give me my money back!!!! Not.
Shipped our jobs overseas, let wal-mart low prices cushion blow, mom and pop stores gone, manufacturing gone, infrastructure gone, inflated home prices so we could spend, this is a planned event Americans. To enslave us. NO FLIPPIN’ WAY!!!
Ben Bernanke said they would buy up the mortgage securities at a “Fair price”, but didn’t really know how to establish a fair price. He said this would help prevent the “Fire Sale” of securities that is going on right now. I’ve got a better idea… Buy the securities at the “Fire Sale” price, and then sell them at a “Fair Price” (Make Money). Those companies unloading the securities deserve to lose money, not make money. This would also drive the “Fire Sale” price up and stabilize the price, because the people owning the securities would know that the government is buying up the low priced securities. I think the government could actually make money on this transaction instead of bailing out those people who tried to scam America. I’m obviously not an expert at dealing in securities. I’m sure it’s more complicated than this, but a little common sense should prevail. Don’t bail out the people who bought these cheap securities hoping to make a big buck! They should lose money, or break even. The American people (who are actually forking up the money to back the securities) should make money off of this deal!
What I would like to know is if we take over the bad debts of these companies, how are they (the companies) going to reflect the monies removed from their business and what is the effect on their bottom line? Are they going to show the loss of these bad loans and depress their value or are they going to get a pot full of money and show an artificial windfall profit as we assume their debt?
No bailout for Wall Street! This companies are greedy. Why should we as tax payer give them big bonus with our tax money.
The “Big Bailout” should be for young doctors, lawyers, phds and the like who are drowning in ridiculous debt. The middle class cannot buy your cars or invest in your banks if they do not have any disposable income. And trust me, they do not.
The exhorbitant costs of education combined with exhorbitant private loans have created a dis-incentive for bright young minds to stay in this country and achieve graduate degrees.
This will lead to the dumbing down of America. Take a look around the internet now, you will find entire communities based on convincing smart young college graduates not to go to law school because of the debt and poor job prospects for most. I know numerous young doctors and lawyers who now regret their decision to go for graduate education because they cannot earn a comfortable living under the crunch of all that debt.
The future of this country is the doctors, lawyers and phds in grad school right now who are paying over half of their paycheck to student loan lenders. Thats unconscionable.
If anyone should be bailed out for the good of the country, it is these people. A bank isn’t going to operate on your knee, or won’t represent you when you get fired for blowing the whistle on public corruption, or teach future generations how a 747 works.
This all smacks of corporate greed and corruption at its most complicit. Fearful of losing the comfortable lifestyle the old white males have conjured up for themselves on the back of themiddle class they adhere to archaic economic principles that died, R.I.P. long ago in the Reagan Adminisration.
These old white males in the banking industry are the past. Let them die. America has long survived without massive banking comglomerates.
No – I will vote out all the folks in DC that vote yes on this…. I have never in my life added to a blog before this. I can not accept this – let them fail like the rest of the small mom and pop shops have. Where is there hand out, where is the hand out when hard working America lost jobs when they went over seas, where is the hand out when unemployment ran out. Enough is enough – I would rather face what happenbs if we say NO then face what happens if we say yes – cause I am sure it wont matter – big banks will win and folks like me wont get credit cause now banks are going to be harder on lending so it will not help me or you.
Where is our news media in all of this. Everyone just seems to have an agenda. Why don’t we know how this really happened. CNN says it all the Republican’s fault, FOX says it’s all the Dems fault. Carville talks about $5 trillion budget surpluses that never existed, and Limbaugh says it’s the Liberals at Fannie and Freddie. We can’t count on the people in charge of the country not to screw us, and we can’t count on the media to tell us the truth about how we’re getting screwed. The Directors and Executives of these companies should have all of their assets taken to pay for this, and they should be forced to work at McDonald’s. I would say imprison them, but then we still would be paying for them. I want to go to the gallery of the Senate and just SCREAM. But, I can’t feed my family from jail. The ravings of a man who was sane just a week ago. Vote out the incumbents, whoever they are. Vote independent whenever you can. Inexperience can’t be any worse than stupid.
Congress said United health care was too expensive but soon as their(and their lobbyists) pocket is affected they can find and approve anything,like their wages and how much do they pay for health ins.I am disabled and my wife has to pay $8,000 annually for our Health ins.
I wanted to clarify my last comments. I do feel terribly bad for the average worker here in the USA. The man or woman who goes to work everyday, doing what they can to support themselves and their families or the folks on fixed incomes that are just getting by.
A lot of people are going to get hurt by this one way or the other and it is really not fair to them.
I have worked in the manufacturing sector for over (40) years now and it is really sad to see so many jobs that have gone away in the past.
If we can right the ship, there is light at the end of the tunnel. This Country was built on hard work and nothing comes without a price, but we do need to make people accountable for their actions.
They should not be bailing these corporations out of their decisions. Most Foreclosures have resulted from a doubling of interest rates after the first two years (predatory lending). Basically, all that has to happen is to have the interest rate for the homeowner go back to what they were approved for and capped by the government. They can then make their payments and everyone is happy. Can it really just be that simple?
In 2002 my career went overseas. I went a year unable to find a job, finally taking one below the poverty line to pay the rent. The GOVERMNENT holding my student loans came after me anyway, after paying them faithfully for YEARS when I had a real job. Hardship Deferment? A LIE! Now for the third time since then the company I’m working for has been bought and I will be let go. I make now 1/3 what I was making in 2002. I did nothing wrong, and now my credit is ruined, my career has become WHAT career, I can’t go back to grad school and finish because I now must pay cash.
I did eveything they say to do, pay on time (when I could) talk to lenders when I couldn’t. I didn’t ask for my career to be sent to India. I was not fired. My companies were bought, people are let go. Where’s my bailout, eh? Oh wait, our government doesn’t give a rats rear end about us. Typical, and disgusting.
We, the taxpayer, will contiue to be more and more screwed because of the mistakes of those who should know better – we’re the ones too dumb to understand the financial system, right? Thanks guys. Thanks alot.
Why on EARTH should I pay for something I had nothing to do with? I live within my means (even having no cable tv, can’t afford it!) nor do I own a home. They can KISS MY ASS, I hope those who purchased homes beyond their means burn.
The bailout unfortunately has to happen, if you think we are all having dificulty now makeing ends meet. Well this would seem like the good old days of plenty if we don’t bail out the financial system and do it now. Yes, its maddening, yes it should never have come to this. Yes we should hold the CEO’s and the politicians who benefitted from all those bad loans responsible. They should pay back everything that they can, and I do mean all that they have taken or whatever is left, and the search for funds should extend to trusts and family members names. There should also be jail terms passed out to ALL those who have acted less than legally. There should be no golden parachutes period. It makes no difference if they are losing their job because of being irresponsible or because they are incaple. But to get back to the bailout… This bailout will only be a very short term fix, unless it is coupled together with a jobs stimulas. During the depression the government put a large chunk of Citizens to work in the CCC’s and other work programs, building infrastructer and whatever else was needed. We need to do this again. Put the people to work who don’t have jobs and most of our financial problems will melt away. Start with Young people who have never been able to get a good job and have no hope of college and go on to young families who find them selves out of work. Then include the elderly who have lost everything in their 401k and can’t get anyone to hire them because of their age. Socialist you say? Well, maybe a form of it, if only temporary, but it sure beats seeing the homeless and beggers on almost every street corner these days in the southern states. We need the bailout, but we need a really good bailout that will really help fix things. And while we are all crying for our children and the hard work they will have to do to pay for our debt, please let me remind you all that I have never seen such a terrible bunch of spoiled brats as the children of today. They want it all, they want it all now, and they are perfectly willing to make the lives of their parents and neighbors misserable until they get everything and then it still does not make them happy. I would say that some character building difficulties that Mom and Dad can’t fix for them are past due. I think they would all surprise us with their new found strength and be happier people for it.
ON COST
If they had to RAISE TAXES to pay for this instead of mortgaging my 2 year old son’s future to pay for this, would they still do it? No.
Let these companies fail, pure and simple. Then BUY THEM for pennies on the dollar and all their assets for 70B TOTAL. Easy, no?
Let the market work!
The scare tactics being used to scare the American people are deplorable. It’s the last hand out to a dying administration’s friends in high places. Enough is enough! NO!
RECLAIM FRAUDULENT EXECUTIVE AWARDS
Here’s another idea: go back in history to find every VP-level executive and above at all of the companies that are involved in this meltdown that made all these bad decisions and institutionalized their greed for the past 8 years, and TAKE BACK every bonus, seize every asset, refold and pack up every golden parachute, and if the money is spent or the assets have been transferred to family members, go after those as well, and seize, seize, seize, and make those responsible forfeit the bonuses and stock option proceeds paid in good faith, which assumed they were doing their jobs. It’s a disgrace that they can walk away and enjoy the sunset while letting taxpayers pay for their mess as they kick back in early retirement in their mansions by the sea.
You might find that future banking execs would think twice before gambling their company away for short term payoffs and cashing out before things get bad.
Or more likely, after announcing such a plan, you might suddenly find that these companies have “miraculously” found the wherewithal to survive on their own, without any bailout.
END SHORT SELLING, PERIOD.
Also, short selling and hedge funds should be outlawed, for all stocks, plan and simple.
It is an abomination and contrary to the argument of those practicing it, serves no legitimate purpose other than to feed on companies and encourage the destruction of otherwise viable companies that have a rough patch. The equivalent would be for all credit companies and your mortgage company immediately calling all your personal loans immediately payable based on a rumor that your 16 year old son failed to pay his $30 Visa bill. It’s insane, and has been a major loophole in the American securities trading system that is long overdue to close.
Let’s fix this gaping hole in our system while we’re mopping up Wall Street with taxpayer money.
Damon
IN SIMPLE TERMS….
THIS BAILOUT IS RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!
SO COMPANIES HAVE THE RIGHT TO TALK THE TALK BUT NOW WHEN THEY NEED TO WALK THE WALK THEY NEED US AMERICANS TO HOLD THEIR HAND? THIS IS CLEARLY RIDICULOUS THERE IS NO SAY FROM US AMERICANS AT ALL. SO THESE COMPANIES ARE CHARGING US FOR WHAT THEY NEED TO AS WELL AS TAKING OUR MONEY TO HELP THEM? IN OTHER WORDS WE ARE PAYING THEM TO LATER HELP THEM. I THINK THE WHOLE IDEA IS OBSCENE AND RIDICULOUS. AND I AM FURIOUS AT THE GOVERNMENT FOR EVEN ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN. THIS ELECTION IS DEFINITELY GOING TO BE A RIDE.
Make these people obey the law!
ARTICLE 1, SECTION 8 OF THE CONSTITUTION STATES THAT CONGRESS SHALL HAVE THE POWER TO COIN (CREATE) MONEY AND REGULATE THE VALUE THEREOF.
IN 1935 THE SUPREME COURT RULED THAT CONGRESS CANNOT CONSTITUTIONALLY DELEGATE ITS POWER TO ANOTHER GROUP. (Reference 22, P. 168)
Our lawmakers need to take a lesson from the Japanese. When Japan faced the same type of financial crisis in 1990 they “rejected” the bailout route and their economy recovered.
Check out “Implementing Japanese Recovery” by Adam S. Posen, Peterson Institute:
http://www.iie.com/publications/pb/pb.cfm?ResearchID=88
In the spirit of “look before you leap” I hope our political leaders consider these lessons from Japan, courtesy of Adam Posen:
1: “no one should expect to clean up a country’s banking problems overnight, or even over a couple of years, you limit the cleanup’s ongoing drag if you put a transparent process in place for deciding which banks to close and how to dispose of bad loans.”
2: “cleaning up a financial mess in the right way is not entirely contractionary for an economy. There are compensating effects that expand credit as well. Although forcing banks to meet capital standards, and closing some banks, will contract credit, the removal of uncertainty about the system as a whole will allow surviving banks to borrow more easily on interbank markets, will encourage good borrowers with low risks to come back into the credit market, and will improve the ability of banks to sort out bad from good lending opportunities. It also encourages individual savers to put more of their money back into the private banks, thereby reducing the cost of funds and the uncertainty of cash flows for those banks, further improving the flow of credit.”
In conclusion “Improper or partial financial cleanup ignores both lessons—it simply spends public money that will eventually add to the bill due”
“the financial cleanup must be carried through in line with the market pressures”
No bailout! End of story. Let the chips fall where they are going to fall. We’ll get through it, and at least people who caused this mess won’t be rewarded.
In my opinion, this “bailout” is quite difficult to agree on. First of all, these companies took the risk, gambled, and now want our tax payers’ money to give them more! This is so typical, yet not reassuring to our next generations. I have grown up with a gambler, who always seeks other people to help him by promising to pay back more than he owes-naturally a deal. This type of behavior should not be “fixed” or tolerated. What they reap is what they sow. They had it good for all those years, and now they are crashing (due to their greed) they need to crash and wake up. If they would have followed proper, ethical, and moral procedures then this sort of thing would not have happened. I understand that these corporations hold value to those who own stock and retirement, but if we bail these same corporations out of their jam, then what else? It’s classic, you gamble -win or lose- and you take it as it goes. If you dare try to “borrow” money, that is your stupidity, not the tax payers. Our money should go to those who truly were feasted upon from bad mortgages and such. I can tell you right now, I wasn’t going to buy a home 2 years ago at the asking price, nor was I going to go into so much debt just because someone “valued” these mortgages at a much higher price than they should have been. For example, my wife and I were searching for a home in a decent price range we knew we could afford. Well, when asking prices were too much, and I knew how much actually went into a home (due to my construction experience of more than 10 years) it took me a long time to find something. It’s funny a bank can offer you a mortgage of $300,000.00 (which I was told I qualified for at the time from several different banks) but can’t let you borrow a more affordable amount-let’s say $50,000.00. I actually had to lower my standards of living in order to find something with cash because no one would let me borrow something I could afford. This was the main problem, and whoever set these standards (according to my homework, I would say the government)should be the ones to “bailout” the people who were manipulated—THE TAXPAYERS. It’s our money, so help us! It has been repeatedly shown in our history that this type of thing is no good, and if you don’t put the people first, well, all I can say is people will find a way to make government work.
For every foreclosure the banks sell the property to the Government. The Home Owners dont lose there house. The government takes the balance owed on the house amortizes it with 3% interest spread over 30 years. Then garnishes the paycheck with a 25% deduction from their paycheck. If the home owner sells the property the bank must collect any unpaid principal plus any unpaid interest at the 3% rate in order for the house to sell.
How is it that our fed. officials can find money with Trillions of dollars in debt canfind money bail out companies that help put us here. Heres some food for and possibly on someones table, if its there for them then most assuredly should be there for the American also. We need bailing out also. Not only will this help with crisis but also with other aspects of our economy, we have nothing to spend to help.
Do we have a choice?
Since we are looking to blame someone, let’s include the compensation consultants to all the Boards of Directors, that design plans that reward failure and promotes reckless results. Did any hear of ‘Good Business Practices’?
A bailout is OBSCENE !
These poorly operated companies should fail.
The Federal Reserve’s authority to use taxpayer
money to bail out Wall Street must be revoked and
the “Fed” must be held accountable.
It is time to end the Federal Reserve’s stranglehold
on our economic future!
For the love of God and Country, please reject the
Paulson and Bernanke plan
to prop up reckless banks at the expense of American Citizens !
SOMEBODY….please, listen to Ron Paul before we regulate and sell out this wonderful country. No wonder other countries hate the US, it’s run by thieves !!!!!!!!
We have 435 people to blame for ignoring a 80 yr. old law and allowing central banks to take control of the country! If that’s not treason, what is ? FOR THE TRUTH, GO TO THIS SITE:
http://www.apfn.org/APFN/fed_reserve.htm
ARTICLE 1, SECTION 8 OF THE CONSTITUTION STATES THAT CONGRESS SHALL HAVE THE POWER TO COIN (CREATE) MONEY AND REGULATE THE VALUE THEREOF.
IN 1935 THE SUPREME COURT RULED THAT CONGRESS CANNOT CONSTITUTIONALLY DELEGATE ITS POWER TO ANOTHER GROUP. (Reference 22, P. 168)
To Timothy Hill and the rest of greedy, pretentious & ignorant Americans:
Why symphatize with these people facing foreclosures? These are about GREED & ignorance, mostly GREED. Ignorance is never an excuse. People got GREEDY buying homes they couldnt afford, refinanced to buy expensive cars, build pools & plush backyards, had luxurious trips, etc, spending beyond their means to keep up with Joneses. All of a sudden, people who cant afford to buy $200K homes were able to buy $400K homes. Since when did a family of 4 earning $75K or even $90K able to afford $400K home? Showoff time is over, it’s payback time. Min Pymt, Int Only, ARM,100% Loan = Foreclosure. Now theyre in trouble, want help & play the blamegame for their own GREED. They think their addiction to easy money is free & can just get away with it? Pay up or give it up! They never own their homes anyway – banks owned them. Why bother taxpayers who did their homework, stayed in modest homes & live within their means. We’re all suffering from inflation bec of these greedy people. Let the rest of us who arent greedy watch how GREED bring people down. GREED & IGNORANCE never lead to American Dream.
True, those greedy companies prey on these greedy & ignorant “homeowners”, but no one forced them to sign the dotted lines.
So why bailout? So these people can continue to show off their fake wealth? The faster we get these people out from “their” homes, the sooner our economy can start recovery.
Not only is nobody going to bail me out of my personal financial mess, now I have to also pay for those idiots who helped me get into it in the first place.
Who is this Henry Paulson that would like a $700 Billion dollar check NOW!
We would all like things NOW! The Taxpayers of the United States did not create this situation, but creative financing did without anyone watching!
Where were the checks and balances? Who was minding the store while the owner was away? Obviously GREED was in control.
You can only go to the well so many times and I think that the American people are just fed up with all of the junk going on and the well is pretty dry.
Most of the Politicians know that they have a pretty slim chance of being reelected if they think that the American people are going to sign off on a blank check for $700 Billion!
I believe that the current thinking is that they will do what they can now and leave the mess for the next guy to figure out.
What a mess!
Oh believe me my congressman is getting an ear full. This bailout is going to assist the investors in these banks, it’s going to pay off the high loans they lent the bank to make these bad mortgages, but yet the home owner isn’t going to get the same assistance, it’s all about the white collar industry getting thier money before Bush vacates his presidency, it is going to make the industry collapse even more because the investor is going to get his money and run with it, and let the US have to fend for itself, the majority of these investors are from other countries!!! Wake up America!! CEO,CFO, and foreign investors are getting fatter while the hard working americans are being tossed asside and loosing thier jobs!
700 Billion =
1000 000 000 * 700
USA population = 302 000 000
This means this bail out is funding 2317 USD per person in the USA.
Don’t want to sound socialist but if each person would get 2317 USD in their mail next week it will reduce the credit crunch on the American people considerably and maybe kick start the economy again.
Handing the funds to Wall Street will just fund the large wages received by the CEO of these companies … which run their businesses without assuming any risk.
And if the business is bust … there is always the golden parachute … and now the government to support.
Where is this country going too?
No Bail-out of any kind. It is unfortunate that Wall Street’s greed, stupidity, and incompetence led to this meltdown, but I as a US taxpayer do not personally feel obliged to pay for it. Let these firms fail – otherwise we are just teaching Wall Street to keep doing the same reckless wagering in the futre, safe in the knowledge that the US taxpayers will keep them from failing.
Could anyone help with some info on how to get a job with these wonder banks ?? i’ll work cheap as long as i get a exit bonus plan. another bush bums rush deal to scam us like the iraq war hurry or we’ll all go broke !!
Let’s wait an see who fails and use the money then to buy them all up at 10 cents on the dollar and use the profit money for health care. I guess were all stupid and didn’t know barclays already owned lehmans.
Do a little reserch look at who the major stock holders are in all these wall street banks, yes their are all the same people and companys , their gonna end up with ownership of these banks as they fail the rescue plan will only help them buy them cheaper.
Bailing out the companies that lived beyond their means would set a dangerous precedent and promote bad behavior. Why should I, as a tax payer, bail out a company because of bad practice. Someone else made bad decisions and now I have to pay for it? I don’t think so. Those CEOs should put themselves in the common American’s shoes and see how they would like it. Changes are, they won’t like it all that much and would be just as furious.
This is Insane!
The Elitists of this country get a free pass to make high risk, assine investments, if they profit the american taxpayer gets Jack S**T from them and the government, and if they lose, WE MUST Cover their Losses?
230 years ago it was unjust taxation, today its still basically unjust taxation… ITS 1776 AGAIN! See you guys on “The Green”.
The only urgent aspect of this bill is the legal protection for Paulson, given he nationalized a private company without having the authority to do so. The solution being proposed is to add oversight, allow an outside arbitrator to have say over operational activities and compensation for executives and board members, and to force the companies to reduce their risk exposure while giving greater transparency to their activities.
My question is this: why do we need an act of Congress to do the exact same things that would happen in bankruptcy? If these companies declared bankruptcy, they would be protected from having to stop operations because their short-term borrowing was called in. All of the things that Congress would want would happen in bankruptcy court. The only things that would be different is the government would not be able to nationalize private assets without due process and Paulson would not get his “get out of jail free” card.
jim’s got it right. we need to vote out the republicans & democrats. we need to change this country around by voting for libertarians in this next election! i’m sold! get them out of office before we have no country left!
I have a better bailout proposal.
The government should bail out those like me: All of us who are between 45 and 55 years old, who always lived modestly within our means, paid our bills on time, worked hard, educated ourselves and our children, invested in retirement plans, voted in every election, and in other words, did everything we were supposed to do and thought we might actually attain the American Dream.
Then we were downsized or restructured or whatever euphemism you want to use. We have bachelor’s degrees and Master’s degrees, but now we’re earning less than we did twenty years ago. We searched and searched for meaningful jobs only to be met with frustration, age discrimination, and hiring managers with the communication skills of sixth graders. Severance packages ran out, then unemployment ran out, so we swallowed our pride and took jobs that don’t pay the bills and likely never will. Now we’re supervised by people we wouldn’t have hired when we were managers and directors, back when managers and directors actually hired and managed people and organizations weren’t bloated with HR departments and their idiotic policies and procedures and before the management of people was turned over to computer software programs (to make us more efficient…ha!).
We’re wondering who the talking heads and the polticians are talking about because they’re not talking about us. We don’t live in McMansions. We don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars in any nest egg to fall back on; we never really had the money to make large investments in the stock market. We thought we’d have Social Security. We were buying homes and educationg our children. Our homes are now worth less than when we bought them, which wasn’t much then, but it was what we could afford. Our futures are bleak, and we can’t see how bailing out Wall Street’s greed and mismanagement will ever help us.
So hey, Uncle Sam, how about a bailout for us? You don’t even have to buy all our debt. Just buy half of it, or maybe even a quarter. I bet it would be a whole lot cheaper and a much better investment.
All,
It’s time we get off the sideline and become active participants in how our country and elected officials govern this country. The stakes are too high to just standby and watch our way of life destroyed by greedy and corrupt Wall Street execs. and politicians. Below is my message to Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and an article showing that Lehman Bros. execs. in NY gave themselves a $2.5bn bonus right before they announced that they were filing bankruptcy. All while their employees were losing their jobs and the American people’s 401K’s and IRA’s were going down the drain, they saw it fit to give themselves billions of dollars in bonuses. We should all take the time to write to our elected officials in Washington to bring these criminals to justice.
***************************************
Speaker Pelosi,
“I just recently learned that all five of the, former, Wall St. Investment Banks lost a combined $74B over the past 12 months and paid themselves $39B in bonuses…where is the OUTRAGE from our elected officials? Where is the OUTRAGE from the American people? These bankers failed their fiduciary duty as stewards of the nations wealth and well being for their own personal gain! This is beyond greed…it is criminal and we must demand that the Attorney General Michael Mukasey go after these crooks and bring them to justice!”
Fury at $2.5bn bonus for Lehman’s New York staff:
Also, short selling and hedge funds should be outlawed, for all stocks, plan and simple.
It is an abomination and contrary to the argument of those practicing it, serves no legitimate purpose other than to feed on companies and encourage the destruction of otherwise viable companies that have a rough patch. The equivalent would be for all credit companies and your mortgage company immediately calling all your personal loans immediately payable based on a rumor that your 16 year old son failed to pay his $30 Visa bill. It’s insane, and has been a major loophole in the American securities trading system that is long overdue to close.
Let’s fix this gaping hole in our system while we’re mopping up Wall Street with taxpayer money.
Let’s see; The government wants the right to buy subprime loans and CHANGE the interest rate and balance due on a CONTRACT!!
No! You bought the house, you pay for the house. Set a reasonable interest rate on the total amount owed. These loans must be repaid. If you fail to repay the full amount owed, attach the individuals tax refunds and social security checks until the entire aomunt has been repaid.
My husband owned a small business in the mid-west connected to new housing starts. Due to the economy, the business was closed in 2007. We had to file Chapter 13 Bankruptcy and are under a strict budget for 5 years. All disposable income is paid to the creditors. We do not have a savings, even for emergencies, can’t help our kids with college, no vacations, can’t even save in our 401-K for our retirment.
Now I have to bail-out investment banks to stabalize the stock market and restore confidence? Forget about it. Why should I be held accountable to the “n-th” degree and these banks and executives are not? My husband worked for 18 years for a tech company and when that company tanked his 401-K was wiped out, and his job, and his stock options. No one made us whole or bailed us out, I do not want to do it for others in much better financial positions than I am.
I’m sure their kids can still go to good schools, they will get to keep their houses, I lost all the equity in mine.
I am very upset and mad about this!! Paulson wants to help his buddies, he doesn’t care about the average American.
I say see if the executives broke any laws and throw them in jail, seize their assets, that’s how we can pay for this mess. And let the ones that made the worst decisions go down in flames, survival of the fitest.
I want Paulson FIRED.
HE WAS IN CHARGE OF GOLDMAN SACHS!
It is *HIS* greed that we are talking about. It is *HIS* mega-ceo salary that sowed these seeds.
How dare him propose the bailout. WHAT A HYPOCRITE.
THIS BAILOUT BENEFITS *HIM* personally *MUCH* more than almost anyone else.
*HE* is looking out for *HIMSELF* and asking us to bail *HIM* out.
No way, not today, not ever.
Vote for it and we will vote you out.
Here’s another idea: go back in history to find every VP-level executive and above at all of the companoies that are involved in this meltdown that made all these bad decisions and institutionalized their greed for the past 8 years, and TAKE BACK every bonus, seize every asset, refold and pack up every golden parachute, and if the money is spent or the assets have been transferred to family members, go after those as well, and seize, seize, seize, and make those responsible forfeit the bonuses and stock option proceeds paid in good faith, which assumed they were doing their jobs. It’s a dsgrace that they can walk away and enjoy the sunset while letting taxpayers pay for their mess as they kick back in early retirement in their mansions by the sea.
You might find that future banking execs would think twice before gambling their company away for short term payoffs and cashing out before things get bad.
Or more likley, after announcing such a plan, you might suddenly find that these companies have “miraculously” found the wherewithal to survive on their own, without any bailout.
I’ve just heard Paulson before the Senate, and my response is: NO! HELL NO! He has not demonstrated any real crisis — except that his friends will lose money! POOR BROKERS! NO! NO! NO!
Why would we now trust the same administration that we know lied to us about the last “emergency”? The WMD in Iraq lie led to the Patriot Act, the largest reduction in human rights in US history. Now we’re supposed to believe that imminent financial crisis means we should immediately grant the government unbridled access to $700B? I hardly think so. Financial markets have a measure of adaptability that will eventually kick in. Yes, there will be devaluations. But I, for one, do not trust Bush, Inc. to dole out $700, let alone $700 billion to friends and cronies. Didn’t Americans learn anything? The lies continue, and Bush is currently funding HIS retirement plan, at OUR expense. We need increased oversight, regulation that protects Americans, not just businessmen, and let the markets work it out.
I’m really concerned about this. I’m not sure were the reasoning is coming from. The Gov’t wants to bail out the companies that used poor judgement therefore in turn bailing out the general public for using their poor judgement. The American people are to blame not just bankers & the Gov’t! Those people knew they were living beyond their means, they knew that being Asst Mangers of Walgreens didn’t give them the right to a $350,000 house! And now the Gov’t wants to bail out the people who did this to themselves, they want to free banks of their debt so that what? They can go lend more money out? The only people that are in dire straits are the very same people who used credit poorly and knew they couldn’t pay it back. And now we want to lend them more money. Please, this is so rediculous.
(forgive my typos, I’m just ticked about this entire situation that I can’t see straight).
RIP Capitalism! The goverment’s been wanting to turn this country into a socialistic/communistic society & this could be the major turning point. Especially since the democrats think the government should be part owners of these companies. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO VOTE FOR OBAMA OR MCCAIN THIS FALL!! A VOTE FOR BOB BARR (LIBERTARIAN) IS A VOTE TO CONTINUE A FREE COUNTRY & REVERSE COURSE OF THIS NATION!!! It’s YOUR choice!!
To those who think this crisis is primarily the fault of Republicans/Conservatives, read this.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122212948811465427.html
Congress, mostly Democrats in Congress, have hand prints all over this problem.
Since when has the US Government been allowed to make decision that affect me and my family without my right to vote on it? What happened to our government of “for the people and by the people” ? This bailout plan directly affects us and our children and our grandchildren….why can we not be partipating in the decision? They say the crimes of the parents are bestowed on the child…this will be the crimes of the government will be bestowed on our children. Shouldn’t we have rights? It seems like since Bush has been president our rights have been diminishing like the polar ice cap. We are no different than Cuba or Russia ….we no longer have a democracy but a totalitarian government rule…they decide it all and we like lambs follow and pay the way. I think the bail out is wrong period and I think we should protest in any way we can to show the government “we are the people” that count.
I’ve worked hard all my life to get where I am. I pay my bills (on time) barely some months. I bought a reasonable house for my family. My kids bought reasonable homes when they began having families of their own.
Stop blaming President Bush. He alone did not create this mess. Our congress people are just as much to blame as he is.
Greedy mortgage lenders, credit card companies, and yes, our own people! Shame on YOU!
Live the American dream does not mean that you should have everything by age 25. Our parents, and now me, worked all our lives for what we have. We didn’t expect to have it all as soon as we moved our of our parent’s home.
Bailout or no Bailout. The average American will pay one way or another. If we do this bailout the average American will have to pay for it — we can barely keep a roof over our head and food on the table now. If we don’t do the bailout the average American will still have to pay just in different ways.
I say no bailout. We poor people are used to being poor and barely making it. Let the predatory lenders and greedy Americans take the fall. Let congress who approve of this bailout go out and try to find a job and pay for a home on their new salary when they don’t get re-elected because the average Joe is FED UP with them protecting their own butts not listening to their people and doing what is best for them.
A Total Money Makeover is what is needed and the first lesson is to STOP spending.
But hey, if government is bound and determined to give away $700 billion then give it to the average American that pays our bills, that don’t overspend. Free up some of their salary to generate spending money if you say that spending money is the only way to keep the economy going.
we need help…. i have a morgage that is 11% and i can not afford it any more we have got into a big whole and theres is no way out…. and can’t get no help…… timothy hill
I just read this morning that the poll CNN took said most were in favor of the GIVE AWAY ” BAILOUT ” I guess they need to go back to preschool to learn how to count… I am reading and I don’t see where the majority agree with this…again who is not telling the truth…give the people a break CNN…report the truth…most of us are not in favot of the Bailout !!!! take the money back from those hoods and give it back to the PEOPLE !!!!
I am for the bailout.
Just think of your poor congressmen/senator/president. Who is going to spend $5,000/plate at their re-election dinner? Who is going to pay thousands for them to give speeches? Who is going to buy 35,000 copies of their books that they write? You Mr. & Mrs. Public? I think not. It will be their buddies they just bailed out. Former CEOs of Merrill Lynch, Washington Mutual, Countrywide, etc who earned millions of dollars a year.
Let’s be honest, is someone who is earning under $100,000 going to give me $90,000 to stuff in my freezer or renovate my house for nothing? Be serious and bend over and take it as usual.
I suggest CNN conduct a nonbinding poll among Americans to vote for or against the bailout – and let’s see what the American people feel alongside that of the politicians who are supposed to represent us.
If they had to RAISE TAXES to pay for this instead of mortgaging my 2 year old son’s future to pay for this, would they still do it? No.
Let these companies fail, pure and simple. Then BUY THEM for pennies on the dollar and all their assets for 70B TOTAL. Easy, no?
Let the market work!
The scare tactics being used to scare the American people are deplorable. It’s the last hand out to a dying administration’s friends in high places. Enough is enough! NO!
Instead of bailing out Wall Street, send a $2M golden parachute to every household in America. Save half, spend half and give an immediate boost to the economy. No more housing crisis, no worries about paying the mortgage, medical insurance or college fees. If this sounds idiotic, it’s no more so than handing it over to bail out irresponsible CEOs and greedy investment institutions.
this is fraud…outright….and there should be no bailout and all the liars in Washington and Wall Street should be charged with fraud. everyone on this blog should contact your Senators and Congress and let them know we are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore !
I can’t believe what I hear on television. These Wall Street brains want our money to bail them out but they don’t want any rules or regulation attached to it. Nice they continue flying cooroporate jets and driving limos all around with government money and they expect us to keep our mouths shut too! I want to see these Wall Street bums begging for quarters and holding signs below their necks that say” will work for food”.
This bailout is not solving the problem of decreasing housing prices, of increased credit debt, of rising health care and fuel costs – it just prolongs the current financial crisis and puts the costs on the taxpayers rather than the financial institutions who have created much of the problem. I do not want my tax money going to bail out banks. Find a real solution, rather than an answer that just takes the pain away from the rich and transfers it to the top of the middle class burden.
One thing everone seems to be overlooking on this subject. If Paulson and Bush succeed in pulling this wool over our eyes, we all get a new neighbor. One that will pretty much take it’s own sweet time and do as it damn well pleases to the house next door. You want the lawn mowed? Do it yourself, You want the rat infestation taken care of? Good luck. You just want it torn down? Get in line. There was a time when the rest of the nation could look at the metropolitan Detroit area and just shake their heads, Now it is coming to your own neighborhood.
I think that the majority of people have NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON!!!!!!!! PEOPLE! Get with the program here. This is NOT just about Wall Street, this is about the cornerstone of our ECONOMY!!!!
The ignorance of the American people is overwhelming and it is the reason why the rest of the world laughs at us.
Bottom line…we don’t trust politicians or wall street. This whole mess is not a Democratic or Rebublican issue. It is a criminal action that the tax payers are having to pay for. Wall street was greedy, found loop-holes in the system and no one from the government paid attention to it (because they were probably gaining from it also)…So here we are! We do not need a fast expensive bailout plan that has more to do with getting votes than it does with long term economic repair. In 6 weeks we have the ability to elect “new blood” to congress and I hope most Americans see this as more important with greater impact than the presidential election. Keep the incumbents who are not representing us correctly out of Washington!! These folks are out of touch and not watching out for the common citizen’s well-being.
Don’t know? Search by zip code at
https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Alt. look it up at wikipedia.org under your state
Hey Rex from NJ, Stop the fear mongering (remember WMD in Iraq – perpetrated by fear mongrers like you), there will be no riots and looting and the sky will not fall. Let these crooked investment firms fail, bring the CEO’s and their cronies into jail and take their asset’s away, people will came back to their senses, fools (dumb people who invested in the stock market) will be parted from their money and will remember the lesson for the rest of their lives and hopefully teach it to their kids and grand kids. The world will be a better place without GREED.
It’s simple,levy a tax on the shareholders who have been benefiting and participating in the activities which have cause this crisis…
This bailout package is absurd! Now they are trying to include Credit Cards and Car Loans! Who is going to bail me out of my loans and credit cards? Instead the government wants to bail out the companies who are charging me 15-30% interest rates? Are you serious??
Certainly creating more debt is not the solution. Maybe we Americans could learn something by reducing our DEPENDENCE ON DEBT, and having a little bit of hard times so that we learn our lesson. God forbid we wouldnt be able to get more loans, what would we do – how about pay for things outright, that’s a new concept!
CAPITALISM IS DEAD …. THIS IS SOCIALISM PURE AND SIMPLE. The Congress better not pass this bailout, as if the whole world is not already laughing at us all the way to their bank (Ours are bankrupt – if you had not noticed yet, along with the Federal Govt., State Govt., over extended consumers etc. etc.) this will only make us a bigger laughing stock and help the people who were reckless and stupid and punish those of us who have lived within our means and not been GREEDY or DUMB to invest in the stock market. Where did all the money go, into the pockets of the rich and richer (Bush buddies- good old boys) get it back from them – morons.
The solution to the current debate on how to handle the 700 billion loan for both parties would be to either have the banks or government create a holding company for the bad debt to take it off the bank’s books
but also to agree to pay back any funding they received over the next 15 years plus interest.
The government would fund the holding company and charge a reasonable interest rate and ensure that this obligation could not be obliterated through any corporate maneuvers. It should also stipulate that there would be a cap on the top 20 executive bonuses, stock options or parachutes until the debt is paid.
This would reduce the short term “bad debt” to 1/15th of the current load, inject immediate money, create an oversight mechanism and have a greater chance of recovering the funds. As a side bar it could even create a mechanism for the government to sell off shares in this company (should there ever be a market for them) to reduce the risk on their side and the long term debt load for the banks.
The CEOs of Lehman Brothers and AIG are criminals, much like the CEOs of Enron. If Martha Stewart can be imprisoned on mere suspicion of insider trading….these men deserve LIFE SENTENCES for what they knew (and hid) from the American people.
Derivatives are a form of speculation (gambling) on how a stock will perform; much like betting on a horse race. They knew the risks involved when they placed their bets.
Every penny we’re being asked to pay (to right their wrong) should be repaid to the American people by liquidating both their personal and business assets in the U.S. and abroad PLUS interest.
These companies have been privatizing PROFIT for years….and socializing their losses. They see money going in one direction only: theirs. They’ve set up the game so they always win.
These are the same people who thought it amusing to watch people getting kicked out of their homes after the a predatory lending scandal THEY devised.
These are the same people who have come up with the BRILLIANT idea that they’ll hold on to foreclosed homes until the market improves, and then sell them at a terrific PROFIT, while setting up areas for people to live out of their CARS!
This was a money making venture for the transnationals. It’s all about re-apportioning wealth among the KING PINS; destroying our monetary system is necessary for them to achieve global control. Our laws, constitution, and the laws of other countries are getting in their way, you see.
Considering Republicans want to control us from birth (noting our very moment of conception) to death (the Terry Schiavo government intervention fiasco) it amazes me that allow the economy run without shackles. Isn’t it amazing that the one area they SHOULD be concerned about is deregulated, and your personal freedoms are under attack?
So, I say…let them take their lumps! They’ve been caught red-handed BILKING the American people out of a minimum of 7 trillion dollars. That sounds like jail time to me.
I REFUSE to accept that we HAVE TO bail them out of their “horse bets.”
As a republican, since when do we support the government getting involved in private business? Isn’t this what we have been throwing stones at democrats for years for?
It is the basis of the capitalist system that this nation was built on that some businesses prosper and some fail.
The nation will go through economic difficulties, but as long as the system is not corrupted by an underlying problem in the financial system there should be no problem to the overall economy. Since when does the state our economy rest on the effects of one sector?
So the banks lost the bet on bad mortgages and now they need the people who they were trying to burn to come to their rescue, I say chapter 11
There are risks on each side of the issue. But since when does the government get into the business of investing in the stock market? Bailout for partial ownership? Are we an investment firm now?
Will the financial markets take a hit if this plan is NOT passed? Yes
Will the financial markets take a hit if this plan IS passed? Yes
And this is coming from an investor. I chose to invest; I don’t choose to save these big businesses
It is the basis of the capitalist system that this nation was built on that some businesses prosper and some fail.
The nation will go through economic difficulties, but as long as the system is not corrupted by an underlying problem in the financial system there should be no problem to the overall economy. Since when does the state our economy rest on the effects of one sector?
So the banks lost the best on bad mortgages and now they need the people who they were trying to burn to come to their rescue, I say chapter 11
There are risks on each side of the issue. But since when does the government get into the business of investing in the stock market? Bailout for partial ownership? Are we an investment firm now?
From Tennessee:
Bailout a necessity, at this point, unfortunately, yes. BUT FROM THE LAND OF NO GAS AND DISAPPEARING PATIENCE….NOT ONE RED CENT OF BONUS TO THE CEO’S…and I stress the term RED!
Quick Quick Quick! Lets do it quick before anyone knows what hit them. Thats all you are hearing now. This didn’t happen overnight this has been happening for a while. Quit making rash decisions and think about what you are going to do. No No No to the bailout. There is always a way if you just stop and think!!!!!!!!!!!
The Republican’s have long touted their belief that the government needs to be made small enough that they can “drown it in a bath tub.” Would that bath tub be filled with Wall Street debt?
Having deregulated banking and other industries and then bilked the american homeowner out of all their equity, we are left with NOTHING.
Our candidates are talking about creating jobs….but when manufacturing started to founder in the ’80’s, and asked the government to bail them out, they were allowed to go under. Now, bankers have gotten all that they can, by hook AND crook and they come to us with their hands out. Know what? Go to hell. You weren’t FOR a bailout of manufacturing…the folks that many American’s get to work FOR….we didn’t get much from your greed and corruption so, there’s the door…go thru before we start organizing a lynching party for you AND the deregulators who gave you the keys to the lock box of our economy.
If American’s don’t show up at the voting booth in November and stand up for themselves (since Congress won’t) then we all deserve what we get.
Speak up, America…or forever hold your peace.
As a republican, since when do we support the goverment getting involved in private business? Isn’t this what we have been throwing stones at democrats for years for?
will the finanical markets take a hit if this plan is NOT passed? yes
will the financial markets take a hit if this plan IS passed? yes
of course this plan will lessen the blow, but for how long? It is not worth throwing taxpayers under the bus to save the banks who made outlandish risks to make money.
Of course main street will feel effects if wall street is not saved, but if we’re paying off their debt it looks like were hurting anyways. And this is coming from an investor. I chose to invest, I don’t choose to save these big businesses
I am sick and tired of these Bafoons running Washington doing what they want with my tax dollars and not giving the American people any say on what to do with our money. What we need in this country and I will be one of the first to join is a TAX REVOLT.
Hope the gov bail out, got approved quickly and not pushing around by otherside of politic. Great effort
On the tax payers’ emotion… well if all went bankrupt because the mess made by financial companies .. who pay taxes ?
for those ceos of those financial companies. Shame on you
The math is puzzling. $700 billion for all of the 1.5 million foreclosed homes in the US means each is costs taxpayers $467,000. Those are not sub-prime. Our government is lying again.
Worried that the employees of these major banking/investment institutions won’t receive paychecks unless the government intervenes? Ask the CEO’s to cover wages with their golden parachutes and bonus packages. I am sure they would be happy to oblige.
Once again, the American people will be left holding the bag while the new administration/congress will be neutered: no new programs to help those who truly need a leg up and a hand out!
Perhaps we should treat the ceos and other officers of these financial institutions the way we do drug dealers – take everything they own. All the houses, cars, yachts, planes, bonuses, bank accounts and use that to pay off this mess. Greed and poor management caused this. Let the culprits clean it up, not the American taxpayers!
This bailout plan should not pass. The only ones who will be helped are the central banks, big financial companies who made bad decisions, and all foreign countries owning a part of our debt (china, japan, dubai, etc). It will NOT help the US taxpayer in anyway but we will be the ones paying for it! too much power in the hands of one person is unconstitutional. all this will do is raise the inflation rate (which does NOT include the cost of energy or food), lowering of the value of the dollar, etc.
Let those who have made bad decisions fall. Congress and the Administration have no intention of helping Main Street USA! Keep in mind that the Fed Rserve is NOT an agency of any kind!
Inittogether says we should point the finger at ourselves for this crisis….I agree and disagree….yes American’s went overboard and bought items they could not afford but and this is a big but…..the banks knew they were a shaky loans but gave them anyway to make a quick buck….where is the oversight? If the banks had been more prudent they would have not allowed so much “creative financing” which led to people getting into trouble…it goes back to the basic philosophy of the two parties….you hear it all the time from the candidates….Democrats want more government (i.e oversight) and Republicans “supposedly” want less government ( less oversight)….well it was under this Republican idealolgy that we got into trouble….the banks should have said “no” and we would not be here today…..and the ironic thing is the “less Government” Republicans
( i.e our illustrious President) now wants the Government to take over Wall Steet and the banks…that looks like alot more Government to me!
I think the Federal Reserve which is a PRIVATELY owned bank should have to clean up its own mess which was created by it’s board members at NO Cost to the people of this country. I also feel it is time to control of our currency and put it back on the silver standard and get rid of the fake money called a Federal reserve Note which is worthless and has no backing but our sweat and blood.
The American public should be outraged by this debacle. I don’t want congress to make a quick decision on how they will spend $700 billion dollars. I want them to think long and hard. I want them to thoroughly weigh the options. In fact, we don’t even know if $700 billion is enough. Throwing $700 billion dollars into the air in the hopes it will cover up the problem is foolish.
I’m sad that capitalism collapsed from inside, and as an irony during a republican administration. This administration makes history on multiple fronts. However, let’s not blame only the greed financial institutions and realize that there were people falling for this Bush’s administration “ownership society”. Of course, I think that president Bush forgot to mention China’s word in the “ownership society”. I am tempted to say that this will probably be what we deserve for electing such an administration and being irresponsible all the way.
My solution would be to let Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley fail and the treasury buys them on the cheap unless there are investors wanting to bail them out and convert them into some kind of commercial banks. It wouldn’t be such a big problem since they are not doing anything, anyhow.
Then the treasury will use 700 billion dollars to create securities and distribute those to citizens who will have to invest them in companies in alternative energy(including green cars out of Detroit), healthcare research, nanotechnology, information technology and infrastructure. With the condition that short selling will be forbid forever on our markets.
Requiring institutions that take part in the bailout to give shares to the U.S. in return would be a disaster. They need to feel some pain, but it should be short-lived! Using this crisis to part-nationalize all the participants would cause all sorts of long term headaches.
I’m sick of cnn telling us to shut up and take it like a man. We don’t have to accept this. Call your congressmen, call your senators, call your president. Tell them not to back this foolishness. Why even have government if it doesn’t represent the people. Why do we have to pay to fix the global economy. STOP THE MADNESS!!
I get rich with a little help from my friends; I stay rich with a little help from my friends. Privatize profits and socialize losses. How much in the way of bonuses and commissions are the Wall Street honchos going to pull down by selling this worthless paper to the taxpayer? Go you Wall Street swindlers.
The word is the USA is in a financial crisis. Apparently, lots of financial institutions have way too much bad debt on their books. So, it is being proposed that the burden of these bad debts be shifted from the financial institutions to the taxpayers. Is this a good idea? Maybe, maybe not. Will it solve the problem? Only time will tell.
Since I am one of the people being asked to assume this terrific burden, I will do so on the following conditions.
Each employee of each financial institution must appear before a public commission and confess the fraud, misrepresentation, and just plain bad decision making he or she committed which contributed to the mess we are in. Furthermore, each employee must also offer a plan to make personal restitution for what he or she has done. If they do this, I will assume the bad debt and grant them immunity from criminal prosecution.
If you assume that there are roughly 25 million home mortgages, and that the average mortgage is $200,000, that’s $10 trillion worth of home equity based credit. If home prices fall 30%, that could be a $3 trillion shortfall.
The SubPrime loans were the first to fall, but all variable rate mortgages are at risk, as are all Home Equity Lines of Credit. If people can’t afford to sell their house, they can’t afford to make career required relocations, they can’t afford to move at all.
The irony is that the proposed bail-out doesn’t even protect home-owners from foreclosures and interest rate increases. This means that the $3 trillion mentioned above would still be at risk, as well as most of the of the principle on ALL mortgages.
This could also wipe out 401k, IRA, Annuity, and Pension plans, as well as bankrupting social security. This would pretty much leave the baby boomers with NO retirement funding.
It could trigger, not only a “Great Depression”, but rioting, crime, and violence that could trigger a collapse of most of the infrastructure. Imagine a return to the “dark ages” similar to the one that followed the fall of the Roman Empire.
Giving Paulson dictatorial power to make sweetheart deals with Bush “friends” and gouge those who haven’t contributed to Republican “charities” similar to those created by Jack Abramhov and others, with no oversight, no court review, no appeal, and no guarantee of foreclosure protection, is just signing a “blank check” for a huge boondoggle.
How many times did Paulson say the financial system is FUNDAMENTALLY SOUND, this year alone?
LIAR ! ! !
You deserve impeachment not $700 Billion Dollars !
You are all FOOLS to trust a proven LIAR.
How many times this year alone did Paulson describe the system as Fundamentally Sound.
LIAR ! ! !
The congress needs to explain why they are giving $700 billion dollars to a Liar.
The whole stinking group is corrupt. I am talking of all involved- republican and democrat politicians, financial institutions, and risk taking homeowners.
How dare you bailout companies that pay executives millions and other employees hundreds of thousands.
I DEMAND MY TAX DOLLARS NOT PAY FOR EXCESS AND GREED.
The solution to this mess is not a bail out, it is the restoration of smaller business. If a smaller company is mis-managed to the point of failure, it does not have the impact of the failure of a mega-corp. Mergers and acquisitions that create the mega-corps should not be allowed — no mergers or acquisitions without a very solid reason (and that reason does not include executive bonuses). Congress needs to break up the companies that are “too big to fail” into smaller companies.
What happens when one company buys another? First there are lay-offs to take advantage of “synergy” and “efficiencies”. Then there are benefit and pay cuts for those remaining employees. They have to take the cuts, of course, because the big boys have just eliminated another prospective employer. There is reduced competition in the marketplace. With only a few mega-corps you can buy from A, B, or C but the opportunity to buy from D through Z is gone.
Let’s not forget that mega-corps have the money to purchase a nice friendly government as well. Trade associations are one thing in terms of campaign contributions, but they have to get their members to go along with the program and getting a group to agree on anything is difficult. Quite different when a small handful of multi-million dollar executives cut the marching orders.
It’s time to say NO. No bail out. No investment of our money (and it is OUR money even if we have not earned it yet) in junk assets that no one else will touch. As for the overly bright executives that got their companies into this pickle, let the stock holders sue the pants off of them and recapture as much of the loot as possible.
Assuming us tax payers are going to pay out $700B to essentially re-finance the unreasonable mortgages in the credit market who should we be helping?
Wouldn’t it be better to do the refinance at the consumer level? This way, instead just of helping a few hundred greedy finance exec’s, we could be helping millions of home owners and families keep their homes.
The money most likely is the same either way its done. If homes are kept by the current owners, there will be fewer discounted homes on the market, allowing faster recovery there.
Why is it that welfare for the poor is a handout, but for corporations it’s a bailout? We need to get out the financial guillotine and CUT IT OFF!
What we are witnessing is just half of the swindle because the government at the Federal, State and Local level keeps 2 sets of books. One is the Budget which is the record of spending and debt, the other is the CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report) which is the record of revenue generation. The massive bailouts taking place only focus on the debt and not the profits. Learn all about it from Walter Burien at http://www.cafr1.com and you will find the true extent of the skullduggery.
He’s a clue the last time this government asked for blank check with no checks and balances we went to Iraq. Need i say more. The only thing other then fear to fear is the BUSH admin.
Under the heading of “It is what it is” we will probably have to take the “bitter pill”. But even when forced to take the pill, we usually monitor things to see that the pill is efficient, effective, not adding to our maladies (i.e. detect contraindications ASAP), and that it maintains its stated ‘course’ of treatment (i.e. stated period of usage).
Keeping that in mind, the risk of this plan can be mitigated in the same way as any prudent business mitigates its risks; that is, through-
1-visibility
Set up an official, publicly accessible Web site with databases that cover assets acquired, agency/institution acquired from, cost, eventual disposition (write off, refinance/sale), resulting loss/profit, disposition of lost or gained funds), benefit or detriment to taxpayers/institutions/gov’t, and any other relevant measurements which ensure that there is a path of review and accountability.
2-Public review to ensure that the plan is working or will be modified based on to date results experience to attain the level of required positive performance to meet stated goals and expectations
3-Accountability
Dismissal of any sponsors, initiators or implementers (including publicly elected or appointed officials) if the situation becomes more financially catastrophic, ineffective leading to new capital infusion requirements, or results in the publication in Forbes next year of monumental compensation packages for the M-Cubes (Masters of Managerial Malfeasance) both in the public and private domains that got us into this mess; i.e. don’t continue to reward the non-performers with contributors’ hard fought for earnings (i.e. throw good money after bad) thus setting up a new system of Taxation through Bad Representation.
In short, let’s use the upcoming election to establish a governing paradigm of Visibility-Measurement-Accountability with the main goal of “Never Again”!
If you feel as I do and want to let Wall Street hang themselves with their own rope, then let your senators and congress know. I think the Us in particular and the world markets in general need a good shake-up. If it brings on a depression then so be it…we as a nation will not starve…after all we will still have 700 billion dollars to buy food with! And as far as the slugs that got us into this mess…treat them just like drug dealers…grab ALL their assets and make them prove that they weren’t ill gotten gains. Besides we could always reactivate the WPA and teach these slimballs how to dig a ditch! Afterall our roads and bridges do need the work.
Contact your representatives and demand that they hold accountable those who created this mess by deregulating the banking industry. Expose and eliminate those responsible. Don’t allow them to get away with treason. Call and write today, before it is too late . http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
When our students have no money to pay their tuition, our elderly has no money to purchase health insurance, our city has no money to hire enough police officers… our government decides to spend our hard-earned money for somebody’s mistakes and greed.
The plan Paulson submitted is complete insanity. It’s an absurd power grab riddled with conflicts of interest and is not effectively focussed. The Dodd plan is far superior if it is indeed the case that massive immediate action is needed. I trust Paul Krugman’s analysis on the crisis. Congress should follow closely his advice and input.
When can you retire? When you vote for change. The current policies have helped noone in this country. Dont swallow the sinker with the hook and line.
I am not for the bailout of wall street as it is used to help the rich. The people who only cared about themselves and not of the ordinary taxpayer. Taxpayer will pay for this so wall street may continue there same way. I believe all CEO’s of these mortgage companies that have foreclosures be fired. As they only care about there own and there escape clause. It is not right that taxpayers pay for the people who where not responsible. Did Dick Cheney go to prison for shooting someone? No , sound like not being responsible. Did Bush introduce alternative transportation – NO. Did Bush put us in debt with Iraq war – YES and cost innocent americans there lifes. All in the name of irresponsibility. Now Bush wants a legacy of his presidency by saddling next president economically because he was not responsible for the country while he was in office. Because of some greedy . irresponsible , self centered people , taxpayers will get from this package – high inflation which will cause dollar to decline. It could cause interest rates to go up at which businesses will not be able to borrow. Anyways house values would drop , not allowing people to borrow equity on there home. Employment will be luck if you have a job.
NO BAILOUTS ARE NECESSARY. NOT A SINGLE ONE.
The INSTANT a corporation files for bankruptcy, other companies will step in and start to buy them out piece by piece. The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DOES NOT NEED TO PLAY ANY ROLL in this situation.
This is a Bush-made crisis. By pushing Congress to give the Treasury Department unheard-of powers, Bush is once more trying to diminish the Constitution. This is his last chance to alter the Constitution and he is doing his best to convince people that there is such a looming crisis that they shouldn’t even take the time to think about it. Just do as he says and be part of his flock of sheep.
Congress should stand up to him this time. Bush has only a few more months left in office. Congress should JUST SAY NO to Bush and Paulson. NO BAILOUTS.
ORDER all the corporations that Bush and Wall Street deem “too big to fail” to start selling off corporate assets on their own. When Wall Streeters see an opportunity, they ALWAYS find money somewhere. And this is no different, except for the huge propaganda campaign Bush is waging to make us all believe in this last bit of crisis-making that he has conjured.
Call your Congressman and Senators and tell them to vote against the Bush Bailouts.
Instead of bailing out the financial institutions which created this economic mess, the 700 billion dollars should instead be divided evenly among 7 million households across the country, in $100,000 increments. It is, after all, the taxpayers’ money. As far as the corrupt and greedy presidents of corporations, CEOs, CFOs, and managers are concerned, the Darwinian law of evolution should prevail: the weak should be taken over by the strong.
I THINK THE GOVRNMENT SHOULD GO DIRECT TO THE SOURCE (THE AMERICAN PEOPLE), IT IS THE PEOPLE THAT ARE SUFFERING. WHAT THE GOVERMENT SHOULD DO IS RE-APRAISE ALL HOME LOANS IN TROUBLE AND MAKE A NEW LOAN. EXAMPLE. LETS TAKE A HOME WITH A MORTGAGE OF $500,000 AND THE NEW APRAISED VALUE IS $400,000 THE BANKS SHOULD WRITE OFF THE $100,000 AND THE GOV. TAKES THE $400,000 NEW APRAISEL AND BREAKS IT INTO HALF, THE FIRST HALF WILL GO INTO A 5,10,OR 15 YEAR TREASURY BILL COLLECTING 5%, 5.5%, OR 6% INTREST AND THE SECOND HALF OF THE LOAN ($200,000) WILL BE THE NEW 30 YEAR FIXED LOAN. THE GOV. WIILL REQUIRE THE MORTGAGEE NOT TO SELL THE PROPERTY FOR THE LENGTH OF THE TREASURY NOTE THEY AGREED ON. IF THE HOME IS SOLD EARLY THAN A PENELTY WOULD BE PAID. THIS WOULD TAKE ALL THE HOMES IN TROUBLE OFF THE MARKET AND CREATE A STABLE SITUATION FROM THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM.
Pat & Swilliam: I agree this becoming a social issue. Why would a government cause such division? Many times over the years…
Maybe because that’s the easiest way to push through oppressive laws and grab power.
We should take a Ghandi approach. And refuse to allow fear and anxiety to be used to manipulate us.
As much as possible unplug from their system. Don’t expect to catch the slop from the handout bowl as they yank the markets up and down.
And watch them very closely now; Frankly, I don’t trust them with ~18 trillion in pension plans.
What a sorry excuse for a government supposedly for “the people”. NO BAILOUT!!!! Everyone call their congressman/senators in Washington–I already have—call them as many times as possible. Bailout=worse economy+lower value of the few dollars you have or earn+higher prices of food & gas+lower value of your home due to lower value of dollar. I would rather go thru a big Depression than bail out rich people from both foreign as well as domestic companies under the control of one person, Treasurer–sounds like a dictatorship. If this passes, all Americans are crazy not to vote against incumbents and even possibly for outside “3rd” parties to send a HUGE LOUD message. Even writing in someone like Ron Paul (who is against this) or someone else for President rather than people who will allow this bailout. Reading thru this blog, over 80 percent are against this bailout—why isn’t the media presenting this data??? NO BAILOUT
D.
Little Rock AR
Unfortunately, neither Barak Obama, nor John McCain have the makings of a true leader. If either one did, they come to the American people, and say, “I will work with my party to block this bail out, if it is what you the people want”. We will then abolish the Federal Reserve (who got us into this mess in the first place, just like they did during the Great Depression). We will follow our constitutional mandate to have the Congress print our money. That way, there is no bank to pay back. What people don’t understand, and what the media is failing to tell you, is that the 700bl bailout, will be “printed” by the Fed (Private Banks), once Congress “approves” (in other words, promises to pay them back with our tax money and inflation). This “bailout” is a 700bl debt between we the people and the BANKERS. Aren’t they the ones who got us into this mess in the first place? Why are we lending them money, and WE have to pay THEM back?!?!?!? If the constitution were followed, congress would print the needed money itself, and there would be no interest laden bank to pay back. But neither man is of the caliber of a Lincoln, a Kennedy, or a Jefferson, therefore they won’t touch the special interests.
I’m a business owner and I’m loosing money because of the mess these big players created around and now they request another $700billion dollars and says if not this will trigger serious job losses. AN unbelievable excuse to get taxpayers money. This is a free market, If I may make a bad bet I should pay for it not the Tax Payers. Nobody talks what will happen when $700 billion dollars be spent: Let me say, the inflation will double, US debits will increase over 11 trillion dollar and US Government will be more in difficult to find money around because it will infect and reduce down the US credit ratings, the interest rates will increase and this will add an extra burden on the Tax Payers, next the government will try to increase the taxes to save itself. Next the goods will be burned in order to save the lousy risk takers. Every business should take its own risks and if fails should leave around even these businesses might be Financial Institutions.
To Jeff in Charlotte: Read the history — the Great Depression was caused and prolonged by intervention particularly starting with Hoover. FDR extended Hoover policies.
What is down has become up; This is 1984
Put Lou Dobbs in charge of the $700 billion. He made my week when he said what we’ve all been thinking and called Paulson a “buffoon”.
Lou’s the man!
Wake up America and look at whats really happening. This crisis was orchestrated by your elected officials,the executives of these failed corporations and elitest pigs with loyalties to no one. They want power over you and me. The powers that be finally have an oppurtunity to hold us all in bondage and make us foot the bill for it. Lets send a clear message to Washington this November please put your party aside and fire the incumbant every last one of them if your a democrat and need to vote republican and vise versa do it. Do it for your country we need major reform and WE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE are the only ones who can do it. If you agree tell everyone you know to vote out the incumbant.
Dear Congress:
Instead of Bailing Out Wall Street, Pay off the (Home Mortgage Debt) of the HONEST HARD WORKING (TAX PAYING) (“VOTING”) Citizens. The BANK gets their money, the people are not left HOMELESS, and YOU GET TO KEEP YOUR JOBS!!!! A WIN WIN FOR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Robert
This sh-t is ridiculous! These rich white boys get to play around with people’s lives, and the government, or should I say the (Good Ole Grand Ole
Party) bails them out! There is a judgment on this country because of corruption. Thus, no matter what the government does, it will not work. In addition to this mess. Look at all of the natural disasters taking homes and lives. This is the sickest, most racist, most violent, and dishonest country there is. We should never place judgement on anyone. The US is hell bound!
Mr WALL ST. HERE…all you lemmings have no clue about how this bailout really works…we are going to baffle you with bullsh%& about derivatives, arbitrage,swaps, mark to market,hedging, collars,shorting, naked shorting, no uptick and a whole slew of terms and conditions that will only confuse you. You really are not smart enough to understand why we need and will get this bailout since you the general public have and always will be an endless source of capital for US the super-rich and politically connected…YEAH we made another bad bet with your money however please do not fret about it, we are so good at what we do that we will make your kids and grandkids pay for it all!! Mr Paulson is just our puppet that knows the game inside and out, remember he was the top dog at Goldman Sachs for years, so he knows how to make and protect our billions of dollars of profits. We made billions the last 6 years during the bull run after 911…WE EVEN PROFITED FROM THE 911 ATTACKS, THAT WAS PURE GENIUS ON OUR PART Someone has to pay for my new castle in the Carribean, why should I use my own money when I can use yours, AGAIN!!LEMMINGS WILL ALWAYS BE LEMMINGS LOL
WTF? I say cut the loans facing foreclosure in half- I’m sure that most troubled homeowners can afford THAT. As for the mortgage companies? Well, they don’t get squat from the government ’cause they’ll be getting half the loans back and a lesson well learned about greed. They were the experts and not the homeowners so they should have known better. They shouldn’t get one penny of taxpayers’ money and if they go under who the hell cares? I say don’t let the door hitcha where the good Lord splitcha.
PLEASE someone explain to me why Goldman Sachs CEO received $67.9 million (yes, MILLION) BONUS in December 2007-one of the largest exec bonuses EVER!!! I read this today in an article dated 12.21.2007… Why is this not HEADLINES today ALONG with the news that Goldman Sacs got STATUS change to bank holding companies on SUNDAY EVENING???..Strange he was doing such a terrific job a few months ago and then now has to be bailed out by the Feds! Should he NOT have to give the bonus back? This whole mess makes me sick!
To begin my comment this quote: “The principle to spend money to be paid by posterity, in the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale”. By Thomas Jefferson, Yes, these same words are crying out today from the very grave as this circus unfolds in reality created by the very Federal Government because for decades it has imposed so many Socialistic/Communistic programs upon the American people, without ever submitting a single one for a vote to the taxpayers! Since when is Socialism/Communism as a system Capitalism? In reality this in istself was a true swindle to begin with and now using more swindling and even worse to in reality bailout the criminals who are continuing swidling futurity. Yes, would Thomas Jefferson not support what I just finished writing, were he to rise? You decide whether I am off the rocker?
Believe me I am not a fan of the current administration, but lets face it, the people that signed up for mortgage loans they could not afford hold the ultimate responsibility. What ever happened to living within your means and saving for things you feel are important. Eventually the bill for the party must be paid. Step up, accept responsibility for your actions and stop looking for society to bail you out!
This is a horrible idea. Our economy has been based on debt for almost the past decade. now that we are realizing that there is no way possible for the American public to pay it back, the CEO’s are calling in their favors. Housing is overpriced relative to incomes. Either housing prices must fall or incomes must rise.
People cannot pay these inflated housing prices, that is why foreclosures are rising. With the house in foreclosure, there is no income stream for Wall Street to feed their derivatives and mortgage backed paper.
We are being lied to. “illiquid assets” my posterior. The market would offer 10 or 20 cents on the dollar. The government will pay upwards of that, and stick taxpayers with the difference. This is solely to bail out the rich and foreign investors who carry this paper on their books.
With this amount of money being given, our taxes WILL have to go up to pay for this. It is either that, or just print the money which will send inflation through the roof. Bread will be $7.00 a loaf, and gas $10 per gallon. Incidentally, Paulson’s plan is a literal blank check. $700 billion is only the amount that can be in the fund at any one instance. They can buy another $700 billion worth in subsequent instances.
The truth is that a correction is already coming. If nothing is done, our pensions and 401k’s will crash, savings will be lost, and many people will be in financial difficulties. If this plan is approved, the economy will crash anyway, but the rich investors’ capital will be preserved at the expense of the taxpayers. Not to mention that even more of our liberties will be taken away, just like the Patriot Act that was also slammed through.
The pain is already coming, this is just a way to postpone the pain to allow the rich lobbyists to preserve their cash. It’s just a pump and dump scheme…..
I cannot believe what I am reading. The Mortgage Bankers Association said it would oppose a provision to empower bankruptcy judges to ease terms of mortgages owed by bankrupt homeowners! I looked at their web site:
“The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)…invests in communities across the nation by ensuring the continued strength of the nation’s residential and commercial real estate markets; expanding homeownership and extending access to affordable housing to all Americans and supporting financial literacy efforts. Make no mistake about it; we are an organization dedicated to helping our members do their business…We promote fair and ethical lending practices…”
Were they not FIRST in line in this whole entire mess? They should have NO SAY in what it takes to clean up this mess.
The Government will never get any value out of these securities; there’s a rason the pros aren’t touchin these and there is no market value. These are derivatibves that have lost all of their value. Even with foreclosures, there will be no value. These securities are NOT mortgagaes or Liens, they are derivatiives much like options. The value fell and there is no recovery; only the actual mortgage holders will get some value back.
I make more annually than what the “poverty line” is considered to be, so according to the government, I should have nothing to complain about.
I live sparingly, I am paying down my school debt slowly but surely, and I pay my taxes faithfully and honestly. Sounds great, right?
I don’t have a cell phone or cable TV. No car, either, and for sure no house. I rent month-to-month. I also live without consistent medical insurance, and have not been able to invest in any kind of retirement plan nor to accumulate savings of any kind since graduating from school. These are the choices I have to make in order to live within my means.
Now, despite being a good person who works hard and tries to make all the right choices in order to live responsibly on my income, my government is going to load thousands of dollars bad assets and debt onto me without my consent.
No, thank you.
Hey america wake up rember the below. Now we are supposed to bail these people out >
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — In a year when Wall Street bonuses were expected to suffer, payouts to finance pros in 2007 remained pretty impressive.
Wall Street bonuses declined just 4.7 percent last year to an average of $180,420 per worker, according to the latest figures published this week by the New York State Comptroller’s office. Financial firms were expected to cut bonuses up to 10 percent from a year ago, according to previous industry projections.
Just a year ago, individuals working in finance in New York City enjoyed record payouts of $33.9 billion. This year, the total bonus pool shrank to $33.2 billion.
The numbers, while still lucrative, come as a bit of a surprise since this year was expected to be particularly difficult for Wall Street workers, given the recent market turmoil, ongoing woes in the credit crisis and an uptick in hiring during the year.
“The securities industry rewarded employees who performed well in 2007 even though the credit crunch battered profits,” New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a statement.
Are you tired of how the Republicans and Democrats are running our country? Will these so called representatives start working for us when we the middle class start giving them millions of dollars for their campaigns? It’s time we start cleaning house in both parties. We bailed them out twenty years ago and unless “we the people” change out government, we will be bailing them out a third time in twenty more years.
I see that the bailout also helps foreign groups with signficant financial US dealings (say, holding the surplus of our deficit). Can’t have them lose money or they might just call in the debt. Why are we bailing them out?
Most of this is just a lousy shell game of either passing on or delaying dealing with this boo boo. We are just prolonging the agony of paying up. The $700 B should go to real productivity – create jobs (as per 1930’s Depression Era) with the highest priorty jobs being the truly productive ones, say, growing food rather than ornamental plants.
For those who think that this is not a bailout but a loan which might mature….tell them to bailout Wall St. Float a bond and ask them AND ONLY THEM to put their money where their mouths are. If they lack the immediate cash to reach teh $700 B goal – tell them promisary notes over 10 years would be just fine. I have enough trouble paying my mortgage and education expenses without Paulson asking me to take on this bailout risk. I don’t play stocks and did not mess with a 401 K.
Finally, this governmental flip flop on policy is rightfully ruining their credibility. So with the latter at an all time low – what is Paulson’s proof that not bailing would result in more disaster than bailing. And disaster for whom? I don’tmind taking a relatively small hit if it means that the predators on Wall Street take a bigger one – perhpas to the point of extinctiion.
Some questions and observations.
1) Who elected Paulson as President of the United States?
“Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”
Come on now- Even Bush hasn’t had the balls to grab this much power. –Yet–
2) Oil prices up $16/barrel today. I can see the next bailout – for E$$ON, Mobil et al. – hidden in plain sight in the increase in gas prices that is certain to come. Oh and of course they will want subsidies for all the new drilling.
3) Wall Street down 372 points today. Enough said. This transfer of $700 billion of our wealth to the financial sector will not work. Oh wait. It is a transfer of our children’s wealth so if we don’t tell the next generation about the consequences of all of this maybe the Bush Administration can get away with it. Still will not work.
4) Can’t wait until the October surprise! September has been far too much fun. Let me guess- We capture or kill Osama. Just in time for the elections. King George is a hero, and McCain rides his filthy coat tails into the White House. Come on Americans. Are we really that stupid to be played by these guys yet again?
Watch the movie classic “The Sting”. Fill in the different actors with various members of the current administration. Oh yes. Remember you are a movie star too. You get to play the most important role. You get to play the guy who gets stung. And remember, at the end of all of this they are all going top walk away much richer and laughing all the way to the bank.
EVERYTHING IS PEFORMED IN A CRISIS MANAGEMENT FASHIONS; THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION INCEPTION BY HIS LOYALIST INTO OFFICE, AND HOW BUSH PERFORM THE JOB AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE IS CRISIS MANAGEMENT. IRAC WAR, KATRINA, BAILOUTS, ETC. ETC. STOP THE NONSENSE.
Lessons from the mother-of-all-bailouts:
1. We’re told it’s necessary because “the credit markets are frozen”: how can we know that? The credit markets are totally opaque! No bailout without transparency about all the dimensions of credit markets.
2. Moral hazard: no institution must profit from any bailout! Any institution that takes part must make commitments, presumably in the future since it’s in a parlous state at the present, to redeem its standing.
3. Oversight: The Secretary of the Treasury is being given unprecedented authority to spend unprecendented sums of the taxpayers’ money. He should lay a letter of resignation on Speaker Pelosi’s desk, to be effective the day that a legislative committee finds that he misused this huge trust.
I find it somewhat amusing reading about this trillion dollar bailout. Canadians have always been described by the right wing press of America as leftist or liberals. Whose acting like socialists now? Let me tell you NO Canadian dollars are bailing out any corporations in our country because of the insane greed of wall street. PS in Canada all investment banks have always been connected to a real bank, so if any of our investment banks/banks ( put money into these faulty derivative/mortgages they had to bail themselves out – not the taxpayer.
Let’s sum up the facts:
1. Brokers sold mortgages to people who have a history of not paying their bills; many times making $5,000, $10,000, $15,000 by charging fees and/or inflated interest rates encourage by the investors.
2. The mortgage amounts were as much as 125% of the value of the house.
3. The mortgage payment after 1 year as much as doubled, putting the mortgage holder in a very difficult position to make payments.
4. The mortgage holder has to give up his property to foreclosure because he can’t make payments.
5. Now the investors want relief from these bad and greedy decisions they made using the tax dollar that the mortgage holder still pays from his job eventhough he lost his house and whatever equity he had in it.
6. And the government is encouraging this bailout on behalf of the poor guy who lost his house.
Sounds okay to me!
What a MESS! These gurus were paid millions to mess up the economy and now the Fed wants to bail them out for their gamble. What a joke. This mess is affecting far flung corners of the globe with world wide loss. Fix the system so people can’t sell what they haven’t got. (This is pure theft from mums and dads and pensioners accounts)Limit lending for share market speculation. Make share buyers hold those shares for a specific time before reselling – say 7 days. What? They won’t like that? tough luck!!!! We are always being told that shares are a long term thing. So why are the “EXPERTS” constantly buying and selling if the Mums and Dads are told to hang in there? Hang those gurus that have caused these problems, or at least throw them into jail. Sorry. This mess has to be fixed properly, once and for all.
There should not be any bail-out funded by tax payers. This is capitalism not a socialized system for the rich and greedy. No bail out, asset seizure on all company CEO’s and indictments all the way to the Securities Exchange. What has gone on here is criminal.
We have to convince congressional leaders to stand strong and oppose any blank check for the Bush administration’s bail out of Wall Street.
Progressive Future has a great online action that allows you to send an email directly to Pelosi telling her that, if we are going to hand over $700 billion, we need to demand:
* Better oversight and regulation of financial markets.
* Help for the people who are struggling to stay in their homes.
* No “golden parachutes” for the CEOs of failed corporations that benefit from the bailout.
You can find the email action here – it’s quick and simple.
Please sign it today. Don’t let them push this massive, historic bailout through without the consideration it deserves and the changes that must be made to safeguard the interests of the American people.
I don’t think I’ll be getting over this one anytime soon. For that matter, with it projected to add another $1 trillion to the deficit, neither will anyone else.
http://www.bailoutville.com/forums/f6/trillion-dollar-deficit-7.html
No bailout! Vote those out that vote yes. I’m mad…mad as hell!!!!!!
If this goes through, better not, then common sense is we own the companies that we help and CEO/VP wages are capped at no more than a senior Congressman’s wages
When it comes time for these mortgage backed assets to be valued I do not want anyone influenced by lobbyists or partisan politics to be involved. If the government can assemble a group of unbiased experts in asset valuation then I can support this bailout.
WMD of Finance
(From BailoutGate.com)
If you listened to Hank Paulson on the Sunday political sitcoms, you undoubtedly heard him not explaining why “we” need to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in mortgage-backed junk securities.
He may as well have said “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud”, because it’s the same fear-based scam they ran on Congress to buy a war back in 2003.
Granted, there’s a serious mess in the financial markets, but what moron would give billions to the criminals that caused the mess in the first place. And what – or who – are they trying to save anyway?
While you heard Paulson talking about “mainstream companies”, American workers pensions, and even farmers, what he was decidedly quiet about was sovereign wealth funds and foreign banks in China, Japan, Europe, the Middle East and Russia.
To get an idea of just who’s getting bailed out one need only take a glance at the list of foreign billionaire stockholders at Bear Stearns, which received a $29 billion guarantee from the Treasury Department.
Or consider the fact that a majority of the stock in AIG, ($85B bailout) is held by foreign investors. Worse yet, look at the $200B nationalization bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Their top bond holder is none other than the Chinese government.
These are not minor omissions.
Even more troublesome, is the fact that on July 15, 3008 Mr Paulson testified as follows:
“Let me stress that there are no immediate plans to access either the proposed liquidity or the proposed capital backstop.”
Yet here we are, less than six weeks later and he has already issued more than $300B in guarantees and nationalized the two largest mortgage companies in the nation.
In light of the massive discrepancy between his words and his actions, it certainly seems appropriate for taxpayers to ask about Mr. Paulson grasp of the situation.
Whether he was being dishonest or simply was unaware of the scale of the problem, it raises grave concerns about his ability to unilaterally handle the situation.
And one only becomes more suspicious when just two years ago Mr. Paulson himself received $18.7M in bonuses from the same Wall Street he is now bailing out.
The sentiment is also represented in his currently proposed legislation, which intentionally puts the stability of financial markets above the protection of citizens, stating “the Secretary shall take into consideration means for–
(1) providing stability or preventing disruption to the financial markets or banking system; and
(2) protecting the taxpayer.”
So if the stability of financial institutions comes before the protection of citizens, and the stability of financial institutions requires the protection of sovereign wealth funds and foreign banks, it seems clear that citizens of the United States of America have lost control of their government.
If any control of government is going to be regained, Congress must immediately reject this course of action and attack the underlying problem by assisting citizens in securing stable home loans.
Absorbing reckless financial institutions and funding their foreclosure activities will only create more devastated neighborhoods that cause greater declines in housing values, which in turn will create more trapped citizens that see foreclosure as their only alternative.
Everytime this money changed hands and was re-brokered someone, somewhere made their commissions and were rewarded with excessive bonuses.
No one seems to be taking responsibility. I demand accountability be included in the bail-out legislation with the teeth to go after those responsible.
These company CEOs put us in this situation maybe they should be JAILED and assets confiscated before the people bail out the companies.And no bail out of foreign banks!!!
I think we can all agree that if banks are not going to be held accountable for funding bad loans that the general borrower should not either, but this bail out plan does nothing good for any of us tax payers. The government could profit, but no guarantees, and even if they do profit they probably won’t pass along the extra money to the tax payers who are going to, against their own will, have to fund this negligent proposition.
Here’s what needs to be done in order to turn not only the short run economy around, but the selfish, unregulated, greedy mentality that seems to reside so heavily in all of the leaders in our country:
VOTE OBAMA INTO OFFICE IN NOVEMBER, McCain will not give us what we need at this point and Palin, please, don’t even get me started……
1. We have had the technology to be energy independent via alternative fuels for much too long and it needs to be offered to the mass markets now! It’s time.
2. Use our emergency supply of crude oil to help us transition to clean burning fuels, this will enable us to be oil independent and then we will be the world masters of implementing this new global friendly technology and can help (i.e. sell) it to the rest of the world.
3. We need to let the banks pay for what they’ve done. They are supposed to be held to the highest of standards in lending practices. Much higher then the general public borrowers should be.
4. We need to get out of this messy war that seems to have no end in sight and no real goal in mind.
5. We should sue the Bush’s
When will the conservatives learn. Mega mergers, Mega ceos, Mega wars, Mega failures!!! The people are getting dumber, sicker and poorer. We are loosing the middle class, unions have lost their power, employers are gaining power. $700 billion could pay for our children’s education, our children could get preventive dental care and health care as well as our parents and ourselves. But I will be willing to sacrifice all I have to get rid of these mega corporations with net profits equal to many countries and power second only to none. Let the bastards fall!!!
Why is our tax dollars bailing out companies that were greedy and unethical when they thought they were ahead. If you and I were to bail on all of our bills and responsibility we would have seized assets, a bad reputation, bad credit and it can even affect your job.
I think if we have $700 billion to give it away, give it to the people or write some sort of clause the banks must apply such amount to mortgages and credit cards of average Americans. I am sure most in debt and in foreclosure are hard working honest Americans who truly cannot afford their payments. We were allowed to live a dream life based on credit and here is the end result. This fairy tale will not end with prince charming rescuing the love of his life
Why is it we should bail out these overpaid know it all’s from their GREED. No One offered to help me with my home loan when I was laid off after 9/11. How do you justify selling equities that are so complicated that you can not even value them. Shame on our government for allowing this to happen.
Yes, without doing anything, we are looking at may be a total collapse. But that anything doesn’t HAVE to be the TRILLION dollar taxpayer funded bailout for these bad bets by the wall st. This solution is bad/wrong/immoral at so many levels and well stated by most critics by now. There ARE alternatives and I don’t know why people are not willing to consider them… As always Bush administration puts us into a crisis mode and then presents its “the one” solution and puts a gun of patriotism and says “are you with me or against me?”. Same happening here. Alternate solution: One of them is well articulated by Mike Swanson at: http://www.wallstreetwindow.com/content/node/7969
Basically its a problem of confidence and confidence is lost due to lack of transparency on the books of these financials. With jumbo-mumbo like “Level 3 assets”, CDS, off-balance-sheet, these financial entities, just like Enron did, created opaque books. No one knows whats in these books and hence the rumors and lack of confidence and assumption of the worst case. We need a declared “bank holiday” like Roosevelt did, for a week. Shutdown the banks for a week, have a transparent audit of everyone’s books and don’t let the insolvent ones open again. After the holiday, people should have increased confidence in the ones that do open and that should get the credit flowing again… it also punishes the ones who are the most to blame… the ones who leveraged too much on bad stuff while siphoning millions in fees and stock options. For once, let us at least consider the alternate solutions and find the one that makes more sense!
Sure what the heck more debt means less social security. They tried to get their hands on it before now they will just take it from us. I guess it wont be question now how we keep it solvent. Think about it all you people who will be thinking about retiring in about 10 years. Don’t count on that check every month.
USA – the world icon of prosperity and capitalism was ruined by
1. lack of finanacial decipline
2. over-leveraging due to greed
3. lack of accountability
What a joke that a superior capitalist empire the world used to admire tolerates privatizing filthy profits and socializing losses.
Some poorly run companies fall and many other better operated enterprises will rise.
The country is already deep in debt and experiencing major budget deficit. We cannot afford to borrow more money.
The country will prosper as long as we have the guts to say “NO” and keep ourselves leaner and meaner.
SIMPLE SOLUTION-In November, DO NOT vote for a DEM or REP. It is the only way to begin eliminating the problems at the source. Repeat this over and over as you “try” to sleep tonight.
Vote out every member of the Congress & Senate, BOTH SIDES! And put the crooks in jail. That includes Chris Dodd & Barney Frank, Especially! This garbage has got to stop!
I have a suggestion – it won’t go far, but it’s worth a shot – as a taxpayer, I would agree to take on this debt (looks like it’s happening anyway) But I would DEMAND that every C-level manager at those organizations tender a resignation and never be allowed to hold such a title again. These people are the leaders of the ships they are running aground and it’s time to ostracize them from ever doing this again.
I realize that there is more to do to prevent this from happening again (perhaps constitutional amendments this time?) but it would help to hold the irresponsible accountable for their actions.
I have been watching your videos all day. The only people fond of this bail out, that you interviewed on video, are the Kuwaitis. I wonder why, Oil only shot up $16.37 today. So much that you took the tracking of it off of your main page. What are you avoiding?
I wonder if the goverment would give me some money too? If they are in the mood to bail out a bunch of corrupt people… Maybe I need to turn into a bad investor, stop paying my debt and and get forclosed on…Maybe then our goverment will help me??? This country needs to hit rock bottom before it could begin the recovery phase. I just hope when the dust settles, it will not be run by all overseas companies. By the way can we go save another country, it’s been a while…
I thank it is wonderful that our Gov will bail us out of this mess. Why,well uncle Bush and all the rest knew what was going on. Home owners were lead to believe that all was well. And it was all a sit-up.
You cannot just pull out of a country you are trying to stabilize. We as a people panicked fallowing 9/11 and let the Bush administration do whatever they felt was needed to keep Americans “Safe.” The problem is deeper than just the war, although it doesn’t help. As for the bailouts I don’t think that any responsible legislator should socialize something so unstable. Pumping tax payer money in to a broken system will not work it didn’t work in the thirties and its not gonna work now. As a nation we are going to have to buckle down and hold tight because we are heading for hard times but in comparison to the economic booms that have been a part of our recent past I think that the end result will be a stronger more unified America. “Yes We Can” is the mantra of change that is needed in this nation and making American goods more competitive on the global marked is the only way to pull ourselves up from our own bootstraps as Americans always have.
The bail out for these monstrous financial institutions is a bunch of BS. We are talking about working people taxed money, it will not help the people but to help someone’s already deep pockets, who got us in economic crisis in the first place. The government, the congress, the senate, the democrats, the republicans, etc. are all playing w/the people’s taxed money. There’s nothing protecting the working people, and the working people taxed money. NOTHING! I have lost confidence in our government. The watch dogs are in it for their own deep pockets, also.
It doesn’t seem like too many people are bothering to learn what this $700 billion would go towards before lashing out at the government. It’s a purchase of assets that everyone else is afraid to buy right now… like questionable mortgages. Because nobody else will buy them right now, the banks may choose to sell them to the government at a huge loss. CEOs of these companies won’t be pocketing this money like everyone seems to envision and their paychecks this year will be a fraction of what they might have been if they still have jobs.
The government meanwhile, might just pick up a portfolio of undervalued assets that it can later sell back to the private market in a settled market at a huge gain. I don’t trust the politicians of either party to do the right thing with that money, but it sure beats the alternative.
The alternative? Well, we decide that after bailing out people who’ve made bad decisions for too many years (about 20) when it would have been painful, but tolerable, we’ve finally had enough. We let this banks go out of business, they lay off millions of people like tellers, almost nobody can get a mortgage, home values drop by something staggering like 50%, consumers across the country go bankrupt, retail collapses, and on it goes into depression.
Maybe that’s what we need to wake up to the importance of letting the free market dole out losses as well as profits, but if there’s any other way, I wouldn’t mind giving it a try.
Outsourcing American jobs while firing Americans, then expecting these same Americans to bail corporations out.
Illegal Immigrants provided special loans, grants, and eductaion packages not available to Americans. Period.
100 names can be put on a H1 foreign work visa. Current limits are 65,000 Visas annually. (6.5 Million people?) Visa renewals do not count towards the annual limits. The average number of Visa issued from 2001-2005 was 150,000.
Once “TEMPORARY” Immigrants arrive, no one tracks, or sends them back unless they commit a felony.
Record American unemployment
Record housing foreclosures
Bush lied starting a war that we are still paying-(8.4 Billion per month), and dying for.
We attacked Iraq even though most of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
Repeated Corporate bailouts at taxpayers expense with no expectation of return or improvement. (See Keating Five)
CEO’s of failed financial organizations walk away with millions. Then ask taxpayers to cover their bad debts.
Labor Unions destroyed so no one protects the common worker from the Power-Elite
McCain, a member of the “KEATING FIVE” wants to be president.
Current “TOTAL” Federal deficit, not yearly, but TOTAL – $53 trillion – the equivalent of $175,000 per person living in the United States.
Americans complacent while this happens.
Goverment spying on citizens under the patriot act while reducing our freedoms.
Record Gas prices under a president whose family made their money in the Oil business.
Osama Bin Ladin stil has not been found even though the Bush family are personal friends of the Bin Ladin Oil family.
Top-secret military projects have been outsourced with the hope that they will stay secret.
American auto dealers will laugh at you if you try to trade a Cadillac with over 150K miles because of the practice of building American cars with “Planned obselecence” in mind. Cadillac is America’s flagship car. Mercedes-Benz has cars with over 1 Million miles.
Faulty Diebolt computerized voting machines with no audit trail – (Friends of the Bush family)
FEMA in New Orleans (Run by a man who’s qualifications for the job were that he trained horses)
If a soccer mom can be Vice-President in January, then I can be a nuclear weapons technician in November. “Same thing, because McCain is sick with cancer, and not expected to live very long.
Fed is planning on placing traffic cameras nationwide tied to computers to track us whereever/whenever we go .
Fed already monitors our e-mail and phone calls without warrants.
Did I forget anything?
HEY!!! My debt is interconnected with my children/Child Support, AND I have paid taxes all my life. Can “I” get a Federal bailout?!?!?!?!!?????
I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!
the taxpayers $’s should be buying equity or stock in the banks or private companies it is investing in….
I’m tired of watching this government run this country into the ground. Get us out of Iraq and get going on clean energy. End the dependence on oil. Make it worth multi-nationals efforts to profit while benefiting others instead of just themselves.
Bob from Bend Oregon exemplifies this problem with so many of the respondents I have been reading. CLUELESSNESS! If Bob had been paying attention he would have seen that the expanded the language to “trouble assets” meaning that commercial mortgages are inclusive in this plan. Secondly. THE COST IS NOT $700 BILLION; that is only the line of credit to be used to buy performing assets at already distressed prices. Most of the Risk will be priced in!
Your IGNORANCE IS NOT ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT– NEWS HEADLINES MISREPRESENT THE FACTS!
I think a 700 billion dollar tax rebate would do wonders for the economy. Let us decide what to do with the money rather than bail out corrupt companies whose greed got us all into this in the first place.
Albeit a horrible situation our markets are in and yet a horrific time during The Great Depression, The US learned some great lessons from The Depression and we rid our country of many insolvent and shady financial institutions in the process.
Therefore, we should bite the bullet here folks. It will be hard to go through another Depression, but I dare say we need one to learn our lesson. The consequence of bailing out these irresponsible companies will be more costly than letting the market correct itself and start fresh. Otherwise we are looking at a never ending bailout of companies who put our nation at risk.
We’re being presented with a Hobson’s choice–either this particular bailout plan, which does NOTHING to restore desperately needed oversight and regulation (which were essentially removed in 1999 with the repeal of Glass-Steagall, thank you Phil Gramm!) and also rewards bad behavior by insanely wealthy people at the top of the heap–or do nothing and let the global system collapse. I want a third choice–a bailout that restores regulation, restores meaningful oversight, outlaws predatory and unethical behavior by high-level financiers, and imposes a real cost on them for their greed (see Bernie Sanders’ ten-percent tax surcharge proposal). Let’s talk about doing that instead of enacting this pig with lipstick, shall we?
By the way. If you think this is a lot of fun, wait until they start the bailout for the Commercial Mortgage Crisis that no one is talking about.
If you think the residential mortgage crisis is bad, just wait for the next shoe to drop.
So far the government bailout has increased the price of oil by more than 10% in one day…nice job. Throwing money isn’t always the answer, and while it is part of the solution, the bleeding needs to hault immediately. A 90 day freeze should be encacted through an emergency executive order, freeze oil, freeze foreclosures, freeze rates. Does anyone remember what Richard Nixon did in the early 70s? Bring this thing to a hault and give the government the opportunity to get their arms around the entire problem. Anything short, will unfortunately bring results which are only going to drive us further in the whole. We can’t afford a mistake. Last time I checked, “shoot from the hip” solutions rarely work in the long run.
Bush said:
He would capture Osama- it didn’t happen
The War in Afghanistan would be short – it didn’t happen
Iraq had WMD’s – none were found
The stimulus checks would jump start the economy – it didn’t happen
Anyone else see a pattern?
Each time we get into a Bush solution, someone gets very, very rich, and it is never the middle class.
I am now done with the Republicans, I changed my party to Democrat today – they seem to be the only party that cares about people who are not millionaires.
Conservatives are quick to reject big government and support deregulation, but now this republican (conservative) administration wants the taxpayers to bailout these unregulated failing big businesses and even worst, with 700 billion of UNREGULATED dollars. What happened to “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and don’t expect “big” government to help you out”? OK for the little man but not for BIG BUSINESS? Who’s paying off the debts/mortgage for the tax payer? If we the taxpayer pay off the debt of a big business, we the taxpayer should be part-owner of that business and oversee how they manage the business. NOT A 700 BILLION DOLLARS OF UNREGULATED CORPORATE WELFARE WITHOUT ANY STRINGS ATTACHED!!
Wait, the counter proposal is that the government gets a share in the companies they’re bailing out? How about WE the taxpayers get a share in those companies! We’re the ones footing the bill. Hey you greedy suckers, you want my money, you can BORROW it, not have it. If after the government takeover those assets can be made profitable again, I will be expecting your check!
Oh yeah this is great news – I hope they pump it up to about 1.5 trillion before passing it. Because this will tremendously deflate the dollar causing the rest of the world to stop buying dollars and treasury bonds. The dollar will crash and become worthless and the federal government will no longer be able to operate.
This will lead to the collapse of the federal government and finally we will have an opportunity to get our country back.
Suddenly it’s “urgent” that the government do this today – without any investigation and look at the crooks and what they have fabricated on their books. It’s just like invading Iraq
Have to do it now! No time to think or for anyone to actually make an intelligent decision. It amazes me that this decision won’t wait – Another plan before Bush leaves office in six weeks to screw the little guy and give his rich friends more benefits while he still can. This is more crooked rush to do something before anyone can think it out. Just like rushing to war then invading IRAQ without all the facts and in a hurry so they can all cash in. The world isnt going to end if this isnt done in a week or six weeks. This needs to be investigated. This isnt going to give anyone more loans – the average person is maxed out on credit. If Americans can’t pay the loans they have why and how could they continue getting credit. This is the avalanche of years where people finally just cant pay their bills any longer because if its a choice we eat, keep a roof over our heads – pay electric – if we can’t pay electric we do without and make do until we can pay electric. That’s what it has come to in the real world where most of us live working minimum wage or just above minimum wage. There is no money left to pay late payment charges, higher interest and keep paying yet the balance keeps going up not down to the point where we realize we will never get this or any of these bills paid off so why try?
When the late charges are more than our payment and the interest is added on and there is no regulation on these acts, consumers cannot pay and cannot see any end in sight if they do pay.
That isnt going to change by the government taking on the debt. It’s just going to make the profits higher and not only the profits – but they raise the operating budgets so there are no profits – because they have such high salaries for CEOs and Executives plus un heard of expense accounts. No wonder there is no profit. These companies should be carefully examined to see where the money went – expose the fraud and make the people pay back the money – not get a final Bush free Ride on the government for more corporate executives. They are all taking their money and running. This is more fraud and ultimate corruption and it is criminal. Once it is unraveled and exposed – they money will be gone along with the CEO’s living well in Costa Rica.
To Pat in CA: You raise an extremely important point. This is not just a financial crisis; it is rapidly becoming a social one. I remember the rage in the 1960s about racial inequality (the advocates of violent change – vs. of no change at all). This could be the next war: economic inequality. I think, Pat, we all have reason to be scared. The 1930s were closer than most realize to seeing our country dissolve – literally – under the strain of hardships people were suffering. This crisis is very far from over. And banking is only the most visible aspect of it…
If they pass this bill I might as well stop paying taxes because we aren’t going to pull out of this mess if they do. Every step by the Fed and the treasury so far has made it worse. This will sink the dollar, drive oil to $200 a barrel over night and basically bring the US economy to its knees.
We’re reacting to a volitale situation without knowing the underlining cause and effect of decisions made by the President, Congress and the Fed. Yes, we must consider our advantages and disadvantages to a critical situation; however, what controls if any are being considered to hold top executives accountable for the horridous mis-management of America’s fabric–it’s people? When will leaders stop being rewarded for screwing up our economy and the lives of the American people? I’ll pray to God for an answer, because our leaders will just look the other way in our time of need. Only God’s grace and mercy will see us through this difficult period.
We need to look at the past history of this administration, and it’s skill at manipulating timing. We are expected to believe that if we pause long enough to add safeguards for the taxpayers, congressional oversight, and transparency, our whole world will come tumbling down. Wouldn’t that mean the people we are supposed to trust to fix things are the same people who failed to notice an approaching debacle? If this is passed as the Bush administration wants, it will effectively prevent the next administration from enacting any new programs for health care, education, etc. Please ask your representatives to take their time, add safeguards, and the kind of “exit strategy” a financial war might require to be successful for the American people rather than a dying administration’s goals. We can’t afford another version of those elusive WMD’s driving bad policy. Our great-grandchildren can’t either.
I am so sick of hearing about what “WE” must do to save America. Maybe this is what America needs. A good swift kick in the financial pants and a grand reshuffling of the wealth, as it were, dependent more on a person’s skills and work ethic than who they are related to. I am so tired of these silver spoon babies whining about how they won’t be able to afford that 6th Mercedes Benz. The people screaming the loudest are the ones with the most to lose. No matter what they do, the economy will still going down the toilet. Let’s just send them all to jail and adopt a pay as you go economy. No credit for anyone.
NO NO NO! This makes me mad as hell. I am calling my senators on this and Pelosi’s crazy “you can only drill here and here” sham of an energy action bill. I have never taken action before, but I am to the point that I want my country back! We no longer have a country; we have a huge corporation being run by very greedy executives who only think of how to continue lining their pockets with gold. What is it going to take to get Americans mad enough about what is hapenning? Doesn’t anyone else see the quid pro quo? Doesn’t anyone else see that foreign entities are quietly buying our country in exchange for “good credit risks”? That the Fed is eagerly selling to them in order to keep our borrowing interest rate low and scored well by Moodys? Isn’t anyone furious that we the taxpayers are bailing out businesses while they go on paying their execs HUGE bonuses and golden parachutes? If we say ok to this, then we’ll just be asked to do this over and over and over again……Where does it end? Tax and spend has got to stop. I am responsible, you are responsible; when will the government and these companies and stock brokers and lenders be held responsible? We need some mandatory regulation legislation NOW. Is anybody listening?
The sad thing is, we, the American people still have no idea what is really going on. What the news gives us insultingly summarizes a government decision that could make or break our economy. From all of this, I gather that without cash, the economy will grind to a halt – your employer will not be able to pay your salary, your credit cards will be declined, and your investments/retirement account will lose substantial (all?) value, and on and on. So, in order to keep things moving, the government and the media make this seem essential – in the meantime, we sit here like idiots pointing fingers. Blame Bush! Of course, it was Congress under Clinton that repealed the Glass-Stegall Act, which argubly triggered these new, exotic types of investments. McCain and Obama? What do they have to do with this? Vote however you like, but know that neither one has a clue, and don’t be fooled into thinking our next President will solve this mess. Blame the CEOs. Yes, but here is where I draw the line. Americans need to turn the finger at themselves for being financially irresponsible. American consumers wanted it all, the huge house, the boat, the motorcycle, the clothes, the jewelry, expensive dinners and on and on. Then, when the bills came due, they walked away and were essentially bulletproof. Too bad our Constitution does not allow imprisonment for contract debts. Blame the consumer, who in many cases could have tried a little harder to pay the bills, who filed for bankruptcy and made it all go away, who mailed the keys to the house back to the bank as soon as the value of the house started to decline.
Yes, we are all to blame, and now, we will all pay, one way or another. I would rather pay with my tax dollars than to lose my job, my savings, and my purchasing power. I was among the responsible and did not get in over my head, but I cannot look down on anyone from a soapbox at this point – NOBODY CAN! We are all vulnerable – never forget that!
Bail out is the right term the people who allowed all these fraudulent lending practices to proliferate should be out on bail after being arrested.
We will eventually complete this bail out but not before our do nothing congress debates it to death and loads it up with even more giveaways.
700 Billion dollars is equal to $2,300 per person based on US population. I have a wife and 3 kids. That is $11,500 dollar that they asked me to pay! I am sure I can do better with that kind of money
I’ve been reading these comments and comments on other blogs, and I’ve been talking to my co-workers and friends, and I have to tell you I am scared. I am really scared. This country is a tinderbox right now. Every time Bush comes to the podium, I get a real sick feeling. Paulson doesn’t make me feel any better. I have a very sinking feeling about this country right now. I hope for our country’s sake that the election isn’t close, that it’s a landslide one way or the other because I’m afraid there will be rioting in the streets if it is close. People will take the election results as an opportunity to pour out all their frustrations. I’m really scared because I know a lot of people who have had it, and these people are white.
I think the bailout is necessary to get the economy back on track. But how did it all happen to begin with? How much money did all the chief executives of these companies walk away with? Just do something, before all of our retirement accounts are gone!!
Pretty scary, rewarding the jerks who got us into this mess and nothing for main street who’s feet are held to the fire for believing our leaders and financial wizards who walk out of this mess with “GOLDEN PARACHUTES”. American’s aren’t going to stand for much more trash. It worries me. A drastic change can happen here as well as anywhere else I suppose. I just hope we all understand what is at stake. Let’s keep a cool head!!! Our founding fathers revolted because of unfair taxes, and abuses of the crown. One of you made a suggestion of taking 700 billion and reducing all mortgages by half. This is indeed would free up capital, create jobs, and allow one parent to stay at home with the kids, put food on the table, allow for health insurance and retirement. It’s better than corporate welfare at our already strapped families expense. How about giving the little guy a break. After all it’s the little guy who has to fight the wars, do without health insurance, forfeit his retirement, and future education of his children, and balance the family budget in the land of the free and home of the brave. Oh yeah, let’s put some of those responsible for this debacle in the slammer for a change, which may include some lobbyists and politicians, instead of turning the other cheek all the time. After all, those of us who have been doing the right thing and playing by the rules deserve justice!!!
Anyone that thinks this is a problem with a particular administration or President, think again, research, and look at who the big investors are (and the candidate they support even now – you might be surprised); and look at where the real problems started – bad investing and people taking bad loans for houses they couldn’t afford. Yes, we need to get these investment firms and any others that are failing to take ultimate responsibility for their own stupidity and short sighted greed.
But, as a country we the people need to stop supporting this trend by avoiding high risk or questionable housing or business loans (granted, not so much of an option now), and avoiding bad investment practices.
Responsibility starts at home – we are paying for irresponsibility that has been growing in our economic system for years if not decades. At the Lehman/AIG levels, we might be at the mercy of large investors that play games with not only our savings, but oil prices as well, but we as a country of individuals need to get to the real root of the problem – the false sense of security in our get-rich-quick economic system and social mentality that has no solid foundation to stand on. No matter how you vote, we will pay for this bailout. The question is, how do we prevent it from repeating, or heaven forbid, getting worse. Vote with your dollars and investing wisdom. Show detached irresponsible investors who is really in charge of supply and demand. Demand integrity and buy nothing less. We won’t solve this with tax breaks, tax penalties on corporate profits, or government bailouts. This is just a band-aid on a much bigger problem.
And I agree with another poster’s suggestion (in concept), there should be a payback penalty/interest rate imposed on bailed out companies – that penalty should be applied to our education system with a new high school graduation requirement – passing economics & ethics 101.
If we took back all of the bonuses and over the top saleries that the executives of all these troubled financial companies got for the last 5 years, we could probably pay for a good chunck of this bailout. And why should my tax dollars go towards helping out the guy that makes half what I do (which isn’t that much!) but bought a house worth 3 times what mine was worth before the market collapsed. Better them than hardworking and responsible taxpayers(meaning I didn’t borrow what I couldn’t afford to pay).
Even today, Wall STreet just doesn’t get it. Barclays admitted today that it had agreed to pay $2.5 billion in BONUSES to 10,000 Lehman employees! DO YOU SEE A PATTERN HERE? These financial institutions take care of their own! They are GREEDY, GREEDY, GREEDY. NO, NO to the Bail out package. Sure, we may have a severe recession — maybe even a depression — but we are a resilient people. I’ll take my chances with Main STreet. THROW OUT ANY REPRESENTATIVE WHO VOTES FOR THIS BAIL OUT!
Bailout!!! Why??? Why reward or help the irresponsible and greedy companies and irresponsible, greedy and ignorant people??? NO TO BAILOUT.
On another hand, Federal Reserve will now be forced to monetize huge amount of US govt debt. Quantity of $$$ will grow, value of these $$$ will decline. $$$ value of GOLD will rise. Good news for us GOLDBUGS!!! Hooray to GOLD & SILVER!!!
Inflation, here we come.
To add to my earlier comment. We must all remember that Big Business can many times make a lot more money going bankrupt or through a government bailout than by having to face the consequences of their business practices.
Hell they are supposed to be Professionals within the banking and finance industry. If they can not balance their own portfolio they need to be incarcerated for fraud against their investors.
Congress is moving to insure non conforming loans created on the conventional market where the investors of that paper knew they were not insured by Freddie Mac or Fanny Mae.
For the government to do this makes this paper worth double what it is since those investments are going down the tubes. If there is going to be profits then the American public must share in that profit and Congress must take any profit made by these banking institutions if we are now going to insure their folly.
Otherwise it is retroactive use of the law which is unconstitutional!
If Congress does not incorporate repossessing these all assets of these banks then Congress is participating in the cover up of their own incompetence and mismanagement.
What the goverment fails to remember is that any country that does not have gold to back up the amount of currency they have in circulation is useless. Their currency would not be worth anything. In this case they want to put in $700 billion, but we dont have the gold to back it up, which will hurt the dollar even more then it already is. I say NO to the bail-out!
I am sick of the government spending OUR money like there is no limit. Where is the actual 700 billion coming from? I say no to the proposed bailout. It’s like giving a spoiled child more money to spend with the attitude it “will make things better” with no forthought of the possible negative consequences. Big business made the mess, let them figure out the resolution. We are just enabling them to continue in an irresponsible manner with the bail out as it stands.
Bottom line: This is unpatriotic & criminal …undermining the stability of the country!
How about some arrest warrants?
The CEO COOs & CFOs knew what was going on. So now they slap the face of every person they ever gave a pink slip to and laugh at the taxpayers holding the bag.
Is it me? Do I see Opportunity for the rich here, they will be able to buy up bad mortgages cheap? Then create some new way to sell them back to the middle class and turn another quick $. We are hearing it cant happen again hmmmmmm?
Let me see if I have this right? My government wants to take my money to purchase illiquid mortgage paper from foreign investors. Please correct me if I am wrong but the entire concept of paying good money for bad or “illiquid” mortgage paper does not sound prudent?
Folks, what is going on here is that the massive multi-national financial conglomerates have made the ultimate bet by going “all in” by refusing to extend credit for a short period last week in an effort to force Congress’ hand. And it worked. Now, we the people are being asked to foot the bill? And shame on you for those who claim that this may even be a golden opportunity for our government to pick up assets at fire-sale prices and make a profit from them in the future. I believe that everyone has now figured out that future real estate appreciation must be “real”. That real household incomes must rise proportionate to the price of housing, otherwise, you risk creating another real estate bubble market. Here in So. Cal., you will never convince me that household incomes will rise 30% to 40% anytime soon sufficient to add any value to the hundreds of billions of dollars in second mortgage paper which are essentially worthless here in So. Cal.. Do not buy into it. It is just another “short-term fix” which is politically motivated with just weeks to go before the 2008 elections. The price of homes in So. Cal. must continue to decrease to a point where the average family can afford to pay the mortgage with no more than 30% to 35% of the family’s earnings. Just as a family who spent too much has to, eventually, bite the bullet and forego luxuries and entertainment in order to reduce credit card balances to acceptable levels, our politicians have to realize that they, too, must bite the bullet and assume otherwise politically unpopular positions for the general good of our nation.
If foreign nations can coerce us into compliance with threats of refusing to continue purchasing U.S. debt obligations, we, as a country, have a very serious problem – and it is not, simply, “liquitiy”. It is a fundamental problem which finds that we have become a debtor nation and that we must beckon to the call of our foreign / sovereign wealth fund creditors. Radical changes must be instituted and now seems like a good time to start. However, incurring hundreds of billions of more debt is the absolute wrong course of action. The road to financial responsibility will be long and arduous and there is really no way to effectively lessen the pain. We must just do it by taking one step forward at a time until we finally reach our destination.
Search for S.190, 109th Congress at the following website:
http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d109query.html
__________________________________
S.190
Title: A bill to address the regulation of secondary mortgage market enterprises, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Hagel, Chuck [NE] (introduced 1/26/2005) Cosponsors (3)
Latest Major Action: 7/28/2005 Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
_____________________________________
Now, take a look at who supported it and who opposed it. Think you’ll hear about this on CNN TV news or CNN.com? I wonder why not?
Call your Senators/Representatives and tell them to vote against this bailout of the irresponsible, criminal financiers. And tell them you’re tired of their BS, too!
I love the republican idea of a “quick, clean” fix. Have we not already gotten into enough trouble giving Bush and his henchmen blank checks? I understand the need for this to be done, but how about some accommodation for those of us with reasonable houses, cars, etc.? Why could compensation for executives in these greedy firms be disallowed as part of the deal? Why should the government not have a share in ownership, since they have been asked to socialize the risk while the profit remains privatized? Typical republican antics. Please don’t just hand over the treasury to these rapacious swine!
Whenever Professionals in any industry that affects everyone fail there must be an investigation to see where there may have been creative incompetence that was actually criminal.
The deregulation of the banking industry created this crisis. Regulations that had been there since the Great Depression were in place to prevent profiteering through the use of creative financing schemes and to assure that unscrupulous people would be prevented from corrupting the banking sector of our economics.
There are untold felons who have been found within the mortgage industry that have created billions in liabilities simply to get their own origination fees. Now we must bail out bad business decisions because the Professionals were not watching over the fiduciary responsibilities they have to their investors and the investors who will ultimately buy these huge blocks of paper investments.
These are criminal acts by the white collar sector and must not go unpunished. If banks must fail because they employed this lack of professionalism then let it be so.
But for Congress to pledge taxpayers credit to bail out institutions without immediately putting in place new extreme regulations so this can not happen again while investigations also begin to see where crimes were committed and prosecute these white collar criminals is in itself a crime against Americans.
I have been in the Homebuilding industry for 30 years and have lived through more than one serious housing recession. In the latter eighties the government never bailed me out when I was a million dollars in debt and interest rates went to 18% leaving no hope for either the homeowner or the homebuilder.
Today I am also in the mortgage business where daily I receive emails from numerous mortgage institutions telling me how we as mortgage bankers stand to profit through this bail out.
It outrages me because much of the problem was created by these same institutions pushing adjustable rate mortgages when fixed interest was at the lowest rates imaginable. If a home buyer can not qualify for a fixed rate when they are under 8% then they are trying to buy more home than they can afford.
Now everyday I get advertisements pushing the reverse mortgage which will one day create another crisis for elders who bought into this scam and where their posterity will forfeit the real value of their ancestor’s home when the bank sells them just to repay their encumbrances.
Congress simply must begin be held accountable for such irresponsible decisions or this country will end up just like Russia with the Ruble being devalued to the Peso.
Big business has moved into a position just like in Russia where they as the communist mafia have always worked hand in hand with the government to keep the poor Russian people appeased yet oppressed while Big Money people enjoy living in Palaces and are unaffected by such crisis.
MAKE BIG MONEY FACE THE MUSIC OF THEIR OWN CORRUPTION!
why not just take everything we have now. make us pay for the bigwigs? well they never helped us working people. LET THEM FAIL!
we pay enough in taxes as it is!!!
We should send a message to congress that we as a nation of hard working people could elect to not pay a portion of our taxes. What will the government do if half the tax payers in the country refuse to pay their taxes.
How would congress like to try to take 75,000,000 or so people to court?
It’s amazing what they think they can get away with, in our name. I for one have called my reps and let them know how truly upsetting this is. I see houses in foreclosure all over, yet no relief for those home owners, but we should jump to give these wall street banksters 700 billion to prop up their bad practices?
I think The Bush Administration has been solving problems by throwing money at them for the past 8 years. It’s time to say NO! The American people will learn the hard way how to manage their money in a responsible fashion, something that is long overdue and will come to pass anyway, even with another bailout. Let the markets work it out on their own, without government intervention. We’ll suffer for it initially, but all be better off in the end.
Thank god I am not US tax payer. I hope that it won’t happen in my life time.
It is ridiculous that financial is <5% of the US total jobs who bets on the remaining 95% of the persons saving. They just take risks on our money, if things goes well then they got million dollar bonus while things goes wrong then government is always there. Even if government won’t help, ultimately 95% people will suffer the fate.
Now government is giving blank check and ask them to give their bad debt to us and you keep going with big risk with tax payer’s money and earn million bonus again.
It is highly ridiculous to see such blind decision by US government. Best of luck US tax payer…
As usual, Joe Mainstreet will ultimately be left to pay the bill after the corporate pigs finish gorging themselves.
First of all no bailout, until the people responsible lose THEIR jobs!
If we are going to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to bail this system out, then why don’t we start by using the money to bail out those who are paying for it? The taxpayers! How about we start by bailing us all out of our over-inflated mortgages on our primary residence, or at least pay down half. Then we would all have more money available to buy groceries, send our kids to college,and even buy a new digital TV “required” by 2009. I would think this would do much more to stimulate the economy than another insulting $600 allowance check from Uncle Sambucks. Would this not be cheaper than the billions going to Wall Street and all of W’s pals?
For all the technical analysis of financial market failure, the basic problem is one of investor confidence. That is why the markets have “seized up”. Investors have justifiably lost confidence. So throwing money at technical problems won’t help. One-on-one, investor and borrower, as individuals and institutions, are going to have to rebuild their relationship. That’s why money won’t help. The bailout won’t work, and we don’t have the money for it. Did you read that the proposal includes an increase in the debt ceiling from $10.6 Trillion to $11.3 Trillion. Write all your congressional representatives, let’s get this foolish irrational proposal stopped before it is too late.
If these companies are too big to fail, then they are too big to exist. They need to be broken up, NOW! Re-regulate, or reinstate those regulations put in that stopped this from happening, so they can’t grow like cancers on the host of our financial system, supported by the working people.
We can’t take their disease of greed!
OK, Congress is going to act like suckers and pass this bail out — here’s how every American can fight back: STOP PAYING YOUR CREDIT CARD BILLS! There’s not going to be any credit, so no need for a FICO score. DON’T PAY YOUR CREDIT CARD BILLS! Stand up for your rights — if they are going to take our tax dollars without reason, then we won’t pay our credit card bills. In fact, if you pay your credit card bills after today, then you are a sucker!
Get real! Let them fail! This is another way to strip the middle class of money tax money. Congress don’t get suck in again by BUSH!
Enough already. Nobody here seems to work in finance or realize how connected the world is. We’re literally on the edge of the Great Depression 2.0, and we have a choice between letting the companies fail because that’ll teach ‘em a lesson, or grabbing the economy before it hits rock bottom. President Hoover made the first choice, for exactly the same reasons as people here are saying, and look how great that turned out. Is that the choice everyone really wants the government to make now? Is having the moral high ground over some CEO’s worth sitting on a curb with a cardboard sign?
If I made a mistake, knowingly or not and took on a mortgage that ultimately I can not afford, would the mortgage holder help me out at their expense? Why should the tax payers help these companies get out from under bad business decisions? And where are the details on the compensation packages of the CEO/CFO’s of these companies?
I was opposed, but am now reconsidering.. Stop and think about this, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If we can get the companies that we are bailing out (all of them) to provide us a percentage of their earnings on whatever they sell and put it back into the hands of the taxpayers who are bailing them out, the whole world will end up covering these costs and potentially making our grandchildren very financially stable.
I DO NOT believe that a bail-out is the right answer, we are a very greedy nation built upon illusion. Let the large buisnesses for once take responsibility. Wall Street should not be an aspect of Home Loans. Credit should be more scrutinized to avoid bad loans to begin with, as car, credit cards. Too many cards are given to people that can NOT afford to pay back. Bush, as well as previous presidents caused this by de-regulation. It is a shame that Bush will not be around for the ending, as he will be out in November. I vote for OBAMA for President, we DOT NOT need another BUSH.!
we must admit this THERE ARE BETTER SCRIPT WRITERS IN OUR GOVT.WE COULD HAVE WATCH THIS IN THE MOVIES CAUSE THIS ONE LIKE OTHER MOVIES HAS A BAD ENDING.WHEN BUSH AND HIS PALS EXCEPT THE DUMMY AWARD PLEASE THANK ALL THE TAXPAYERS
A bailout now, especially at this level is setting a bas precedent with the private industry. This is basically telling all companies out there that if they get themselves into trouble (provided you can affect the market and pocketbooks) we will bail you out.
Lousy policy. And better yet, my two children will likely have to pay for the mistakes of Countrywide.
This bailout is all part of the plan. The only option for the American people is to do our duty and remove the tyrannts and form a new government that serves the people (Declaration of Independence). If we don’t we are already a Fascist State. How could anyone elect McCain the deregulator who chose Phil Gramm ex-Chief of the Senate Banking Committe who helped make this mess. McCain advisors include 15 big oil lobbyists and fundraisers? His Tax Plan gives 3.8 Billion dollars a year to the top 5 oil companies. The Fascist States of America is what they want created. I thought Republicans were against socialism. If not, why not subsidize Health Care? If we the people have to pay for these criminals, they should be indicted and forced to pay back what they have stolen. The current pResident should be removed with all of his allies and charged for their crimes. The death tax should be reinstated so they do not live like Kings while we bow down to their will. This is what the Declaration of Independence is for, times like these. We the People don’t have to wait for Congress to impeach. List their crimes and make them pay back what their ill gotten gains. King George has to go now. The Boston Tea Party is a good example to follow. The Texas Oil Party and the Wall Street Bailout Party should be starting now. If we cover up their crimes, what message are we sending our children and the world? It is ok to lie, cheat and steal.
My parents have worked their whole lives to save for their children & died for us .No ones has bailed out my parents our helped my payment when we have had a hard time. I pay my payments on time never missed one & if those CEO gets so big of pay let them bail out the stock market & banking system that are in the wrong not playing by the rules. I cannot believe this is happing in the US today .The people will not stand for paying taxes for a wrongful bailout when we did not do nothing wrong . The people need someone in congress to trust in God we trust on the dollar & it is falling too!Please help US
Throughout the Bush administration, things come up and we hear “the sky is falling the sky is falling! We need the taxpayers to give up their rights and liberties to fix it.” This happens time and time again. We rush into poorly thought out resolutions. This new sollution, proposed by Bush, is one of the worst. And just like always, he is saying that we need to act fast and push this through. But it would take away more rights that we need to investigate.
“Sec. 8. Review:
“Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”
Take a moment to re-read that. This new LAW would place the Secretary of the Treasury ABOVE THE LAW.
This bill is being sold to us, the taxpayer, as a design to protect the American public. Ask yourself, if this new law is so helpful to the American taxpayer, why are we not allowed to review the decisions he is making with OUR tax-money? Why aren’t courts or oversight committees allowed to see what exactly it is he will be doing?
“Sec. 6. Maximum Amount of Authorized Purchases.”
“The Secretarys authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time”
This is clever and nobody in the mainstream media has figured it out yet. If you think the cost of this bill is $700 billion, you’re wrong. The cost is actually infinite and the entire bill sounds like a giant money-laundering scheme.
Paulson can (and presumably will) buy up to $700 billion of these “assets”, then sell them. Let’s say he decides to buy them at 60 cents on the dollar and sell them for 10. You, the taxpayer, will eat the fifty cents, for an immediate cost of $350 billion dollars. Having done so, he is then authorized to do so again, since the $700 billion is no longer on the government’s balance sheet.
If Paulson and his successor decide to, they could literally cycle all $5.3 trillion of Fannie and Freddie’s debt through this scheme, potentially sticking the taxpayer for 20% or more of the total, plus as much private debt on various bank balance sheets as they can.
A better idea.
Take the 1.8 trillion this is really going to cost – divide it up and pay an equal amount on every first mortgage in the country. Restructure the mortgage to reflect the lower balance and lower the payment.
The tax payer/homeowner gets a break. The lenders get funds.
If they are going to take money away from us the least they could do is help us out a bit.
I think this is purely absurd! After years and years of these same financial institutions making rediculous money off of the poor by lending these risky loans at elevated interest rates, in the name of what they call, “HIGH RISK LOANS”, and years of lower class and middle class citizens suffering we offer the MONSTERS who created this fiasco a break????
If I were in congress i would VETO the entire bill. I am a 29 year old single parent and have worked in the financial sector for years watching these same institutions raising the interest rates on the same loan given to a poor customer with veriable work history and fair credit versus the loan given to a customer with a perfect credit score and the same work history. However, what they failed to realize, at the end of the day, and with a FAILING ECONOMY WHICH HAS THRIVED OFF of the poor and middle class for years, we all look the same, perfect credit or not. Now these same individuals with the perfect credit score, that we lended the entire bank to at no charge,and have perfect credit are the same ones now trying to scavage money after being laid off along with the individual with poor credit.
My solution, WIPE OUT, the overpaid executives of these companies, make the lending process fair and equitable accross the board. After working for some of the largest financial institutions and leaving them after seeing so many customers worked over,in addition to being overworked myself, day after day, I sat to advise my clients on their personal finances but could not even get a loan with the financial institution I had worked for, for years, due to past credit problems that had been resolved.
I switched to the credit union and this equitable concept has worked for them for years. In addition to that, we should not reward the uneducated and relentless disreguard from these financial executives who have for years made money at the expense of the Average American workers. My proposal, give the money to the individuals it hurt the most, THE AMERICAN TAXPAYERS, and establish programs which demand institutions to refinance bad debt loans such has mortages and car loans with rediculous interest rates therefore, Americans could afford to recuperate from the damage that has been done for years!
I have four points about this bail out:
First, to the people who point out that the Fed is buying illiquid but supposedly valuable assets please consider that there is a reason for why the assets are not liquid – they are not worth as much as the banks are asking for. So this stands to be a terrible deal for the Fed. The parameters of the program all point to a huge loss of about $500 billion for the tax payer.
Second, this plan might actually aggravate the existing problem. The plan has counterintuitive effects. The plan puts money back in speculative markets and increases inflation. The dollar is likely to suffer and commodity prices will increase. This means food and gas prices will increase. Everything you buy will be more expensive – even interest rates will go up. More people will default on their mortgage and credit card debts. In general consumers will consume less. Banks might be better off in the short run, but consumers will be worse off and there is a real risk we glide into a very serious recession. The problem has become serious the minute Paulson framed the choice as do this or else. The markets were about to work the issue out. We could have been done with the crisis in month. The else part is going to scare the grab out of the market if the plan is not implemented. Intentionally or not Paulson gave congress very little choice.
This brings me to my third point. This plan is like a tax on each single one of us. It was presented in a way that leaves congress no choice but to approve it. So essentially the bailout is a tax without representation. Wasn’t there something in our history about no taxation without representation? This plan is a financial coup de etate. Paulson should not be put in charge of fixing a problem that he helped creating and he should for sure not be rewarded with special powers for his incompetence.
Forth, this plan is a one shot deal. Given the size of the plan the US government has only one bet. What if the plan fails? What if I am right and the plan drives inflation and speculation and puts more pressure on people who are on the brink of not being able to pay their mortgages? – Congress should better get this right or we will all be seriously hosed. There is no money for a second bail out.
This bailout is just plain retarted. The whole reason this country was founded was on the basis of the issue over Taxation without representation.I know for a fact if I went to congress or who ever in charge, and said i did not approve of this, nothing would change. I just saw the report on CNN today, showing just how much Just $85 billion actually is. You could buy the majority of the countries in Africa, and several counries in Europe.
Let alone this bailout for $700 Billion!!!!!
I can barley afford the medication I need on a daily basis. Insteed helping people who need help, we bailout screw-ups, and they get rewarded with millions of dollars.
Heres a thought I’ll go drive a goverment owned company to billions in debt and get off scott free. Sounds like a great job plan.
A letter I wrote to the President.
Donald Jr.
1021 Stratford Place
, FL
September 22, 2008
George W. Bush
President
The United States of America
600 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
I am a long-time Republican supporter and taxpayer, and I am writing to express my concern about recent decisions concerning the handling of our current economic situation. I understand that the decision is being considered to loan or give insolvent businesses that have shown a total lack of regard for regulation or good business practice hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars to reward them for their fiscal, moral and ethical disregard for the same.
I do not believe that the benefit of rewarding these entities in the name of protecting the taxpayer is the best course of action. However should the Senate, Congress and you see fit to follow through, I would like to make a case for my own bailout. I am a hardworking fulltime, taxpaying employee of a very good company. My current employment is the result of a necessary career change at the age of 50 due to the current status of the Automobile Industry. I worked for 30 years in retail car sales prior to my new undertaking. I, as do the CEO’s of the aforementioned companies, do not feel personally liable for the downturn in the current economy or the economic conditions harbored on me by the downturn of the auto industry.
I was not aware of the ability to be irresponsible as a citizen, and expect the government to bail me out. Personally, I sold the home I could not afford any longer, losing everything I ever put into it as well as my down payment and all other associated monies (tens of thousands). I thought that was what you were supposed to do when you could no longer afford something. I now see that I should have just stopped paying for it and I could have kept it, and the government would have given me the money to pay for something I am responsible for.
Myself my wife and two small children, ages 7 and 8, are now on the brink of being homeless. We cannot afford to move, and we cannot afford to stay in our rental home. We filed bankruptcy last week so the bank could not repossess our only car.
Actually, for the first time in my 50 years of living and 35 years of working, this is the first time I have ever asked my government for help. I have paid and paid, but now I need to ask for a little bit of it back.
While yourself and Congress are handing out hundred of billions of dollars to bail out the criminals of Wall Street, I was wondering if someone could earmark about $25,000 for the Shrewsbury family down here in Florida.
I truly understand the difficult, no win position, you, our Senators and our Congressmen find themselves. Nonetheless, I must speak up for those of us that have tried to do the right things in life, regardless of the circumstance and have been willing to accept the responsibilities with the decisions we have made in our lives, right or wrong. I must wonder out loud, I wonder if our economy would recover faster if you gave those billions or trillions of dollars back to the individuals and families that actually paid those dollars in a large lump sum. My tax rebate check this year, well, it went to my ex wife of 21 years who wasted it. I did not see a dime of it.
I need some help Mr. President. I will copy my congressman and hope for a reply. If either of you get the opportunity to read this, I certainly hope you take it seriously and my family and I want to thank you in advance for your consideration on the earmark I requested. A hard copy of this letter will follow via US Mail. Thank you again for all that you do for our country. I am not sure I would want your job.
My very best regards,
Don
Cc; Vice President Dick Cheney
Senator Bill Nelson
Honorable Dave Wheldon
CNN
MSNBC
FOX Networks
To Richard Givis, Broken Arrow, OK –
Keep Arizona, we have lots of sun and wind we’ll need after we banish the oil profiteers. But since McCain is one of those, I’m sure we can arrange for Palin to give him asylum in Alaska. We don’t want him here, either.
So we have to pay for the bad decisions these CEO’s made, and they get to walk away with millions? Where are the investigations? Why is it if I where to take over a company and run it into bankruptcy, I get the boot, but these fat cats get bonuses? Why are they even getting bonuses for destroying our economy? The first money towards that 700 Billion should come straight from the Execs paychecks. Don’t tell me they did not know what they were doing. The Enron Execs claimed stupidity too.
P.S. My generation really appreciates you guys living large on our futures. Thanks
I already lose roughly 20% of my check to taxes. Having to extend the national debt limit in order to pass this is crazy. $85 billion to AIG, which I can swallow due to their global reach. $200 billion for Freddie and Fannie, and another 29 billion for Bear Sterns. By this time, if banks and other firms didn’t realize that mortgage securities were a huge liability, then they deserve to fail.
Bail out for Wall Street – Just say NO until !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let us try and use common sense as a nation. If you go to a doctor and he tells you that you have cancer and need an operation to survive but it will cost you a million dollars and no guarantees. Common sense suggests you would ask 2 questions. I really want a second opinion and ask the doctor are you sure about the cost. This is common sense to everyday Americans.
Suggest we get a second opinion since my trust in George Bush has been a little diminished over the past several years. The most respected name that comes to mind is to ask Paul Volker the prior Fed Chairman under Reagan and Clinton to look this over on behalf of the taxpayers of this country. Volker got this country through a very bad 1981 recession and was Head of the Fed during the last RTC bail out of the Savings and Loan mess. He is honest and a man of integrity and more importantly not slave to party politics.. Give him (1) week to look over the numbers and report back to Congress on his assessment and recommendations. Congress has an obligation to the taxpayers to take their time and ensure this is not another fabrication to enable and reward Wall Street for their failures. Generations will have to pay for this mess. It took several years under Bush for this to deregulatory mess to evolve and I will be very angry if we meet the Bush demands of a resolution in 1 or 2 weeks. Wall Street will survive a little while longer. Bank on it.
Rick IN San Diego
And so:
There’s a way to pay for the costs of this enormous restructuring.
Require every hedge fund in the country to cough up 10% of its assets.
Require the top 500 businesses in the country to cough up a billion dollars each.
And let these business guys boss around these Financial Sector smart-alecks.
But alas, it won’t work, because they are country-club buddies and sit on each others’ boards of directors. this is the only solution i see thats fair this is a disgrace of our country we look like idioits to the world thanks to bush and his wall street buddies now i cant retire or heat my house WHY CANT YOU BAIL US OUT WE BULIT THIS COUNTRY NOW BEING DESTROYED BY GREED
While the bailout is troublesome, the consequences of doing nothing are more so. We have all (most of us) enjoyed the returns generated by Wall Street over the past number of years and we have never asked why the returns continued to be double digit, only that if they weren’t double digit,we’d move our money tomore “aggressive funds”. So, the all the folks (and that is all of us who made way too much money selling our homes and made way too many returns on our mutual funds/retirement accounts) need to give back a proportion of these gains- afterall these gains and our demands as consumers for these gains are in large part responsible for the crisis we are in now. It is appalling that so many people seem to think that it is only “fat cats” on Wall Street while they pocket the 200% increase in equity on their homes… get a grip folks, wake up and smell the coffee. Next time you are offered 20% return on your retirement investment, do the right thing and turn it down.. don’t put pressure on the wall street folks to make the risky investments and high returns that Wall Street and the millions of investors have come to expect. Remind them that 6% is acceptable.. and that retirement at 67 is early enough. we are a nation of spoiled kids who don’t want to pay for the fun they’ve just had. Grow up. get real. its not them vs us, its all of us in it together.
Ok, let me see if I’ve got this straight. Congress invited in the banking lobbyists who rewrote the laws allowing banks to do virtually anything they wanted to come up with new ways of sticking it to the consumer (if you don’t believe it, read your credit card agreement). Banks then proceeded to lure consumers into credit they could not afford, in loans, credit cards, mortgages, etc. They were able to hike interest rates to the hilt on all accounts if the customer was late on one payment by one day on one account. They increased mortgage payments to the point where people could no longer pay. After all this freedom from regulation they created for themselves, and all the torture they have put consumers through, they want us to bail them out? With what? By the way, where is the money going to come from? We are already so deep in the hole we will be lucky if we ever dig ourselves out! Will the Chinese be willing to fork over even more loans to pay for the purchase of all this bad credit? I think it is time for those who took advantage of all of us to reap what they have sown.
Please, Please, don’t believe Bush again. I feel this is a fabricated emergency–an attempt to get Bush and his cronie friends rich before the Republicans loose control of the White House. Please democratic congress, if the emergency is real, then please seal up the loopholes…tight.
I am a small business owner, and about 2 months ago, my business was in danger of failing. It was in danger of failing due to a slow economy and that’s it – it was not due to a bad product, dissatisfied customers, bad decisions based on greed, or bad marketing. However, those are the very reasons as to why these Wall Street giants are failing, and now, because of their bad decisions, I, along with the other taxpayers in this country, have to bail them out? Where was my bailout a couple of months ago? I certainly could have used a “cash infusion” when I was struggling, and I am sure many small business could have used one as well, or may need one now. This bailout is the worst thing that we could do. It is completely anti-capitalistic, and it cannot be allowed to happen. When companies fail due to poor decision making, greed, bad products, etc., then they fail, and new institutions rise up to take there place. They don’t get $700,000,000,000 to continue doing what they are doing. I personally would rather see that money go to heath care, the social-security crisis, national security, or education just to name a few. If this bailout gets passed, it is up to us, the voters, to see to it that those who approved it are no longer employed by the American people when election time rolls around. We must say “no” to big government getting bigger, and stop the bailouts of greedy institutions that do nothing but stand on the backs of the public while they count their money. Since the housing boom began, these institutions have done nothing to contribute to the overall well being of this country or to this country’s economy – they have effectively done quite the opposite. Their greed and careless attention to the world around them has lead to a failing economy, bad housing debts, a credit crisis, hyper inflation, and a crumbling global economy and has basically left this country teetering on the edge of a depression. I say let them fail, and let this lesson, and warning, go forth to all those that would attempt to swindle the public in the name of making a fast buck: If you make bad decisions, and try to capitalize on greed, then you will fail, and there will be no help from the very public that you tried to take advantage of. To the politicians what would allow for this bailout: Vote yes, and your days in office are numbered. By bailing out these companies, you are encouraging more destructive behavior on Wall Street that will only lead this country further into ruin. By voting “yes”, you are telling corrupt CEOs with poor business models, ethics and practices that it is okay to make decisions based entirely on their own self interest and when those decisions backfire, the feds will come to the rescue on the public’s dime, just so you can do it all over again. It is time for government to get out of the business game and let the markets play out as they must, let the corrupt businesses fail, and let newer, innovative, and more socially conscious and responsible businesses take their place. Maybe instead of bailing out the companies that are responsible for this mess, we bail out the public, and allow them the opportunity to invest in new companies and banks, and simply let the old institutions fade into history.
It all hit the fan before Bush could leave office and blame it on someone else. That is his biggest regret and the reason for the fire under his tail today. He doesn’t care about the average American and never has. This bailout is to help the rich and powerful not the working class.
Why should people with student loans or “bad/toxic mortgages” get a bailout? Why should anybody in the midst of foreclosure get any more preferential treatment now than in the past??? Let them declare bankruptcy and take their lumps! My wife and I had student loans and we paid them off. My wife and I had a mortgage and we paid it off… early. Thirteen years early, to be exact! What’s so hard about any of this? Live within your means and you too can have a paid off home and cash in the bank. A recent college graduate with a $40,000/year job shouldn’t feel the need to live in a 5,000-square-foot house and drive a new BMW. Rent an apartment for a few years and buy a used car like we did.
And as for these crooks on Wall Street, it should not be difficult to see where I stand on this issue: let them sink! Maybe Paulson can take some of his $30-plus million of pay and golden parachute he obtained while the head of Goldman Sachs. in 2002 and ‘03 and pay for the situation he helped create! Short of that, he should go to jail with the others who fleeced their stockholders and the American taxpayers!
And if you’re looking to point the finger of blame at some political party for this whole mess, I believe it was The Great Social(ist) equalizer Jimmy Carter who enacted the CRA law that started this situation, and Bill Clinton who made it even worse. Bush, in 2003, wanted to reform CRA.
We’re already seeing the bad effects of plans to bail out these greedy financial idiots. Oil has now shot up to $130, because another pack of financial idiots on Wall Street who are buying futures think the bailout will make the economy improve and increase demand for oil. They are so out of touch with the average person. I have news for you, Wall Street: we’re all broke because of you and there isn’t going to be any increase in demand for oil. We’ve all parked our cars and are staying home. Because of the greed and stupidity of financial idiots, my 401k is down 30%, my home value is down 30% and gas and food prices have doubled. And I’m ready to retire. I suggest we deprive George W. Bush of his retirement package. He’s walked hand in glove with these bastards, starting with that pack of thieves at Enron!
I think Bush is trying to salvage his legacy, I think the govt should only help the banks consolidate but also allow some to fail … they are the ones that took the risk why do we have to pay for it?
with oil now jumping 130 a barrel and gold up… I’d say that the market is telling us that the consumer is going to pay a portion in addition to the tax payer…
Inflation will hurt existing bond holders of securities other than mortgage bonds. Inflation will squeeze home owners and possibly trigger further defaults…
I think the markets are saying that they don’t like the bad debt shifting to the countries balance sheet…
NO BAILOUT, Period. The fundamental problem is the act of treason commited
by the Congress in 1913 and then by Nixon in 1971. The Constitution CLEARLY states that money must be “of gold and silver coin” and be issued
by congress, the representatives of the PEOPLE, WE THE PEOPLE. The bastards had NO RIGHT to give control of OUR money to a bunch of private banks. And Nixon had NO right to finish divesting us from the gold standard and force the American people to use worthless bits of paper called federal reserve notes instead of REAL money OUR MONEY %^&*%$# it, OUR MONEY.
This debt based fiat currency system was doomed to implode from the that day
of infamy in 1913, just a question of when. Creating limitless money out of thin air while you destroy the means of production and then think you can
package and sell the increasingly thinly collaterized debt as an asset
isn’t an economy it’s a ponzi scheme.
The econmy is going to crash, no way to stop it now but bailing out the
failing industries will eventally destroy the dollar when the world stops throwing good money after bad and takes the hit. They will recover but the American people will loose everything when the dollar disintegates
and proves to the world that it really is just a worthless piece of paper. Let
entire indusrties fail if you must but don’t increase liquidity to the point of destroying the dollar. If the government destroys the economy, the “French” solution used so successfully in the 18th century might not be un-thinkable here.
I feel that the government should implement the bailout, but not on the taxpayer’s dime but rather on the CEOs, Phil Gramm and James Leach (and any others responsible for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999).
First we need to extend the Bush tax cuts to these giants of finance. Second since Bush has given his blessing to the bailout proposal to the Sec. of Treasury, who from what I understand will have complete control over the money, wants congress to accept his plan as is, written on three pages, right now. Conme on folks, this sounds like Bush’s last great administrative accomplishment, saved us from the Terrorist, now from the Depression, as he is cleaning out his desk. Personallu, I don’t trust anything this administration tries to push through to help improve the quality of life for all citizens. I am even amazed that the Presidental race is this close after the Republican performance the past eight years, but apparently the Republicans are proud of it and will probably like this Wall Street “bailout” plan too, no questions asked. Remember, a Bushie with lipstick is still a Bushie….
I think that it is ironic how we are looking at the bailout, which has been contributed to Phil Gramm, who happens to be McCain’s economic advisor, who may secure the seat as Treasury Secretary if McCain is elected president. What else will the taxpayers have to help the government bailout?
I think the plan should address four concepts. First, allow and encourage restructing and some debt forgiveness to facilitate re underwriting of mortgage loans as an alternative to foreclosure. This helps main street! The taxpayers should share gains from the wrtten down amounts on the upside as homes are sold in the future. Second, golden parachutes should be disallowed at companies as a condition for obtaining Government purchases, which whould be made at a discount. Third, there should be professional liability investigations and civil suits filed where there is determined to be gross negligence and money available for recovery. This is done whenever a bank fails and suits are filed about 20% of the time. And fourth, the Government should receive an equity position in the companies that sell loans to the Government.
In effort to prevent a market collopase, the bail out is a necessary evil but what I found troubling is the money being given out to executives with high salaries–those responsible for this situation. Although you cannot conveict someone for making a poor, greedy, decision, I would like congress to award the bail out with the stipulation that executives are capped when receiving the bail out and forego any bonus, stock options or financial incentive. If we have to suffer, so do the decision makers.
The current mess of derivatives, CDO’s and other “complex” financial instruments look like a conglomerate of check kiting, loan-sharking, equity-skimming, Ponzi scheme, pyramid structure, mult-level-marketing and junk bonds.
And the conglomerates – the Financial Sector – was always on the lookout for a sucker to put up money to subsidize these “instruments”. Having run out of suckers, they now beg the Federal Government for money.
Let the conglomerates fail. No corporate welfare for these rich brats – the other rich folks should supply money – like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs – who just might force some badly needed discipline on the financial sector.
And so:
There’s a way to pay for the costs of this enormous restructuring.
Require every hedge fund in the country to cough up 10% of its assets.
Require the top 500 businesses in the country to cough up a billion dollars each.
And let these business guys boss around these Financial Sector smart-alecks.
But alas, it won’t work, because they are country-club buddies and sit on each others’ boards of directors.
Wow, you people are angry… but has no one ever told you to not let anger cloud your judgement?
Let these firms collapse, the bank credit line that your employer is paying you with get called due, and you all lose your jobs, then your car, then your house. Would that make you happy, to be unemployed and lose the things you do have? Yes, we would be all unemployed together, but do you really think that will hurt someone who made 30 million last year? Nope, hurts you, doesn’t it.
So, get over the enger, and do what’s best for you.
Also, please research a little. What is proposed is for the govt. (thorough the Fed) to buy illiquid assets (hard to sell), not giving tax money away. And buying them at a steep discount to boot.
Where will you direct your anger when the Fed sells the assets back and makes money?
Time to draw the line.
Do not try and fix a broken system, if it collapses and better system will emerge take its place.
Do not hang on the past, do not perpetuate this downward spiral.
Make those responsible take their medicine.
We will all feel the pain of this either way, but I am ready to rip the band-aid off.
1. If it’s a bailout, get out of Iraq. We can’t afford both.
2. Bail out the citizens, not the banks, and have them pay back the loan.
3. Use any profit on equity toward alternative energy for the household.
4.OR, Do 3 above with the $700 billion and let the investment firms writhe in the squalor they created.
This is as big a scam as the Iraq war. They want a “clean” bill, meaning no oversight, no restrictions, and no accountability. You saw what happened when congress gave Bush a blank check on Iraq. Billions of our dollars given in no bid contracts and hundreds of millions more that are totally unaccounted for. This bailout will not save a single home from foreclosure, it will only save the massive salaries and stock options of Paulson’s cronies on Wall Street. Paulson still owns 494,054 shares of stock in Goleman Sachs plus another 680,474 exercisable options to purchase more stock in GS. How can anyone call him “impartial?” This is the biggest scam ever perpetrated against the American people. The world will not come to an end if this bill is not passed. The gov’t. could consider making a loan to help the liquidity of some of these firms, but in return it needs them to write down some of the mortgages to help average people, and they must insist that this loan is paid back. The plan Paulson proposed is a $700B gift from all of us to the rich guys on Wall Street.
NO BAILOUT!!! It is so wrong! Why use the taxpayer’s money to fix the CEO’s problem. Make the CEO’s pay!
Assuming that legislation will be enacted, it should at least contain the following elements: (1) stringent caps on executive compensation, (2) complete prohibition on the beneficiary companies paying dividends on common or preferred shares until such time – if any – that the government has recouped all benefits that were received by the company. Have not seen the dividend aspect in any of the proposals that have made the news – maybe because that’s the power of the lobbyists and the extent to which Congress has prostituted itself.
From Websters “conservative”-hostile to change, save rather than spend, opposed to hasty innovations”..Those 11 GOP White male prospects were fighting up there on the stage to claim who was more “conservative”..after this bailout, since the GOP has completely mis-used/abused this term…may I suggest a new one for the whole party…CONSPLURGATIVE…this is more in line with what they have done to our country…leave the word conservative to those of us who would honor the word.
First of all, its $700-billion divided by the number of US taxpayers not US citizens, which is somewhere south of 150-million. When you make the calculations, its twice the numbers being thrown around. Not $2300. Not $3000. Think nearly $6000.
Please thank my Free Mason brethren and Illuminati cohorts for bringing this country to its knees.
What is going to happen when the bailout fails to stabilize the economy? Are we going to throw more money into it, in the hopes that this time it will stabilize? Furthermore, what happens when it gets even worse? Did throwing money at the problem, put us in even greater predicament?
Under this administration, anytime we’ve reacted in a panicked manner, the results have been expensive and disastrous. Can anybody say Iraq? Something definitely needs to be done. Yet, let’s be pragmatic and transparent, slow down and do it right. If it takes us an extra week or month or two months to wisely allocate seven hundred billion dollars of tax payer’s money, this great economy of ours will not perish… I PROMISE!
In this volatile climate, it is imperative that congress not be strong armed into supporting a bad policy that could possibly only make a bad situation worse. Can anybody say Iraq?
No one offered to bail me out when I got a permanent layoff because all of the Free Market, Free Trade, Deregulation, Small Government, Tax Cutting Advocates got the upper hand.
Free markets sound great, after all this is the land of the free. Unfortunately, in a free market, greed trumps everything. Let the fat cats burn. Even the small investors had dreams of getting rich without working for it. Let them learn the lesson. Our country will be better off.
Allen Bunch
Marion
Virginia
To expand on the earlier suggestion that the government just give the taxpayers each $1 million. Doesn’t this make much more sense? It would cost less the fed less than half a billion and the boon to the economy would be incredible. Everyone would be able to purchase a home, or start a business, it would create jobs… come on! 700 billion? give me a break.
If the Congress does not listen to all of us who are saying NO, Absolutely NOT, Hell NO, NO, NO, NO to a bailout then we need to say NO to taxes! If they cannot handle our tax money according to our demands for our needs, then they should not have it!
Are you kidding me, let the entire banking system fail. I cant believe the words im reading here. The government bail out sucks, but letting the markets fail is not an option. Im only 28 but I do remember reading in school about the Great Depression. Anyone else out there remember what caused it? I think it have something to do with the banking system failing? I dont know about you but I really dont want to live through that, I have children that I would rather not give up because im living on the street.
IRRESPONSIBLE HEADLINES Newspapers, New programs and even CNN’s websites are putting out disinformation about what this program is really going to cost. thsi article is called “the Bailout” Another headline on this site reports that Bush is eager to sign bill sepnding $700B. This is not a measure of the actual costs to the taxpayer. this bill is an appropriation to put up a facility that will by and sell trouble assets. I am repetedly seeing hedlines that say it’s a cost or a spending of $700B. The truth is we do not know if it will cost the tax payer much more than a small fraction of that.
It’s been called a bailout. The banks and other institutions holding these assets will take a significant hit on the sale of these securities. They are transfering the risk of future price declines, that is true, but they also forgo future potential appreciation.
THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT GET IT!
A BAILOUT is an attack on the very core of our american beliefs. It is an assault of our fundamental belief in the American system of governance, our way of life.
If the government bails out these companies can anyone say we believe in CAPITALISM?
I can’t.
Is it fair? Of course not. Do we have a choice? Absolutely not unless we’re all willing to lose everything to prove a point. I have no sympathy for those of you who voted for George Bush – especially twice. The rest of us who didn’t, have paid our bills and lived within our means will suffer because of the lack of oversight and greed in the financial markets. A long time ago I said that institutions providing mortgages should be required to hold a large percentage of their own paper. In other words, be willing to assume the risk of their own lending practices. Had this requirement been in place and these institutions not allowed to pass off anything and everything they wrote, things would look very different today.
I have planned my finances to be able to withstand a depression. I say no bailout and let the market stablize.
doc Los Angeles, CA
PW from Winslow, Arizona… Love it! “sell Texas and Alaska”. Brilliant! That should take care of banishing Bush and Palin from the US. But we should also throw in Arizona as well, just to make sure McCain stays out. Then let them see how badly our immigrant policies stink.
Just think where this money could have been put better to use.
Universal health care.
Roads, highways, bridges and other transportation infrastructure.
Job creation, re-training, unemployment benefits.
It is absolutely unbelieveable that we can squander such possibilties just to focus on some narrow-minded goal. Crap! I forgot we squandered 9-11 to start an uncessary war, so its not so hard to beleive anymore.
700000000000/300000000=2,333.33
Thats the amount of the bailout divided by United States citizens. Let’s play a little game here- its called WTF is going on with the national budget. We are already only over by 400 billion, so lets throw another 700 billion away. But wait, we don’t have that money- so where will it come from? Well two places, either the strength of the dollar or…. the TAXPAYERS- YAY!!!!!!
The End.
The law only works if it has common support or is implemented by jack-booted thugs. Should Paulson’s bail-out indeed turn out to be legal, it will have to be the latter. The orgiastic fostering of endemic banking toxicity is now to be nationalized, so let us install our own pimps – after all, the act of nationalization has politicized the racket. If we’re forced to buy toxic debt to the tune of $700bn, then it behooves our representatives in government – if that is what they are – to fire the avaricious jokers who generated the toxicity and replace them with elected officials. Should we all become shareholders, our first act will be to call a shareholders’ meeting.
And now the goverment is concerned about people’s paychecks and taxes. Where were they when big corporations started offshoring jobs and left people without a job or with a lower paying job. Now they are getting bailed out and we the people have to pay, again.
Paulson and Bernanke are not trustworthy and have no idea how to solve this as they’ve already proven with all the previous, recent bailouts. Yet they essentially want to suspend the rule of law and the Constitution to help their buds. If this passes you can bet the “professional money managers” will all be from Goldman-Sachs as they seem to like incestuous financial relationships. Let’s just say NO to this bailout because there will only be more bailouts to come after this.
While we’re at it let’s abolish the FED and create a non-profit US National Bank that will operate in the best interest of all Americans…not just the big banks and foreign central banks. It makes no sense whatsoever to have our money and interest rates managed by a private-for-profit FED that is only interested in itself and its cronies.
If this does pass…throw out every politician that votes for it.
This bailout is an outrage and a disgrace, but, unfortunately we are NOW caught between a rock and the hard place. This is what happens with diminished or no regulation oversight. Now the taxpayers come to the rescue again.
Congress needs to pass this bailout to assist in getting us out of what will be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. BUT, DON’T PASS IT CARTE BLANCHE WITHOUT STIPULATIONS. Those stipulations must include no “golden parachutes” for those corporate executives whose decisions put their companies into this mess, some reasonable level of morntgage assistance for those individuals who are in the sub-prime rate crisis (another result of ineffective regulatory oversight) and a transparent and clear oversight of the process, progress and results.
And, as a true middle class taxpayer who has seen his financial situation worsen over the last eight years, I AM MAD AS HELL OVER THIS.
There needs to be clear and swift action by the White House and Congress to make sure this type of crisis doesn’t happen again!!!!!
I think it would be a smart move to bail them out but then that would leave my generation and others paying off the debt.
I think we need to let these banks fail. The U.S. does not have the money to come to their rescue anyway. This, along with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, may result in $1 Trillion in new debt. I realize the economy will probably take a big hit but that is what needs to happen to get things back to more of a balance again.
As others have said, it makes me wonder why I should pay my mortgage if they pass this? It might create even a bigger problem to pass it.
They weren’t smart enough to see it coming. They said everything was ok. Why do we trust them when they say this will FIX EVERYTHING?
So these companies can socialize their losses and put the burden on the American people, but what happens when they start earning again? Will they privatize the profit? After all, it’s OUR money, so doesn’t that make it OUR companies? How will we be paid back? We need that answer before we consider coughing up the cash!
We cannot let Bush and Cheney, the Republicans in Congress off the hook for this mess. I’m against the bailout because when it is all said and done the CEO’s and power brokers still get their millions move on to screw up some other Corporations and we get stuck with the bill. Bush, Chaney and these reckless, heads of these financial institutions need to be held accountable!
NO BAIL OUT!
Bail out or no bail out it does not matter to me. I notice a great deal of whining, moaning, anger and resentment in the comments. The emotions are based on failure to do anything about it and take responsibility for yourselves. Quit being sheeple by blaming others, man up and call your politicians. I am no genius financial or otherwise and could figure out what is going on and planned accordingly.
The bailouts are only going to prolong the inevitable. The economy will either collapse or it wont. When/if the economy goes so will government.
I want to know where Bush/Paulson/Bernanke think the US government can borrow $700 Billion. I don’t think anyone will lend it to us. The only possible source is to print it. Weimer Republic, here we come.
It is unwise to bail out a business without also getting rid of the people who caused the failure. Not one penny should be spent until all those who should have prevented this have been fired. We can start with Congress, and work down through the CEO’s and their underlings. It’s not the workers that are taking the hit that caused this problem, and it’s not fair for the workers to be taking the hit, while the people who caused the problem continue to prosper.
And what’s the latest?
From CNN’s own article:
“At the same time, financial institutions are weighing in with what they want in the bill. On Sunday, the Financial Services Roundtable – a lobbying group representing the nation’s banks – called on Congress to make the plan “broad enough to include different types of assets.”
I really couldn’t care less what the irresponsible financial institutions want in the bill, and it’s outrageous for Bush to be nattering “for a ‘clean’ bill to be passed quickly and not be loaded up with provisions that would deter companies from participating.”
The fact that companies can choose to participate or not should be the first clue that this is another huge land and power grab brought to you by the George W. Bush Administration.
Bush has already nationalized more industry than Hugo Chavez ever thought of nationalizing. Hugo was right, Bush is the Devil.
Let’s stop this now: sell Texas and Alaska, before it’s too late for the rest of us.
I’m not sure if the bailout will have the desired affect or not but I do know that the fact that it will raise the Federal deficit to 11.3 Trillion dollars (37,000 for every man, woman and child in the country) is insane. The government keeps passing the buck. Sooner or later that debt has to be paid. They keep this up and the affect will make the Great Depression look like prosperous times.
Rush to bailout is economic counterpart to rush to Iraq war. Paulson, Bernanke, and Cox are financial neocons. Message to Congress – and the media: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
I wish someone would answer Whoopie Goldberg’s question regarding if the banks are bailed out, and morgage companies are basically starting over at zero, why isn’t MY morgage then not paid off by the bail out? what is the incentive to the average american struggling in these times and continuing to write their morgage check each month even though their home is no longer worth what it was purchased for? tell me why I should write another check please?
This all stems from those who have chosen to buy a house they can not afford. Citizens of the US need to wise-up and stop floating by and usingthe government. I have a house and I make the payments, what is so hard about that?
A bad or unpaid loan is just that. This plan should not be done quickly or without weighing all the consequenses to follow. From the information I have received, I would never vote again for anyone that agrees to this current plan. And no one as yet as provided exactly how this will help the housing situation to my satisfaction. Would these financial institutions accept or agree with these terms if this was reversed? This has not been thought out and common sense should pravail instead of a rushed decision with actually no benefit to the people which are being asked to pay for this program. Any business that would
agree with these terms would soon be out of business. It does not pass the test of sound financial business practices and no one person should have this much control especially if it looks as if this person has no successful track record. Develop a plan for the people including the ones needing housing but not the bankers. And it is difficult to believe any thing to do with credit card delinquency will be included in this plan. What is delinquent now will primarily remain delinquent and why would the public want to purchase the amount owed to a financial institution especially considering the issues with credit cards. Again, where is common sense being used?
First of all, us “common” Americans can do NOTHING about this mess!! What I would be in favor of, but it WILL NOT HAPPEN, is making the CEO’s give up $$ and possessions! By that I mean, they may have ONE home and may “walk” with about $100,000 and that’s it!!!! Let them suffer like the rest of us! $100,000 is a lot of $$ to MOST Americans, not to mention, how many Americans don’t even have ONE home!!! Let them give up their luxury “extra” homes, their multiple country club memberships, their MANY luxury cars and have to worry about paying their bills like the rest of us, for God’s sake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why should they get off scot free????? But you watch…THEY WILL!!
Faced with a similar climate of fear and anger, Franklin Roosevelt uttered a memorable phrase, “There is nothing to fear but fear itself”. Good advice for us, today.
Richard in OK…you are like so many others. Doomsday complainers. You should move to China or Iran so you can legitimately be the official chicken little on a daily basis. The bailout was a rescue mission, and it was needed. A collapse of the world economy is not worth it, no matter how much people like you and the media hounds would love feeding off of it.
In the history books they will refer to this as the beginning of the end for the United States as we know it. CEO’s with hundred million payouts will be the first to have their heads placed on the guillotine, followed by the all the politicians that support this robbery of the American taxpayer. Where in the Constitution do these people think they have the right to fund private businesses with taxpayer money? Capitalist economy my arse, this is socialist America, and it won’t last long.
a 700 billion dollar bail out will not work giving money to these compaies will not stop the problem only slow it down and the tax payers will pick up the bill.any time you have something like a stock market were the price keeps going up has to come down there is only so much money in the world you can’t just make more let these compaies
die thay have miss managed there money
for too long gas prices are too hight for tax payers to pick up the tab.
quote begin:
Sec. 8. Review.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
Since when does the court system have no authority ?
Why the rush to bail out the Financial Sector?
Because elections are coming up in November – and if the Financial Sector does not get any money from the government, they won’t be able to contribute to the candidate’s campaigns, and won’t have any LEVERAGE later to keep the LIBERAL laws that regulate them in place. Or is it the “conservative-less-government intrusion” laws that LIBERATED them?
Because if the law is not passed – see Section 8 – the current president will not be in office and will not be able to grant pardons in case they are convicted of crimes.
Because if the law is not passed they will lose their source of income and hence their prestigious social position and might have to take jobs that ordinary Americans will not take – that illegal aliens had been doing – like cleaning toilets and scrubbing floors. And they know they aren’t as good at that kind of job as the illegal aliens were!
It’s ok with the Financial Sector that military personnel return from combat severely injured or dead – but don’t anyone dare deprive US (the Financial Sector) of our priviledged lives! We (the financial sector) are too important!
For the $1 trillion the government is expected to pay for this whole mess, couldn’t they have bailed out all the CONSUMERS who have bad debt? But, oops, I guess that would interferred with the free market…
A lot of good this will do me. What was the government doing when I became ill, lost my eye sight, medical expenses wiped my savings out, fired from my job because I could not do it due to losing my eyesighrt, and forced into foreclosure with family being tossed out into the street.
THEY BAILED ON US, WE BAIL ON THEM!!!
Take this money and force it to be put back into OUR, OUR, OUR ECONOMY. LOAN IT TO COMPANIES THAT ARE WILLING TO “IMMEDIATELY” BRING FACTORIES, AND OTHER SMALL BUSINESS INTO THE US, USE IT TO FIX OUR INFRA STRUCTURE, USE IT TO FIX OUR SCHOOLS, USE IT TO HELP THOSE OF US THAT ARE IN FORCLOSURE OR BEHIND, USE IT FOR US!!!
BAIL THERE BAD DEBT OUT, I WILL NOT VOTE VOR ANYONE THAT APPROVES THIS.
MAD IN NORTH CAROLINA
If Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the government want to hand out cash and bail out everybody with their hands out, then let THEM pay for it out of their own pockets. What’s that? They can’t afford it? Well, now they know how we feel! The banks and everybody else need to take responsibility for their own actions! That’s the bottom line.
I realize that “doing nothing” carries risk. However, I can’t fathom how our lawmakers are so willing to commit $700 billion to a problem we don’t fully understand. Moreover, it doesn’t appear that controls are being implemented that will prevent this in the future. The market has “pounded it’s fist on the table” for years…asking for less oversight and regulation. It got what it asked for. Let the market live with it.
I applaud the government for recognizing the severity of the situation and deciding to act in the best interest of it’s citizens. No one complains when we send BILLIONS in aid overseas, much of which to countries that hate us. It’s about time our money is spent where it belongs…fostering our economy and taking care of ourselves!
I agree with those that believe we should revalue everyones mortgage to 85% of appraised value. That would put real money in our pockets to spend or save whichever we choose. But I still believe we should buy the illiquid paper for 5 to 10 cents on the dollar, so then in the future we may make some profit on it. But to leave everyones mortgage value where it is would be criminal. More power to Barney Frank and company, he’s the only one looking out for us.
This is the other way to steal the peoples money, the first way was the Bill Clinton bubble economy and the mortgage scandal, and now this.. All this is just to preserve the capitalism democracy…
This is one way to gamble and take a nation to war, let people with billions of dollars per week pay for it and if you remember, just few years back they wanted to start the same dilemma with the social security…, in the other hand if there was a functioning democracy people who started all this should be in jail by now…… but then again… we should ask the democrats, the present majority, what they are going to do about it… if you ask me… I think, one way or the other they well sell the people out… after all they, and the majority of the republicans, they all voted for this catastrophe when they started the Iraq, Afghanistan war.
Why are the same people who let this happen in the first place in charge of orchestrating a bailout? It is obvious they do not know what their doing. The people have lost their voice and the media has lost its influence. Washington is severely broken as the system of checks and balance no longer can do its job. This is a sad time in American history as our constitution for “We the people” has been replaced by unethical lobbyist, congressmen and leadership that caters to the wealthy. So, there is not point in protest, you’ll only be ignored or possibly arrested. Democracy, well less just say- it has seen better days.
Why is the government bailing out companies whose main interest was greed and for all purposes to deceive and take advantage of the American people?
The American people were victims to predatory lenders which resulted in individuals losing their homes, wreaking their households and tearing up lives. Gas, school tuition and food prices, crime and drugs are going up and employment rates are going down.
The government refused to help the American people and made it even worse by preventing individuals from filing for bankruptcy (when the banks were the cause of many of these problems) just so the banks can profit off of our debt ruining our credit.
Then the government (not even asking the American people) wants us, MILLIONS OF AMERICANS to give back to the same FEW idiots who created this problem.
The government should do what they told us to do….sink or swim, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN??
As I live and breathe, I have never seen anything as ridiculous as this in all my days (45 yrs worth). Why should thieves be rewarded with rescue; why are we doing this again after the Saving & Loan debacle, after Enron, after Worldcom? Why does it end? What’s to say that we won’t get this sort of crisis again!!! REGULATION, REGULATION, REGULATION. It’s just ridiculous that in America we can be so fiscally irresponsible! Why do I need to bail these people out! Jeez, I’m already being buried in low wages, college costs rising, a credit score and credit scenario that is ridiculous to be sure! I guess American’s greed will have to shut down the WHOLE WORLD before we get that you gotta pay your damned bills and you gotta STOP CHEATING PEOPLE TO DO IT!!!!!!!
So you want to let the market crash and burn and let the RICH suffer. Well, I’m not rich but I do have a job and a 401K that I do not want to lose after working all my life. If something is not done to stablize this economy and banks continue to fall it will be us who lose all we have worked for over the years.
There should be strict guidelines if a bailout is approved and there should be no PORK by congress tacked on to this bailout…we will have enought debt without adding more.
I think we are a short breath away from disaster in the US and so close to Biblical prophecy, and later than you think.
This is nice they don’t want to make a national goverment hetlthcare system but they want to give money to banks with Stuck up CEOS.
Bailout the bankers and brokers are pure and simple robbery from taxpayer. We understand that without government rescue, some financial company, such as GS, MS and WM, may eventually fail, which may further damage the financial system. But why NOT let them fail? After elimination of the problematic banks, there are still good banks left there, and the financial system will still function. Now, the problem is, the government and the congress are NOT representing the American people. They are working for the Wall Street capitalists. They are trying to use your money to compensate the bankers for their own fault. I don’t think many of us can benefit from this $700B bailout. Don’t listen to the stupid reporters who are saying you are short-sighted. Call your congress man and woman, and tell them “You vote for it, you’ll get fired!”.
When regular/everyday Americans can’t afford their contractoral obligation, they are foreclosed, repossessed, put out in the cold. No second chances/bailouts. Not even sympathy!
These are the very same institutions that uphold this kind of business ethic. Yet they come to us when their down and out?
Wake up America!
I can’t believe we are even thinking of doing this.
We can play the political blame game all day long. If you take out the politics (REP VS. DEM) and put the blame squarely where it belongs on the companies who chose to do this type of lending we would be on a level playing field. The bottom line is, who is in need of help? The people or the company?
My wife and I have been saving our money for over 46 years in hopes to retire this year….but as a result of the resent finacial crises we will be compelled to postpone our retirement.
we have lost over 40% of our savings in our 401 plan.
congress should be fired and replaced.
Our government has failed us , the American people. In every faset of goverment and now another Bailout at the tax payers expence for corporate America if you keep doing the same thing you will keep getting the same results WHICH ARE FAILING Who is on the list for a Bailout Next week .
Will this Bailout create Jobs,lower Gas prices,Help pay your Mtg payment,
Will it make you better off in any way
Do you thing it will put food on your table, May be it will make your house that has droped 50% jump back to full value ( THE ANSWER IS NO TO ALL)
Who Benifits from this BAILOUT THE VERY COMPANYS AND INDIVISUALS THAT CAUSED IT
THIS President This Congress,Should Be held ACCOUNTABLE This Was LET to happen
NO BAILOUT-NO BAILOUT-NO BAILOUT
I am MAD AS HELL. I am tired of rewarding institutions and people for the bad decisions they have made. I have had to wait to buy a house because I need to pay off my bills and student loan. Now that I have done that you are tell me that I have to bailout these institutions, HELL NO where US government when I wanted to pay my student loan. It is only now that I am buying a house I have never had bad credit but I waited. I am as MAD HELL.
Forget it Washington, I’m sick as hell of this crap, a 2 trillion dollar bailout? You’ll mortgage my grand children’s future over my dead body.
The federal government is the least responsible and accountable institution historically and in the past has never made money from banks, mortgage companies and others that are going belly up. Any high school kid understand the credit VS debit balance equation. Since Bush the federal deficit is over $4 trillion and the total over $11 trillion. And the national debt to the Chinese, Arabs, Japanese / other over $14 trillion. The Cost of the fraud Iraq war and equally untenable BS war on terror in Afghanistan over $20 billion a month.
The Value of the USD the lowest ever in history, under the conditions and circumstance, how the hell can the SOB economic pundits, the Treasury Secretary, the FED, SEC and the rest claim the economy being fundamentally strong. John Sidney McCain, the senile old coot is off his rocker. Bush and his MBA Presidency is totally incompetent and these greed creed conservative republican thieves the lowest scum. Now at the 11th hour before election, they pull this stunt to once again misled the gullible public with the propaganda of economical terror hype, fomentation of fear, polarizing hate within the country and republican patriotic feeding frenzy to control the hearts and minds of the misled and gullible nation is total unmitigated stupidity.
This economy will never recover under the prevailing flawed system.
All this crap that it is the housing market and mortgages responsible for the mess is pure simple poppy cock.
The solution is to first admit that the system is flawed and pumping in more money and increasing the deficit is an exercise in futility, The CEOs and the likes of Bush walk away scot-free is a whole sale fraud,
To tackle the housing market and set things right is to unbundle the scheme of free market economy BS.
1. Pass strict laws that property value will not appreciate 10% over ten year period and at the end of that cycle for home owners based on ware tear repairs etc a tax depreciation would be allowed and the cycle to start again. Most of the homes build in this country do not have a viable life of 30 years.
2, Strict home builders code and homeowners bill of rights is a must if this basic enterprise is to be viable.
3. All food fuel, oil, energy, electricity, water, other basic necessities to be banned or restricted commodities not allowed to be speculated as futures as is at the present. The profits of the middlemen brokers, bankers, retailers etc to be shared equitably with the framers, manufacturers and producers.
3, International curbs on the real-estate, mortgage bankers, property tax collectors, property assessors and the like. In other words strict uniform rules/regulations.
4, The legislative branch with the consent of the people to set up in writing the power, duties and limits of the executive instead of this all mighty executive privilege of secrecy of the megalomaniacs and no accountability. No more decider in chiefs
We are getting played….The sense of urgency and the request of this Administation to not waste time by analyzing the reasons behind the bailout or what it’s paying for should make us think what’s really going on here? We all need to ask ourselves the following: How simply and quickly the plan was introduced, three pages for such a monumental endeavor? Does anyone know what our 700 billion is really buying? These mortgages were packaged and re-packaged 15 times over into who knows what. The one man oversight…I don’t know Paulson from Jack but I don’t want him soley in charge of the Federal Reserve, reserve’s using it as collateral at will and without question or oversight…Things that make you go hmmm. He who rules the banks rule the world…This all seems a bit seedy to me. Another question why nothing for main street, afterall you want us to foot the bill with nothing to show for it. The unmitigated gall of the Republican Leadership to call it loading and burdensom to include the average american in the plan. Now that’s just plane insulting! That makes me mad and because of that I say HELL NO!
Wall Street and the powers-that-be don’t get it: We Americans on Main Street are not afraid of the Second Great Depression! I don’t think the people in Washington (and certainly not those on Wall Street) know exactly how bad things are out here on Main Street. We are already experiencing unemployment (or, more accurately, under-employment) and we know what it is like to have no health care. Many of us are living as badly as our grandparents did during the First Great Depression. NO, the only people who are scared of the Second Great Depression are the wealthy. I say, bring it on. Let’s clear this financial mess right now. Bring on the depression and let’s get back to basics. I’m not afraid of the Second Great Depression — I am afraid of unlimited powers of government (Patriot Act) with unlimited power to take my money (bailout). NO! AND IF CONGRESS APPROVES THIS BAIL OUT AS PRESENTED BY PAULSON — THAT IS, WITH NO OVERSIGHT AND NO HELP FOR MAIN STREET — THEN WE OUGHT TO THROW CONGRESS OUT ON THEIR ASS**S.
Once again, We the people of the United States, won’t have a say in what happens,,,government will do what they wish.
Everyone is ignoring the 800lb gorilla in the room: Adjustable Rate Mortgages. This bailout will be inflationary, interset rates will rise, and more homeowners with ARMS will be unable to make payments. Foreclosures will rise, house prices will keep falling. ANY BAILOUT PLAN SHOULD INCLUDE A PERMANENT BAN ON ARMS FOR FIRST MORTGAGES. ARMS ARE THE REAL “WMD’S” AND WE MUST STOP THESE PREDATORY LOANS BEFORE THEY DESTROY THE ECONOMY FOREVER.
It makes no sense to buy up bad investments as an indirect way of recapitalizing the banks that made these poor loans in the first place. We are just rewarding failure. Instead, if we are going to spend $700 billion to expand available credit, why not just capitalize a new government bank (call it Feebie since Freddie and Fanny are taken) and start making new loans to businesses and individuals? That will provide a fresh line of credit to keep the economy moving without immunizing the Wall Street fools from the moral hazard of their prior, poor investments.
America (we) need to Cowboy up , and get back to grass roots. Our down towns are dying. Communities are dying.
Our country needs this awakening!
No Bail-Outs. I refuse to pay!
To Phil in Sunnyvale:
This is not a financial armageddon. There is no reason to jump out of skin, do something rash, and once again get led down the garden path by a government that doesn’t have the financial sense of a goose.
Take a deep breath! Now, don’t you feel better?
Not enough oversight??!!!!
It’s a gross understatement to say that this is a gross under statement.
Freeze intrest accrual. That $700 billion into , should be put volchers,and sent to at risk home owners to pay debt, and on behalf people who already lost there home to pay off debt to compaies. what ever is left is the companies’ problem to bear.
House values plummets in England prior to the U.S. why was this such a surprise. I have only one thing to say replace the CEO’s, clean house, fire everyone in charge and VOTE DEMOCRATIC this November!
Take away all the assets of the fat cats CEO’s (remember Bush’s base) the ones who fleeced the people. Take away their houses, yachts, offshore accounts and throw the lot in jail. Let the SOB’s crash and burn the way they screwed the working American’s out of their retirement and savings. Let Wall street clean its own mess. Else this will be perpetrated again and again. The average American should stop investing in stocks until everything is cleaned up, CEO’s pays and bonuses capped, lobbyists eliminated, corruption curtailed, regulation with teeth reintroduced etc. etc.
they say this is to restore faith in our economy? this bail out DESTROYS my faith in the economy. It reveals it to be an unreliable fraud, where the rules change to protect those already in power.
there are people still paying their bills, still maintaining good credit… they could/should/would buy up investments as their prices fall, and benefit from their investments. These are the people who SHOULD benefit. Why instead punish them for paying their bills on time, for not overspending on their homes, by making them pay for the mistakes of those who could NOT manage to pay their bills on time and manage their debt?
the government doesn’t have ANY money… this would be the people [all taxpayers] bailing out the people and the business who made bad decisions and failed. These are not the people we should be loaning to when we are already so straped. Let them fail, so we can loan money to successful businesses and people with good credit who are still paying their bills.
You can take the CEOS who put the BANKS in this MESS. And they CAN BAIL THEM OUT!! EVERY TIME OUR GOVERMENT TOUCHES ANYTHING IT IS A TRAIN WRECK!!
Let them fail, let the global market fail, especially since we the people are the ones that are going to take the brunt of it all anyways. Why are we so afraid to let these outdated, unsuccessful practices go extinct? We don’t need them, we need something new, something fair, and something that will serve our futures better. If we have to pay for it, then make everybody pay for it (on a global level). We are all in the same boat, why can’t we get together and fight together against these insane ways of dealing with this crisis. I am not financially well off, and i deal with that everyday, and have been since this country has gone into a recession sometimes around January, I am glad that they are only feeling the presure now, but for some of us it’s already been bad for months, and I would really like someone to bail me out, and everybody else that is out there needing it more now then ever. Don’t give them this money, they don’t deserve it and they are the cause of this situation. Why don’t the CEO’s that have made millions pitch in and pay for their own companies failure.
Where is the anger for the people who defaulted on their loans? Isn’t that the root of the problem?
Moreover, how much of the $700B is for the defaulted loans and how much is the cost of handling the defaults, including the exorbitant salaries?
Seems to me like there are two groups responsible: borrowers defaulting and businesses mismanaging…
Doomsday Schmoomsday, if the government has the money to put into these companies, then they surely have it to help the citizens whom they took an oath to serve and protect. They need to help those who are in NEED and about to be on the street rather then a company whom is responsible for this mess in the first place.
Cole from Atlanta, GA: YOU have no clue. The bailout idea will do NOTHING except put the government, and especially us humble taxpayers, far deeper in debt! We already can’t afford to pay our mortgages because the economy sucks. So increasing our taxes to payoff corrupt corporate greed is going to fix the financial crisis??? All year I have been trying to convince everyone we are in a recession. Well get ready folks, the next Great Depression is just around the corner. Especially if we get another corrupt republican like Bush into the White House.
The cure for too many loans is to loan Wall St more money….out of the pockets of future generations ? This is more lipstick on a pig. Fool me once…. The US economy is not just about Wall St. Banks and it will recover, but we must treat all the root causes – in addition to the mortgage crisis we must stop hemmorhaging money to Iraq and in spending for foreign oil that gives us nothing lasting in return.
It’s just incredible to think that someone could allow the country to get into such a mess. I worked in the real estate industry for 30 years and about 10-12 years ago I knew that the situation could not go on although I didn’t think it would bring down the country. I thought we would have another situation similar to the S&L bailout.
We are sure in a banking mess and a credit crisis. But are we doing enough to handle
situtation.
The governments efforts to encourage consumer spending in the early 2000 -2002 by indirectly making
credit available to high risk entities is the cause for this mess to begin with. So why are we
saving the corporations alone and not individual Americans who are bearing the effects of this market meltdown,
credit crisis.
Here’s a plan that will help each American family and in turn pull us out of this mess.
Instead of bailing out banks,let’s write down the mortgage amounts to realistic match with the
market values. This will bring down the amount families pay on their mortgages, stabilize the housing
market, and spur consumer spending. As indivuduals we don’t need tax cuts or more credit, we need real money.
I believe that taxes will go up no matter who says what in the next 10 years. Where are we going to get
all this money that we are putting into the system now?
By making credit available to the financial market so that corporations can solidify their balance sheets
where does it help indivudual hard working Americans, since we are not able refinance our mortgage as the values of
our homes is a lot less than what we owe on them.
If we can’t write down mortgage debt, what a shame atleast let homeowners get tax credits for not only on mortgage
interest but also the diference between real home value and the inflated mortgage value.
American family asset values has been reduced to nothing by falling home values, stock markets and the fear
of loosing even money saved in saving accounts, raising cost of food and energy, and most importantly loosing our jobs.
We need more help with our tax money not irresponsible corporations.
WHY DOESN’T CONGRESS TAKE SOME PERCENTAGE OF THEIR INCOME(S) AND USE THAT TO BAIL OUT THEIR BUDDIES,,,MR SMITH DOWN THE ROAD NEEDS IT, TOO.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU…..to the CEO’s and all upper management make millions of dollars for screwing the average American Family’s time and time again. Why doesn’t the government take the 750 billion, and with the current population on of the USA is 305 million, and write EVER American a check for $2,295 and then HANG the CEO’s? Why should any hard working American family who abides by the rules have to pay for there greed? That is completely absurd to me!! But then again, I’m wasting my breath because we can all bitch and complain but Washington is going to do whatever they want to do. I realize something needs to be done, but seriously we need to start holding CEO’s of major corporations liable. They are screwing with peoples lives to pad there own pockets. It is getting way out of hand!!
Dear CNN,
You just ran a story at 1:00 p.m. that said that if every man woman and child in US received part of the $700 billion directly, it would = $2,300 per person. At 300 million US citizens, my calculations indicate it would be $2.3 million for every US citizen. Please check your math.
The “bail-out” comes to about $10,000 per US couple. I doubt that the average couple in the United States can afford to lose that much money. Put the blame where it belongs; first take back all the money from the fat-cats that took the $700,000,000, then see what is left for Jane & Joe Taxpayer to shell out.
Wall Street and the Bush administration must think Americans are really stupid if they want us to sign off on this “3-page” bailout plan without having in place protections for main street America too, AND provisions to make the CEOs and their cronies responsible for this mess as well. And, with what the Republicans are asking us to do on this bailout, how can there ever be a net reduction in taxes, when this bailout is going to cost us Americans even more now??
Unfortunately the taxpayers will have to bail out the financial institutions but let’s not blame all of this on the government and banks. The vast majority of the individuals in these mortgages knew what they were signing, especially here in California. I notarized loan documents through 2004 – 2006 and I can assure you most of these people understood. They chose to refinance their homes and use them as banks so they could live the good life and buy their Mercedes, travel, etc. not thinking about tomorrow. We are all responsible for our own actions and consequences of those actions.
The politicians are completely off base with this bailout and disconnected from middle America.
The poor and working poor are struggling to find a dollar today. So, how is this bailout going to help us?
When did the creation of man, i.e. the economy, by default become all that is was and ever shall be.
The economy must fail so that a new order can come about and refusing to allow this Truth to come out will see the same mess only worse in the near future just as the last bailout occurred in 1991, when do you expect the next failing of the UNNATURAL economy based civilization?
I want CNN to continue to inform us fully of the truth. This is a crisis only because the upper echelon say it is and because will lose money. They had us scared to death that Iraq had WMD’s, that Al-Queda was going to destroy us. Now they are trying to convince us that if they don’t bailout these greedy crooks that WE will suffer. HELLO…they don’t see how much we are suffering now. So how is bailing out their greedy cronies going to help us? IT ISN’T. I refuse to be afraid of them and their scare tactics anymore. If it all goes to hell in a handbasket then I guess we’ll have no way to go but up after that. We can do this without a bail out using my money. Also, I want to see this plan PRIOR TO any vote on it. If I’m going to pay for it, I want to know what I am paying for and I want a say in it!
The cold war proved Communism does not work. The Bailout proves Capitalism does not work.
Sad. I believed in capitalism. We were proudly told it is the best system in the world. But, now that the chips are down this country turns to Socialism, Communism, or whatever this is.
One Question- What is the financial system of the United States? It certainly is not capitalism.
Is this our October surprise? How about a $700 billion public works program instead of another trickle down/on the taxpayers? This is deja vu all over again: like the Enron execs emptying the corporate vaults for themselves on the way out the door, Bush’s cronies are soaking the taxpayers for their golden parachutes. NO!
Remember that one time, when the entire market collapsed and – after several previous attempts – a bunch of rich, private bankers convinced the American public that if we allowed them to set up a central banking system, this sort of thing would never happen again?
I don’t think it worked.
When are we going to admit to ourselves that the Federal Reserve has nothing to do with the Federal Government and that there are some serious problems we’re not addressing here – like the selling out of current and future generations of Americans through tax and credit card and mortgage debt?
To Cole in Atlanta:
I want you to think about Weapons of Mass Destruction! Do you have that image in your head. Now, imagine that your government is now feeding you this as the latest evolution of WMDs.
Got it!
There is no catastrophy awaiting us if we do nothing. These are the “Smartest Guys in the Room,” and we all know what they’re trying to do to us.
We won’t be scared by a government that is “Crying Wolf” again.
Just say no to the bailout!
The free market, unfettered by reasonable oversight caused this problem, the free market should deal with it – otherwise Wall Street will learn the exact wrong lesson: we can take huge profits from the American people and then when it backfires we can transfer the problem to the American people.
If it requires a worldwide depression to get us to realize that the entire US economy (and government) is hopelessly in debt, then so be it. My kids (and their kids) futures have already been jeopardized by the US’s insatiable appetite for debt – the sooner we face up to it the sooner we can start to act reasonably – and bailing out Wall Street isn’t facing up to it.
Let the market crash & burn. We need a fresh start, and also send a message to the wealthy that they can’t keep taking and taking from the middle class.
I bet there is an average Joe out there that is smart enough to come up with a better solution then having us bail Wall Street out of their mess.
The comments in this thread are shocking. For the Republicans to accept this bitter-pill give most folks an idea of how bad this really is. It is no less than an admission of total failure of the deregulation mantra championed by Republicans for the past 25 years.
Failure to act and would lead to nothing less than the SECOND GREAT DEPRESSION and harm our way of life and future no less than if we suffered a nuclear attack. If anyone has forgotten history, this country barely survived the last depression and we are completely unprepared to endure another one. Our whole infrastructure is different. Then, we were still mostly agricultural and had room for more industrial expansion. We actually BUILT THINGS then. Today, we’re a service economy, and Great Depression II would wipe us out as a world leader. This would be more like the fall of the Berlin Wall and the End of Socialism in the Eastern countries. We’re already holding on by a thread. This is a DOOMSDAY SCENARIO unfolding before our eyes, people. We must all pay attention!
Why is it that we are helping the big guys? Let’s halt all foreclosures let the government put the money into a restructuring these loans, buy down interest rates and put the money where it belongs, with the people who need help not the giants that created this problem. Yes, I realize that the consumers got the loans, however, many acted in good faith trusting the brokers/lenders who got them into the loan. If this bailout happens, what is going to come next week and the week thereafter? Where do we stop the madness? What company will they deem worthy of help next?
the fed is betting not so much on wall street, but on the fact that many, many more homeowners are going to fall to foreclosure, which then would hurt wall street further. instead of doing something to help the people stem the tide of foreclosures, they’re assuming that it’s going to happen. it’s like wearing a condom vs abortion. one measure is preventative and another is prescriptive.
if the fed intervene, they should do so in a way that requires banks lock-in rates in so that people can pay their mortgages. though there could certainly be a reduction in interest a bank makes, that reduction could certainly be made-up by the fact that there would be fewer foreclosures. this is all about mortgages right?
Owners of the foreclosed items should have a right to buyback their properties within some time period (10 years?) taking into consideration low interest rates, the inflation rate and some 10% of the maybe profit to be made if the RE market improves.
This way properties will not be marketable without the full agreement of the owner and may restore confidence.
Treason was specifically defined in the United States Constitution, the only crime so defined. Article III Section 3 delineates treason as follows:
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.
However, Congress has, at times, passed statutes creating related offenses which undermine the government or the national security, such as sedition in the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts, or espionage and sedition in the 1917 Espionage Act, which do not require the testimony of two witnesses and have a much broader definition than Article Three treason. For example, some well-known spies have been convicted of espionage rather than treason.
The Constitution does not itself create the offense; it only restricts the definition and permits Congress to create the offense. The crime is prohibited by legislation passed by Congress. Therefore the United States Code at 18 U.S.C. § 2381 states “whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.” The requirement of testimony of two witnesses was inherited from the British Treason Act 1695.
In the history of the United States there have been fewer than 40 federal prosecutions for treason and even fewer convictions. Several men were convicted of treason in connection with the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion but were pardoned by President George Washington. One of American history’s most notorious traitors, in which his name is considered synonymous with the definition of traitor, is Benedict Arnold. The most famous treason trial, that of Aaron Burr in 1807 (See Burr conspiracy), resulted in acquittal. Politically motivated attempts to convict opponents of the Jeffersonian Embargo Acts and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 all failed. Most states have provisions in their constitutions or statutes similar to those in the U.S. Constitution. There have been only two successful prosecutions for treason on the state level, that of Thomas Dorr in Rhode Island and that of John Brown in Virginia.
After the American Civil War, no person involved with the Confederate States of America was tried for treason, though a number of leading Confederates (including Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee) were indicted. Those who had been indicted received a blanket amnesty issued by President Andrew Johnson as he left office in 1869.
Several people generally thought of as traitors in the United States, including Jonathan Pollard, the Walker Family, Robert Soblen, and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, were not prosecuted for treason, but rather for espionage. John Walker Lindh, an American citizen who fought for the Taliban against the U.S.-supported Northern Alliance, was convicted of conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals rather than treason.
The Cold War saw frequent associations between treason and support for (or insufficient hostility toward) Communist-backed causes. The most memorable of these came from Senator Joseph McCarthy, who characterized the Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman administrations as “twenty years of treason.” McCarthy also investigated various government agencies for Soviet spy rings; however, he acted as a political fact-finder rather than criminal prosecutor. Despite such rhetoric, the Cold War period saw few prosecutions for treason.
On October 11, 2006, a federal grand jury issued the first indictment for treason against the United States since 1952, charging Adam Yahiye Gadahn for videos in which he spoke supportively of al-Qaeda.
print money for needs………when i played monopoly with my brother i would steal money from the box not to go bankrupt…………..wow lol
the Little Texan cries “WOLF”…again…..and again…….and again………
Tax the oil companies and big corporations who’ve been paying ZERO and peel the government blood sucking leeches off the average joe.
Cole, Atlanta, GA: September 22, 2008 12:46 pm
I think you’re wrong; people have a real clue about this. What everyone is asking for is to act in a fashion that is honorable to the American values that the rest of us live by. This is going to be the biggest transfer of public wealth to private hands, and we want to be sure those hands are cuffed. If we are to bail out Wall Street at the expense of our children’s future we better get some dam good assurances in the form of regulations and oversights. To use your house fire analogy, its more like an apartment fire where the taxpayers live on the bottom floor and we don’t give a rat’s arse if the fat cats living in the penthouse above us burn. We will try to save our house but in doing so we want the upfront promise IN THE SAME BILL that this will only benefit the taxpayer and not the bankers who started the fire.
You can’t say do it in another bill, because we have what they want now. IF we give them a blank check they will veto every single regulation bill we try to pass, it has to be fixed NOW. Personally, I think we apply the hacker punishment. If I’m a computer hacker and I break a computer system I’m bared from using a computer, we should bar every banker, and every govt. official that had anything to do with this from working in the finance or banking industry until every penny of our bail out is paid back.
A couple of things: Paulson did not mention the fact that the reason housing prices continue to fall is because banks are being forced to sell them increasingly cheaper. The banks can’t find new buyers for their original sell price, so they’re writing off the losses from the original borrowers. This is what is primarily driving house values down. Even individuals trying to sell their houses legitimately are having to sell into this problem market the banks have created.
Also, the number one reason why people are defaulting on their mortgages continues to be that they are underwater on their mortgages. It doesn’t make any sense to them to continue to pay on a mortgage that is worth more than the value of the house, especially if they are leaving the house anyway. The result is that they walk away and default on the loan, generating new bank write offs.
As long as banks continue to dump houses on the market for cheap, housing prices will remain suppressed, and therefore people will continue to walk away from their mortgages.
This $700 billion bailout is being made to clear up the balance sheets of banks so that they can lure in new borrowers, primarily new homeowners. However, new borrowers have virtually dried up citing that housing prices continue to fall. Housing prices that have driven down prices on houses under sub-prime and alt-A loans will only lead to a foreclosure crisis in the Jumbo and fixed-rate mortgage type. Real-estate prices not only need to bottom, but they also need to go back up to 2006 levels in order to avoid a Jumbo and fixed-rate crisis.
This bailout is all about corporations getting out of their obligations through government subsidies (a $700 billion one) while leaving the borrower to fend for themselves. The idea that banks would actually renegotiate rates prior to a default problem on the loan is ludicrous! That would cut into their bottom line. People will either try to avoid ruining their credit by continuing to be weighed down with a heavy mortgage that isn’t worth its weight, or they will continue to walk away knowing they could get someone else’s house for cheap. This kind of greed destroys societies.
At least the mortgage securities are backed up by hard assets (real estate). Now the Government is going to buy Credit Card backed securities which are backed by nothing. Unless you want to include the Plasma TV’s, designer handbags, home furnishings and whatever else people bought but couldn’t afford. The credit debt at close to a Trillion worthless dollars is scarier than the morgage assets, because there are no assets to sieze.
The bailout will surely raise Treasury’s borrowing costs, and drive down the value of existing bonds. If an institution wants to take part, they should bear some of the risk: whatever the “price” of the assets they unload, pay them in Treasurys at par. If they need cash to lend out, they can use the bonds as collateral for a loan, or just sell them. If we pay them cash, they’ll mostly just buy Treasurys anyway.
How does a capitalist spell socialism? B A I L O U T
Who steals from the poor and gives to the rich? Capitalist
Who lied about WMD? Repulicans
Who say trust me and gamble our money away? Republicans
Who lies down and say walk on me? Democrats
Who lives pay check to pay check? Average Americans
I say let the chips fall where they may. No Bailout. We have very little to lose.
Just a few years ago the financial institutions had congress pass more stringint bankruptcy laws for individuals trying to start over after a mountain of debt(usually due to medical bills). Now it is much harder on individuals to walk away from their debts. So let them suffer the same fate. No bailout!!! Follow the vote of your congressional reps and if they vote for this bailout then vote for another candidate in November.
the government cant be trusted with that amount of money they are the cause of the problems now untill they can do their jobs right they shouldnt be trusted with anything else
I like the plan proposed in an earlier post by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dutchess County, New York. It sounds almost identical to Obama’s plan for America. I just disagree on a couple of terms. The CEOs and upper management of those companies our corrupt president Bush is trying to bail out, should all be fired along with the President as well. Don’t just cap the CEO salaries. What kind of justice is there in that? Bush has blown so much borrowed money for the IRAQ war, that he can’t afford to bail out those corrupt financial institutions, because his White House Credit Card is MAXED out!!! Impeach Bush if you want to fix the economy is what I say! The sooner we get an innovative clear thinker like Obama into the White House, the better.
My e-mail sent to Sen. Pelosi:
Dear Sen. Pelosi:
If you really care about how the American people feel about the 700 billion dollar bailout for banks, check out the link below from CNN.COM:
They asked Americans one simple question, “What do you think of the government’s response to the financial crisis?”
http://cnnmoneytalkback.blogs.cnnmoney.cnn.com/2008/09/20/the-bailout/
The overwhelming majority of Americans are against this bailout. I am against it.
Sincerely,
Mark Zimmerman
P.S. Remember how many Congress people regret their vote for the Iraq war. Think hard before you leap off the cliff with others who have made bad decisions for Americans.
To all those who say that doing nothing is worse than the bailout: what horrible thing is going to happen? Are the Chinese going to storm Orange County to seize foreclosed property they own? Is China going to send nuclear missiles to destroy Wall Street if we don’t pay our debt? What, exactly, is so horrible that we cannot oppose this bailout? Oh, right, stock prices will go down and then Wall Street insiders will lose money. Of course! That makes everything so much easier to understand. If I lose money because of inflation and stagnant wages, then that’s my tough luck. But if Wall Street loses money because of unwise decisions and outright fraud, then of course we have to bail them out. Tell me exactly how I am wrong about this?
The 800 pound gorilla in the room that is not being adressed is the one quadrillion dollar market in highly leveraged global derivatives. 700 billion is a drop in this bucket. when will we see some reporting on this problem?
Homeowners don’t need help. They took the loan, they should pay for it. Banks don’t need help. The government is going to take their mortgages and buy them at a deep discount.
The rich are obviously rich because they aren’t fools. The amount of whining due to ignorance is laughable. A heck of a lot of people LOST money and their jobs, and do nothing, see how much worse it gets for you.
This is an opportunity for a do-over, where the government can actually END this hullabaloo going on in the market now. Resell the mortgages later for a profit. And get the economy turned around.
If people do like most of you suggest and Do Nothing. Like the Do Nothing Congress, we’ll see what gets fixed.
WAKE UP PEOPLE, THEY HAVE TOO BAIL THEM OUT, THAT WHY THEIR IN OFFICE RIGHT NOW!
YOU GIVE ME MONEY FOR MY CAMPAGNE AND I WILL HELP YOU IF YOU NEED A BAILOUT….
No! to this desperate plan. I have no confidence in Sec. Paulsen– he should have brought these problems to Congress earlier. Now he wants immunity and unprecedented authority in administering these funds. NO WAY.
Time for Congress to put on its gloves and stand up for the tax payers.
For the Record they will not be cutting mortgage rates for those that are currently struggling.
There is NO current language in the proposal that states that.
I’m tired of posters saying that……Read the propsal and stop posting WRONG info.
CONTACT YOUR GOVERNMENT AND LET THEM KNOW YOU ARE NOT PAYING FOR THEIR BAD DECISIONS ANY LONGER ! INCLUDING WALL STREET AND IRAQ! TAKE YOUR COUNTRY BACK ! SO WE AND OUR CHILDREN CAN LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM .
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
I understand that it will cost each taxpayer something like $3000 to finance this bailout. True or not, whatever money it is going to cost me, it will reduce the amount of tax refund I would normally expect and receive each year. Now, basically, the gov’t is taking money away from me. Taking it. If I took money away from someone else, took it without asking for or earning it, I would be heading to the big house. I wonder how many who propogated this mess will be heading in that direction? Fair to say, no one?
I am just as angry and appall by the recent bailout proposals. Privatize gains
with socialize losses is always hard to swallow.
For those of you who lack the time, patiences or foresight, I outline the outlook for the next few years.
Election
- Obama will be the next president of the US. He will usher in a welfare state caring for the growing lower class. Taxes are heading alot higher especially for the crooks on wall street to pay of our mounting debt.
Investment
Stocks and real estates prices will continue their decline. Hold cash better yet a stable alternative currency. Gold is the perfect hedge against the fall of the dollar and fiat currecy but goodluck storing it.
Food & fuel prices
alot higher. The fed and washington have opened a can of worms. All ailing industries like auto and airline will go cap in hand looking for bailouts.
Adage
This is not the time to panic and hide under your mattress. This is the time to educate yourself on monetary & economic policies and prepare yourself to weather out the day of reckoning.
I am tired of this administration governing by fear. They used it to rush us into war and they are trying to use it to rush us into this bailout. When will we learn? The banks handed out unstable loans that they knew could not be paid and now the administration wants the taxpayers to do the same. If we must bail these people out we must have oversight, collateral, and above all accountability for those in charge. If they find this inconvenient, then let them fail. I also want Paulson to answer the question, “What happens if we bail them out and they fail anyway?” “It has to work,” is no answer at all and completely unacceptable to me as a taxpayer.
I grew up in the Depression. I know a thing or two about how the government can help its people. But this bailout plan does nothing to help me or other ordinary Americans. Roosevelt told us that there was nothing to fear but fear itself. Bush is trying to scare us now into doing something that is going to create hardships for my grandchildren and great grandchildren. I’ve lived through the Depression, and it was hard, but we got through it by depending upon our neighbors. We can get through another financial crisis. We can’t burden our children and grandchildren with this enormous debt. That is just not ethical.
I am no financial wizard but I saw this coming a year ago…..who was manning the ship ? Paulson, Bernake, Bush ? I mean really they let it get to this point and now it is an “emergency” give me a break…and now we are supposed to trust these same buffoons ? No way NO BAIL OUT !
How about a market based soluton? Let CME Group, NYSE, and NASDAQ apply to become market makers for these securities. As a market maker, they will be required to buy or sell these securities from anyone interested. The market maker sets the buy price and the sell price for these securities to clear the market, and make a profit off the spread.
This solution would give us badly needed transparency, increase liquidity at the banks, and would not require taxpayer money be put at risk. Competing market makers would ensure fair pricing. If it turns out the market value of these securities means there are insolvent banks, then that issue can be taken up as a separate program.
No bail out!
You take the risk you pay the price! not me. You reaped the rewards now pay for your failure. I will not reelect anyone who votes for this bail out.
Stand back and let it go down hard and be done with it. your not ever going to be there for me in this way why them.
NO bailout.
As said below: call your elected officials and make it clear you will NOT vote for them again if he/she vote for the bailout plan.
I just called my congressman and my senator and voiced my disapproval of the bailout. Other than Ron Paul, I’m not hearing anything about anyone opposing this massive bailout! This is craziness! And it’s also kind of nuts that Ron Paul seemed like a wack job a couple of months ago, but now what he said on Wolf Blitzer last night makes alot of sense.
It’s not that we, the taxpayers, don’t understand that this HUGE bailout may be better for ALL of us in the long-term. It’s just that we REALLY REALLY want to see the CEOs, the senior managers and the Board of Directors of these banks PUNISHED!
Dear Congressmen — If you find a way to tie HUGE PUNISHMENT of these greedy and irresponsible corporate gamblers to the HUGE bailout, many of us will find the bailout easier to stomach. And personally, I will find it easier to remain civil to my irresponsible neighbors with mortgages he can’t afford and who I will now have to help bail out with my tax dollars and my plummeting home prices.
after reading all this please get off the blogs and call your Senator and Congress and let them know what you think…I know I am ….this bailout goes against the moral grain that America was built on…hard work and self sufficiency…this bail out says its Ok to be greedy and fail because the US Government will bail you out ! That is not what should come of this…let this market take a correction and let these fat cats pay not you and me who understand what hard work is and we as Americans are not afraid to get our hands dirty and do the work….if we bail these guys out it will be a mess and we will be paying for it for a long time.
The people that are saying NO to the bailout have no clue. Complaining about not punishing the culprits, yea, fine, but it does not do anything to help the situation. It’s like if someone in your house started a fire. Would you try to put the fire out? Or would you try to teach that person a lesson by letting the house burn to the ground? Sure, they need a lesson, but the consequences far outway the benefit of letting them feel the pain. And for the people complaining about the taxes, same deal. That’s like somebody in that same house fire complaining about their stuff getting wet when the fire fighters put out the blaze. C’mon, get a grip. Think long term, not what’s right in front of your face. If the Fed had done nothing, it could have been 1929 all over again, except globally. Is that really worth it to you? I am and always have been against Bush and his croney administration, but this time he got it right, thanks to the advice of his treasury staff. You should be thankful you aren’t in a soup line instead of complaining about collateral damage.
Hey, I still have $3.00 in my sock drawer that you missed!
Let me know when you are finished with the raping,looting, and pillageing of everything in America. I worked hard and did a good job but, when the layoffs came I packed up my desk and walked out the door with $177.00 a week unemployment.
I am in my late 50’s, no health insurance, almost nothing left in my 401k after the thieves mismanaged it.
My home is on the market but will never sell. I can’t afford to fill up the gas tank everyday to continue looking for work. Forget eating healthy foods. I don’t expect a bailout
from the government for myself. So, why would I even remotely expect the fatcats to get a bailout.
Amazing, the same people that created this mess ( Mr. Paulson and his friends on Wall Street) will lead us to the promised land. What about some change!!!!!!
This rush to judgment on a area that is so complex no one know what will happen either way, I would say let the market decide, not all the banks made these mistakes. This quick action was what created the Iraq problem. Once in you can’t get out.
No, I don’t think we should bail outthese companies.
Isn’t it just like the present government to not object to Corporate Welfare – I guess for corporate issues the government is not too big. I would rather see the money go to refinance the mortgages so people can pay them. Negotiate a low interest 30 year loan. Help the people. I wonder aare we going to be paying for the outrageous pays of the executives and the extra money they get when things get all messed up and people get fired?
why are we shocked??!! another outstanding example of the Worst administration in history taking care of BIG BUSINESS and the shoddy, shady, crooked and poorly conceived business plans.
surprised–not at all. incensed, why yes indeed!! will be interested to see how America votes on 11/4. i’m not too sure we get it yet.
how much do i have to lose to get bailed out?? forget it–i’m not a major corporate sponsor of the current administration!
WAKE UP AMERICA! OUR GOVERNMENT IS NOT FOR THE PEOPLE! WE HAVE JUST BEEN SCAMMED ONCE AGAIN!
WELCOME TO THE NEW UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WHERE WE HAVE FEWER CIVIL LIBERTIES THAN EVER BEFORE. THE PEOPLE THAT ARE RUNNING THINGS ARE ALL CORRUPT AND COULD CARE LESS ABOUT THE AVERAGE AMERICAN.
THERE ARE THINGS THAT ARE SO FAR GONE THAT WHENEVER PEOPLE WHO ARE INFORMED MENTION ANYTHING ABOUT IT THE AVERAGE PERSON DUBS IT “CONSPIRACY THEORIES”. KEEP IN MIND THAT TRUE PATRIOTS QUESTION THEIR GOVERNMENT. I AM A TRUE PATRIOT AND I AM SICKENED BY WHAT’S GOING ON!
The Federal Government has become like an enabling parent that needs to attend a 12-step program.
These bailouts are nothing short of bad behaviors & stop gaps that prolong the needed economic corrections in the market. Are these downturns painful? Yes, but it will be much worse later if these interventions are permitted to happen.
I recommend long-term counseling and creation of a 12-step program designed just for the White House & Congress.
What about all the homeowners that have never missed a mortgage payment and always pay on time. The people that honor the contract. The people who lived within there means.
It is not easy to always pay on time. How about a reward for playing by the rules.
Get over it? Ahh, CNN, surely you aren’t suggesting that Americans are a bunch of whiners? Get over it?
No, I think this time that Wall Street and Congress should get over it. In fact, I think we should start over, with Main Street leading this time instead of a bunch of whiners on Wall Street and their syncophants in Washington.
I wouldn’t be so quick to blame George Bush here. This mess started back with Jimmy Carter and enhanced by none other than Bill Clinton.
I think it is time for Social Darwinism to take effect. This is not a party issue, the President did not cause it-he has little control over such matters, it crosses all party lines. Greed caused it- and greed is universal. So now the Fed will set a precedent of nationalizing businesses, any business if they feel the need. The investment bankers have made incredible fortunes right down to the lowest account executive. Now we who lost our money will bail them out and pay again. I say let the fittest survive. If they were dumb enough to overspend, and overinvest, let them fail. Don’t signal to the next group of businessmen that there is no penalty for poor practices.
Let’s consider alternative legislation to the proposed $700 billion bailout of some of the biggest names in finance. The proposed legislation absolves the biggest shareholders from financial responsibility for the errors they have made. Simply wiping out their mistakes is not consistent with the American way of accountability.
The goal here, we can agree, is to inject capital back into the banks. One alternative to the proposed bailout is for the Treasury to take an equity position in financial firms who need the capital. Forcing the firms to issue additional stock would dilute the values of these financial stocks thereby addressing the accountability issue by the shareholders, the biggest being the Boards of Directors of these firms (the proposed legislation lets these biggest shareholders off the hook). Secondly, the burden of sorting out the mortgage backed securities would remain the responsibility of the individual firms. And, as these financial stocks eventually rise, the US Treasury can sell the stocks back to the firms thereby increasing their value and reducing the massive Federal debt this bailout is sure to cause for the taxpayer.
We need to pause to consider this alternative. The initial cost might be the same but the mechanics of a payback to the People, the taxpayers is worthy of consideration.
So after a life of hard work, this is my legacy to my children? An unpayable debt? A lifestyle that will never match the middle class environ of their youth? The rich seem to continue their march destroying the resources for those less “endowed.” See what has happened “on Golden Pond.” And yet the government (that is certainly a euphemism) deems an equitable solution to bestow monies beyond my comprehension to those bad boyz who did this? Oh, I get it… it is an early Christmas… the government buys $700 billion dollars of worthless paper for the public to enjoy! Hey, let’s try making the people who made this mess, clean it up themselves!
Who is focusing on legal responsibility for Fannie May, Freddie?? That’s the REAL issue at the very HEART of the problem. Get to the ROOT cause at these two organizations, and make some HEADS roll.
I don’t know enough about this but what I don’t understand is why there can’t be some previsions to help people stay in their homes, keep foreclosures off the market because it keeps prices up.
Some CEO’s are not taking their big payouts because they want to avoid further inquiries to avoid criminal charges. What about the CFO’s. COO”s, etc. they are in it too.
Who did Paulson work for before he became Sec. of Treasury? Former Chairman of Goldman Sacks…..is he taking care of his own.
the bailout cost is about 200 – 250 K for each person so for a family of 4 it costs almost million dollar to save wall street and others who made money. I think the banks with bad debt should deal with it. fixing it with my money.. not intrested.
call your elected officials now and tell them if they go for the bailout that you will certainly not vote for them again.
i surely have to work to pay my debts.
i get taxed on my income and get taxed on my expenditures….maybe we should(all of us taxpayers) just not go to work for a month and see where they would get the money to pad their pockets with.
ENOUGH already
What is important in this Federal Bailout is that the people responsible, the CEO’s, will retain their multi-million dollar lifestyles, that the politicians will gain favor despite their complicity in it, gaining favor by first encouraging it, and now condemning it, and every homeowner who has no right to the luxury of owning a home far beyond their means keeps that home and laughs at you while you struggle to meet your obligations fairly and honestly. Frankly, that’s life. Why is it shocking?
The CEO’s make milllions and millions because they are suppose to be the best of the best.
Why should the taxpayers, most of who make less then 100K per year, pay to basically keep these guys in their job.
I am tired of hearing about how the government always comes to the rescue for business and leaves the bill for the taxpayers who themselves are being evicted by the same exact companies who are getting bailed out themselves.
NEW ECONOMICS.
Take from the taxpayer – give to big business – have big business evict the taxpayer from there home.
Thanks for nothing
Paulson and Bush scrambled around and came up with a fast track solution that will benefit only Wall St. while expecting AMericans to pay for it. COngress should question and be careful at what they are signing on for. Congress should not let Bush strongarm them with alarmist threats as he did to get us into a war based on lies. If they will not compromise, then let the system fall and come what may. I don’t think the world will come to an end.
This plan is going to happen but first Hank and Ben should resign. Then, we need written into the law the following:
1. Full and Complete disclosure of everything.
2. No Financial Industry Lobbyist allowed!
3. All bonuses paid to CEO’s and other top management personnel for the last three years should be returned to shareholders before any bad debt is purchased by the taxpayers.
4. Pay for all CEO’s should be capped
5. A massive GOP Tax increase for all taxpayers earning over $250,000
6. A massive Estate Tax increase to re-capture the wealth stolen from the Middle-Class
7. Full regulation of all Financial Institutions by the Federal Government with no Republicans allowed for 10 years
8. Expand Medicare to cover all Americans
9. Allow Medicare to negotiate with Drug Companies to lower cost
10. Fix Social Security
The statement about the government buying debt at a steep discount is an out and out lie. Paulson has stated that they will pay a premium for the debt.
This will be the greatest scam perpetrated on the American people in history. Thank you GW and your filthy cronies!
How is it that Republicans are for smaller government, less regulation, and less taxes until they mess up and need a “helping hand”? Ironic how these are the same people who cut back on people in need (without executive pay packages). Talk about having your cake and eating it too. I hope they choke on it.
Gramm said Americans were a bunch of whiners. Well, whose whining now? All this rush to increase our deficit by at least $1 trillion! NO! NO! HELL NO! (Unless you want to pay off my mortgage for me….)
What in the hell is the matter with this country and the poeple “in charge!”
I have yet to hear that the government is going to take real action to shore up the housing market crisis. All it would take is to lower the mortgage interest rates back down to where they were when the ARM contracts were written and LOCK them in on a 30 yr fixed. 80% of the defaults would come to a screeching halt.
I have always said that GREED would be the USA’s undoing. Now it has come to pass.
YES, we need to stop rewarding bad behavior and start administering punishment on those who fail at their job or allow corruption.
ENRON is a prime example of this and no< I do not believe Kenneth Lay is dead!I think Dick Chenney shipped him off to some remote exclusive, part of the world to live out the rest of his life a free man. Another prime example
of big corporate getting away with murder!
I guess the moderator didn’t like my post the way it was originally written, so let’s try again.
I’m tired of all this supply side, trickle down, voodoo economics garbage. If you want to help the average American, then go ahead and help them, but quit bailing out big business, while telling us how much good it is going to do us.
You do realize that it was Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, George Bush and all of their
Wall Street friends that caused this problem.
Now we’re going to let the same people who created the problems, solve the problems.
I don’t think so! It’s time for Americans to realize that people who proclaim the virtues of a capitalistic economic system shouldn’t be bailed out when the conniving and scheming finally gets the better of them.
Why is it that the rich think the capitalist economic system is so great as long as they’re sticking it to the poor and middle class, but the moment they get themselves into trouble
those same rich folks ask for a socialistic bailout?
Unbelievable!
So the bailout is necessary because without out investors will lose confidence and stock prices will drop? Are you kidding me? I thought maybe the Chinese were threatening to storm Southern California to seize foreclosed properties they own! We’re giving $700 billion to Paulson’s friends on Wall Street so they can regain their confidence? What about the self-esteem and confidence of the unemployed workers whose jobs you shipped overseas? What about the self-esteem and confidence of Americans who have to choose between paying their electric bills or filling their tanks with gas? What about us? Where’s the bailout to restore our confidence? Give me a break! DON’T PASS THIS BAILOUT! IT’S EMOTIONAL BLACKMAIL!
We are reaping the rewards of fiat currency, fractional reserve banking, and central economic planning. The government response: increase easy money and credit which got us into this mess. Ron Paul has seen this coming for over 30 years. Nobody listened.
Why are we bailing out banks that were involved in predatory lending? How will the predatory lenders be punished and when can we see them in handcuffs?
We learned lessons the first time we hit bottom in the 30’s. We will learn lessons this time too. Pump money into the ecomony to avoid a depression & give the banks back to the government to control[post Wilson era] This is not a bank bailout, this the GOVERNMENT TRYING TO SAVE EVERYONES BUT.
A better use for the $700 billion would be to leave it in the pockets of those who EARNED IT! Give taxpayers a break from these corrupt abusers. Let AIG fail!
My wife & I have kept our home and our possessions because we’re fiscally responsible. Why should we be forced to anty up for some jackass as AIG who will no doubt walk away with a golden parachute worth millions?
Don’t put the burden on the taxpayers. Let AIG fail, along with any other company who made bad decisions. Make sure their CEO’s don’t walk away with millions too!
NO TO THE BAILOUT! How stupid are we? Didn’t we already go through this alarmist screeching with this administration? WMDs, anyone? They are trying to push something through with the same build up cacophony they did with Iraq! We will not be fooled again. No to the bailout! You wanted an effing free market – you got it!
No taxpayer money to bail out the corporate greedy!
The question is: where is the money for this bailout coming from? The government is writing a hot check to these irresponsible companies and whose paying the bill? China? Japan? At least 1 trillion dollars. I don’t know about anyone else but that number is like goobley gook to me… We have to change the way these institutions lend money and hold their CEO’s accountable! These companies, along with irresponsible borrowers, should NOT be rewarded. If there is no help for the mortgage holders, it is the purest form of taxation without representation. The sky is indeed falling.
The banking industry in this country – together with the State and Federal governments and the upsurd methods used for FICO scores deserve to be ignored by the people it has abused and ignored – thats the American MIDDLE CLASS – just look at the average Credit Card interest rates then compare the banks stock dividend rates…their isnt a credit card in this country that should be charging more than 10% per year!! They are creating a form of slavery for most middle class Americans who cannot afford the intrest, late fees and overlimit fees of 100% in cases )) … I say NO to the gov’t bailout…let the markets determine their own course !! The bailout will create more problems then it will solve .. it is time for the day of denial to end … the government is to blame for not creating an environment for SAVING money instead of Buying on credit…time for a REALITY CHECK !! NO TO GOVERNMENT BAILOUT….
How about making part of the bailout a requirement that every executive who was part of these companies is forced to pay back the fat bonuses they approved for each other in the last three years? They should not be allowed to keep the money from companies that obviously couldn’t afford to pay it in the first place. It’s a disgrace that our taxpayer money is indirectly going right into their incompetent pockets…
Give back the money!
We as taxpayers will naturally get stuck with the bill. If so, I want my itemized deductions back similar to the 70’s when the taxpayer could deduct any and all interest paid on cars, credit cards, etc. Additionally criminal maybe, but financial restitution definitely by those fleecing the corporate accounts for their executive bonuses, etc..(see other comments posted)
Let me see:
- The government deregulated the industry so they could take risks instead of prudent investing…
- They changed the laws to allow higher interest rates and penalties on credit card debt for average people
- They changed bankruptcy laws to favor the bankers and make it easier to grab property from the ill and elderly
- Now they want to push their losses onto citizens.
- Let’s not forget they want to bail out foreign banks as well
-The governemt assumes the debt as the assets values are dropping and we are supposed to believe we’ll recoup the money’s invested even while the bailout will water down the value of the dollar.
- They had a wheelbarrel size piece of legislation called the Patriot Act ready 3 days after 9-1-1 and now they got a hurry up and accept this B.S. offer ready in a snap of the fingers.
- Time to wake up! people. We’ve been sold out.
I am dumbfounded by the people’s reaction to the bailout. How do the American taxpayers feel about the 1 trillion dollar war budget that was quietly passed? Do they prefer to sponsor the bush dirty war in Iraq instead of trying to save their own financial future? Do they realize that their investments, retirements, credit systems are all at risk? That the bailout is not about a sentimental rescue of obsolete banks or about paying high salaries? The populist peddling of nonsense has to stop!
With the Bush administration disputing the need for executive salary caps as part of the bailout, how do we know that CEOs won’t just line their own pockets and then bankrupt their companies anyway?
Here is an alternate idea. The government is afaid that credit will dry up if something is not done. Personally, I think even with the bailout lending requirements will be sky high(we always over react). But how about this: Let the businesses that are about to fail, fail. That will weed out the weak, and leave the strong still in business. Use that same 700 billion, not to prop up the weak and greedy but as a pool of money that the strong can borrow from. That way there is still plenty of liquidity and the financial system remains strong only with fewer players.
This bail out is only bailing out Wall Street. It does not address and treat the main cause of this disaster. Without helping those homeowners who are in boder line and with loan modifiation which includes both loan principan redutio and lowering down the interest rate of the loan this bail out will not succeed. Bamking and financial organization wothout effective oversight will head for disaster again. At any rate this bail out package is beginig and we will need more bail out in coming month
Our government wants to invest over $700 Billion trying to stabilize the financial markets. To do so, we need to increase the national debt to almost $11.5 Trillion. But no one from Bush on down has any idea if doing so will work.
Here is my plan: Have the US government borrow as much money as it possibly can, from every source on the planet, at any interest rate offered, and do so as fast as it can.
And then default on all of it.
After all, our national debt is backed only by “the full faith and credit of the United States.”
Sadly, that means our national debt is backed by nothing.
The faster we bring about a collapse of the corrupt financial system we have built over the last 232 years, 2 months, 19 days, the better off we will all be.
Why the rush? One possible answer: Congress needs to act quickly to be able to take credit for solving the crisis before the market finishes correcting itself. We have seen much of the correction happen already, and it’s only a few weeks before a Presidential election, so the need is great for politicians to grab credit for that which will otherwise happen on its own, and provide cover for not enacting legislation that would have prevented the mess in the first place.
Bernanke is a Great Depression expert. When you’re that much of an expert on something, it’s easy for the scenario to seem to be playing out your mental version of a repeat, worst-case scenario. That’s why such experts are usually better as consultants and not as policy-makers. We MIGHT NOT be headed for another Great Depression, but the fear of everything he ever studied coming to pass on his watch seems to be partly driving this mad rush to do something.
If we had a balancing player who was an expert on the theories of Adam Smith (Wealth of Nations), we might be better off. Smith observed that the more government gets involved in trying to control the markets, the more problems the economy tends to have.
i dont agree with this bailout. I’m a student in community college and working hard to pay for college with almost minimum wage pay. If this bail out occurs why should these investers and bankers get my money towards school.I have a feeling tutition will rise leaving me with paying more for classes making it harder to get where I want to go. I want to go to my choice of a University.
The sad part is that this will save Wall street not the economy. The economy is people (you remember citizens?) making something and selling it to someone else.
Banking is necessary to provide loans but these were not loans to build jobs. These were poisoned lies propagated to make rich people richer. How many fortunes have been made by this boondoggle?
They will never see a minute in court much less jail because they wrote the laws to cover their tails. That their lobbyist are pushing this SOLUTION is just laughable.
Over simplification, sure. But my point is that asking the Federal Reserve and the SEC to now govern themselves after they allowed this to happen is nothing less than asking the fox to guard the hen-house.
The Fed IS big banking. These aren’t elected representatives they are representatives of the largest and most powerful bankers in America. Same thing goes for the Securities and Exchange Commission.
If Congress goes along with this they aren’t giving loans they are BUYING the debt these banks no longer want. Only a fool believes the US is going to happily sell these off without more losses in a few years. When has government ever MADE money?
The reality is we have just committed our children to a more austere future of heavy taxes and diminished opportunity.
We are being robbed without even a gun to our head. May the lord watch over and protect us all because the US Government no longer can afford to do so.
Thank you Alan Greenspan, George Bush (43), and Ronald Regan for showing the world that the Republican’s believe in 2 things: 1) Tax cuts for the Rich and 2) Destroying the Middle-Class Safety-Net by bankrupting the US Governments. The new GOP Motto: Capitalism on the way up and Socialism on the way down.
Whoaa! We don’t even know what the realestate is worth, shouldn’t we figure that out? Maybe we should consult with Donald Trumph, he’s been here before and successfully got out. Maybe if it’s investors are outside USA, they need to put up some cash as well. If we have to give severence pay maybe we should give it in the form of stocks in there own company at the current rate so that they get what they earned. I think they need to keep those monies invested for a certain amount of time, then precentages go back to the goverment for pay back. Just a few comments from a country hick.
I would rather see the banks get bailed out, as opposed to keeping my neighbors in their over priced homes that were bought with ill advised loans. I, as a tax payer, reap no benifit from bailing out the home owners. Most people don’t. However, nearly every aspect of my day to day life depends on the banking system. 99% of the tax paying population depends on the banking institutions of this country on a daily basis.
The only provisions I could tollerate to this pending legislation are significant regulation of the banking industry or something which opens the potential for the US Government to see a profit some day on the paper its agreeing to buy. Anything else is partisan pandering in an election year.
Very simplely, we cannot borrow money to pay off our debts. Who and when will the national debt be paid? Who will bail us, the USA, out of debt? Answer: THE NATIONAL DEBT WILL NEVER BE PAID. My opinion to the $700B is not only no, but NO! NO!
It is a shame that the economy has come tosuch a grave state of despair at the hands of our government and financial institutions, however it is in such a crcuial stage that we are approaching and experiencing one of the worst time since the Great Depression that it is not only their duty to bail americans out, but long overdue. We run every where in the country wether we are needed there or not to bail them out it is time we lookin our own front yard! We are so busy running to Iraq doing nothing but loosing our soldiers lives spending over 10 million dollars a day to fund that so called “war” that everyone seems so shocked that we are in deep despair.The government should take other necessary steps for the Americans to maintain some form of normalcy in lifestyle and daily living in order to balance out the cost of living expenses that are continuosly on the rise while paychecks seem to be dwindling or becoming non existant all togehter! Debt forgiveness is another option that should be addressed as well. Buying the liquid mrtgages is great however it may or may not change regulations of being able to qualify for a mortgage. These days no one makes enough money, and no one has enough “good” credit or high enough scores to qualify due to the vicious cycle of not making enough money to pay their bills and turn things around to qualify. The “American Dream” of home ownership has now become a fairytale to those who have been locked, trapped, or sucked into the cycle of not being able to meet cost of living expenses.
What really hurts is the realization that this bailout is going to happen no matter what we think. Then after the dust settles it will be back to business as usual. Our government has become so cumbersome that it is totally out of control except for a few politicians that have the power to manipulate the rest of the slugs we put in Washington.
The Bush bailout plan is like the pitch of a fast talking salesman: we are being told we need something we don’t want, which may fall apart in a few days, AND we have a limited time in which to take advantage of the offer. As in, Hurry! Act Now! This offer ends at midnight!
Can we hardworking struggling families with mortgages get some relief as well. Can our mortgage be slashed by as much as our home values have fallen. that ill be the fairest thing to do and give us more disposable income that can be injected back into the economy
Read the draft language:
$700-billion is the NOT the limit. It is the limit at ONE time.
Also, no administrative and no judiciary review of actions.
It’s plainly unconstitutional.
I get incredibly tired of analysts saying that the government could make money on this by collecting on or resellign the bad loans it purchased. Come on … you buy “nonperforming assets” meaning bad loans that aren’t being paid, what do you get? Garbage! No one is going to repay those loans. They aren’t worth anythign now and will never be. Don’t try to sugar coat this gift to the rich bankers by trying to tell us it’s ok. Some day the govt will get it back. Jail the executives who put their companies in this position. Let the banks fail – as they have set themselves up to. If government money is to be used, us it to help taxpayers, not a few banking executives. People… write to your congress people and tell them to vote NO or you will certainly vote NO on them at reelection time.
This bailout proposal is like the sales pitch of a fast talking salesman: not only are we being told we need something we don’t want, but we are supposed to push it through in a few days. Eg Hurry now! this offer ends at midnight!
I have to side with the opposition to this bill. Rewarding bad behavior just begits more bad behavoir.
This is a HUGE problem, and at some point WE ALL will have to deal with the fallout from this problem. This is NOT they way.
The bill if contains language about “cannot involve Judicial REVIEW”
then its UN-Constitutional as well, and any lawmaker voting for this bill, if it contains language such as this has violated the constitution.
So let me get this straight, people make a bunch of money and now the taxpayers have to bail them out so they can keep their money, people lose their houses, push the economy into the dump, and I have to work harder, even though I haven’t defaulted on anything and have nothing to do with this, just to make ends meet. Welcome to America, home of the rich and land of the people that pay to make them that way.
How about pursuing civil and criminal penalties for the COEs, CFO, and boards of these companies? They are paid lavish salaries for their “expertise” in these areas. If a person makes a bad decision about over-leveraging their credit card, the government doesn’t bail them out.
No bailout no way!!, wall street is asking the goverment to do what they did, ( give away someone elses money with no collateral ).
This is just another tactic for the US to take control of the World Finances in order to move towards a One World Gov’t. This did not just happen. We all need to wake up. We are all going to be under One World Rule over everything we do.
America’s middle class need to wake up and Protest enough is enough.
I would be OK with this bail out if the executives of these companies paid or gave up the same percentage we give up. It always seems that all of the “little people” pay for the mistakes of our government or executives of big business. They could sell there car to me for pennies on the dollar to make me feel better about bailing them out…..
Credit market collapse would be devastating to economy and probably start a depression. Imagine not being able to get a mortgage for that new house, a student loan for Johnny’s college, a loan for a new car, a credit card. With no access to credit, both large and small businesses couldn’t finance any capital expenditures for growth. As a result, mass layoffs would send unemployment to historical highs. The federal government’s primary source of revenue (taxes) would dry up and the deficit would grow exponentially. This action will allow the government to set a floor for MBS and keep credit flowing. Only 2% of prime mortgages are in default and only 12% of subrime are in default. Certainly worth more than the $.22 on the dollar that Merrill unloaded to Lone Star.
It’s interesting that they justify this package by citing the risks of doing nothing. The risks of doing nothing when it comes to Social Security and Medicare are pretty significant yet that’s the path our government has chosen.
Historically our government has not gotten a lot of bang for it’s buck. I wonder just how much they’ll pay the lending institutions for these questionable assets? My guess is the lenders will find a way to get reimbursed for face value even though the market value is no where near that much.
Just for the folks who support the Bailout. Look at the US Dollar and the Oil Price. The Dollar is crashing and Oil sky rocketing. If this bailout is passed by Congress get ready for the Dollar to become worthless and the cost of gasoline to be $7.00 or more inflated dollars. That does not even address the cost of Milk for your children. Maybe $7.00
a gallon also. The issue is to bailout and inflate and suffer until the next bailout which will make it worse or do the greedy bankers and all us pansies take the hit and suffer for a few years. Then by getting rid of the corrupt politicians who were controlled by the banking/wall street lobby, the Corrupt Federal Reserve Bank who created the bubbles with cheap money they printed the US starts over again but, this time following the US Constitution and sound money policies.
we have lived all our lives sanely and sensibly. we have never owned a big screen TV because we can’t afford one. we’ve never owned new SUV’s because we can’t AFFORD one. as a result of this lifestyle we own two homes free and clear. neither have ever been mortgaged. we own five vehicles. all free and clear.
NOW they are telling us they want US to bail out the CROOKS and HIGH ROLLERS who have been living BEYOND THIER MEANS all these years.
IT AIN’T RIGHT!!!!!! if they didn’t bail them out I could AFFORD to buy ANOTHER piece of property for CASH! this was the way the FREE MARKET was meant to work. it consolidates the wealth in the hands of people who can HANDLE IT PROPERLY. from the top down to the bottom. if we bail out all the undisciplined, spoiled people who partied thier resources away it’s just going to HAPPEN AGAIN in the future.
BAIL OUT CROOKS????
HELL NO!
This crisis is with us and needs to be addressed now! There is no time to stall on this, our economy and the impact on the world economy will be devastating.
Congress needs to pass this now, without
delay! The world is watching, the taxpayers are watching. At this point it happened, the experts are telling Congress what needs to happen. I’m not happy, but get on with it!
We are in the perfect financial storm of the century.
1st we begin with the high debt policies of the 80’s.
2nd we add the socialization of unchecked greed as legalized through deregulation and aided by federal rescues.
3rd we compound the problem with unconscionably bad decision making by the Bush administration since the USA was attacked by a foreign entity in 2001.
Welcome to the New World Order part II.
I am absolutely, positively, against this bail out. Three years ago when the market was up and mortgage companies were handing out money like it grew on trees, my husband and I wanted to buy a home. The mortgage company was willing to give us $250,000 which was FAR more than we needed or wanted. We were smart enough to say “no” because we knew it would be beyond our means. Now, I am supposed to help bail out these companies although I wasn’t one of the irresponsible, or duped, buyers? I say NO WAY!
And why are there no caps on how much these executives are allowed to earn? “It would take too much time” says Paulson. I say, it took this long to figure out our economy was busted, why not spend a little more time figuring out the RIGHT thing to do!
This makes me want to move to another country where at least they are upfront about screwing you over.
It is your taxpayer money. If we really need to do it, then it is better to make sure the President, CEO, CFO and VP of those companies require to sell their houses and properties to pay for at least 80% of their wealth. It is unfair that they took $10 million plus salary and bonus and went out of the troubles like this.
That amounts to over $10,000 per homeowner in the USA. 6 years off my mortgage, and $45,000 in savings. I want my portion!
$1 trillion dollars???$1 trillion dollars! I can’t even fathom how much that is. This is ridiculous,$1 trillion dollars could be much better used doing other things including giving me a small business loan.
To make matters tougher to swallow, many of these institutions are now changing to holding companies which means they can now accept deposits and also use the bail out funds to continue not so risky investment practices and function as regular banks. So not only will they receive this aid, they will also have cash on hand when they start accepting deposits.
These institutions can have a web site set up within days to operate as internet banks and start accepting deposits right away. Knowing that we should rely on the American innovation and the american people to help and use the committed $1 trillion dollars to do other things.
I’m sure that the american people will be happy to make deposit’s to the banks that decide to set themselves up as Internet banks and if the gov steps in to say the deposits are insured and the banks offer reasonable interest on our deposits, the american people will step in and make deposits. This will bring down the gov’t bail out amount required or completely wipe it out.$1 trillion dollars is just too much.
Lets have these institutions work for it.
This isn’t a bailout. It’s a speculative investment made by our government with our money. It’s another mortgage on our future and on the future of our children. It’s another post-it on the Bush wall of failure.
I like the idea that the Government will purchase the securities at below market rates. This is the most absurd statement I have ever heard. The only way this deal appeals to the banks is that the government is buying the securities at above market rates. The banks can freely sell these securities at the market rate at any time.
CALL YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES AND THE WHITEHOUSE NOW!!!!
I just got off the phone them.
I told them “not just no but HELL NO!!!”.
It turns out there is a huge amount of RAGE out here in the real world. According to each of the operators I spoke with, the overwhelming majority of callers have also expressed the same opinion!!!
Be sure to understand the impacts of no action!
Yes, there will be Wall Street Melt down, and yes, there will likely be economic impact on us all in the near term.
However, I personally feel it is FAR better to take our medicine now, and then those who accepted the risk pay with the downfall of their companies.
what’s more, it there is a slew of other companies who have led responsible, clean businesses who will now profit from their WISE decisions and the unwise decisions of others.
There is a substantial moral lesson to be learned and demonstrated here.
NO, it will not be easy.
Not passing the bailout will have an impact on us all.
But I say it is much better to take the medicine and get it over with NOW and learn from our lessons.
SO GET OFF THE BLOGS AND THE FORUMS AND GET ON THE PHONES TO YOUR SENATORS, REPRESENTATIVES AND THE WHITEHOUSE AND EXPRESS YOUR RAGE AND TELL THEM YOU WANT TO TAKE OUR COLLECTIVE MEDICINE NOW, AND NOT FORCE IT ON UNTOLD FUTURE GENERATIONS!!!
Why don’t they take that $700 billion and kill 5 birds with 1 stone… Save the middle class by paying of some mortgages… banks get paid, middle class has extra money to dump into the economy… homes are paid off and can get sold… new ones can get bought… oh wait, sorry… that might require thinking before you pull the trigger.
To anyone out there that thinks the assets the Gov’t is proposing to buy will be worth more money at a later date need to learn what a NON-PERFORMING (no revenue stream) ILLIQUID (no buyer) asset is. These are bonds with loans packaged in them that will never get paid back. The customer has either walked away or told the investor they are not going to pay and sent in his house keys.
How are these assets going to be worth more money in the future without any revenue streams from the debtors?
In addition, if we turn this Goldman Sachs ex-CEO loose with 700 billion dollars what do you think is going to happen? The first thing I would do if I were friends with Paulson is stop paying my mortgage. Then let him know who the investor is for my mortgage. Have him go and buy the non-performing illiquid asset from the servicing entity for 50 cents on the dollar and turn around and buy it back from the government for 50 cents on the dollar. Do the math…if you are friends with Paulson you are going to get a 75% discount on your existing mortgage debt.
Next what kind of assets do you think Paulson is going to buy first? Do you think he is going to buy the $500 dollar foreclosed homes in Detroit, MI metro areas? I will tell you what assets he is going to buy from his banking buddies. First will be the $2-4 million dollar homes in all the CA costal cities and then sell them to all his friends for 200k. Then tell the congressional oversight committee (if they are smart enough to create one) sorry for the loss but that is the going market rate is for these homes. The he is going to have to have parties in Las Vegas on the weekends. So then he will go buy some foreclosed Hotel condo projects and sell them to all his banking buddies. They can all sit around and celebrate the jobs that pay an average of 500-700k, per worker, per year that Paulson just saved. Now if you did not know this elite group, life is not complete unless you own a home on both coasts. So the next asset he will need to buy is another condo development in FL and give theses to the same Las Vegas gang because at their annual salaries they would only need a months pay to pick up a Paulson condo in FL. I think the Republicans realize they will not be in power again for a long time so they figured this was the best way to keep their friends on Wall Street employed and fleece the US taxpayer.
I also forgot to mention he has effectively secured all his previous co-workers jobs for a very long time by eliminating all their competition with his executive powers. While he was determining the fate of his prior wall street competitors (Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch) did we ever hear ONCE about an economic crisis? BUT once Goldman Sachs was about to suffer the fate of the other investment banks suddenly there is a Global Economic crisis and he needs 700 billion dollars to fix it. HMMMMM
It’s kind of funny how the market is. I watch cnbc and fox channel those financial analyst don’t want any oversight when it comes to their day to day corrupt activities but when they mess up big time they cry panic and need a bailout . Our so called government is run by idiots what they should do is find out exactly where all those so called Aig tentacles actually travel around the world and to what countries and see if we really need them.
Those who caused the problem should be held accountable-
1. Corporate execs of failing companies should be forced to give up 5 years of salary, bonuses, stock options – whatever they gained during the time they started running their companies into the ground. Some criminal charges might also be in order.
2. It’s not so easy to decide what to do about elected officials who had oversight responsibility since our choice at election time is usually the lesser of two bad politicians. But at the cost this is to taxpayers, they deserve to be voted out.
I don’t like the bail out at all. Why shall main strret people have to pay the money for this little group of high-paid and “clever” bankers (As they say so) who get caught by the mess they had made?
Even if the bail out is the only way to solve all these mess, congress shall put in law to ask any bank, which get bail out from fed, shall use their future Annul earning to paid off the interest and any lost from the money Fed is giving to them now. Because, government and main street are doing them a big favor.
“I think no main street want to see any big bouns and big raise be shown on any Wall street firm until they paid off the money they owed!!!!”
Just remember, the Iraq war was also shoved down our throats as an emergency measure. I hope Congress takes a good look at this proposal. We MUST protect the tax payer!
The government should be held accountable
The banks should be held accountable
In a perfect world there should be no golden parachutes for poor performance
However at the end of the day, this bailout is to try to secure your and my bank accounts and pension funds. And the depressing part is that it is highly likely that it won’t work.
Get rid of debt, work hard and hunker down because the rollercoaster has already left the gate and for better or worse we will have to see it through to the end.
As I see it, government intervention is necessary. But it should be measured and selective not wholesale. There was too much greed, speculation, fat bonuses in the finacial/mortgage sector. Some institutions should be allowed to go down. It is time to return to sound banking practises, END balooning CEOs pay and golden parachutes.
This is not a problem of regulation of banking, in my opinion. No matter how much they may believe it, no government or economist is wise enough to set the perfect rules. Economies must fluctuate and they always will. However, the sheer size of these banks is a concern. I think we should be looking at this through an anti-trust lense. We do it all the time in other industries where the size of one corporation can cause that it’s actions have significant effects on the market. Is that not what has happened here? The big boys were allowed to just grow and grow so they could make more and more money. The failures of a few companies should not send our economy reeling, no matter what the industry. Look at Bank of America now. Are we better off? Limit the size of the banks and you can have all the deregulation and crazy securities that your heart desires…
Judging by the response on this forum, many Americans oppose the bailout. But once again, what does that matter? Our “for the people” government will continue to forge ahead and make decisions based on Wall Street greed and special interests. When our house was foreclosed several years ago, we had to sell off non-essentials and move into an apartment. There was no one left to “bail us out.” Frankly I haven’t heard mention of any budget cuts to balance this latest fiasco, but as usual, the government doesn’t have to operate on a balanced budget. There seems to be no end to spending in the U.S. They just keep dumping Miracle Grow on the proverbial money tree. No mention of where this bailout money is coming from. A billion to Georgia, x# billion per day/week/month to Iraq, where will it end? Let’s get out of Iraq NOW and let them use their moldy oil dollars to rebuild. We all know the war is about control of the oil, not saving countries from terrorism. They have been fighting for centuries and will continue to do so, with or without our help. Yes, gas would accelerate to double digits while we scramble to find substitutes that should have been in the making all along, but maybe in the long run this will be much faster and hurt less than the slow drip methods we’re following now. We are not the only country to fear Al Quaida-the rest will step up to bat if they know we are done carrying the ball. These significant problems call for drastic solutions that may not be popular with everyone. Whatever happened to old fashioned consequences?
Read my Lipstick. My definition of RTC? “Reward The Crooks”. Wall St. brought on their own irresponsible misery. The word of the day seems to be “Privatize the Profits, Socialize the Losses.
This is not right! The head of the Treasury, Paulson, was the former head of Goldman. Now that his buddies have painted themselves into a corner he’s going to take up a collection from the public to help them avoid the soup kitchen. And let’s add the foreign banks to the gravy train while we’re at it. Privatization of profits, socialization of losses. We now have a Socialist government without the safety nets of Socialist government: universal health care, strong, well-maintained infrastructure, good public education. Let the bridges fall where they may.
I wrote my representative yesterday, when nothing happened I wrote Nancy Pelosi today. Below is a copy of that message.
Nancy,
Just say No to the bailout. Wall Street robbed and pillaged the american homeowner market knowingly and greedily. They refused to renegotiate absurd interest rates. They foreclosed on millions of americans even though those same people were maintaining the value of the property they lived in. Now the houses are sitting empty with bursting waterpipes, and broken windows. No wonder they’ve lost value.
Keeping the banks on the hook will force them to do something about it. Selling it to the government as some sort of bundled toxic waste will do nothing but slow the process and leave neighborhoods in neglect for years to come.
If I was in your seat I’d be clamouring for criminal charges to be pressed. They knew this was coming, it was the slowest train wreck in the history of the world. The bubble bust was predicted years ago. Did they layoff? downsize? outsource? No! They continued raking in profits, bamboozling and contributing to the inflated market as long as they could.
Paulson and crew were appointed by the current administration. His admonishments that we have to “Save Wall Street Now” is nothing more then fearmongering and the same old tactics that we have seen for the last seven and a half years. His proposal is ntohing better then ‘Reverse Robin Hood’
Do not let this become the final finger of the Bush administration to the american people. After the upcoming election is soon enough to figure out a solution to this crisis. Just say NO!
These Bankers who created this problem with their greed now want the taxpayers who are indebted to them with those toxic mortgages to bail them out. I think that is immoral.
If there is anyone that should be bailed out it is the US taxpayer who is being abused by the bankers and their bought and paid for cronies in Congress. Give the people the money so they could pay off those loans. The bankers win and the little guy wins. It seems that the bankers want the taxpayers money and if that is not enough they want the paid loans they would get from the bailout paid again with interest by the very same people who are bailing them out..SIC
This is the Banker’s Boondoggle. The former head of one of the remaining Investment Banks (well, not really anymore – they got their status changed last night)that ACTIVELY PARTICIPATED IN THE CREATION OF THE PROBLEM, now wants $700 BILLION of OUR MONEY so he can “FIX” the problem he helped create. Plus he wants to allow the executives of the companies who exercised such poor judgment in the past to “MANAGE” the assets once the government purchases them – and they will be paid to do so, of course.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
If my business put assets into the hottest “trendy” investment and did not manage the risk properly and sell those “trendy” investments BEFORE THEY BECAME WORTHLESS, I WOULD BE BROKE AND OUT OF BUSINESS. Why is this situation any different????!!!
We are being told this is the less damaging of two alternatives – do this or do nothing. Sounds familiar – “You are either with us or against us.” “We either take action NOW to stop Saddam’s WMD program or he will use it against us.” Very polarizing, and quite possibly not the entire truth. Where is the hard analysis of what happens if we the people refuse to give Wall Street this $700 BILLION dose of EXLAX?? Just how bad will it be for the average American who lives within their means?
I would expect many people would fall on hard times because they are LIVING BEYOND THEIR MEANS and are in a HIGH RISK position financially – mostly BY CHOICE.
When the risk factor in a market system becomes so great the market can no longer function, the risk naturally resets itself BY PUNISHING THOSE THAT HAVE TAKEN THE RISK – usually with failure and massive losses. These businesses and risk taking individuals need to fail – they deserve it – THAT IS THE AMERICAN WAY. Extreme risk is EXTREME for a reason – any failure is your last.
This Banker’s Boondoggle simple postpones the inevitable, enriches the already wealthy criminals, bastardizes the workings of a market system, and gives WAYYYYY TOO MUCH money and authority to individuals who have been part of the root cause due to their negligent lack of oversight and lack of critical thinking on this matter.
Bush and his cronies, and his cronies cronies, must think we the people are stupid (well, actually enough of us are – we DID elect Bush into office, TWICE). That is an insult. We know the money for this scheme does not exist so it will be either printed or borrowed, neither being good for taxpayers – for MULTIPLE GENERATIONS to come.
What I feel is a safe reaction after the last 8 yrs: whatever Bush and his cronies are asking for….do the opposite and we’ll be fine.
Just one question. What happens to the FAILED bank/company’s CEO pay check? There is tens of millions that could help with the bailout!
Don’t worry folks while we are busy driving around trying to find the cheapest gas, all these Wall Street “Big Brains” are driving around in “their” limos and flying in “their” coorporate jets. Unless the goverment would show some sense and good face and force these moroons to take the subway like the rest of us, or are they not like us common low folks? They are another breed with blue blood.
I am opposed to the bailout that these fools have created and now we, the American public, have to pay for their criminal behavior. I am sure that many tax payers would agree that those CEO’s who walked away with 22, 38, 40 million should be required by law to hand over this money. If this were us “regular people” we would be thrown in jail and all of our assets seized. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats should refuse to sign this bill unless the Home owners who are in forecloser receive help and the CEOs who have walked away with millions are required to give back the the they stole from the American people.
I cannot believe this! Lets just run the country into the ground before the elections. This banks and bailouts should not happen period! If they fail, they need to fall. That is called Free Market capitalism. Poor judgement needs to be punished. They certainly aren’t going to give me a bailout.
I want to know what happens to the high ranking banking officials at these failing banks. Instead of the Gov. stepping in, let’s auction THEIR assets and bring them down to a middle class salary where they should be. I’ll bet the GOV wouldn’t need my TAX money to save them then…. It’s all BULL$%#&@
Should the US Government “bail out” Wall Street, in a word: YES! People were not complaining when housing prices (as well as equity) were going sky high even tough we were told it couldn’t last for ever. No one complained when the markets allowed people to put their investments on auto-pilot because all it was doing was going up and up making our retirement and college funds fatter. Now that reality has hit Wall Street we all need to understand that “We” are the ones who must bail ourselves out of this mess. The only way to do this is to have the Tax Payers (who are also home owners and investors) step up to the plate and fork over the cash.
This whole thing is a disgrace…..greed, false statements of vALue and now a 2.2 b fund for Lehman workers..come on!!
Accountability where is the accountability. Managers simply were NOT doing their jobs. I would make every manager that took a bonus RETURN it. How dare they play with peoples money like this.
I’m not a financial wizard but one thing I feel is certain, if you rush into this without careful consideration of consequences and entertain alternatives, then you’re as big as a fool as those who got us into this mess. McCain claims he has the answers and is requesting Obama for a plan. Obama has not yet replied because as was stated (I believe by Bident) “this is nothing to rush into”. He’s correct. How can the McCain camp claim they’ve arrived at the solution overnight when all the financial brains are pulling at their thining hairs? That concerns me! Anything put together in a haphazard way seems extremely risky probably more so than what got us into this mess. Just think if (God Forbid!) they get in office we are surely doomed. It appears they’ll attempt to resolve any problem with a response not a real lasting solution.
EVERYONE needs to call their congressmen NOW… This cannot pass. It will be rough for awhile but if it passes the dollar will no longer exist. This is exactly like Bush said with Iraq. HE LIED. Now he is getting Paulson to LIE and use FEAR so we will pass it and give the Treasury department full reign to do whatever they want with NO oversight. It cannot pass. America as we know it will be over. Please call your congressmen and let them know that we are not just saying no but we are saying HELL NO.. This is criminal and we must stop them. Stop them now. Act now. Call your congressmen NOW.
If we’re going to bail out Wall Street fat cats then demand that we stop Universal Default and credit card interest rates approaching 35%
How the heck can you offer our tax dollars to predatory banks who have the audacity to charge usurious rates of interest!!
Where are our Congressional leaders on this?!?!
They are spineless. They want us to bail out banks which are charging us 32%+ interest rates!!!
Enough with “President” Paulson! I’m really sorry he feels so bad. He should have acted a year ago when he first should have figured this out!!!
I just sent this to my congresswoman:
I agree with some of your statements regarding your, “Statement of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on the Administration’s Proposal to Restore Stability to U.S. Financial Markets”. But, I totally disagree with how you think this total breakdown of our financial institutions should be repaid. Those that benefitted by this bankrupting of American should be the ones that shoulder the burden of repaying America. Your idea to burden the average American taxpayer once again will destroy the backbone of America.
Meltdowns of America’s financial institutions are not unprecedented. A bailout of this astronomical proportions being proposed is!
Wall Street is disconnected with its original purpose. Wall Street believes it creates something, when in reality has destroyed our country. Shuffling paper to placate stockholders is not going to rebuild this country. Our real, working businesses need to invest in creating products and services that the world wants once again. Let the treasonous Wall Street paper thieves feed on each other.
Do not give in to those whose vested interests are only their own pocketbooks. Do not burden Main Street America with Wall Street greed. Do not mortgage the futures of your and my children. Do not be the one that renames America the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, American Branch.
Congress should establish a trust and structure it to make sure we know who gets what and pays back what they get with a punishing interest rate. Then we enact a law that punishes corporate malfeasance, so when this happens again, and it always seems to happen at the end of a Republican administration, we can imprision the corporate crooks
how about instead of giving these countrys that hate our guts billions and billions of dollars how about helping the people that are at home here in the united states with the shape that the goverment has left them in instead of uncle i beleve we should be saying uncle bill help us here the ones that live here in the home land
A bailout spells hyper-inflation. No bailout spells deflation. Ask yourself people…are prices not high enough for you?
If we stop the bailout…we can expect lower prices in 12 months. Victory for the people. No one is going to starve…no additional people will go homeless.
What is in the best interest of the people…higher prices or lower prices? Weak dollar or strong dollar in the future?
It’s the political figures who are for the bailout…the same puppets who contributed to this mess. Why would you accept their solution? How effective have they been in the past?
The press have been trying to sell this to the public just as much…what does that tell you? NO one is looking out for the people…except for the hard working men and women.
Our children are fighting a war in the middle east to prop up oil prices. Where is the shame of the government? They are a party of sociopaths.
I sent the following letter to my congressman today:
I hereby demand that you publicly repudiate the attempt by the U.S. Government to bailout the financial institutions of this country and do everything in your power as my representative to stop it now and to reverse the bailouts that have already occurred.
We the people do not have the money to support this and this sort of pandering and outrageous cramdown of the cost of Wall Street’s malfeasance upon the checkbook of the American consumer is an act of economic terrorism.
The proposed bill by the Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Legislative Proposal For Treasury Authority To Purchase Mortgage-Related assets, is a de-facto nationalization of the entire banking, insurance, and related financial system.
That’s right – every bank and other financial institution in the United States would become a de-facto organ of the United States Government, if Hank Paulson thinks they should be, and he may order them to do virtually anything that he claims is in furtherance of it.
If you think the cost of this bill is $700 billion, you’re wrong. The cost is actually infinite and the entire bill constitutes a giant money-laundering scheme.
Paulson can (and presumably will) buy up to $700 billion of these “assets”, then sell them. Let’s say he decides to buy them at 60 cents on the dollar and sell them for 10. You, the taxpayer, will eat the fifty cents, for an immediate cost of $350 billion dollars.Having done so, he is then authorized to do so again, since the $700 billion is no longer on the government’s balance sheet.
In fact, he can do this without limit, other than possibly due to the federal debt ceiling, which of course Congress will raise any time we get close to it. Oh yeah, this bill does that right up front too. No need to bother with it the first time around.
$700 billion isn’t even close to the total cost of this monster.
If Paulson and his successor decide to, they could literally cycle all $5.3 trillion of Fannie and Freddie’s debt through this scheme, potentially sticking the taxpayer for 20% or more of the total, plus as much private debt on various bank balance sheets as they can manage to nationalize until (and possibly beyond) the point where the bond market tells him to go to hell.
Bottom line: This bill gives Paulson the ability to nationalize an UNLIMITED amount of private debt and force YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN to pay for it.
This insanity must stop NOW!
I await your reply.
No More Bailouts
When I make bad financial decisions I suffer the consequences—so should these agencies that are asking for government bailouts.
Mo more government bailouts—it puts too big a burden on working men and women who make prudent financial decisions.
Work on more regulatory policies for the future to ensure this won’t happen again.
Bailouts this late in the Bush administration will only make the deficit larger and handicap the next president. Enough is enough. Let the free market work the way it is suppose to work
HA!!! So many people, too many people are just plain ignorant (notice I did not say stupid–ignorant people can do their homework and learn something–if they choose to).
This unfathomable disaster is the direct result of Republican deregulation over the last years. Republican = big business. Check out John McCain’s leadership in deregulation legislation. Heck, he practically wrote the bills, certainly contributed to them, and fully supported deregulation.
So now the chickens have come home to roost, and the same people who voted Republican in the past several elections are crying “not with my money you don’t.”
Didn’t you understand what you were voting for? Do you even think before you vote?
I speak truth, and if you disbelieve it, do your homework, your research, and don’t bother to write back until you can factually disprove what I have said above.
I am a registered independent for a reason, and I vote. I also make a point to know what I’m voting for.
What most Americans are forgetting that this is not all about Wallstreet problem. Sure they were greedy and fuel the money supply, but there were so many that gave money away to non qualified AMERICANs like you and I. Wait a minute! Tons of supplies of money and house should made it affordable, but THE DEMAND was higher, yes, we America wanted more house and wanted to buy homes that we couldnot afford. Many bought the house just so they could turn around and sell it and some never had intention of making any payments. That is why we have so many bad foreclousure. People who has no income or getting min. wage getting a $200K house? Just as we are blaming Wallstreet, we should kick ourselves for starting the trouble as well. So that Joe Broke who just walked away from no down pay, run down house with all the appliances from that house think again, you not only made off with several months of free rent and appliances you can sell, you are also stuck with paying back via taxes for years to come, not to mention rest of America!
INVESTMENT COMPANIES:
They profited by:
Issuing high risk loans.
Collecting a lot of closing costs
Collecting points fee
Getting huge commissions
At the end, the corporate officers made a fortune, and the investment companies OWN the properties that forclosed (i.e. THAT IS STILL WORTH A FORTUNE).
THE INVESTORS:
They made a LOT of money when things were ok. They knew it was an investment with risk (i.e. NO GUARANTEE or FDIC insurance, etc.).
ME:
I kept my meek savings on FDIC insured savings making very little interest, but not taking any risk.
THE REWARD:
Lets reward the risk takers and allow them to make more money because of their risk taking, I, on the other hand, won’t be getting a penny for my being careful.
THE MESSAGE:
Spend and invest like a drunken sailor, the goverment (i.e. daddy) is going to get me out of trouble when I need it, so I can keep spending and investing with no care
On more note…keep in mind America part of that $700 billion dollar bailout for wall street and the banks will go to the CEO’s as their “golden parachute” that they signed in their contracts….how’s that the CEO’s and CFO’s who already make astronomical salaries will get paid by you and me ! anyone give you a golden parachute lately? can’t you and I use that money for better schools, paying our police and firefighters and school teachers more rather than cutting their jobs and their pay? Again WAKE UP AMERICA !!! Now is the time to make yourself heard.
One minute Paulson says the Investment Banks are Ok..The next minute we are taking them over…Where is his credibility!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am a small business person having a differcult time…Where is my relief????
We need to help Main street….not wall street.
Any bailout is doomed to fail. Easy money and the greed of all involved, including buyers, caused this mess. Now that home prices have started to fall (imagine that) there can only be a recovery after prices are allowed to bottom out. The government can’t possibly repay all the losses.
The bailout is probably our only out at this point. We have a choice of the two “B’s”. Bailout or Bread line. How about getting this mess behind us and then going after the bozo’s that dumped this ponzi scheme in the lap of the American taxpayer. Massive fines and penalties for every one of the high level executives and boards who now find themselves exposed for what they are, a bunch of crooks. We are not going to stop this bailout BUT we can demand that those responsible be held accountable for their actions by hitting them squarely in the wallet. Demand action for the return of ill gotten gains by contacting your representatives in Washington. If we put enough pressure on the congress we just might see some of this money returned to the taxpayers of this country. GOD BLESS AMERICA!
This bailout is pure stupidity. It does not fix (or even ATTEMPT to fix) the inherent desire of finance executives to make loans without concern for ability of the loan to get repaid, take their year-end bonus, and in this way bankrupt their company. This bailout will NOT make money (RTC lost $126 B) and does NOT include any job creation or sufficient regulation to ensure this will never happen again.
Paulson and Bernanke have been saying since August 2007 that the system is sound. This past week has shown that they are incompetent charlatans, and should be fired.
If the old-line crotchety loan underwriters who were layed off so that the banking system could “approve” all the silly loans.. were the people to assign a value to the bank loans as they entered the Fed SIV, we as a country might stand a chance of making a profit. Take the dodgy bank loans at a realistically achievable value (eg, a 50% haircut) .. and simply claw back the rest of the principal of the bailout from the profits of the banks over time.
CONgress simply must not give banks the face value of their dodgy loans. The as-is proposal is the essence of the Greenspan put, which must be extinguished from the world economy.
We Americans are ADAMANTLY OPPOSED to being stolen from on this huge magnitude. We prefer to be screwed by the globalists bankers and the over-reaching federal government (both parties) a little a time.
Wake up SHEEPLE! Our country is being stolen out from underneath us by the aristocrats who seek to rule the world. Get ready for the AMERO (the currency of the coming North American Union) when the dollar is no good anymore.
Ron Paul has been telling the American people the truth about our monetary system for years – and you SHEEPLE wouldn’t listen. We had an honest man who understands the Constitution and FOLLOWS IT, and you SHEEPLE chose the McBama (screw-U.S.) ticket. Shame on you.
There’s Ying, and then there’s Yang !
If All the big intitutions are using our Money to Bail themselves out, then the opposite needs to come truy, i.e i Need my profits. Or looking back, i was not part of all the profits Wall street firms took in.
First of aall they suckered in lot of innocent people with the Mortgage deals, and made all the profits, and now they are asking for our help.
What a Sham !
Where were the Govt Regulators when they were scamming all the people with all the fancy mortgages and loans ???????
They need to be taken to task. Just like Blood Diamonds, these companies have encouraged “Blood-Mortgages”.
They need to pay! Dont come to me or any other tax payer for bailout.
I think if you add up all the Millions of $ in Executive salaries and compensation, they should hold these executives responsible, and make them pay!!!
My position: The members of congress that passed the Community Reinvestment Act (1995), that mandated the requirements that banks and related institutions make loans to people who would not normally qualify in the low to moderate income bracket be made responsible for this mess. Let them pay for the bail out.
This act initiated the start of the real estate boom by a dramatic increase in home sales and new home purchases that has continued since this bills enactment. This was a case of trying to help those that could not or would not seek to self improve them selves because we teach them the government will provide for those not will to do for themselves.
As long as we maintain this mentality that wealth redistribution will make the world better by raising the level that poverty begins, this problem will continue and our country and society will become a bunch of people with no motivation or imagination no able to care for themselves and waiting for someone to live for them.
The bail out is wrong period….let the market correct itself and let the greedy corporate wall street mongers fall from their grace….this bailout will not help you and me the average taxpaying citizens it will only help the white collared wall street corporations….and you and I will pay for their mistakes…why should we ? don’t let the government fool you into thinking it will help you and me …..as alaways they are supporting the big money people because they are the ones who supprt them by donating to their campaigns….don’t be fooled America.
Also I have never seen so much talking out of both sides of their mouths from the US government as I have seen recently…..they say “less government ” and then they say they want the US government to essentially own and regulate the banking sector ? which is it? I’m confused less government or more? Isn’t it more government while we and our children and grandchildren pay for the war in Iraq, the $700 B dollar wall street bail out and the list goes on…..how do you as a taxpaying Ammerican benefit from any of this spending….what about bailing out Socail Security since we keep being told it will be broke when we get ready to retire? how about putting some of the $700 Billion towards education and healthcare…the things that mean something to us….let wall stree tumble and put the $ where it can really help the average American citizen…on a final note please remember who has been in office for the last eight years !! can we afford this type of Politics anymore? take back your country america. Will Obama make it better I don’t know but what I do know is McCain will be more of the same….he already talks out of both sides of his mouth…once elected like Bush he will do what he wants and screw you and me.
Before expressing such vehement opposition to the bailout by the government, individuals need to consider the consequences of letting these institutions fail, which, one could argue would be significant between tax revenue, employement statistics, and consumer confidence. The proliferation of lending in this country was in part due to the government’s monetary policy and rate setting over the past decade, so it is justifiable that the government is present to assist in the cleanup of the current market crisis. And lastly, there is a plethora of comments in which people are suggesting the government should help the homeowner, the individuals with the mortgages, but I would offer this: while many loans are in default, there are also many individuals who have (and may continue to) lived comfortably beyond their means for the past decade – who have lived in houses in grand size and aestheic beauty, in communiteis with better services and schools. I’m not saying their wasn’t any fraud or misleading terms in the mortgage documentation or in broker’s offerings, but I have a difficult time with the number of people not accepting the fiscal responsibilities and pressures they put on themselves by overextending.
People have become pampered they want more then they can afford. Companys have sucked people into buy saying you can afford it just to get your money. Take a loan after loan. Goverment has made bad decissions. Americans have made bad decissions.This has become a no money needed country. Plastic has become the new money. You cann’t see a twenty dollar bill that is what you really have you see a card so you see what you want. So the question is do we pay up now or let our kids pay later. If we cann’t pay later will we still be America or will we be owned by a country who can pay it. Sooner or later you have to pay you bill. No I don’t think it should be done. There’s got to be another way. Quit making fast decissions think about it. Making fast decissions is what gets you into trouble in the first place. We cann’t be pushed by scare tactics. What will truly happen if we don’t.
I have told my Congressman, Senators and both Presidential candidates that if they vote to approve this bailout while leaving intact the personal fortunes of those responsible for the problem, I will RUN, NOT WALK to the voting booth on Election Day to vote them out of office.
I got out of the market a year and a half ago because of the risk. Now I know I have the taxpayers backing I’m getting back in. The rules have changed no one can lose I think they call this socialism. Most people will do there best to avoid taxes now. They are going up bet on it. The market will go up you can’t short.
I’ve spent Sunday morning watching the news programs and I’m torn. On one hand, what kind of a message are we sending our children, you can be irresponsible, without accountability. But on the other hand, if Wall Street fails, then we are really in trouble. I’m more concerned that history is repeating itself. I know this is unlike anything we’ve ever gone through, but to me, its no different than what we went through with Enron/WorldCom debacle. Greed vetoes Values. I was fortunate enough to be a part of the Internet/.com boom and also fortunate enough to see it bust. I was also one of the lucky ones that was part of WorldCom. I’m sure many people (who are far smarter than me) will be evaluating this for many years to come, but let’s take a moment to look at why this happened. We spent the past 7 years at War, all of our resources, (the same resources that should have been used for domestic policies) at War. It’s easy to point fingers, but we are all Americans first. We need to work together and be responsible. We can’t just leave it to our children to figure it out. American, I challenge you to take care of your own finances. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. If you can’t pay your bills, do something about it. If you lost your job, move and get another job or 2. One thing this debacle should teach us all, we should be humbled, we should be responsible for our actions, we should stop pointing fingers and do something. Take care of our own business. Our lives are a microcosm of the world that we live in.
NO, NO, HELL NO! It makes me sick how many extras the rich receive, just by their disposition. Now, the excess has risen to a level where there now are no punitive consequences for their willfull and reckless behavior. I am incensed by the pass these Wall Street hot shots will receive after ruining the economic foundation of our country. People used to get shot for treason; these guys won’t even get a slap on the wrist…
Economic meltdown IS the solution to the problem people. You must let the market correct itself. Letting the bailout continue spells havoc.
The bailout will only delay the meltdown…only difference is the working class will bare the burden as opposed to stock-holders, bankers and the elites.
Anyone who defends against an immediate meltdown obviously is a stock-holder, banker, elitest or politician (same politicians with billionaire benefactors).
The government selling the people out like this is the greatest act of treason…ever. For us to stand by and let them do this is just wrong.
Why don’t we hear more about this in the news? Incidentally this Angelo Mozilo was also a co-founder of IndyMac Bank of California which they sold off from Countrywide in 1997 and coincidentally also failed and was taken over by regulators in July 2008 costing taxpayers more money. All the while while Countrywide Financial was failing he was selling 409 Million in his own stock and telling shareholders the company was doing fine. Then you must ask, why isn’t this man in jail? Evidently Angelo had many friends in Congress:
“In June 2008 Conde Nast Portfolio reported that several influential lawmakers and politicians, including Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, and Fannie Mae former-CEO Jim Johnson, received favorable mortgage financing from Countrywide by virtue of being “Friends of Angelo.”[9][10] Senator Dodd received a $75,000 reduction in mortgage payments from Countrywide at allegedly below-market rates on his Washington, D.C. and Connecticut homes”
NO BAILOUT; this is just like the fear Bush succeeded in creating for the war on Iraq; – “if we don’t act now it will be worse” he say. All things change and react – the market will find ways and opportunities to get money without the help of the government – But more importantly this bill has no accountablity – and you see what Bush does without accountability – seems Congress didn’t learn the first time when they vote for the use of force in Iraq; in the year to come they will agrue over who voted for the use of force on Americans … but in the end it will be war against average Americans
Having read ‘The Law’ by Frederic Bastiat from 1850, I can see how smart this man was to predict the ‘legal plundering’ of one class in favor of another. The Federal Reserve Act needs to be reversed and stop all this fiat money that so many of our presidents fought against for so long! This 2-party government is bailing out the ‘insiders’ while building FEMA detention camps to intern us ‘protesters’. What happened to Constitutional Republic? I’m sick of hearing ‘democracy’, which is NOT what this country is supposed to be!
Let Wall Street rot! So what if world economics go down the tubes. I think we need complete destruction so we can actually build a system that works and one that doesn’t benefit crooks!
The bailout will not work and then the taxpayers will be $700 Billion poorer and the Banksters $700 Billion richer. Will Paulsen and Bernake agree to go to jail if it does not work? People who think it is “probably necessary” have no clue as to what is happening. This is a monster power grab by those who intentionally created the problem in the first place. Now they want more power so they can screw us some more! This will confirm the US as a socialist/facist government. Dump paper money, exchange it for gold and silver! (U.S. Const. Article I Section 10 “No State shall…make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts”)
This bailout gives the treasury unlimited funding to do whatever he wants and complete immunity to the judicial system indefinitely. Read the fine print. $700bn outstanding at any given time. That means they can buy assets and dump them back on the market taking billions of dollars in losses and dumping it on the taxpayers, then do the same process again. They could launder all of Fannie and Freddie’s debt in the first day, leaving taxpayers to take their losses on evil usury.
STOP THE BAILOUT. THIS IS NOT SOVIET RUSSIA!
BUSH & PAULSON: THIS IS TREASON! WE ARE FREE AND YOU WILL NOT ENSLAVE US IN DEBT!
This is a mistake- Rewarding poor fiscal management with such an amount is sending the wrong message. Why should any CEO of large corporations be concerned with authoring and abiding by a good business plan? If the business fails, so what, the G will bail me out. Maybe I will try this when my mortgage arrives next month; “Sorry, I can’t pay you, I decided to spend all monies set aside for you guys on the new GT2, but don’t worry, Uncle Sam will pay you”
I do not believe the spin that this will be an opportunity to generate funds; but rather a perceived fix that amounts to nothing more than a band-aide on a dying patient.
Why are the companies who took advantage of taxpayers getting help? Why should taxpayers foot the bill for their greed? The government should allow all homeowners to write off the depreciated value of their homes so they can stay afloat. That way, the homeowner can continue to make a living, just like the companies being bailed out.
Why should we believe one word from any of these elitist? The principals involved, move from the private trough to the public trough and back again. If this country doesn’t vote non-2 party in November, NOTHING WILL EVER CHANGE. 700 billion will be the biggest WMD ever perpetrated on this country. Thanks for nothing BUSH LEAGUE.
This bailout gives the treasury unlimited funding to do whatever he wants and complete immunity to the judicial system indefinitely. Read the fine print. $700bn outstanding at any given time. That means they can buy assets and dump them back on the market taking billions of dollars in losses and dumping it on the taxpayers, then do the same process again. They could launder all of Fannie and Freddie’s debt in the first day, leaving taxpayers to take their losses on evil usury.
STOP THE BAILOUT. THIS IS NOT SOVIET RUSSIA!
BUSH & PAULSON: HANG YOURSELVES FOR TREASON! WE ARE FREE AND YOU WILL NOT ENSLAVE US IN DEBT!
This seems to be a narrow focused view on the government bail out. If the government did noting to stop this problem what would get! this these are the possibilites, stock market crash, 401k and IRAs and other type investments would be wiped out.(loss to americans would be in the trillions) unemployment would rise to 30 to 50% less tax payers and the govenrnment would collapse. Most small companies would go out of business, prices for products would increase as the dollar would be worthless. A world wide financial collapse. These are just a few of the problems that could take place if the govenment did nothing. Now that said we should take action to prevent this type of problem from ever coming about again and yes I believe that the responsible individual should be punished for this type of irresponsible actions. But the impact on tax payer issuses is less that the pressing issue of a collapsing econemy. This is what we as citizens need to focus on, is our very lively hood at stake?
Is this the Bush Docurion?
To bailout all the companies and CEO that knownly made bad business? Why should my children and I pay this?? I didn’t cause this to happen. Let them FAIL, and take the profits and CEO pay to pay for the failout. They cause this mess.
Like everything there are two sides. The first thing we need to do is get the economy back on its feet. We can not afford to have the economic situation of the US fail. The next thing we need to do is bring to justice the ones who have caused this mess. NO jail time just pay back what they have stole from the people of the Untied States. This will hurt a lot more. Justice must be swift. The last thing we can all do is not re-elect those that are in office, those that are campaigning right now. Send a message to Washington. Can not do your job you are out. Remember, we have elected those officials that have made this problem, so we need to take responsibility for this.
I agree with NO NO NO, yes, I have sent letters to all the people in congress that I can find. Why are we bailing out companies in a free market? Why do a select few get to keep their funding while the rest of suffer their bad decisions? If I don’t do my job, I get fired, I get unemployment, maybe, not a bonus. If this bill passes, will we relect the people who just got us more debt? Not to mention the main man is the same man who still has not found WMD’s in another county? Do we really believe him this time? Has any one wonder what happens when we can’t pay this 700 billion loan from where? Do we loose our country? We worry about a world economy, what about an American economy? Heaven knows we don’t want all the companies who took their jobs overseas to loose money! They the big companies don’t seem to get it, they created this mess, let them fix it on their own. When do we say enough is enough???????? Do not approve this bill so that one more CEO can get his bonus. Any one wonder if we told them they did not get their bonus would if they get this money would they still want it?????
The US appears to be socializing risk – but not profits. A better social investment could have been health care as it has a more certain financial return.
I suggest any executive officer from a bailed out institution be required to either spend a year in National Service or send thier children to Iraq.
At least they ought to give something back for the American public bailing them out.
With Sunday’s conversion of Morgan Stanly and Goldman Sacks from investment banks to bank holding companies they automatically come under much stricter regulation and they gain access to more liquidity based on their present assets. This also reigns in the need for speed and passage of a blind bailout that Paulson is for pushing for.
Certainly something needs to be done to shore up the flood of failing securities caused by failing home mortgage loans but NOT SO FAST THERE.. let’s look at what we’re bailing out and determine first:
1. What are we buying in this bailout? Are these legitimate securities that have been devalued in the home mortgage crunch or are they securities that have been leveraged far over their actual value by that the investment banks got caught holding when the musical chairs game of spin the security ended? Let’s stop and determine what kind of pig we’re bailing out before we poke money into it. Only a fool buys property unseen. Are we paying beach front rates for desert sand or what? If a securities value is based on true asset value then fine buy it at a discount, hold it and unload it at a profit down the road. But if it’s a security that’s been leveraged into the speculative twilight zone then make the investment bank that ended up with it eat their own foolish pie.
2. By purchasing the security does ownership of the asset pass to the Fed? If the investment banker retains partial ownership then how exactly does the Fed recover it’s bailout candy when the investment bank gets first lick?
3. A bail out home mortgage security will consist of possibly 100’s of home loans. How can a home owner negotiate terms with the hopes of saving their home when their loan is packaged with 100’s of others? If this is going to be nothing but a government give away let’s at lease give the little guy who is trying to make ends meet a shot at the brass ring. So he couldn’t make the 15 or 20 year loan payments.. can he make the payments on a 25 or 30 or even a 50 year loan? Hey if he can’t make the payments on a 50 year loan then sorry, give some other poor guy a chance at owning a home and once in a lifetime rates.
4. About this big paycheck the investment bank management got for being brilliant and buying these securities in the first place. Fine let them keep their commissions and bonuses as long as they keep the securities. BUT if we buy a worrisome security then make them pay back the commission and/or bonus they got or we take that off the top of the purchase price and let bank deal with getting their money back or eating it. NO BAILOUT that pays off managements hair brained mistakes.. and if it turns out to be fraud instead of stupidity then it’s payback in the form of cash and/or jail for them.
Yes we need a bailout but NOT SO FAST! Let’s do it with some thought and a lot more consideration for what we’re doing to who and why. If we’re buying a worthless piece of paper WHY? Let the investment bank eat their paper, we need some meat on that bone before we’re willing to chew it!
If we do a wholesale bailout that does nothing but add a trillion dollars to the national dept the repercussions will be hyper inflation without a doubt. If we don’t do a bail out odds are we’ll be inviting a depression and a return to the 30’s.
There are no good answers for this mess our government has lead us into. REMEMBER THAT WHEN YOU GO TO THE VOTING BOOTH! WE need to send our politicans a serious message.. with a pink slip attached!
Who’s going to bail me out when my ARM’s come to term and the rates increase? Who’s going to bail me out when I can’t sell the property as the value is gone? No one. Look for me at my second job at Walmart or McDonald’s to keep my family together. Oh, but I forget. Probably all the money from my second job will be going to bail out big businesses.
No one did wrong. No one gets punished. There is just $700 Billion missing. The banks keep all the profits. The tax payers take all the losses. I am tired of being the little guy.
House prices are a function of income, Period. Any attempt to prop them up is just causing another bubble
I’m not sure of the numbers, but if the bailout is, say, $800 billion, and there are 200 million taxpayers, that comes down to $4000 average per tax payer. If these financial companies are to survive, why can’t that $4000 I paid now be an investment that I made and can keep. That sounds like a good stimulus plan for all tax payers. We’re now shareholders!
If you never lived thru the great depression you would realize that the government had no choice. The consequences of a global melt down would be worst than 1929. The government however must bring in strict regulations and new rules to govern the financial community. So that this never happens again.
Is a Bailout going to give people their jobs back? Their homes back? Where is this country going? No to the Bailout.
This bail out is insane. There are huge liquid assets and a process in place to deal with default and bankruptcy, it will work. The cost IS the responsibility of those who made there own personal fortunes by taking unreasonable risk to satisfy their greed. Now they need to pay.
The government does not need to step in quickly to bail this out. The problem is huge, the process is huge. The IRS will handle tax problems, the courts will assign management of the details of bankruptcy including defaulted mortgages. The advantage of this process is that the cost will first come from the assets of the company.
As far as jobs, jobs are made and lost every day. It happens that companies layoff 10-30,000 people. If AIG of Bear Stearns has to lay people off I hope they start at the top, that’s where the most benefit will come from.
A few less mega banks of insurance companies, they created the problem, they need to fix it. If they are left to work this out by the existing process then more regulation will not be necessary, the punishment will fit the crime.
HELL-NO! Pay attention and listen to the public. Listen Up America, wanna stop the B.S. Help the American people who lost their homes or who are going to lose their homes. Let’s all stop paying our mortgages for a year and watch the rich commit suicide! Let’s wake them up!
NO BAILOUT! – Call, write, email your congressman.
$700B/(301M people in US) = $2326 for every man, woman and child in the US.
I should pay to help the people that are ruining my neighborhood stay? I should pay to help out the financial institutions and builders that made all of this possible? I should pay to help those that decimated the equity that I WORKED HARD FOR AND SAVED ALL OF MY LIFE AND PUT INTO MY HOUSE? No! It’s not fair!
My congressman is definitely going to hear from me on this one.
Wrong, Wake Up America!
These politicians have some nerve, sticking the little man with the losses by irresponsible Wall Street investors. Americans are starting to wake up, and they are ticked off!!!!
The worst part of it is that the government is actually convincing some people that they will make money off the AIG and similar takeovers. Are you kidding me? In the strange scenario that the government were to see a return on its 80% stake in AIG, do you honestly think you would see any of that money!!!!! If so, I have some property in New Orleans next to a pretty levy to sell you. Come on, if they ever earn anything from AIG it will go straight into the next pork program. It is like they are doing an end around taxation, they just steel the money before we get it!!!!!! No need to tax, we never get the money in the first place. Maybe they’ll do that for everything, run ALL companies and collect all the money, then instead of taxing us, they will graciously give us money for bread and water, keeping the rest for government programs… Start the revolution already
There is nothing in this for ordinary Americans – except the tab. A close friend lost a home within and auto within the last 30 days – and not through extravagance or poor planning. No one bailed him out. I used to work in consulting and this is the classic shotgun approach of throwing money at a problem hoping something will happen to work. Again – there is nothing in this for the middle class or the poor, and the consumer IS going to be conspicuously absent both from the party (which Wall Street seems to think this is) and also from the economy in coming months…
Sure, banks are important institutions, but let the failing banks be rescued, if needed, on a case by case basis. There are plenty of healthy banks in good shape, right now. Using taxpayer money to blanket refund all the bad investments that the investment community made is a terrible. This is a shakedown of the system. Let it shake down, the good banks will survive, let the government keep the average citizen in mind first, not the investors.
to Josh from Brookfield, WI
If it is so good a deal as you pointed out, why no one in the world wants to buy it? Obviously, this is a rotten deal. We need a national referendum on the Election Day to let voter decide if we want this bail out!!! I will go along if majority of our citizens willing to sacrifice for the action of Wall Street. Short of that, I just don’t trust our officials to spend our money while they are on Wall Street payroll, i.e. donation.
Did anyone read the article that was published recently that stated that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had spent 170 million over the last 10 years to lobby congress so it would not be regulated? I thought it was odd that we have not heard either candidate mention the lobbying that went on by these two that basically bought them favorable treatment from Congress. You know why? Some of the biggest proponents of them was none other than Barny Frank himself the posterchild for both of these organizations. Before we start blaming any one party for this mess keep in mind that Barack Obama recieved the 3rd highest amount of campaign donations from these two over the years and Mccain recvieving a much smaller amount. The blame lies with all of these people!!! We have lost control of our government to special interests and until we demand change this is what we can expect from our elected officials. Instead of getting angry about your tax dollars bailing out Wall Street take a look at how we got here. Senator Dodd who oversees the Banking Commitee received a special low interest house loan from Angelo “should be in jail” Mozilo who was then CEO of bankrupt Country Wide Financial. You think that didn’t help them get the treatment they needed from Congress to look the other way when his firm was lending to people they knew could not pay back the loans and collecting the commissons? We have not heard much about this because they don’t want you to know because they are all repsonsible. Wake up people and look at what is happening and you will soon see that our govenment does not serve the people, only themselves.
This is wrong. I should not have to pay for private companies dealing. Just because they have bad debt on their books. They knew what they were doing. Just like I knew want I was doing to get into debt. Heck, I have bad debt and I can’t get rid of it. Hell I can’t even file for bankruptcy because of the laws that congress made a few years back to help protect companies that issue credit. This country is going to hell in a hand basket in a hurry. Help the people not the major corporations, Private industry is in the business to make money but not with my tax dollars. Only when I choose to do business with them. Do not pass this legislation it will do more harm to the American people in the long run.
The only one who got a bailout are the bankers. We are going to have to pay because there are a lot of people who took out loans they can’t afford. Lesson learned , keep government small live within your means. shut off the TV. educate yourself on money management.
Why is not one politician asking Wall Street to pay for the mess. Wall Street has the money and resource to do so. Simple solution is to add transaction fee or tax to return the tax payers money. Loan them the money do not give it to them.
Ok so I know this is gonna sound crazy but I’ve had enough of all this financial sector meltdown/bailout. The news talks about how the Fed/Central Bank/Treasury is securing the markets via huge outlays of cash. What they don’t say, but should, is what this really means – that you, me and everyother red-blooded taxpayer is going to foot the bill – again.
We’ve done this schtick before – say “savings and loan” and what do we get as thanks? Sure the economy keeps rolling along, we get a few hundred bucks and we are supposed to be happy. In the meantime, the criminals of Wall St., you know, the guys who got 6 figure bonuses for being clever at fabricating schemes to “make” money walk away- a bit scarred – but they walk away with their houses in the Hamptons, their sports cars and oodles of cash. Ordinary schlubs, who should have known they couldn’t afford a million dollar mortgage, get crushed under the wheels, and regular joes who haven’t done anything wrong get to pick up the tab. Nice deal.
Since it seems to be in vogue to bail out any form of economic engine in the name of securing the economy I have a marvelous suggestion – why dont we just pile all of our debts – everyone from the small to the tall into one big, gigantic taxpayer bailout. After all, if millionaire financial experts with tons of experience and supposed common sense can get in up to their armpits and have the Fed look the other way, why not offer a leg up for the common man.
While this could never happen (heaven forbid we should get any relief for paying this bill) I have a certain logic here. Since the clowns who are now letting us pick up the tab are the same boobs who bring to us convenient banking features like merciless credit scoring and loan shark credit card practices it seems to me that it is time that we, the ordinary, just trying to live life, no I don’t have an economics degree from Harvard, regular dudes get a chance to get out from under our debts. We roll it all up in a neat little package, reset the clock and expect to pay higher taxes for 15 years to pay for it all. If they can do it, why can’t we? It IS our money anyway, right?
Since the financial wiz’s in Washington would laugh this all the way to the bank we might get their attention by showing that we mean business. After all, since they assume we have no choice but to pay for all of this, maybe we could exercise some power. Just a little to show them that maybe we really are in charge. I propose that one way to do this is very simple; it requires some daring, but as they say “no guts, no glory”. What I would propose is that at some suitable time – say 2 weeks before the election, anyone with enough daring, should pull all of their 401k funds from every instititution. Ask for it all back. I know that this is a scary thing- retirement is riding on it. But even more is riding if we dont. If we can’t get Washington to reform and get the banks under control, off our backs and at our service, we will never get ahead. Think about it – banks get preferential interest rates and they charge us through the nose – all to use our own money! I’m not predicting anything, but 1) I bet it isn’t there 2) I bet Wall St. will notice. Washington will of course continue to fiddle.
Well, I know this is nuts – the times are crazy. I don’t expect that anyone would dare do this, but if I hear of enough groundswell, count me in. And if Washington decides to help the taxpayer (what a novel idea!) and bail us out, add mine too…..
This bailout is plain wrong! My husbands company was TRASHED by an inside thief and he was forced to declare bankruptcy. It devasted both our lives and many others who worked for him. Why won’t the government (taxpayers) offer him a bailout? Heck no! He jumped up and fought on his own two feet and had to lose everything and start a new company. Awww what’s the use, does anyone that can make a difference even read our opinions and thoughts? No, they don’t care what we think. They just take our money.
I am over 40 years old and am still not a homeowner because I had more sense than to spend over 50% of my income for an overpriced house.
The bank cartels need to die off so that homes can become affordable again. The federal government’s response is that these institutions are ‘too big’ to die. To me, that means we ‘little people’ should die for them.
For months, even years, the excuse for not reforming the banking industry and restoring sensible regulation has been that it would destabilize the markets.
Now that the markets are in disarray, the excuse for not regulating is that we have to act quickly.
There’s always some reason to write a blank check to the fat cats.
Any bailout at all should be tied to an immediate restoration of Glass-Steagall, tighter restrictions on what can be “securitized” — we can all see how much security is involved in that — and recovery of the pay and bonuses for the greedy executives who looted the system and walked away.
Paulson is acting like a high pressure, used car salesman telling a potential customer “You must buy it now, or else the price will go up later” except in this case, Paulson and an army of banking industry lobiests are pumpimg congressmen full of doom and gloom stories that the “End of the world as we know it is upon us”. Yes, it may well be the end of a few major banks, but let that happen. With or without the bailout, (reward for failure), the economy will not be doing well over the next 5 to 8 years. Let the failure of weak banks be a lesson and warning to others not to go to sleep at the switch.
Since mortgage-backed securities were created by bundling mortgages, can’t they be unbundled and the good separated from the bad? The bad mortgages are estimated at only 2% of the total. If this is possible, it would reduce the size of the problem considerably.
The cost of the bailout is on the scale of the cost of the Iraq war to date, which is already a huge drain on our economy. We need more fiscal responsibility in this country. We can’t keep on spending beyond our means, both as individuals and as a nation.
Everyone on this blog says it all: Now its time to send all of your comments to your Congress person before this bail out is a done deal. But hurry–our leaders are pushing this real fast!!
Something foul smelling is in the air…is it fog? Yes, I think the Friends Of George have figured out a way to ensure an outcome that insures that “Those who have, continue to get.” Shame on all of those who have been allowed to be reckless without consequence but reward. We the people should not be forced into rewarding incompetence without at least a vote by those who will truly pay for this unacceptable behavior and possibly illegal behavior.
1. No Bailout. Let a few of the huge banks fail.
NOTE: A major bank failure WILL NOT result in a collaps of the economy. Further,
Further, none of the banking executives should get a bonus, nor should any of them be paid more than $259K while this “bank crisis” exists. We must not reward failure or incompetence.
2. Do not assist foreign banks.
2. Pay the FDIC insurance of 100K per account/bank.
3. Establish a fund for liquidity for businesses.
4. Do not bailout those failing with sub-prime mortgages.
I believe in letting the free markets decide. People decide when it’s feasible to invest their money for a higher return. If they succeed they’re rewarded.
A recent lesson can be found from the dot com bust. Most companies have not survived their high jinks and their stocks are did not come back. Those that did survive are just in business without stock prices returning to past highs.
So, why are we bailing out today’s ‘dot com’ bombs with just a hope that someday there will be a higher value? There is no promise of return here. The people will carry the weight the securities while the companies who overpriced them continue unpunished and free? We are on the hook now?
This may be a plan to go forward with, but I need more protection for the PEOPLE!!!
It seems like almost all of the 1000+ comments on this blog are opposing the bailout. I haven’t heard much in the news about legislators opposing the proposal. Our congressmen and senators are supposed to be representing our interests. Clearly many of us think that a $700 billion bailout is a bad idea. I encourage you all to contact your representatives regarding this.
This bailout is a huge boondoggle that won’t solve the problem. It’s corporate welfare on a massive scale.
Paulson himself has repeated that the economy won’t bounce back until the housing market rebounds. This bailout will not help that. Why?
From an AP story: “It’s just the buyer pool is so low,” [a realtor] lamented. “Eighteen months ago, you needed $500 to buy a house.” Now, all the special rates and government programs are gone, leaving buyers facing a 10 percent down payment. “You have to have money and nobody has money.”
This tells us a couple of things: first, sellers have learned nothing about their unrealistic expectations. There should never have been a time when you could buy a house with only $500 on hand.
Second, even if the banks have learned their lesson and tightened lending standards, the $700 billion bailout will fleece taxpayers of money that might otherwise be saved for that 10 or 20 percent down payment.
Third, the bad mortgages have been sliced and diced in so many directions that most people in foreclosure will not be able to get modifications that would prevent foreclosure. They won’t be able to unravel the ownership chain to get all involved parties to sign off.
This bailout is nothing but a gift to financiers who made bad decisions, and they’ll probably get fat bonuses for saving their portfolios. Meanwhile the people who made sensible decisions and investments will once again go begging.
Nothing will change unless people who made stupid choices have to dig themselves out. They will learn nothing, and the worst will learn that they can make others pay for their greed.
Obviously, this bailout is well beyond the most horrible of ideas, as many others have already pointed out.
However, one thing I haven’t seen mentioned is that although it is being reported as a “$700 billion bailout”, it is NOT limited to $700 billion!
The language in the bailout states that the Secretary can use $700 billion _at any one time_. This means that he could buy $700 billion of bad assets, sell them all (for any price – even $1!), then buy another $700 billion.
So the actual limit on the bailout is that imposed by the debt cap alone, which means that as of right now, the Secretary could run up as much as $1.6 _trillion_ in new debt under this bailout.
I’m not making any of this up. The bailout bill is very short and easy to read – you can verify all this for yourself in just a few minutes. It’s frightening 
Just amazing. Why is there such a hurry to get this passed? Can’t we even decipher what the proposal contains? How can we trust the same people that had oversight including Bernanke, Paulson and the rest make decisions with regard to a system they helped break. Sad very sad that it’s come down to this…..Is Paulson trying to save his own investments with Goldman?
If the people take the illiquid we should also get the liquid.
This is a fire sale!
They should hand over all their assetts to the government in return for being allowed to walk away free men, rather than having to pay back everyone’s losses!
I would get no better deal from them!
Here is what you can do to save money. Find last years’ tax return. if you got a refund for overpaying your taxes you have WASTED your money, many of you assume that the automatic withholdings from say an employer are fixed. You should be looking to pay the most money on April 15 that you can without penalty. It IS free money from the Government until 15 April. Or if this is a gamble you do not like, simply find out what you owed in taxes last year, divide this amount by the number of paychecks you get and have your employer take out exactly the amount to have you get nothing and owe nothing (or very close).
If you are getting a rapid refund or a US treasury check for overpaying your taxes you have no right to complain about the bailout or taxes or anything else. If you think you are already (9/22/08) getting a refund this year – that is giving the treasury your money to earn intrest on
have your employer simply stop taking out Federal taxes. Do not forget to have the withholdings start up in Jan. 09.
Its your money, use it.
This is where it begins to get ugly. Tea parties come to mind. The government has become so uncoupled from the populace the handlers, lobbyists and politicians don’t have a feel for the seething rage Americans have for this sort of action. Just as we wake up and find all sorts of back room deals and dead-of-the-night bailouts the government may wake up and find the streets filled with enraged taxpayers who have had enough.
Bernie K.
If a bear attacks your child, you don’t feed the bear. You get some friends and go kill it. The Investment Banks sought higher returns and schemed to create them, now they are paying the price. Why should we? No more Investment Banks? Hah! Just making them “Investment Bank Holding Companies” is just another scheme to recreate the monster that caused this mess.
Sec. 8. Review.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
Since when does the court system have no authority ?
Having worked in the investment area for over 40 years, the rescue package is a bad cruel joke on ordinary US citizens.How can you bail out the stupid over confident investment bankers who collected billions in bonuses without knowing the nature of risk they were peddling ?
Let’s compare this bailout to the military personnel serving overseas – they are constantly being attacked when away from their bases, they know very well they could go home severely disabled, or die. No bailout for them. Many of them can’t even get competent medical care from a military hospital, much less the money to pay for competent medical care in the private sector.
The reason the “rich” are so desperate for a bailout is the sheer embarassment of losing their priviledged status with their cronies and having to associate with the ordinary people. Let the Financial Sector collapse. Let their complex financial schemes fail, it was a fancy-pants Ponzi scheme anyway. They don’t care about the military personnel. Let them do the work all those “illegal aliens” were doing that snobby Americans were too good to do – cleaning toilets, scrubbing floors.
The rest of us in the MUDDLE class with survive.
Let’s compare this bailout to the military personnel serving overseas – they are constantly being attacked when away from their bases, they know very well they could go home severely disabled, or die. No bailout for them. Many of them can’t even get competent medical care from a military hospital, much less the money to pay for competent medical care in the private sector.
The reason the “rich” are so desperate for a bailout is the sheer embarassment of losing their priviledged status with their cronies and having to associate with the ordinary people. Let the Financial Sector collapse. Let their complex financial schemes fail, it was a fancy-pants Ponzi scheme anyway. They don’t care about the military personnel. Let them do the work all those “illegal aliens” were doing that snobby Americans were too good to do – cleaning toilets, scrubbing floors.
The rest of us in the MUDDLE class with survive.
No Bailout, No Way, No How, the tax payer is already bearing the full brunt of this market disaster to force us to pay more in tax’s is just wrong.
Drat. I meant to type :
Like others have said, it’s a pyramid scheme that has collapsed. Notice how the “unregulated” hedge funds are NOT providing any of their money to bailout these guys.
Read this :
(begin quote)
Section 8. Review.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
(end quote)
I take that to mean there will be no criminal indictments or convictions, nor any civil lawsuits against any individuals. Why? Because President Bush will not be in office to give pardons, that’s why.
The obvious reason Congress is interested in this rescue package is because so many of them get contributions from the Financial sector.
Consider how the Financial Sector has gotten Congress to Liberalize the laws that apply to them, I wonder who the real Conservatives are.
Like others have said, it’s a pyramid scheme that has collapsed. Notice how the “unregulated” hedge funds are providing any of their money to bailout these guys.
Time to repeal every law that brat Phil Gramm created and reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act(s) because the con artists are running the Financial sector.
And possibly seek Treason charges against the leaders of the Financial Sector as this is causing huge problems for the US elsewhere in the Global Economy.
How anyone could vote republican in the next election is beyond me. Bush has gotten everything he wanted since being in office. Tax cuts,tax rebates free market economy, no regulation. look where we are at. Republican economic policy has FAILED. We will be paying for this for a long time. We have lost jobs and lots more jobs will be lost. No more bailouts for anyone, let it crash and start over is the only solution. Bush and his cronies have destroyed our constition and our economy.
We elect our leaders because we think that they are honest people who have our best interests at heart. Since the Reagan years, I have felt betrayed by our government. Trickle-down economics does not work, and now I am seeing the most bold-faced example of it in this new Republican “rescue” scheme to give an additional $700 billion of the taxpayers’ money to Wall Street. Stalin also favored industry over the individual, and we all know where that led. I am not a ranting lunatic. I am a retired teacher–a mother–who wants to see our progeny enjoy all the fruits that I did of living in this great capitalistic democracy. I do not want to see our children and grandchildren strapped with the taxes that will be caused by this ridiculous experiment in plutocratic welfare.
i absolutely agree with the American Govt in trying to bail or rather come up with a valid solution to this phase of recession that is dreadfully affecting all sectors in the global economy-thye only thing i am concerned is about the spillover effect or rather cost of doing that to the taxpayers.
The headline of the article that brought me to this site say’s it all…NOT NO BUT-HELL NO!!! “Not to worry” says Bush and Paulson. “The $700 Billion we’re giving them so they can stay in operation is going to make us a profit.But we must pass this immediately!!” Where have we heard something like this before? “Not to worry-the money we spend to invade Iraq will lower gas prices and the oil Iraq has will pay us back. It won’t end up costing us anything. But we must approve this war immediately!” (Before anyone has time to rationally think it out). What next? It’s unpatriotic to disagree with us? Put the bums in jail. Not one with hedges and sauna rooms. Guantanimo. These bums have done more harm to this nation than any of the terrorists the gov’t claims they are protecting us from. Spend a couple of million to hire some investigators for the Justice Dept. and prosecute ALL wrongdoing. Go after all the millions of dollars of assets that have been paid out in bonus’s, severance’s and golden parachutes. Allowing outrageous compensations to be paid to those that are now planning to rip-off the American tax payers is only going to produce more of the same results. Interesting that one of the former heads of AIG says he could straighten up the mess for less than $20billion. He also says that allowing the gov’t to bail out the company is going to end up in NO ASSETS being salvaged.
Total cost is not 700B. 700B just the upper limit of outstanding balance like your credit card. Paulson can keep buying high and selling low and taxpayer will stuck with an even bigger bill. NO PRIVATIZED PROFIT and SOCIALIZED LOSS!!!
These CLOWNS on Wall Street NEVER PAY TAXES. The FUND candidates who RAIL AGAINST TAXES. Now guess what? They WANT A BAILOUT with our taxes !!!!
I think we should bail out any investment bank that pays 10% of gross receipts in corporate taxes.
NONE WILL SURVIVE.
What goes around, comes around, doesn’t it ?? I hope all these firms swing in the wind, frankly.
SCAM. RIPOFF. HIGHWAY FRAUD. I’m being as nice as I can, given the circumstances. FOX JUST GOT 99 YEAR LEASE ON HENHOUSE. IDIOTS. CORRUPTICIANS.
Here we go, comrades!! It was nice being in a free country. Now the republicrats are wanting to get involved with private business. We need to vote BOB BARR (Libertarian) into office, along with any other libertarians running for office & get the republicrats out of control of this country!
I better run out quick and buy a house I can’t afford too. Then default my payments, and get bailed out by uncle Sam.
I saw this house I wanted today at an open house. It was $5,300,000 in Kahala, Oahu. I can’t afford it, but maybe after a write down on my loan I ‘ll be able to.
Everyone… Go! Buy that dream house you can’t afford! Writedowns are coming! If you’ve got 50% down, only do the minimun 10%. Act poor.
I suppose the only way to justofy the package would be to increase the corporate taxes on financial services companies and partnerships. It would be suitable for the industry to be able to cover their own mess. When all is said an done it is the industry’s own failure to assess risk that is at fault – It will have to cover the bill incurred on the taxpayer in future by having less profit.
You have got to be kidding me. If this weren’t so dead serious, it would almost be funny.
You can’t cure an alcoholic by giving him a bottle of whiskey. If you provide the drunk with some booze as soon as he sobers up his hand is out – demanding another bottle. Bernanke and Paulson have not only squandered the opportunity for meaningful reform they have loosened regulations on the banking system further as this crisis has deepened! They actually gave the drunk a couple of dozen cases of liquor!
Congress is being asked to trust the entirety of the taxpayer balance sheet to these same men who have failed in every intervention in this crisis to date, and they demand this right to once again step into the breach – this time without oversight, without recourse, and without limit upon their authority!
We can throw all the money Paulson wants at this problem but that isn’t going to solve a thing. There’s too much money in the system but nobody knows who they can trust so it won’t circulate normally. Effectively, the only money circulating today is that provided by The Federal Reserve, as the lack of trust throughout the market has seized the credit system. In addition these “sneak attacks” on the markets, such as “surprise” rate cuts, “surprise” bans on short sales and other similar blatant market manipulations have resulted in people departing the market entirely, as they have no way to figure out what the rules will be tomorrow, and thus no ability to invest and trade based on their analysis of market conditions.
This proposed bill is nothing more than an elaborate asset-stripping scheme for the benefit of a few favored bankers at the expense of other market participants, the taxpayer, and the Constitution, and it’s going to make the economic and systemic problems worse by further burdening the Government’s balance sheet. If this bill is passed, I think there will be a market meltdown worse than last week’s as a result.
Our Senators should fillbuster any bailout legislation. We shouldn’t bailout of any kind for anyone, especially not for the bankers, not for investment bankers, not for CEOs, and not for big boys on Wall street.
No dictatorial power for Paulson or Bernanke. They didn’t get a single vote to be elected into office. They simply did tell the truth till the last minute or they weren’t able to see what was coming.
Taxpayers (We) shouldn’t have to bail out banks making bad loans. If banks made risky loans and didn’t execise conservative practice, they should suffer for their actions. Our Government isn’t in the business of buying and selling these bad assets. Should our government be trading these assets? Not even Wall street can put a price on these. Do we think our current administration is able to price these bad assets after how our administration has been telling a rosy picture about our economy and banking system all these weeks, months and years?
The Federal reserve and Paulson are THE SYSTEMIC RISK.
Has anyone noticed that so far all the bail outs seem to bail out forien wealth funds and the global economy where as the U S common stock holders and private investors get wiped out. AIG Fanie and Fredie Failures would have done the most damage to these funds while the majority of Lemahn’s losses were domestic
If this so called bailout isn’t done, there will be a depression. In the last one, 30% + unemployment level was reached. Average people lost everything! The worst part is that it took years and WWII to pull us out of it!
Right or Wrong, the bailout must be completed. To do nothing will mean that you and I will lose our jobs, homes and our families will suffer like America has not seen in over 70 years! We’ll become like a 3rd world country and the rest of the modern world will follow right along with us!
“Here’s a “no-brainer” for Congress: there are roughly 3 million people in the U.S. Give each one 2 mil and that equals 600 million, and we save 100 million, and jumpstart the hell out of America”
While I wish that would work “Jay in Chicago”, small problem with your idea. According to the 2000 census “The population of the U.S. on April 1, 2000 was 281,421,906″. That is almost 300 million, not 3 Million.
I also believe that the bailout is billion, not millions. And the figures you gave just don’t even come close to working out.
If I did my math correctly, 700 billion divided by the population in 2000 would equal about $2333 per person.
Why would any tax payer want this bailout to pass the way it stands? There are way too many loopholes and opportunities for corruption by government officials with no oversight included whatsoever, with ultimate authority of the money being given to the Secretary alone who cannot be questioned by anyone for his decisions.
Then Bush and Paulson exclaim that this must get passed immediately. Just sounds like another way for government officials to make a quick buck off the American taxpayer by using “Fear Tactics”.
The government is not handing out any cash to Wall Street. They are wisely buying assets, and there’s a huge difference. If done correctly, many of these assets will be bought for 30-50 cents on the dollar, and sold back in a few years at a 100-200% gain. Where does that gain go? Back to the taxpayers. This is a huge opportunity to wipe out a considerable amount of our national debt.
Doing nothing leaves us with a 100% chance of a total collapse of the banking system, since many of these banks make loans to each other, and are strongly dependent on each other in numerous ways.
It’s clearly the best move available, and one that should have been taken long ago.
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR LEADERS
THEY ARE SMARTER THAN 95% OF THE
REST CRITICAL CITIZENS.
Crooks ,liars and thieves. About a TRILLION DOLLARS in bailouts. NO WAY!!! Why doesn’t the government gives us a TRILLION DOLLAR STIMULUS PACKAGE and see how quickly the economy turns around!!!
Bush and his cronies yell WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION…Oops my bad, that was the one before, now it is ECONOMIC MASS DESTRUCTION and we suppose to submit to his wishes and pay. If the American public can’t see this as another SCAM then they are blind, gullible, or just plain stupid.
Let the banks eat their toxic papers, suffer the consequences of their greed, and earn their money honestly and with hard work like the rest of us.
Magicians create illusions. Secretary Paulson and the Bush Administration are trying to create the illusion that these so call ‘illiquid mortgage backed securities’ are loans or somehow have value. Nothing could be farther from the truth. They are derivatives. Derivatives have no intrinsic value. They may be derived from something that does have intrinsic value. They may be derived from another derivative. To me, it sure smells like some kind of convoluted form of a ponzi scheme. From what I can tell, not one red penny of the proposed bailout goes to mortgages. It is those derivatives, worthless paper that is the gum that has the credit markets seized-up, that the government wants to take off the books of banks and other institutions and put on taxpayers’ backs at the tune of at least $700 billion. Don’t be fooled. This is not a good proposal from the Bush administration.
This is the most un-American, socialist, deadbeat move that the government could have taken. Privatization of profits while socializing losses is not what the founding principles of this country are based upon. My family and I have spent years behaving in a prudent manner, watching our assets and maintaining a lifestyle we could afford…I personally have invested thousands in index-funds such as SKF, SRS, Gold, Silver, etc… only to see the government come in with their legislation and wipe out what should be gains on my part….while taxing me additionally in order to pay for the 7 TRILLION dollar bailout (remember now that the government also controls 5.5 Trillion $ of Mortgages from Fannie & Freddie…on top of all the other handouts they are giving out now)
Whatever happened to free market capitalism?
It really has shown me that the American Dream is no longer attainable. Our government has taken away from us the freedoms and liberties associated with a legitimate democracy. One aspect of free enterprise is that bad business decisions are punished whereas good business decisions are rewarded. This completely contradicts everything that our fore-fathers have fought for in wars and died for in the name of this country. I am truly ashamed to be an American…I am.
Who gets a bailout next? The automobile companies? GMAC financing has been bleeding money so I guess they should get some sort of handout. Where is my bailout? Where is my reward? I have behaved in a responsible manner for years, saving, trying to get ahead in life while paying rent. If I refuse to pay my rent, I am thrown out of my apartment. When will the government bail me out of my credit card debt? When will it pay for my monthly lease payments?
Sadly, not even other countries are willing to take me in. I’ve been denied Visas to Europe, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Hardworking, taxpaying, responsible Americans are now trapped on an island of leaches that is the United States of America. This proves that saving is something of the past and that living off of credit cards and the equity of houses that one can’t afford in the first place is the way of the future.
What a dark time for the American Economy…and an even darker time for the american dream
The Republicans and their big business buddies should be held accountable for this mess. They didn’t want regulations and look what happened. I bet they definitely knew exactly what’s going to happen but didn’t care, as long as they get enriched.
I agree with a lot of the posts. Where’s MY bailout. I was developing three properties based on my 800+ FICO, my property management history, and my steady income and NOW, with the lenders going bankrupt and/or backing out using a loophole, I’m left holding the bag. Legitimate projects that would have created additional affordable housing where it is sorely needed, stand empty, in limbo, with the builder suffering and my excellent financial history about to be destroyed. Why is the government rewarding these buffoons for failure? Reward me for trying to build, create, and improve America!
What, CNN may not post my comment? sic, sic, sic!
Controlled media usually won’t post the Truth.
Well here I go any way. The Bozos in DC, and in State Governments, and in so-called “academia” can’t tell a “Dead Man Walking!”
Theft, pure and simple. But, where do the Thief’s put their attention? Look, over here, over there, no, no… over anywhere. Ron Paul and Lyndon LaRouche have, along with other Third Party Candidates, identified the Thief(s)–the International Banking Cartel, Central Banks run by a Cabal known as the Anglo-Dutch Financiers.
Real economy is just that, real in that there are good and services of value. I am a dentist. I have a way of doing tooth replacement, patents, in half the time for 1/2 the cost. I have developed this over the past 20 years and advanced it on my own. At 65 I have a sense of accomplishment and contribution to our Great America. But now we see a meltdown that my throw us back into the Dark Ages.
Stop it! Don’t bail ‘em out, not one centavo!
Stable currency is the issue along with a humble foreign policy by removing ourselves as the sole arbiters of Truth. We the people demand a return to the Constitution, innovation and sharing value, not accumulating worthless Federal Reserve Notes of a Private Bank–The Federal Reserve Bank.
Why aren’t McBush and Obama discussing these issues? They are clueless and pawns of the Financiers.
With Ron Paul, LaRouche, and other Third Party Candidates like Nader we still have a chance, but we need to listen to their guidance and act now.
Aloha
Looking through these comments, I couldn’t help but notice that the very few folks who support this bailout seem to come from the most affluent cities in the US. So the ones who support the bailout are the ones who have a lot of money that is at risk in the stock market, and they want the rest of us to pony up our tax dollars to make sure they can hold onto their wealth. Sadly, money is power, and these wealthy folks are likely to pull this off.
Bailout!? Why is this a surprise? Go back to your Political Science class text books and re-read it – it is eerily accurate and foretelling. Our government is in bed with American corporations, they are sucking and licking each other like never before. The use of ‘greater good’ is so sickening that it rewards the irresponsible as in our government and corporations while holding back the prudent companies or entities who are going to steer this nation in the right direction.
I remembered a few months ago that Paulson and Bush put together a package to ‘help’ liar loans where they specifically said it was not a bailout. I can’t help but laugh on this statement. I just don’t see how the words help and bailout are mutually exclusive! I guess either the politicians or the majority of Americans are just stupid. It certainly shows in math and science scores. Oh wait, let’s continue to fight what to teach in our classrooms: creation or evolution, or Spanish or English.
By far, the worst decision our government has made so far is moving away from the gold standard in the 70s. This essentially allows our promiscuous politicians to spend as they wish – demanded by special interest groups and lobbyists. We’ve resorted to printing fiat money and take the approach that spend first and think later like most Americans – no wonder the negative savings rate. This round of printing will be felt for generations to come.
Had the gold standards were in place, our government surely would not be able to raise the debt ceiling or keep printing money as it wish as one cannot print the money without the ability to redeem it for gold. Come to think of it, the euro is backed by 40% gold, I should buy some or just gold. By printing fiat money, the foundations of this nation will only erode further. To a point that it will fail eventually, because no nation throughout history has survived the fiat money concept.
A phrase from Lincoln’s famous speech “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” should be translated to “that is nation, under fiat money, shall have a new birth of perpetual debt – and that government of the lobbyists, for the corporations, shall not perish from the earth”.
This creation of 700 Billion off the printing press or borrowed from China will greatly increase inflation i.e more money chasing fewer goods. What of the pending $$ to address shortages in Social Security benefits, Medicare & Health Care all which benefit more people not just so few ? Loan but do not buy these institutions out of the trouble they put themselves into. Keep them accountable….& costs to the public in check.
This bailout is pure theft. What’s ironic, is that it can never really work. It put’s off the day of reckoning, and loots the system, and the taxpayers dry. There is not enough money in circulation to cover the trillions of dollars in derivatives contracts and claims. Just not possible, except thru a hyperinflation ( ongoing for a while now ), that will make 1923 Germany look like a picnic by comparison. The only solution left is bankruptcy reorganization. This means that the federal government must put the Federal Reserve ( a private corporation ), and it’s sister banks, ( Citigroup, B of A , Wacovia etc.. ) into recievership. Then use federal credit ( Article 1 of the constitution ), and rebuild. FDR did it before. We can do it again now. Not interested? Poof!! Your mutual fund just went up in smoke. That’s my two cents worth.
700B bail out is not for the American people. Buying their toxic debt which is worth nothing is the most absurd idea. Who would, in their right mind pay real money for nothing. This is sure to end up in much higher taxes. Let the banks who were irresponsible fail. They are the problem. It would be better to give this money to the home owners in foreclosure. Atleast, the taxpayers would feel better that their money is going to help fellow Americans. The feds could give the home owners loans at 2 or 3% so they can keep their homes, and this would lower number of foreclosures and stabilize the housing market. Giving 700B to the banks is throwing money to the greedy, unethical bunch who enticed people into subprime loans. This is not going to anything to stabilize the decline in house prices. The builders increased the house prices, started their own mortage divisions, got their own appraisers and enticed the people to buy homes at exorbitant prices. The houses should never have appraised for the sale prices as the builders were increasing the prices of the houses every month, by 7 to 10%. The builders got one or two cooperative appraisers to do all the appraisals in the development, and every month the price was increased, the appraisals were increased. Builders should pay.
No, I dont think the government should pay 700B to the banks.
I am mad as hell! US credit card debt as of Nov 07 was $937.5 billion. If we bail out these banks, shouldn’t we be relieved of those debts? It’s our money and we’re getting hit twice with interest!
With current stand, China and America now are at two extremes. Not only geographically but economically as well.
The communists are taking money from riches and are distrubuting it to poors and ante-commnunist (as I now call America) takes it from poor tax-payers and distributing it to billion-dollar companies.
One of these economies is bound to explode and other will slump. I hope, experts from these economic giants will find a balance between two approaches and we can see a true economically stable world.
If I didn’t benefit like the corrupt banks, mortgage brokers and politicians did then why should I have to pay? I have a family to take care of. Will the corrupt banker pay my bills and take care of my kids if I can’t meet my obligations?
Where will the baleout money ultimately come from? When a country is running a budget deficit and is the biggest creditor nation in the world one assumes more loans? Isn’t the American government impoverishing its citizens and future generations fighting these idealogical “battles”? The money should come from the “criminals”who perpetrated these schemes ……. couldn’t this be a basis for a class action suit?
New pledge, “I pledge NO allegiance to the flag of the Republican Socialist State of America, and …” I have been a Republican for 40 years and would have never imagined this state of affairs after 8 years (mostly) of republican rule. What a corrupt administration, it is shameful. First we hear claims that regulation is too tight for business, then it is relaxed, then in the past couple years we come to find that reasonable laws against fraud and corruption were not being enforced and almost anything went. Token prosecutions were made with the likes of Martha Stewart to make it appear that something was being done – but it wasn’t. Now, we have the perpetrators (government regulators and ALL of the Bush administration) that have absolutely created this mess that can’t stand the heat in the kitchen and are the first with the most socialist actions we have ever seen. We are being told that the entire system will collapse unless we immediately agree to funnel our’s, our children’s, and our grandchildren’s money for god knows how long while watching the filthy rich become the obscenely rich. Where are the demands that the company leaders who personally bled hundreds of millions of dollars from the system, return all the ill gotten money BEFORE rescue? Most of them should probably be in prison, but that is a question to be handled by the courts, if it ever gets that far. This country is as close to a revolution as it can be without one actually popping up. Fat chance it would do any good anyway. Congress (opposite of progress) should be trying to find a way to impeach all top dogs in this administration in any way possible until Bush’s last day in office. This would be one way to possibly calm things down.
Wow, listen to our two great candidates; BO: “What we need is change, any change…” no real details or leadership ideas. Then there is JM: “I want to fire Kris Cox (which he could not do as president) for allowing naked short sales (of stock).” Shorting is one of the most stabilizing forces in the market – who else wants to buy in the middle of a sharp down move – shorts buy when everyone else is either selling or in a panic and already have sold. Neither candidate seems to understand the basics of our free market system that NEEDS enforcement of laws that are based on fundamental logic and justice.
No bailout-no way! I did nothing to contribute to this disaster-why should I have to pay? I work hard, pay my bills on time, I bought a house I could afford. Let those that caused this embarrassment feel the pain and pay the price, Enough is enough-on top of everything, congress is trying to attach another stimulus package to the bailout-what idiots! The first stimulus only added to the debt. What idiots we send to Washington! I wish I could pack my bags and leave!
Enough is enough. Average American Taxpayer- REVOLT! Don’t pay taxes. They have no respect for you or your money. They don’t care about you. They don’t hire you. They don’t pay taxes. Off-shore american corporations. They avoid taxes like they avoid hiring americans! You hear that sound. That’s the sound of them breaking into your piggy-bank.
Re: Proposed economic bailout plan
It seems the administration is doing more to try and save the companies from a Wall Street collapse rather than helping the citizens with this plan.
I have owned my home for 5 years and was forced into a negative amortization loan by the builder. Still, I have made all my payments every month, which have increased from $1400 to now $2100 a month. Soon, however, I will be out of all my savings and retirement fuinds at 60 trying to keep up and will join the foreclosure ranks, losing the $80,000 I put down on my house in the process…
My lender could easily have offered a new loan that I could afford and keep paying, but instead they have raised my interest rate to now 8.5% and make a big profit given the interest rates the government gives them from the FED. And why can;t they offer me a new loan? Because they 1) have changed their credit score requirements even though it is their loan which has impacted my credit, 2) The loan only 70% of the appraised value, and with the foreclosures my home is below the criteria even though it was appraised at $650,000 when I bought it, and 3) They do not take into account payment history in assessing a re-finance.
So now the government wants to use MY tax dollars to bail my lender out on bad debt so they can make a profit. How does this help me? Do they come out ahead letting me go into foreclosure now? How does the bailout address correcting the existing loans in jeoprady?
Unless the law stipulates that the banks and lenders receiving government assistance must offer every customer with a loan a chance to re-finance at a rate commensurate with the rate which the government is providing assistance and are required to correct outstanding loans so foreclosures stop the bailout means nothing. Government money used for bailouts should apply to any loan where payments are current by the homeowner, without any restriction on assessed value or credit score so the ‘bailout’ flow through to the taxpayers footing the bill for it.
Thank you
No bailout please. Let the market take its course. The people who ran this into the ground will get off easy and get us into the next big mess. Let them go bankrupt and change jobs.
Is there no conflict of interest with Henry Paulson having been Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs before becoming Secretary of the Treasury (only two years ago.) He and Goldman Sachs were a part of the problem. Now, we want him to determine who to bail out and at what cost.
The Congress is going to go along with the proposal in one form or another, no matter what the American citizens say. Let’s hope that someone looks at the “Review” section of the proposal that says Paulson will not be reviewed by anyone in any administration or in any court of law. He can do anything he wants to do with no recourse.
Dick Cheney feathered Halliburton’s nest. Why should we think that Henry Paulson won’t feather Goldman Sachs’ now that it has changed from “investment bank” to GS Bank USA?
We have been lied to and led down the yellow brick road for eight years. Why should we trust Henry Paulson to be different?
Any solution has to be paid for though repeals of tax cuts granted to wealthy individuals, especially the 2000 tax cuts. The wealthy were the ones who benefited the most from these trades during the boom, so they should be the ones who pay for them now that things have gone bad.
I love how the apostles of the “free market” cult that’s been sweeping the nation for the past several decades are now begging Washington for help. The free market certainly is a double edged sword, isn’t it?
Those old Depression era regulations and tax structures were in place for a very good reason. I hope that’s obvious, now.
Personally, I’m about as free market and Republican as you can get, but the free market pendulum has gone too far in the last several years. We are looking like Rome under Nero. We have absolute decadence and debauchery at the top without any consideration of the future or the consequences. There’s a huge sense of entitlement at the top and no sense of sacrifice, even if they sacrificed for their respective companies. If you send your workers into the Coliseum to be eaten by the lions for fun, who’s going to make your luxury goods or buy the products and services of your company?
If the average person can’t buy the products and services of our economy, nobody will make any money. The mortgage problem is one that needs to be solved at the bottom, not the top.
As written, this bailout is a dog, to use a nice Wall Street term.
Finally! You folks are angry. I’VE BEEN WAILING ABOUT THIS FOR MONTHS. How many of you could get a job at these companies? You’re not good enough, didn’t go to the right school, you don’t have that silver spoon. Did you buy (or refinance)homes you could not afford? You sat by and watched them live large and buy fancy homes, clothes, meals, cars, vacations, etc. They’re not done yet. Now, you have to bail them out. SUCKERS!!!!!!!!!
The government has never given a rat’s patootie about me and I’m supposed to think they care now? And this “plan” is to benefit me? oh please, what a crockful.
Bush lied about the necessity of war in Iraq and now he’s trying the same tactics with the economy. If passed this will be money in the pockets of bank executives and Bush cronies. It won’t be coming to my pocket.
And there will be yet another bailout afterwards. This doesn’t guarantee anything…..except rich rewards to greedy bank executives who deserve to go to prison for what they’ve done.
I assume that the best financial think tanks have combined to make a decision in choosing the leser of 2 evils – Debt to the US Govt. Vs. Meltdown of financial markets and destruction of the dollar.
I heard that the foreign governments and institutions invested heavily in the US financial corporations threatened to sell dollars by disinvesting treasuries and bonds.
It is the poor hardworking US taxpayer that will suffer for the greed of these pigs.
IMO the federal government exists for two reasons
1. To secure the rights of the citizens.
2. To facilitate trade.
Therefore I’m ok with a ginormous bailout…
I just don’t think it’ll work…
I keep hearing that this crisis is caused by the decline of housing prices… thats simply not true… this crisis is caused by high energy prices weighing down the entire economy. The goal of this bailout as I understand it is to make loans more accessible… well… unemployed people who have their houses foreclosed don’t go get loans for new houses…
If energy was cheap and other industrial resources were cheap this bailout would work…but as I see it we’d be better off spending it invading Iran and stealing resources… excess RESOURCES grow the economy… not excess CASH.
We’re going to throw money at this in order to save peoples retirement accounts… well… whats that going to do to inflation? and isn’t THAT already taking a chunk out of long term savings?
I am very concerned about the future of the market but I’m assuming this $700B is going to fail… so I rearranged my portfolio to reflect an ‘early depression environment’… I have PM (physical) and Agriculture.
Surfa talks about ignorance when he he/she is leader of the pack.
Economists with views like yours is the reason we are in this situation in the first place. Economists with the views you hold screwed up and we don’t care to hear your bull anymore.
The market needs to come down and we should let those companies fail. Then we would have a bad but shorter recession.
Instead with this place we will have a delayed and VERY long recession (10 years?) with Hyperinflation that will result in a great depression when the Federal Reserve finally decides to raise the interest rates. They will be laughing at people who fell for this all the way to the bank.
You have been deceived Surfa!
Using taxpayers’ money to bail out the Wall Street for their disastrous mismanagement and mistakes just does not make sense at all. Instead, each household of this country should receive a bail out lump sum say $100,000 over the next 2 years. This is because only people themselves know exactly where their financial needs are. With the money, people that are behind in their mortgage can pay down their debts and get out of their finanical crisis. For others, they can use the money to invest in their business or retirment/college funds etc. This will create a healthy economy from the grass root level up instead of pumping $700 billion to the big boys on Wall Street. Remember, whenever the government create a program such as social security or FEMA, it usually will end up in a mess or a bigger problem. Not sure the idea of buying all the illiquid assets and hoping it will generate a profit in the future will work out without corruption, mismanagement and more horror stories.
The best thing we can do is contact our “so called” representatives in Washington
If they can’t slow down but instead rush through this bill WITHOUT evidence shared with the public that the financial world will collapse yet again vote them out in November…if they don’t delay the election for this or other trumped up crisis.
King Henry has cried wolf 3-4-5 times now and he has brought forth 5 or 6 plans since last August “sub-prime fix”…all 4 or 5 todate have failed at solving this global risk.
So why won’t this? Vote with your money /investments but be careful of the legislations fine print ” I read broker accounts will no longer be segregated but become available to brokerages for loans to their companies, with us as potential creditors in a Bankruptcy!
Are we saving the stock market manipulators with the destruction of the Treasury market & what is left of the US dollar? Looks like it to me…
I along with the vast majority of tax payers cannot accept this Buyout. We saw the same thing with the S&L Problem.
If the Feds do this, than at least Forgive the Mortgage Debt on our homes, so we are not paying twice.
And for all you which THINK this is a LOAN, History Repeats Itself….. Watch WHO Votes FOR THIS and ANY Future BUYOUT and then VOTE THEM OUT of their JOB!
All the CEO’s making Millions should be ashamed, and the shareholders need just what they are getting for allowing THEIR Companies to Feed these FAT CATS!
No CEO, CFO etc, is worth more than $250,000.00 Per Year and NO STOCK OPTIONS!!!!!
Our Country is heading for a National Revolt from its Citizens! Well Justified……….
Robert.
This is not a bailout by the “Federal Government.” The proposed plan authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury (now Paulson) to use 722 billion government dollars to buy and manage mortgage backed securities at his discretion. It also provides that his decisions are not subject to review by congress or the courts. As written, the law would give Paulson unfettered discretion to do whatever he wants, without any oversight by any governmental agency or the courts. No wonder he likes it. If anyone doubts this, I suggest you read the text of the proposed law.
I’m with Josh from NY. The majority of you are clueless to how the failure of companies like AIG would affect you. Before you contact your representatives, figure that out. If AIG fails, your life will suck beyond your wildest dreams. This isn’t about saving bad companies or corporate favoritism, it’s about saving the economy from bleeding out. AIG, Bank of America and two or three other companies are the institutions behind the institutions we all (and the economy) depend on. Last week, we lost Lehmen and Merrill Lynch who were also part of this group. These are the companies that are at the top of all things financial in the US. It’s hard to imagine anything that doesn’t depend on them in some way. Of course we can’t let them fail. If they fail your retirement, insurance, the stock market, smaller banks, mortgage companies and the US economy as a whole will fail. Put aside your emotion and educate yourselves. You DO NOT want what you’re asking for.
I am 100% opposed to the bailout. I spent today faxing, emailing and calling my Congressmen to tell them to oppose this in no uncertain terms. I suggest everyone do the same. When will people wake up and realize this is just another Ponzi scheme designed to allow Wall Street to steal from the taxpayers yet again? Paulson is already chastising Congress for seeking limits to executive compensation in this “program,” in other words, Paulson and co. are already gunning to profit off the interest charged on this taxpayer-financed 700 billion dollar “loan”! It is complete and total pillage. This will only allow these criminals to continue their Ponzi scheme! As Dr. Ron Paul has said, the bailout is just another fix for the addict, it will not solve the problem– addiction to easy credit, an unconstitutional Federal Reserve system governed by the private banking industry, an unsound monetary policy, and endless debt.
No one in my viewing of the media coverage shows any opposition to the administration planned action. There are many issues that could be covered, Constitutionality or even the more fundamental effects of these institutions escaping their “moral hazard”. I see the lack of coverage as an act of cowardice on the part of the media,
probably by active (legal) warnings of market panic avoidance…
If the bailout where instead converted to an individual stimulus, taking down and reducing the size of these company that are now too big to fail, and granting each citizen an $11,000 personal economic stimulus.
Anyone smell a rat?
Paulson, 60, is leaving Goldman while the firm is riding high.
The company had earnings in 2005 of $5.6 billion up 24 percent from a year earlier. Earnings per share have handily beat Wall Street forecasts in six of the last eight quarter, meeting forecasts once and missing only once. Its shares have outperformed its Wall Street competitors over the last 12 months, rising more than 50 percent in value during that time.
His compensation last year reflected that performance.
Paulson made more $38 million in 2005, according to Goldman’s proxy statement, with most of that, $30.1 million, coming from restricted stock awards, and stock options valued at $7.3 million. He got $29.2 million in stock grants in 2004 and $20.8 million in 2003, on top of his base pay of $600,000 each of the last three years.
His Goldman stock holdings at the end of 2005 were worth just under $700 million at current prices, not including the value of his stock options. But those prices were somewhat lower Tuesday, as Goldman shares lost about 1.5 percent on news it is losing its CEO.
The pay for the post of Treasury secretary is currently $175,700 a year, or less than what Paulson earned in two days last year, based on his total compensation. If Paulson’s confirmed, American taxpayers will be paying him just a bit more than the $153,931 that Goldman Sachs paid to provide him with a car and driver in 2005.
“I want to thank Hank for his willingness to leave one of the most rewarding jobs on Wall Street to serve the American people,” Bush said. “Hank’s going to make an outstanding Secretary of the Treasury.”
Paulson has been chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs since May 1999. Before that he shared the top job with Jon Corzine, who was forced out of the firm just after Goldman went public that year.
Corzine went into politics following his departure from Goldman, serving first in the Senate, and now as governor of New Jersey. Unlike Paulson, Corzine is a Democrat, as is another former Goldman CEO, Robert Rubin, who served at President Clinton’s Treasury Secretary.
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Stop the madness
Hank Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, wants to allow foreign banks to benefit from the scheme as well. He also want no Federal Oversight Agency nor any judicial review. He wants the taxpayers of this country to not only bail out investment banks here but banks around the world. Financial companies were already lobbying to broaden the plan. And the Bush administration did indeed widen the scope by allowing the government to buy out assets other than mortgage-related securities as well as making foreign companies eligible for government assistance. As I read the U.S. Constitution, this is a unconstitutional. He wants a blank check with no oversight by Congress. He rushing to push this through. Sec. Paulson is ex Goldman Sachs executive whose net worth is reported at 700 million dollars,hmm
Call your senators and congress representatives.
I have not yet heard an adequate explanation for why this must be so rushed. It takes all year to pass the budget for a single year, but we can reorder our entire economy in a week? If the solutions are so obvious that they do not require debate, why weren’t they enacted long ago? Clearly, the solutions ARE NOT obvious. Given that, the Congress should not have this thing rammed down its throat.
Paulson was connected with the investment banking world and he comes to the taxpayer at the last minute and says…”Quick make me KING of the bank”. The FBI investigated mortage fraud back as far in Dec 2005 so Congress does not need to “Rush to Judgement”. Lets quickly investigate FRAUD first before making another IRAQ war like mistake.
I totally disagree with this bailout? Ddi any of these wallstreet firms shared their wealth when they made so much money by resorting to unethical practices? Only the executives and their shareholders benefitted. Howcome I should take the bill when they go under?
Let these companies die, and remain as examples for wallstreet companies in future.
I need 100K. Does Fed bail me otu as well?
We have seen this act before – We need the $700 billion bailout because it is better than taking no action at all – Just like this country could not wait for evidence in the form of a mushroom cloud!
And in time, the bailout will pay for itself, just like to Iraqi War will pay for itself with oil revenues.
Fool me once, shame on the administration – fool me twice shame on me!
I’m an american, Don’t cry just tell your Senator What you think. They are supposed to represent the people.
Senate contact list
Http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
If, as we are led to believe by the best and brightest minds, that our financial system was truly on the verge of collapse last week, then some type of government intervention might be justified.
However, the lack of oversight in Paulson’s bailout proposal is ridiculous. Are we to make this man the economic czar? Why on earth should Congress give one of Wall Street’s own absolute decision making powers on how taxpayer dollars are to be spent and what assets to buy? If you read the legislation being proposed, decisions made by the Secretary of Treasury will not subject to review by anyone, even courts of law.
The correct response to this situation is NOT to allow Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke, or Christoper Cox to make any further decisions on the future of our economy or stock markets. They have already demonstrated their incompetance up until this point. They orchestrated a weekend “save” of Bear Stearns in March, and everyone, including the President proudly proclaimed the economy as sound in April.
A better path for Congress to follow would be to open up the books on every major financial institution in America and demand full disclosure of CDOs held and Level 3 asset values. Make this information publicly available to investors, regulators, and stakeholders who can then determine which companies are solvent, and those that are not. Do not reward bad behavior with good money just because we are scared.
The only thing to be scared about is how much power Henry Paulson will have if he gets his way.
Open Lett to Senator Obama
Dear Senator Obama,
You have a unique opportunity to become a real leader in this election. I pray that you seize the opportunity.
1. I’m tired of people saying no one understands the economics of our country. This is only because our laws and regulations have to be vague enough to allow for loopholes for the people who caused our current economic problems. The basics of sound economics are actually very simple. Transparency of a house of smoke and mirrors means nothing. Sound basic bookkeeping principles are transparent by their very nature. I suggest you mandate a total restructuring of our accounting practices.
2. You know buying bad debt makes absolutely no sense, and is totally contrary to good economic principles. Bailing out the people who profited from this fiasco so that they can do it again is insanity! Instead of buying bad debt so that these unscrupulous companies can raise money for “good debt”, and actually profit from their crimes, we should be using the money to set up a credit agency – possibly use Fannie and Freddie since we own them now. If we the people make the new “good” loans, we will actually make money, which we could use to reduce the national debt, and we’ll be INVESTING IN AMERICA – not bailing out unscrupulous investors.
3. Secretary Paulson was one of the foxes before he was the Secretary. I’m sure he has personally profited from all of this in the past, and probably will again in the future. How can you trust his judgment to fix this mess ethically? A blank check with no possibility of review? How is that even American/legal?
4. These businesses need to face bankruptcy – it’s the only way to get back some of the money they’ve stolen. There should be criminal charges against all the executives and managers involved with these companies.
5. I feel that the country is being railroaded into making this decision before anyone gets a chance to think this plan through. Fix in haste, repent in leisure. Just what did Paulson say that scared everyone into lockstep to approve such an outrageous plan? The people have a right to know. I think a lot more thought ought to go into this plan. How much damage could be done before a new President could stop it?
6. Jobs: You really need to stress your plan to create millions of new businesses and jobs developing the alternative energy projects necessary for energy independence. Promise to create jobs rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure of our country – again jobs that can’t be shipped overseas, and investing in our country. And then actually keep those promises.
7. I hope you will prove that you aren’t bought and paid for by special interests and stand up for the people of this country who really have no other say in the outrage that is being forced on us.
8. You have to wonder how “we” bailed out some companies last week to the tune of 900 billion without question. I believe this quick bill is only being used to raise the limit on the national debt and give Paulson unlimited powers. Our government is structured so that one person cannot have such sweeping powers, I expect you to protect our country from the fundamental dismantling of our government and it’s checks and balances.
9. Don’t forget that McCain was one of the Keating 5. How can anyone use the RTC as a shining example of how the system has failed before and we survived to go on to even bigger failures? Wow, just imagine the next one!
I know I’m not an “expert”, but then I believe the “experts” are the problem. The fact is it should be simple, it’s only made complicated to con the people.
Thank you for considering my thoughts.
This bailout is bad for two reasons. First, it does not address the fundamental cause, that is, real estate downturn and properties going upside down and into foreclosure. A better way is to allow a one time rewrite of any mortgage that is upside down, to a fixed 30 year mortgage for the amount owed, at current rates. However, if the economy recovers and the property is sold above the newly financed amount, the original lender gets the excess up to the original amount, after which the borrower gets the equity. If the property is sold for less than the original amount, but more than the newly borrowed amount, the lender gets the balance. Basically, the borrower gives up all equity until the original amount is made up to the lender. However, by reducing foreclosures, you would take tens of thousands of homes off the market, and improve the real estage market immediately.
Second, this bail out helps the wealthy far more than the average guy. The average guy has some money in the bank, but it is insured. How many average Joes have more than 100K, or even 500K in the banks. They can spread it out to several banks, not too hard. But what about someone with millions, many millions, they are the ones with exposure because they own the instruments and accounts at Goldmans, AIG, Morgan, etc, and they are the ones that stand to lose the most. Much of their wealth is paper based, and will evaporate when there paper they are holding is worthless.
Hey , wheres my bailout. I was laid off 2 years ago because of the mismanaged mortgage mess , can’t seem to find a job and i look everyday……… I need a bail out to……. i am next to filing BK and loosing my house that the damn mortgage company that i worked for helped me buy with a loan i now can’t afford and they will not help me at all. I say let all those high paid exec that caused this mess toss in thier personal wealth , and sit in the same unemployement line i am in….or simply treat me the same and bail me out….
I am positive there is NOTHING taxpayers can do to stop the “bail out”. Given that it is an election year, Republicans will attempt to show they actually care about the little guy and Democrats will be too afraid not to go along.
Resigning to the fact that our grand children’s grand children will be paying for this bail out, I would like to see the plan to specifically require that the CEO of the bailed out organization to be fired and be banned from working in a financial institutions for at least four years. After all, if its fair to fire a a McDonald’s cashier if the register is short by as little as $20 at the end of the night, it certainly is fair to get rid of the incompetents that are costing this country $700,000,000,000. So much for the Bush economic stimulus and tax refund…
To anyone out there that thinks the assets the Govt’ will buy will be worth more money at a later date need to learn what a NON-PERFORMING (no revenue stream) ILLIQUID (no buyer) asset is. These are bonds with loans packaged in them that will never get paid back. The customer has either walked away or told the investor they are not going to pay. How are these assets going to be worth more money in the future without any payment streams from the debtors?
In addition, if we turn this Goldman Sachs ex-CEO loose with 700 billion dollars what do you think is going to happen. The first thing I would do if I were friends with Paulson is stop paying my mortgage. Then let him know who the investor is for my loan. Have him go and buy the loan from the servicing entity for 50 cents on the dollar and then buy it back from the government for 50 cents on the dollar. Do the math…if you are friends with Paulson you are going to get a 75% discount on your existing mortgage debt.
Next what kind of assets do you think Paulson is going to to buy first? Do you think he is going to buy the $500 dollar forclosed homes in Detroit, MI? I will tell you what assets he is going to buy from his banking buddies. First is the 2-4 million dollar homes in all the CA costal cities and then sell them to all my friends for 200k. Then tell the congressional oversight committee, if they are smart enough to create one, that is the going market rate is for these homes. The he is going to have to have parties in Las Vegas on the weekends. So then he will go buy some forclosed Hotel condo projects and sell them to all his banking buddies. They can all sit around and celebrate their jobs that pay an average of 500-700k, per worker, per year that Paulson just saved. Now if you did not know this elite group life is not complete unless you own a home on both coasts so the next project for Paulson would be another condo development in FL and give them to the same Las Vegas gang because at their salaries they would only need a months pay to pick up a Paulson condo in FL. I think the Republicans realize they will not be in power again for a long time so they figured this was the best way to keep their friends on Wall Street employed and fleece the US taxpayer.
I also forgot to mention he has effectively secured all his previous co-workers jobs for a very long time by eliminating all their competition with his executive powers. While he was determining the fate of his prior wall street competitors (Bear Sterns, Lehman Brohers and Merrill Lynch) did we ever hear once about an economic crisis? BUT once Goldman Sachs was about the suffer the fate of the other investment banks suddenly there is a Global Economic crisis. HMMMMM
let them fail…an investment is exactly that. you win some and you lose some. that’s why it’s called an investment! O should not have to pay for bad bets made by people or corporations that don’t know how to read a prospectus. There is usually a section called risks and lines that explain how you could lose.
The democrats should stipulate that Bush repeal his tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans as part of the deal. They are the fat cats who got us into this mess!
The government is not giving us all the facts. We need more information. Were being told that “it has to be done, because it has to be done”. I refuse this excuse. I refuse to believe this is the only way to solve this crisis.
Josh from Brookfield, WI says: “The government is not handing out cash to Wall Street. They are buying assets, and there’s a huge difference. If done correctly, many of these assets will probably be bought for 30-50 cents on the dollar, and sold back in a few years at a 100-200% gain.”
Josh, you’re dreaming. If there were any chance these assets were going to be worth anywhere near 100% of face value again, the financial institutions holding them would have no trouble selling them. Read the news stories and learn the truth. These assets are backed by subprime mortgages that are defaulting like crazy, and the wave of mortgage defaults is just beginning, there will be a lot more as ARMs reset.
Buying assets at inflated prices is, in effect, handing out cash to Wall Street. And as the great majority of bloggers out here say, that is not just wrong, it is OUTRAGEOUSLY wrong. Are you actually pleased that your tax dollars will be going to subsidize badly-run banks? I like to keep as much of my own money as I can, not be forced by governmental dictate to turn it over to Wall Street.
Republicans continue to socialize the rich while Democrats socialize the poor, it about time we have a party in America who will care for the workingman. I thought this was a free market economy, let them fail.
This looks just like the same threats of *dire urgency* that seem to crop up whenever Cowboy Bush gets the urge to feel like our only savior (ex: the need to attack Iraq before they kill us with those WMDs).
It’s a fairy tale to think that *anyone, anywhere* will ever buy back that worthless paper; it’s toxic waste, poison, and the entire planet knows it.
This bailout gambit is Socialism, and it will further destroy the economy of this country. I will never accept anyone else changing the rules to cover their own butts.
Poorly-managed corporations fail – that is how Capitalism works. If some in government don’t like that method, they are free to turn and head for the door; be careful that you don’t get hit by it on your way out!
If this is not out to help out the troubled homeowner, what is the point? All I can see is a big help for the rich to get even richer and the middle and lower class to struggle even harder yet. You think you have far too many empty homes and bank problems now, you have not seen anything yet! When are the crooked mortgage brokers going to have to be held accountable for their actions? I fear this country is going downhill much faster than most people think. There are going to be if not already more homeless than home owners. The American dream is already gone. Too late for recovery.
EVERYONE…….for the sake of your retirement…….check out another “private”, government-sponsored organization…PBGC……THIS SCENARIO WILL REPEAT ITSELF!!!!GET OUT NOW!!!!
Throw out every member of Congress who votes to approve this bailout. If you think that only 700 billion will fix this problem then you are sadly mistaken. Let these companies who got us into this disaster fry.
So the taxpayer should reward the parasites who caused all the problems in the first place??
If this goes through America is doomed. (And so are all spineless congressmen and senators voting yes).
There are plenty of players – government, home owners, mortgage brokers, real estate agents, mortgage lenders – who made excesses when the going was good, and created today’s mess. But given where we are today, I think it is a good winning formula for everyone. Here is how:
1) Homeoenwers: if you are a homeowner in default whose mortgage will be purchased and likely modified by govt., you directly benefit. If you are a homeowner who is able to pay his mortgage, you benefit indirectly, becuase the shabby-looking foreclosed home next door, probably infested with criminals, that was artificially pulling down the price of your your home may now be maintained by a large central body via an organization located in your city. You may even get better mortgage rates, since the risk is being absorbed by the govt.
2) Non-homeowners: If you don’t own a home, you probablky are have bigger savings in stock markets. You have seen the values of your holdings bounce back and forth, mostly tumbling down, due to economic uncertainties. This makes the market dynamics more predictable, and thus helps you by stabilizing your job prospetcs and the value of your equity investments. You may also benefit from an uplifted neighbourhood through govt. rehabilitation of the abandoned homes.
3) Business owners: If you are one of those lucky few, you benefit by having lower borrowing costs, and probably also benefits from (2) above.
4) Financial Institutions: They obviously have some benefit in being able to get some cash for their mortgage holdings, although it is doubtful what price they will get. I am guessing it will be around 50 cents on a dollar of mortgage loan.
The clear winner in this whole fiasco are the people with low credits who gambled with easy mortgage money, and are now getting out scot free when the market has turned sour. Middle income respectable families are the ones who will be trapped in their homes for a long time, buried under their mortgage debt. I wish govt. would criminally procesute every home investor and real estate broker who bilked mortgage lenders of billions of dollars. ‘Not getting a mortgage loan for another few years’ is no punishment at all.
All said and done, 2 years down the line, we may all feel quite happy about this.
I am wondering why those CEO’s don’t kick in their golden parachutes in order to help out with this crisis? My opinion is that this is treason and those who got us into this mess (see: Republicans) should be held accountable and tried, thrown in jail and throw away the key.
And here McCain wants GRAMM to be on his cabinet??? Tell Paulson NO, NO and NO.
And to the Dem Congress: please grow a spine and a set of brass balls and stand up to these thugs and tell them NO.
Not only did I foresee the housing bubble inflating, but I acted on it. I sold my home (too early as it turns out) in 2002 and rented. I didn’t buy again until Dec. 2006 after I could see we were far off the peak. Not far enough, unfortunately. My house is down over $100k since I bought. But I support the bailout. Overall, $700 billion should be about $7000 per household. Though it’s a lot, that represents less than the slide in housing value and equity stakes of most households and is therefore smart business. I absolutely curse the greedy bankers and idiot borrowers who caused this mess, but hey, that’s the American way. If bailing them out helps my portfolio and the country’s peace of mind, then we need to do it.
This is why we should support some type of Bailout:
Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) are poised to buy up “Large Blocks” of distressed real estate in our country. No, not just commercial property, but regular residential property! Countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar,Abu Dhabi, etc.
They have set aside large amounts of Petro wealth to get in the action.
They also want to invest in foreclosed farm and agriculture property.
Ultimately, they may still be able to bid on this real estate when the government “reverse auctions” these newly incurred assets off, but I would hope that there is a way to prevent these foreign funds from Land Grabbing. This is why this is so serious.
I guess if I had to pick who was going to get a big windfall from this mess, I would hope it would not be these kind of players..
Please realize this isn’t about some poor folks who just go in over their heads. At this point, we are way past that.
OK, so each family in the US is being forced to pay approximately $10,000 to clean up this mess. Are our representatives in congress going to truly represent the people and set stringent conditions (you remember, “for the people, by the people…) for this massive bailout? Or are they going to roll over under pressure from the lobbyists? You know the answer…so let’s tell them what we think.
One more comment…Paulson was on talk shows all morning talking about the grave danger the US is in by not passing this bill. Quote ‘It just pains me, pains me that the taxpayer will be on the hook for this but it is far less than the alternative’ something like that. Well I am sure he feels no pain because he got 600+ million dollars TAX FREE in GS stocks when he took the post, that allowed him to wipe out his competition.
Dear Ms. Pelosi,
PLEASE READ THIS.
I had an idea last night for a practical and ACCOUNTABLE way of financing the Bail out. War Bonds in WWII were a major part of financing the cost of the war. We are once again in a fight for the survival of our economy and the way we live. Why not issue Reconstruction Bonds (reconstruct the economy) or R Bonds. These could be virtually identical to the WWII Bonds. They could be sold in five to twenty year segments and pay an interest to the bearer at say, 1% above prime. However, in order to achieve an immediate cash inflow the initial issue could be obligatory for those with a net worth of over $10 million to the amount of 10% of net worth. For those with net worth between $5 million and $10 million the obligatory purchase could be 5% of net worth. No obligation to buy for those with lower net worth but as an incentive the interest rate could be higher on the first X million bonds issued. In this way the country would be able to collect the funds necessary for the Bail Out from the existing wealth of its citizens and would not be mortgaging their future. Several hundred billion dollars could be raised in this way in a short period of time. Most wealthy people are sitting on a mountain of cash (or gold) at this time and they are earning little interest. This would be beneficial for them and they would be fulfilling their patriotic duty. In addition, among the wealthiest of our citizens are those who gained most from the causes of the financial meltdown. It is only right and just that they should be the ones to foot the immediate cost of the Bail Out rather than Main Street America.
This idea is PRACTICAL, JUST and FAST.
Thank you for giving it your consideration.
Richard Phillips.
What is the guarentee that injecting 700 billion will resolve the matter? It is likely to be a poor judgement of existing Bush administration -Remember what happened in 2002, the reason given to invade Iraq – WMD, its WMD … the invasion estimated 50 billion dollar cost, but has it happened? Republicans need money for the political campaign advertisements also- its not an easy task to fabricate an image for Sarah Palin to be seen as the most intelligent politician on this planet – so that although the judge ordered Dick Cheney to preserve records, everything can be played out without a doubt – Let them borrow 700 or 70000 Billion from China as a habit. Ramya
If anyone wants to know what caused the panic on thursday specifically, here it is:
With news last week Tuesday that Primary Reserve Fund had “broken the buck”, rumors started to fly in a very nervous market and, by Thursday morning of last week, financial institutions began to put in redemption requests by the hundreds of millions for their funds at money market mutual funds. In total, according to NyPo, $500 billion in redemption orders were sitting on the desks at money market fund offices that morning.
The money maret funds were about to ditch half a trillion in bank stocks so the Fed and Congress panicked.
oops, it’s there… I’m just so upset and can’t believe this is happening- wake up everyone. I’m to the point where I’m going to say what I’m thinking- it might cost me the relationship of those I work with, my kids parents, maybe even my job, but what difference is it going to make???? This has happened because we CAN’T point to the REASONS for the economic burdens this country has had to bear. Can’t point the finger, can’t profile, can’t not support the hordes of “oppressed” migrating here. WATCH carefullly, now, where all that foreclosed, empty housing goes…. just watch….
Paulson’s plan is a joke – it’s giving him complete control of $700 billion dollars with the promise he won’t mess it up. No oversight, he can buy things above market value, etc. No one gets punished, fined, or bought out for their failures. This does nothing to help the majority of impacted people.
If the banks want a bailout, then they should be partially nationalized. We’ll own them. Maybe at some point when this is sussed out we can sell back the ownership of the banks.
They want my money and want money from those of us who didn’t screw up? We get a nice chunk of them. If they don’t want to play – goodbye. Enough of them will that we can save the economy.
Let’s all use our heads! Give them the money! All they want… we just gouge the crap out of them like they do against us. If average Americans are being downsized/NAFTA’d/”invested” against/over taxed let’s return the favor.
Buy them out or gouge them out!!!! Like they do against us.
The real problem is the average guy is not being payed enough to afford a house! Where’s he supposed to live? Do these people care…. NO WAY!
Corporations have bought and payed for our congress, courts and our news media!
This proves they obviously answer to them!
What Paulson did is what a typical politician/banker did: Tell you to be AFRIAD, VERY AFRAID, then rob your underwear.
What a sad day for this great country to let a ex GS CEO to screw up all the people to save his and his buddies’ ass.
Say no to the bailout!
To anyone out there that thinks the assets the Govt’ will buy will be worth more money at a later date need to learn what a NON-PERFORMING (no revenue stream) ILLIQUID (no buyer) asset is. These are bonds with loans packaged in them that will never get paid back. The customer has either walked away or told the investor they are not going to pay. How are these assets going to be worth more money in the future without any payment streams from the debtors?
In addition, if we turn this Goldman Sachs ex-CEO loose with 700 billion dollars what do you think is going to happen. The first thing I would do if I were friends with Paulson is stop paying my mortgage. Then let him know who the investor is for my loan. Have him go and buy the loan from the servicing entity for 50 cents on the dollar and then buy it back from the government for 50 cents on the dollar. Do the math…if you are friends with Paulson you are going to get a 75% discount on your existing mortgage debt.
Next what kind of assets do you think Paulson is going to to buy first? Do you think he is going to buy the $500 dollar forclosed homes in Detroit, MI? I will tell you what assets he is going to buy from his banking buddies. First is the 2-4 million dollar homes in all the CA costal cities and then sell them to all my friends for 200k. Then tell the congressional oversight committee, if they are smart enough to create one, that is the going market rate is for these homes. The he is going to have to have parties in Las Vegas on the weekends. So then he will go buy some forclosed Hotel condo projects and sell them to all his banking buddies. They can all sit around and celebrate their jobs that pay an average of 500-700k, per worker, per year that Paulson just saved. Now if you did not know this elite group life is not complete unless you own a home on both coasts so the next project for Paulson would be another condo development in FL and give them to the same Las Vegas gang because at their salaries they would only need a months pay to pick up a Paulson condo in FL. I think the Republicans realize they will not be in power again for a long time so they figured this was the best way to keep their friends on Wall Street employed and fleece the US taxpayer.
I also forgot to mention he has effectively secured all his previous co-workers jobs for a very long time by eliminating all their competition with his executive powers. While he was determining the fate of his prior wall street competitors (Bear Sterns, Lehman Brohers and Merrill Lynch) did we ever hear once about an economic crisis? BUT once Goldman Sachs was about the suffer the fate of the other investment banks suddenly there is a Global Economic crisis. HMMMMM
What these companies have done is pure corruption. Congress is just as bad for allowing lobbyists, special interests, and campaign donations to influence them. Too much greed. Not enough sense of duty to constituents. It seems that the CEO’s, CFO’s, COO’s, boards who manage the failing companies, and elected officials who oversee finance are not qualified to do what they were hired and elected/appointed to do.
I was smart enough to take out a loan that I could afford even though my home is worth much less now than when I bought it. I feel sorry for anyone having trouble paying their loans due to medical issues, job loss, etc. But I have a hard time feeling sorry for anyone who took out a larger loan than they should have.
The United States Government is capitalizing on a comprehensional failure of the human mind – the inability to fully grasp the magnitude of large numbers. Upon hearing numbers beyond a few thousand our brains interpret it as, “Wow, that’s a big number!” with no tangible image to relay exactly how big. So, let’s start with a One Dollar Bill. We can understand $1.00, right?
According to the United States treasury, a One Dollar Bill has a thickness of 0.0043 inches. One thousand One Dollar Bills would be one thousand times thicker — 4.3 inches.
One million is one thousand thousands, so the thickness of $1,000,000 is 4300 inches. Converting to feet and this becomes 358.3 feet, an American football field.
One billion — $1,000,000,000 is one thousand times thicker still or 358,333.3 feet. This is 67.866 miles, the driving distance from New York City to Milford CT.
One Trillion is one thousand billions – one trillion One Dollar Bills stacked one on top of another is 67,866 miles. This would circumnavigate the globe 2.73 times.
The proposed 700 Billion Dollar bailout alone would be a stack of One Dollar Bills stretching 47,506.2 miles, or 1.90 times around the globe.
A stack of One Dollar Bills totaling the current national debt cap of 10.6 trillion dollars would go around the equator 28.93 times. The proposed cap of 11.3 trillion dollars would go around 30.85 times.
Is creating a debt that is the equivalent of a stack of One Dollar Bills rounding planet 31 times a responsible act?
America:
Defended and Exploited by the Poor
Financed by the Middle Class
Enjoyed by the Rich
The most recent data I found states that 131+ million people filed a tax return in 2003. Round that up to 140 million for the 4 years that have passed (remember, 2008 has not yet been filed) and 700 billion becomes $5000 per tax filer. But, it is important to remember that not all filers are payers; because high school and college students who file generally get all they paid back as a refund. (And then there’s the Earned Income Credits for the baby popping poor…) I don’t have any data on how many actually PAID taxes, so that $5000 could easily go up half again, or even double.
Our taxes HAVE to go up to pay for this, no matter who takes office. The only alternative to higher taxes would be for the USA to mortgage part of the country to the last remaining sovereign that can afford this level of capital – China
No, I DO NOT support paying off the businesses who pushed ARM’s and Interest Only loans on poor and/or ignorant people who did not know or did not/could not understand what they were signing. Bad business led to bad practices which led to a bad situation.
To be completely incorrect, I think this country deserves Great Depression II and should go there if for no other reason to fully drive home the point that Bush is the single most devastating thing ever to happen to this country, either foreign or domestic.
so someone pulled my previous comment? that this could be construed as a set up towards the goals of a presidential candidate (who shall this time remain nameless)who by definition is looking to establish a socialist government…..
NO NO NO NO NO NO. I called my senators and congressman. I emailed them. These companies must fail, just like any other. If they cannot manage money, then we will use our money differently. Our system is corrupt. This is it, it must stop now. Our US Constitution has been SHREADED. Read the Constitution. There is no Central Bank in the Constitution. Money is supposed to be Gold and Silver and managed by Congress, not private banks. Is our dollar backed by Gold and Silver? NO, it is not. This is unconstitutional. The Federal Government must be cut in half. Half our military should be brought home. The national debt is insane. This must stop.
I’m not sure that this bailout is going to work in any event.
Unlike most people’s expectations, Uncle Sugga don’t have a printing press to print off as many $$$ as they want. They gotta borrow from other people, generally foreigners, to raise funds like this.
They gotta auction off treasury bills.
But there are so MANY TRILLIONS of tbills out there that people don’t wanna buy them any more.
For the life of me, I don’t see anyone talking about how this is going to be paid back. If people think that the assets and mortgages that are purchased are going to earn a profit to pay this fortune down, they’re delusional.
So the US govt is going to be close to 10 TRILLION dollars in debt after this and not a hint of how it gets paid down.
The govt is squandering the money that us and our forefathers have spent out lives building up. And our descendents are going to have to pay it all back or they’re going to face the horrors that we’re now envisioning.
We think this is fair? That’s going to be a lot less fair.
Political correctness got us into this hole. Clinton, Rubin and the Fed decided that “minorities and the disadvantaged” didn’t own enough homes so they relaxed all these rules and it bit em in the arse.
And now there’s no much that can be done about it. It’s going to get MUCH worse out there and it ain’t gonna get better for decades.
I’ve been busting my butt to make ends meet and that includes paying my mortgage. I read the mortgage and knew what it said, and what the terms were. How about paying for my mortgage, Mr. President and Congress?
Better yet, how about taking the money from every executive, and every millionaire stock broker and mortgage broker who made money off these rotten securtites? Oh, I forgot. They’re the rich nad therefore they’re off the hook. We, the hard working, tax paying, mortgage paying, tuition paying, increased gas and oil price paying, ridicluous food prices paying workers of America are on teh hook AGAIN! What crap!! It’s time for a very dramatic change to this SOCIALIST STATE that we’ve allowed ourselves to become.
Good thing this happens now and not in March 2009 like I had predicted… There is still time for you people to do your civic duty, go vote and write in Ron Paul’s name, he is the only one that has nothing to lose from closing down the IRS, the Federal Reserve and kick these crooks from Washington…. WAKE UP AMERICA, our country has been taken over by criminals.
Complete BS!!!!
So let me get this straight…
Because soem bank, sold someone a loan THEY COULDNT AFFORD in the first place, now I, a tax paying citizen, get to pay their loan, while the government is going to “restructure” their loan and “possibly lower their home’s value” so they can afford it…
These idiots went and bough it them selves, the bank allowed it, LET THE BANK FAIL!!!
I work for a bank, that would fail, and I say so be it!!!
I’m not goign to benefit, all I’ll see if more taxes to pay for some POS that bought a house they NEVER should of bought in the first place!!!
This whole bailout is complete BS!
Here is a classic story:
A guy flips houses in Florida, and get caught in the downward spiral… He got 1.3 million in loans on 4 houses… combined all four houses are now worth only $350000 now. All 4 houses get repo’ed and the banks eat them. These type of assets are the ones going to be fed to US the taxpayer This guy made $11.00 an hour as a security guard when he got these LIAR loans Because he had a 700+ credit score ONLY. Yet, the rating agencies classified these types of loans as GRADE A…GRADE A what? dung? So much for the predictors of credit scores eh?
This is the type of RADIOACTIVE DEBT
that the Gov’t want every man, woman and child to assume..
HELL NO Any thoughts?
$700+ Billion in home mortgages would make the federal government the largest landlord in the U.S.
Smells like COMMUNISM to me!!!
I think Jefferson said it best:
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1802)
3rd president of US (1743 – 1826)
The Federal reserve should be abolished. This is a private bank who has been using financial chicanery to promulgate a system of debt slavery for the average American. Now, those who were prudent during the creation of the most massive debt bubble in history are being forced to pay for the excesses of bankers and the incompetence and corruption of our own government officials.
Why do I have to pay for the morons who won’t do their jobs? The FED and the Treasury want us to fork over our money to bail out the banks and investment banks. WHY? They were looking at their spreadsheets and not paying attention to those they were supposed to be regulating. The American dream is to work hard, save your money and purchase a house you can afford. It is NOT dream of a house you want and then borrow money you can’t afford to repay so you can gain instant gratification of YOUR American dream. Those banks that you borrowed money from are now stuck with your bad debt and because I have been careful with my money, I am gonna get to pay for it. I worked hard for the last ten years to get out of my own self created debt mess. It is NOT right to reward bad business decisions. LET THEM FAIL ON THEIR OWN!
The actual pricetag is actually going to be well over $700 billion: the government does not have this money, they will (again) borrow and will have to pay the interest as well. What a total scam, to get the banks off the hook for their greedy poor decisions. But we, the taxpayers, will have to pay for this.
This is obscene. These companies gambled and lost. I want these companies to fold. I want their doors shuttered, offices locked, executives barred from working in the financial industry. I want a little thing called accountability.
I’m not a small-government conservative, I’m a social-program-loving Democrat, but I believe in accountability none the less. I don’t believe it’s the government’s place to pick and choose which organizations and CEOs it should be bolstering. I believe we have created a moral hazard in past bailouts and interventions (LTCM, for example), and now the bill is coming due.
Let Wall Street burn in the fires of its own greed. It will be a lesson to the next generation of financial executives, traders, and bankers, to not ‘invest beyond your knowledge’, i.e., gamble.
These financial firms have been gambling for years and now, once they’ve racked up huge losses, we’re asked to foot the bill for their habit.
Let. Them. Die.
Hey what do I have to worrie about? LOL I am already poor , and have nothing to loose, The Bush gestapo has taken care of our freedoms just nicely ( don’t you think?) and hey I say lets elect a new Repuclican President that has all 7 of his houses paid for and support a middle class americaians that (in his opinion) Avarage 5 million dollars, when the AVRAGE american is lucky to make 20,000.00 a year (less taxes) and bail out the middle class> even if Obama is elected> higher taxes will pleauge us the rest of our lives, but hey >Thats the American way> I do not claim to have any answers to this bail out , but I can suggest a FEW things that MIGHT help! like the the CEO’s of all these companys that leave with muilt millions of dollars> they are the ones (un) responcable enough to let thier companys fail then walk away muilti millionairs then just let us taxpaying citizens pay for it all. now that is a plan> also I say heck while we are at it lets just keep sending aid to a war effort & bail out all the other 3 world countrys > it does not matter because I am already poor & gee what is the minaum wage these days? that would be an improvment to let those that put us in this mess stand in the unemployment line > just for a chance at a job to make that minium wage (Less Taxes of course) then see how they make ends meet, but this is comming from a Real American that has nothing > so I won’t miss nothing > except my next meal(less taxes of course)
You’re the first news network that has published and article about what the average citizen thinks concerning this debaucle of a “bailout”! Thanks for letting us sound off….I agree: NO NO NO to the bailing out of companies and citizens who have made unwise financial choices and now must pay for their own mistakes. Why should those who practice sound financial principles with their own budgets at home bail out those who don’t? Like Grandma said,”Only buy what you afford, spend LESS than you bring home, and save for a rainy day.”
One last thing on this train of thought: I’m not concluding from this that the bail out/buy outs are necessarily going to prove to be terrible for the taxpayer money being used to do so. As far as the general population is concerned, these deals could end up going either way (profitable or loss). Time will tell. The other sides of that argument, as have been well discussed here, I’m not going to go into. However, when it comes to the shareholder side of the equation, this idea is very bad as it portrays collusion between the government and the potential take-over targets. That is, the government is told by insiders that things are “bad” and that they thus need to be taken over or else bankruptcy, even while the shareholder of said companies continue to naively hold on all the way down.
Of course, the truth is, I believe the entire economy would be better off without a stock market BID-ASK trading scheme. And I have nothing invested in stocks as such (long or short). Yet, let this be a fair warning for those who choose to continue to participate in such a scheme.
I am writing to convey my grave misgivings about the federal bailout requested by Mr. Henry Paulson in abc’s “This week”. Paulson made a less than convincing argument for his sweeping, unsupervised, powers to execute a bailout worth 500+ billion. I belive his request amounts to a blank cheque that is ripe for abuse and misuse. Further, it stands to reason that such a rushed plan may entirely miss its mark and simply postpone or even encourage further malfeacence. I too sympatheize with the plight of the common workers who stand to loose their homes just as much as I sympathesize with those remaining corporate behemoths whose impending failures threaten to destroy entire communities. However, such emotional appeals do not replace the need for anlytical, measured, steps required to solve a problem of this magnitude. Now is not the time for bravado and sweeping executive powers. I believe these times call for a more deliberative and collaborative set of steps. We must insist that Paulson allow a healthy portion of unstable companies and leveraged individuals to fail as would be expected in a truely free market economy built by a free people. I humbly submit that a cap of 100 billion be placed on any sweeping bailout powers urgently requested by Mr Henry Paulson. Additional funds, which will surely be needed, should only be approved by the full house and senate after comprehensive set of data & options are preseted to the American People.
I have already sent my reps all an e-mial a vote for the bail out, and I will vote against them come election time. This is a give away of our taxpayer’s money. Do you really think the government will resell this junk at a profit – not. After the bail out of the S&L crises, the government in the end lost 90 billion dollars when we where all told we would make a profit. The reason for the bail out is not to project the average American on Main Street but the wealth Americans.
We are being asked to re-fund the banks with our tax dollars so they can become solvent again, and so they can then turn around and extend new loans to us so they can continue to make more money off of us — in the form of high interest on those loans. That’s what they mean when they say there is a credit crisis — it means they used up all the “money” that secured the loans they made to us (money that never existed in the first place, except on paper) on buying other things and loaning to others, and now they are asking us to put MORE money in to re-fund the bank….so they can put it to us again!! We will be pating them to turn around and screw us again! Lucy – will you hold that football for me again??
Oh — and by the way — the banks we’re expected to fund will supposedly shore up our retirement accounts too — so not only did we work for and sweat and stress and sacrifice to save up that retirement money, we are re-funding the accounts in which they are held (paying twice) with our tax money (paying 3 times). Then we will pay tax on any gains we may eventually recieve.
I agree the alternative to a bailout would not be much better — but can Bush, and his administration, and his unregulated Wall Street yahoos also pull rabbits out of their asses to sell us this deal??
I want to own a piece of any bailout deal they make with my tax money. Every American should demand that this fund be publicly owned by us, the American taxpayers, and we should reap all the $$ benefits in direct proportion to what we pay!
The government’s biggest crime is not educated all of the opinionated idiots within this forum. Shame on the USA for catering to the NEA!
I am absolutely opposed to the bailout. The financial crisis is the result of bad decisions by the government, businesses and banks to rapidly expand the economy to make them more and more money. It’s time we put a stop to it, force them to reconsider and reverse past decisions and return America back to its Constituional foundation with currency backed by gold and America protected from within, not by global expansion.
Follow up to my previous post: Imagine this scenario. You are holding shares of GOOG. You held GOOG shares all the way to $750/share. You have know witnessed it drop gradually to it’s current $450/share. Perhaps the drop in the stock price implies that something might be wrong with GOOG, but you have no concrete information of definite dire problems. After all, the stock price is still trading at a hefty $450 despite the long term drop.
But then you wake up one day to find a headline that says that the government offers to buy out troubled GOOG at $5/share. The story tells of how GOOG’s stock price has been dropping all the way from $750, and the “obvious” reason for that hefty drop is because of all of the problems the company is having. You read further that if the company doesn’t accept the buy out, it will probably have to declare bankruptcy. The CEO or some other big wig with GOOG says how bad things have been going.
Obviously, this is an extreme example. However, look at how quickly LEH, BSC, FNM, FRE, and AIG’s stock prices deteriorated without much warning, until after-the-fact the shareholder is told, even while the bailout-buyout prospect was already negotiating a deal behind the scenes, a deal which also enables top management to walk with their $millions following the buy out.
This is the kind of stuff that should wake up shareholders as what kind of scheme they really own. One has to be smart enough to know and believe that the entire ongoing daily BID-ASK market for stocks is little more than an institutionally run pyramid scheme game in order to appreciate why the promoters of the scheme (insiders) are now prefering bail out/buy outs from the limited few who can afford them (i.e. government, Buffett, etc.) at practically any price that would take the game away and let them leave with their millions in cash.
While unfortunate, as earlier posters have commented, the government action at this point is probably necessary in order to prevent a global economic meltdown.
That being said, much of what has lead up to this point could have been prevented by abolishing Wall Street “analysts” and their published “expectations” that influence not only stock prices but the actions corporate boards and CEOs must take to protect shareholder equity. Public companies are basically incented to cook the books to meet “expectations.” Get rid of the predictions and base stock value on actual, measurable performance and the market will take care of itself.
This is quite similar to the media’s habit of giving energy providers the go ahead to raise prices based on the media’s Nostradamus-like ability to predict gasoline and other energy price increases. The media reports gas prices will increase and like magic, they do. Talk about greasing the skids. I would love to see the mainstream media start reporting that based on reports from informed sources (me), gas and oil prices are going to drop to pre-1990 levels and see what the oil companies do. They will have no choice but to drop prices.
As to an earlier comment about this current situation as proof of the fallacy of capitalism: capitalism works just fine if it allowed to work without undue and largely baseless media and other influence.
We are all talking about a “taxpayer bailout” of Wall Street. We already don’t pay all the costs of our government. It would take a large tax increase to actually pay for the bailout, which is political suicide for either candidate. We will actually do what we have been doing for the last eight years, which is to borough the money from China and other lender countries, and expect our children to pay it off.
I request that our Senators and Representatives NOT approve the bailout just proposed by President Bush to relieve banks of their ‘bad’ mortgage loans. The banks that approved these poor loans, the institutions that packaged them into securities, and the people that bought those securities should be the ones that have to clean up their own mess, not the US taxpayer. The President and his advisors say this bailout is necessary to avoid a financial crisis in America and will cost about 700 billion dollars upfront; some suggest that in time the government might actually make a profit from the bought-up bad loans. However this is the same administration that pushed for invasion of Iraq because of an imagined threat of WMDs and suggested that the invasion’s estimated 50 billion dollar cost would be paid for from oil revenue.
I have never blogged before – my first time. I have never been more upset than I have been this last week. A few years ago, I bought a house that I could afford. The house is now worth half the amount I paid for it, but I am still able to pay the amount I agreed to pay. Why are the corporate elites not held to the same standard?
There are two concepts that I would like to pass along – bankruptcy and equitable adjustment. We all know bankruptcy and it is a well-established mechanism for the handling of a credit crisis by a corporation or an individual. There are no bail outs and every one is treated equally according to one’s security interest. So, a bank (who took a risk loaning the money) might only get 10 cents on the dollar. Nobody likes it, but it is deemed a fair process.
The second issue is in reagrd to equitable adjustment. During a bankruptcy (or other civil proceeding), the court (or receivor in bankruptcy) looks at ALL transaction (including employee compensation) to determine if there was any unfair payments or sweet heart deals that should not have occurred. This last week, we heard about 90 million dollar a year compensations for some of the CEO’s. But this is the tip of it. There are people (board members, senior management, etc.) that also received this type of compensation. The government (or whoever is now in control) needs to look over these deals and go after the people that profitted from the risky behavior. Such profit is unjust enrichment and needs to be recovered for the creditors (now the American people). This is not being done.
There is no longer any risk – capitalism is about to die because there are no consequences for one’s actions. This needs to change. There needs to be people held accountable. Criminals need to go to jail. People that received outrageou compensation these past few years need to repay the amount – the cost of the risk. Until this happens, it is only the ones in the middle who suffer. We will pay even though our assets are longer worth the value we paid — or we go declare bankruptcy. Where is the acountability?
I am so very angry.
Banana Republic. That is what this then Great Country will settle for. Where were the government when these same financial institutions that now are failing were giving loans for people without any credit, sometimes without SS#. I am no financial wiz but I could clearly see what was coming. The gov let it go to fill the pockets of their friends (resulting in big donations…). This GOP sold this country in so many different ways that is very sad to think about it. Imagining that they got this country with a surplus and they are leaving it bankrupt….
If they MUST help I want see legislations such as:
1) ) any financial institution that seeks help will not distribute dividends for at least 5 years and no employee will get any bonus
2) The shareholders will be given extreme power to fire CEOs, Board directors and vote on companies’ plans. Shareholders would vote the board of directors.
3) The gov will make it illegal to brokers, investors to make extra money when their funds make money. If they do not return money when the fund their administer loses, they cannot pocket when the fund makes money.
4) Any type of investment that the average American Citizen cannot use, such as naked shorting, options, etc, would be banned to level the playing field.
5) Any institution that benefits form this bailout will automatically decrease all mortgage principals they hold by 5% and decrease the interest by 1%
6) Have the person of Carl Icahn to oversee all this implementation. See his blog to understand why.
7) Return the bankruptcy laws as they were before. Give the American people a break for God’s sake!
please do not leave us, the American People, to again pay for the Wall Street greed. We cannot afford it anymore.
We are toast, Doesn’t matter whether your Republican Democrat or Independant. Blame game is a mute point now. Loss of Confidence in US Dollar and US Debt obligations means the US will not be able to finance it’s deficit. 80/20 we’re looking at a global depression and hyperinflation in the US
The federal government is more responsible than any other entity for creating this financial bubble with cheap money, then perpetuating it with lax oversight; yet, we the taxpayers are now entrusting the government to fix the problem it created – with our hard earned tax dollars – this is insanity!!!
The government is not handing out cash to Wall Street. They are buying assets, and there’s a huge difference. If done correctly, many of these assets will probably be bought for 30-50 cents on the dollar, and sold back in a few years at a 100-200% gain. Where does that gain go? Back to the taxpayers. This is a huge opportunity to wipe out a considerable amount of our national debt.
The federal government is one of a few institutions in the world — if not the only one — that is capable of making such an investment.
Doing nothing leaves us with a legitimate chance of a total collapse of the banking system, since many of these banks make loans to each other, and are strongly dependent on each other in numerous ways.
It may not be a great option, but it’s clearly the best one available, and one that should have been taken long ago.
How about a bailout for a the common family where a working husband works more than 60 hours a week and is still not able to make ends meet!!!!!!!
Its unjust and unfair that Wall Street is allowed to keep the profits( in millions & billions) they made selling CDO’s and other derivative products while the losses are piled on the taxpayers. The government is encouraging “moral hazard” at its fullest. They need to draw the line somewhere.
Here’s another issue to add to the mix: When one understands that the ongoing daily BID-ASK market for any given stock is merely a pyramid scheme run by insiders using institutions as their proxy, one understands much as to what is going on. If their game in this ongoing pyramid scheme is to try to find outsider (i.e. retail, do it yourself stock participants) to “play” in their game, and ultimately to take as much of the latter’s monies’ as they think they can, then one realizes that if the retail participants become hep to their game, the formulators of the game haven’t got enough people left to rip off. Ultimately, this lack of outsider participants causes the game to become counterproductive to the formulators, i.e. what sense would there then be for them to manipulate their stock price higher and higher (mostly through institutional churn trading) if by doing so they are not able to lure into their trap participants to sell to when the insider dump time arrives? Thus, when such a time arrives that a vastly declining retail stock participant base exists, it is better for the insiders to want to shelve their game which means to have it taken off the stock trading (pyramid scheme) market altogether via a buy out or bail out, which in turn affords them the possibility of walking away from the game with cash in the mega-millions via golden parachutes. If they can’t burn the retail public by eventually selling them their stock at huge profits for themselves, at least they can leave the game with a few million bucks. And the government (i.e. taxpayer money) could conceiveably profit by buying such deals at the bail out “low” agreed-to price level. The losers of course are the one’s who remained loyal shareholders all the way down, only to wake up one day and find out that their company was in trouble, but only the government was privy to know this with absolute certainty (tell me how many AIG, FRE, FNM shareholders knew with absolute certainty that their companies had to be bailed out until after the fact that it was anounced? Nobody knew. A declining stock price is no proof that one should have figured it out either. Clear collusion between the government and insiders at the expense of the shareholders. Yet, the fundmanagers running the BID-ASK markets on stocks took this news as a reason to pump stocks to the moon the past two days? Obviously, such people believe that the average Joe investor can’t read between the lines; thus, pumping stocks higher on ‘the news’ was ‘proof’ to the average Joe that ‘the news’ must be great for stocks…
Let’s put away emotion,
Let’s take a hard look at the problem.
let’s understand how the mechanism works if the government acts or doesn’t
act.
Let’s get the our economy back on track
and deal with the greed head-on.
The normative question: who should be punished for this, aside, i think the details of the bailout are crucial for the future of the United States. That is why what i hear from the geniuses at the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve, that “details don’t matter now” simply doesn’t pass a reasonable smell test. The key question is are Paulson and Bernanke such lunatics as to believe that bank equities – first loss 0 to 3 or 0 to 5% pieces in these institutaions – can be saved at this point? If that is what they are trying to accomplish – run an hide, sell USD, short the government, buy gold and silver, because this country is being put surely on the path toward bankruptcy which will take the form of hyper-inflation over the next 5 years, and when a reasonable Fed official actually takes the reigns and hikes interest rates into the high teens, we’ll plunge into the next Great Depression. Let’s hope our trading partners who own trillions of our foreign debt, will signal decisively on Monday, that they refuse to support such plan that clearly jeoperdizes the very economic future of the US government.
Paulson says “we’ll buy securities at fair market value” but how the hell does he know what a fair value for this distressed toxic waste is. He certainly doesn’t and let me tell you with respect to that he is clearly at an informational disadvantage than the would-be sellers who at least have had close to a year to understand the abyssmal downside of their reckless investment and lending practices. I don’t think that either Paulson or Bernanke understand leverage (or for that matter how money creation generates leverage) and understanding how leverage affects financial performance on the downside is clearly what is required in order to value any MBS, CMBS etc. in today’s economic environment. We listen to the idiot-chief economist from Moody’s (unclear to me why such firm still exists) how the housing market is about to bottom and we are 2/3rds of the way. Now, how in the world does he know this – seriously. Can anyone explain to me why just 30% peak-to-through and not 40% for example. Why do we assume in all these idiotic forecasts that rents or income will hold up at the prospect of severe recession. Has anyone factored in these “affordability” studies the fact that oil costs now 100 vs only 60 in 2006 and only 20 in 2002, what has happened to the cost of food, healthcare, education….And finally, do we really believe mortgages at 6% interest rates are truly going to be available in the next couple of years. If that is the bubble gum math that Paulson will use to value the distressed paper – run and hide. Without going into the math and economics in too much detail let me make a couple of observations that show that US will be buying all this crap way before it has hit bottom:
(1) prices in the Northeast doubled in the last 5 years and yet the drop from peak is not even 5% today. ask toll brothers whether new york condos will hold especially considering the recent waive of high profile wall street bankruptcies. new york is probably a good 20% of any alt-a pool and i am sure the owners of the underlying mbs consider it bullet-proof. MORAL OF THE STORY – NO PRICE BOTTOMS BEFORE NORTHEAST TANKS.
(2) if you think the commercial real estate credit cycle has even started take a close look where the reit index trades (close to its 2007 levels). just for your reference the cap at which commercial real estate traded in the bubble years was 4% in the new york area and probably 5%-6% for the nation. Bulls say REITs have little leverage compared to banks so that’s why they are so stable but what they forget is the horrible embedded double-leverage – to put it in laymen’s terms do you really believe these companies returned 4%-6% in the good old days. No, it was much more because their assets are made up of first-loss (equity) interests in the property or best case of mezzanine financing which is likely to get wiped out when commercial real estate prices adjust. MORAL OF THE STORY: DON’T BUY CMBS UNTIL THE REITS BLOW-UP.
(3) why do you think the US government
nationalized Fannie and Fredie – because of 200 bn of alt-a and subprime mortgage loans? well – if that stuff loses 25% (which is a conservative estimate at least for alt-a)the loss is not enough to wipe-out 80 bn of common stock bv. the rest of the estimated losses (which now even the government admits will run into 250-300 bn) will come from the sacred prime conforming mortgage pool. That translates into losses of 3%+ for prime conforming. Jumbo losses could be even higher. Incidentally do you know the average historic loss for subprime vintages 1993 to 2002 was about 4.2%. so late vintage prime could be performing like historic subprime – exciting !!! but if you don’t believe me, ask the CEO of Chase who certainly knows a lot more than me about this stuff. MORAL OF THE STORY DON’T PICK HIGH FICO (700+) PRIME LOANS AT LEAST UNTIL WE HAVE OFFICIALLY STARTED THE RECESSION – BY REGISTERING A COUPLE OF QUARTERS OF NEGATIVE GDP GROWTH. AND ALSO KNOW WHEN IT COMES TO MBS – JUMBO STRUCTURES HAVE ONLY 2.5% TO 5.0% SUBORDINATIONS TO THE SENIOR BOND TRIPLE-A STACK.
(4) The case that bulls make is: look not everyone defaults when they run into negative equity – maybe 15%-16% of the people, the rest pay (all this based on historic experience). well there is no historic experience in the recent past or even from the days of the great Depression that factors in 30%+ price declines that put even well collateralized (25%+ downpayment) mortgage loans into negative equity.
(5) Regarding the valuation of MBS, I agree that first-priority senior tranches – first pays in subprime deals, super seniors (top 40% of the deal) in Alt-a deals etc, are priced while factoring some or most of these downside scenarios and could be cheap (with embedded liquidity premium given the volume of that paper). However, that kind of generous pricing is simply not available down in the MBS deal capital structure while most of the paper there is still rated triple-a (another reason why moody’s should be liquidated). if you don’t believe me talk to some of the distressed fund managers about their views regarding wall street offers and you will realize that based on the offer investors are not paid enough to take risk down in the mbs deal capital structure (understand even second-pay or third-pay seniors). who is to say that banks are not going to start unwinding the level 3 book with the subordinated triple-as, double-as and all this toxic highly leveraged subordinated waste, jamming Paulson/Bernanke with levels at the full offer or through the offer to a point that any upside optionality in this paper even if materializes will allow the government to realize only a fraction of their investment. At the same time if Paulson/Bernanke took the bait banks would hope that such pricing action will squeeze any liquidity premiums for the seniors so they can unload to the RTC or private parties at much higher prices than the current levels.
(6) bulls say it is mostly a liquidity problem. really? after all these money that Bernanke has been printing. considering how much hedge fund/fund of funds and sovereign money lies in the sidelines. no pal, it is a deep problem with the fundamentals. that is why the first movers in bank equities are licking wounds. but let me tell you what has been happening with the first distressed funds , which incidentally are managed by the same idiots that were not so long ago cdo managers. end of 07 they bought abs cdo triple-bs at 20-30 cents on the dollar. they thought a smart investment which could get defeased exclusively from the bond IO , but their bet on uninterrupted 2-3 year coupon turned sour. then they started bidding mezzanine cdo super-seniors at 50-60 cents on the dollar predicting massive upside optionality. these bonds are now worth about 5 cents. finally they moved to the safe heaven of subprime AAs at about 60-70 cents on the dollar. the late vintage AA ABX has been recently in the low 20s. the only reason these guys are not out of business yet is a 2-3 year lock-up on their capital but needless to say their clients are furious. distressed funds are being set up in large numbers but the capital is not getting committed yet because their clients realize that this bottom is not like the one in the late 80s or in 02, that housing prices take time to adjust and waiting is the smart investment strategy here – something that Paulson and Bernanke are not inclined to do . why? because money markets are seizing up or because financial 0-3/0-5 first loss pieces are trading a modest 50% off their Hymalian peaks (just for reference internet stocks adjusted 70% and some argue the aggressive monetary policy of the Fed prevented full adjustment. now 25-33X explicit leverage on top of 2-3X embedded leverage for double leverage of 50-100 sounds a lot like p/e multiples of 100X).
Seems Paulson will have his way with Congress but why the absence of details. A little bit of advice for the new RTC. When smart investors cannot value a risky bet accurately they resort to structuring – this time not to create “weapons of mass destruction” but to mitigate their downside. Take a cue from Loan Star who bought some of Merrills ABS CDO SS at 22 cents. Now they could have overpaid if say 1/2 of the CDOs were mezzanine or paid fair value if the CDOs were high grade. However, to make sure they actually make money, they got financing (and if rumors are correct on term/not on repo basis) with all excess spread cash flow leaking uninterrupted to them to provide for ~2.5 year defeasance of their investment. Paulson/Bernanke can employ a different kind of structuring to avoid all this adverse selection and moral hazard described at length in the paragraphs above. The main tool of their structure however is, well, indeed the only tool the government possesses – taxing power. The RTC may not be able to price bonds (i surely don’t believe they can) but at least they ought to be familiar with accounting. They can keep track what they bought from whom. If the government makes money from such purchases a couple of years down the road, they can share the profits with the original seller, if they register losses – they could recover the loss from the seller. how? by taxing the seller’s income at 100% until full recovery and before any interest payments on seller’s existing senior LT debt, subordinated debt, preferred stock and any dividends on the seller’s common stock. The maturity of the senior and the subordinated debt is extended as long as necessary until the seller’s tax liability to the government (contingent or real) is extinguished or the seller has funded a reserve of 100% for such contingent or real liability. If anyone has a problem with violation of creditor rights, expropriation, rewriting contract law etc, well the government has already been rewriting the constitution so, they should go to hell and shut up plus no more bail-out for debt-holders that makes people such as Bill Gross unfairly rich. Of course, if the seller needs additional capital once they have cleared their Level 2/Level 3 book, they would be allowed to issue a new class of preferred stock whose dividend is not subject to the tax deferral and has conversion options into common stock that becomes effective only after the tax liability or the contingent tax liability is extinguished. While the tax liability is due, the seller is not allowed to borrow any more LT money or take deposits without the consent of the government so that the government can protect its asset.
Of course banks cannot trade credit derivatives directly with each other any longer and must face a clearinghouse – derivatives exchange.
The government has control over the sellers repo limits as well. If before the extinguishment of the tax liability the seller goes bankrupt for any reason, the priorities below the short-term financing are: (1)the new preferred (2) government tax liability (3) the old senior, subordinated debt, old preferred, old common stock etc. Banks could become sellers voluntarily under the program or based on the size of their Level 2 and 3 books some banks should be forced sellers.
The objective of this structure is to prevent system meltdown while passing as much of the real loss to the banks without bakrupting them to the point where depositors lose money, repo CPs and CDS CPs lose money. the deposits are sacred – noone should lose money as people didn’t deposit money with these wall street/main street idiots at 2% interest rate to see their savings gone.
Idiots. Small businesses and individuals are not going to take down the entire economy should they fail. AIG will. That is why the government doesn’t bail you out. Got it?
Secondly, these big Corporates pay billions in tax every year; your piddling few thousand of income tax isn’t even a drop in a big big ocean, so stop ranting about ‘all your tax money’. It’s this kind of greed that got us here.
Thirdly, this is not a cash gift, this is a reallocation of assets that will most likely turn into a windfall for the government in the future, and through that, and windfall to you.
Furthermore, there IS a bailout for homeowners who are at risk of losing their homes and earning under a certain income. Many of the people losing homes now are losing them because of their own stupidity and massive overstatement of assets to liabilities, or they are losing investment homes. The few true victims are being given a reduced rate, lower than what they agreed to initially, and a reduced total value – if they can’t handle that, they NEVER could have handled the original loan they agreed to, so STFU about this no bailouts for individuals bs.
If you want to let AIG fall, then that means you want to bring about the total collapse of our economy and much of the rest of the world, just to satisfy your pathetic spite that someone else got a deal and you didn’t.
SUCK. IT. UP.
You want there to BE a tomorrow for America? Then support this. You want to end this country and your lifestyle that you take so much for granted, then continue whining like the bunch of self-centered pussies you are.
What does Wall Street expect the American public to believe will happen once these companies no longer face these supposed bad debts? America will still be broke and unable to borrow, and bank profits won’t materialize. This is a cash grab plain and simple. 95% of America has no interest in banks.
Financials are only one sector of our economy. Many sectors such as OIL and energy are doing better than ever, in case anyone forgot amidst the fearmongering. If anyone’s retirement is still tied up in banking after well over a year of warning, then they deserve to lose it all.
America should not fall victim to this scam and theft. Any congress member who votes aye for this should and predictably will be kicked out of office.
Appears that the new policy on bailouts is the larger it is, the lesser the detail!! No indication of how this can be prevented again. No talk on how to prevent insane leverage. No indication of what the government will get in return. Will the government get a stake in the companies they bailout? Without answers to these questions it is madness to write such a large blank check!
As a taxpayer, I don’t think every taxpayer should be held accountable for the bad decisions made by the financial institutions and individual home owners.
We should not approve the entire $500B+ bailout that Paulson requested without any restrictions.
First, we do need to support our financial institutions. But I don’t think its fair for these institutes to make bad decisions, and pass along the risks to the general public.
Second, $500B+ seems a bit arbitrary to begin with. We should start with a smaller bailout ($100-$200B). We need to understand the criteria being used to decide which loans will be purchased by the govt from the banks. We should not agree to a blank check to Treasury to decide how it should be spend.
We are already in a large national debt. If we need to spend additional money that we don’t have, then we need to make sure that the govt does its due diligence, and doesn’t respond to fear monkering by Paulson or Wall street.
If we are taking these bad loans from the banks…we need to make sure to buy them at a heavily discounted price. So that banks don’t have the incentive to dump everything on the govt and go on with their business as nothing has happened.
Please contact your representatives and let him/her know that we don’t want to socialize the free market/financial institutions with our money.
The 700 Billion bailout that the government is proposing needs to take place in order to get stability in the financial markets. I don’t like it, but we need to avoid a complete meltdown in the financial system. The real blame for all of this mess falls completely on Congress who ignored countless calls to regulate the institutions involved due to the lobbying efforts of large financial institutions. This went hand in hand with their goal of trying to promote homeownership for everyone at the expense of sound business practices. The lobbyists were in the pockets of many of these people both Democrats and Republicans who looked the other way. Now these same people are going to get in front of us next week and take credit for quickly passing legislation that they claim will put an end to this crisis. THIS IS WHAT WE SHOULD BE ANGRY ABOUT. What we should be demanding from Congrss as part of this bill is not an extension of unemployment benefits or more help for forclosure victums (Which you can bet is going to be tacked onto this bill) but an immediate elimination of any and all lobbying activity in Washington. All lobbyists should be banned from any contact with politicians on the hill and back it with penalties that will put some meat into this action if violated. Only then will we the people take back control of our government. If not nothing is going to change and we will be doing this in another fashion a few years from now. Problem is we are asking the fox to guard the henhouse and nobody has the guts to limit their time at the money trough the lobbyists have created at our expense. WE NEED GOVERNMENT REFORM. If not we are simply treating the symtoms and not the disease. The blame lies on ALL of them and shame on us for letting this happen without demands for reform.
Please congress , do NOT spend the next two generations money on this bailout proposal for foreign banks and Wall st. charlatans . I’m willing to sacrifice my 401k for the good of the country , won’t you politicians please make a stand for the good of the nation .
The use of taxpayer funds is AGAIN being used, this time to bailout ALL OF WALL STREET and THE BANKS, and this will put in jeopardy the US Credit Rating and the dollar’s status as reserve currency. This in fact, puts the US Government itself at risk.
What is now clear, is that all of the claims of Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke, and this administration, that our ‘economy is sound’ and our ‘banking system is sound’ were all LIES. The American people and our Congress have been lied to for over a year. FedUpUSA is now dedicated to giving EXPOSING THESE LIES.
With one click here: http://www.FedUpUsa.org , taxpayers can see for themselves, in chronological form the path of lies as it has unfolded over the past year. Should Congress or the American people BELIEVE what they Bernanke and Paulson are telling us NOW??
We at FedUpUSA believe that:
1. Their plan does not ‘fix’ ANYTHING it merely puts Hank Paulson in charge of who will get all the assets and what is left of the currency when the financial system does fail.
2. That instead of limiting these losses (and yes, they are huge) to those who created them, it appears that Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke have SCARED the Congress into shifting the entire burden of this fiasco onto the United States Government Balance Sheet – WHICH IS YOU, THE PEOPLE!!
The sheer size of the bailout has provoked the anger of the majority of taxpayers who had nothing to do with causing the problem but now find themselves being asked to pay for it. Is the media willing to stand up for the PEOPLE?
The ramifications of a bailout of this size, especially without meaningful, substantial debate, AND PURPOSEFULLY AND DELIBERATELY EXCLUDING REVIEW BY ANY COURT, INCLUDING THE SUPREME COURT, requires that all media step up to bat and help get the word out to taxpayers…..after all, this is using taxpayer money without their approval. The future of our country is at stake
FedUpUSA.org
http://www.FedUpUSA.org
2651 Dayton Drive
Troy, MI 48085
Stephanie Jasky
Founder
FEDUPUSA
The bailout is better than doing nothing? Oh really? Lets see the numbers! Lets see Paulson put his personal savings on the line. If the bailout saves Wall Street, he gets to keep his family’s money.
I never thought that I will see the nationalization of the Wall Street! Modern times… brings interesting questions that I ever thought I will ask; If the bank does not have money because they have too many houses that are not sold lets go to the government and let them have the house so the bank have money and the government wait for two years-maybe more- to get the money, it also apply to insurance and … local taxes. Is that fair? There is no guaranty the government will get money in two years as is no guaranty the house get the value that was sold, but who cares is government money…Some years ago the police was let sell a house to people where the interest can go up, for a middle class family it can go up of $400 or more. Let get real can an average family afford an increment in their mortgage in two years? Who is responsible to protect the market with policies. Consequence of the market manipulation. It is a cancer where our medicine cure us or delay the inevitable?
The Gov’t could either step in or not. Both advantages and disadvantages will accrue to the country through either decision. The question is whether plan implementation will result in aggregate net benefit
Here is a tip – consider all of the components of ‘aggregate net benefit.’
You should know that intellectuals snicker when normal people become indignant. You provide them with endless glee. Think critically if you want to show them up. Ask questions. Consider nuances. Shun opinion. Seek facts. Consider contexts. Smoke w33d.
Will the tax payer make dividends on this folly ? hell no we won’t. No jobs, who will buy these homes ? illegals from Mexico and 550,000 a year coming H-1 visa workers from around the world that are not citizens taking our jobs, when the gov. wants to recoup the money. This is about the rich not the poor. Let them fall and prices will come down so people can afford things without paying banks 4 times the value of things. Our average pay the last 7 years was 1% higher then the year 2000 while housing prices doubled. Everything cost too much and the banks make a killing on top of it too !
So how many of these firms are going to have big shots walk away with hundred million dollar golden parachutes. That they are going to make ME pay for. For screwing up.
Enough is Enough. When the goverment takes over, they should be stripped of all their assests as part of the plan.
Let THEM start over from zero!
My problem with all this is the buyers that bought all these super nice houses on variable interest, no money down mortgages, with a $7 an hour job at wal-mart. These people should lose their $400,000 houses. I am not bragging, I make 80K a year and I live in a house I bought for $130,000 and is worth about 180,000 now. Not a mansion, but I have 3 kids and save for college and retirement. People need to live within their means. Anyone who buys something, no money down, with a variable, ballon, no interest or other speculative type loan deserves to lose the house when they can not pay. I as a taxpayer should not have to pay for their house! But the problem now is that this whole crisis is impacting responsible individuals who have 401Ks at work and save for retirement, their house values are slipping, cost of food rising. Ridicioulous, find the people who bought the houses, take their houses and sell the house to someone who will pay!
This bailout might be the worst idea in the history of America. It’s a sad and shameful time. Stop this immoral and wrongheaded bailout. All it does is transfer the cost of this mess from the GREEDY WALL STREET BANKERS to taxpayers and savers. In the long run, it will surely do much greater harm than good. It will destroy the dollar. Read prudentbear.com, dailyreckoning.com, financialsense.com, mises.org & elliottwave.com, & moneyandmarkets.com. These people have seen this mess coming for years and they know actually understand what’s going on.
What about our credit cards? they are charging us 20% 30% interest, lets do a trade off.We deserve it too……
I think that we the taxpayers need to know all the salaries and perks and total compensations the CEO’s get. I then think that if they get a bailout, their total compensation package should be reduced drastically since they were the decision makers of the fail. Why should we as taxpayers protect their salaries, etc. Too many people lost homes and job with no bailout and I think we the people should rear up in this instance.
I hate to say this, but…
What we are experiencing right now
in the american economy…
is… The calm before the storm!
baby boomer promises, health care
debt, rising debt, failing businesses…
I predict we will experience a depression… five years tops…
So they say “Its good for us?” – PROVE IT. Show the public in a POWER point by point presentation (like the one on: http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse) and describe in detail Exactly HOW, WHY, When and Where $700B is going to help – and WHO besides the failing bank presidents getting $2.5B is really benefiting. Then let the US decide and openly vote & debate it.
why not let those people who play by the rules to be the winners instead of wall street. People who have good credit scores and did not buy over priced homes before can be the best resoucces to take over those forclosed homes. Instead of $7500 tax credit, make it $20000. I think half of those empty homes will be gone before the end of the years.
If Wall Street wants my tax dollars, I want them to REDUCE their fees — like that stupid ATM charge. No more ATM charges!
It is ridiculous to say that it is a bailout. It is an investment by the govt. in assets that they will purchase below fair market value. Besides, the banks are in this position becase PEOPLE misused the mortgage money and derailed the mortgage system. I wonder why people are still in favor of collapsing the economy, driving interest rates high, so businesses would suffocate and thus kill us all.
The federal govt. should take responsibility fo creating the housing bubble ( way back in 1997) by excessively biasing the tax laws in favor of home owners. The govt. should have taxed the profits from home sales as long term capital gains, to build a cushion for the day when reality will finally hit the real estate markets.
The bailout is not necessarily limited to $700 billion! The relevant clause in the proposal says, “The Secretary’s authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding **at any one time”**. So the faster they turn over the toxic material, the more of it they will handle. And whenever the material is sold at some kind of loss, it will cost all of us. Do we really think they’re going to be able to sell all the toxic material at a profit?? How crazy do they think we are!
I hope the bailout plan offers only a floor for these securities. and not the original face value.These institutions must have an incentive to continue to work out their problems privately, and not to dump their garbage on the tax payer. Full face value will only permit them to continue reckless behavior. I object to socializing these losses after privatizing years of profits. The government should offer.20 on the dollar, just to establish a floor. If the balance sheets are so poor after that, then they should not be in business.
The fiscal policies of this administration are really great,”Deregulate the fiancial industry and let the “Free Market Forces”reign. Well that has happened and now this administration is calling to reregulate the industry. Bring back The Glass/Seigal law and the laws and rules that were in place before this deregulation nonsence started. It is time that we recognise that the FDR administration did do something right
From day one this administration has done nothing to show that they can be entrusted with this type of power! A few examples that come to mind are the Iraq war over wmd’s, mission complete, the denial of global warming (until it became impossible to deny), the withdrawal of requirements for Detroit to make more fuel economical cars, and then the recent denials of our country’s economical state up to this point. And now they expect us to trust them and give Paulson the power to bailout anyone he wants unchecked by courts??? Get real, everyone should be writing and calling their congressman opposing this nonsense. I’d rather go thru a depression now than leave it for my kids, grandkids and possibly great grandchildren.
Derivatives, hedge funds, complex “to the point of absurdity,” meaning Capitalism is untrustworthy, failure of gov. to do it’s job. of oversight, So more gov. intervention meaning a Controlled State… Capitalism is DEAD ! Tax payers who bail out failed
Capitalism will receive no dividends for unconstitutional tax increase to bail out profiters who raked off tons on money for them selfs and yell save us, or the economy of the world will be sucked into the abyss. I noticed no one jumping out of windows on Wall Street as the last depression. Many more failings coming folks. We will be as a third world country very soon. Got rice ?
Just another example of the wealthy being taken care of at the expense of the rest of us.
Let these institutions, their employees, their investors, etc. take the loss. Sorry, that’s the way investments work.
Then save the 700 billion and use that to as a starting point to developing our energy system so we aren’t giving our wealth away.
The jobs created will stimulate the economy and act as an investment we will all benefit from.
Bush and his decrease revenues, increase expenses stupidity set this all in motion, the Republicans and their wealthy cohorts, need to suffer the consequences, not the middle class.
Oh my God….if anyone buys the concept that the government could make money on this bailout or even manage it is not living on this planet. The government only knows how to spend money
Don’t do it…and everyone of the CEO’s and the staff they hired for advice need to go If it’s my money…you’re fired
We have to do the bailout, because it is the lesser of the two evils. It will not stop the current decline that will take place in the economy over the next few years, but the alternative really isn’t what we the taxpayers and responsible savers really want. After all is said and done, we can limit the amount of damage these folks can do again by not conducting business with them ever again. When the revenue stream dies out, then it doesn’t take long for that company to fail or get absorbed.
I personnaly am going to excercise my right to fire every member of my congressional delegation this Nov. for allowing this to happen. I urge others to do the same.
But then again, what did we all expect when we handed the reigns of the taxpayer dollar machine to a bunch of lawyers who wrote the laws to fit their agendas.
As the comedian Ron White put it so eloquently, you can heal a broken bone, and you can cause the blind to see, but you just can’t fix STUPID.
My personal investment during this time will to go long Europe and Asia, pick up strong commodity stocks traded in the U.S. and short the dollar BIG TIME!!!
WE are all to blame for this mess. Those of us who took advantage of the situation thinking that a free market only goes up, and those of us who never broke down the doors to make sure the Doctor Frankensteins weren’t creating something in secret that we didn’t want to see.
Oh Yeah…I am also buying defense stocks. Would rather buy financials, but just don’t trust them in America anymore.
wall street gets a bail out. Common man’s credit scores should be increased, no quesions asked, by 40 points across the board. How about that? Is it not a fair and equitable bail out for the common man?
CONTACT YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVE NOW TO EXPRESS YOUR DISAPPROVAL OF THE BAILOUT
Senate Contact List–> http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Find Your Representative–> https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
If our Federal Govt. wishes to spend almost a Trillion Dollars of our money to bail out Wall Street, where’s the money going to come from when we are already in such deficit? China?
Why doesn’t the Congress propose a high interest (10% p.a.) Federal CDs or Govt. Bonds to generate this money from AMERICANS – fixed for 3 yrs. and backed bu the U.S. Govt? This will generate money quickly from people waiting on sidelines to invest money into the economy and Govt. can loan this to the Wall Street!
What a ridiculous situation to be in. The fox has been watching the hen house. When I was shopping for a mortgage 4.5 years ago, I was told by one lender that I could get up to $1M. I was shocked, but smart enough to know that it would be stupid for me to take it. I ended up with a $250K loan from a different lender, which is pretty small for CA. This ridiculous situation is a combination of greedy lendors and gullible borrowers who didn’t do their due diligence to find out how much they could handle. Both should be held accountable for their decisions. Why should I – having been smart about my loan – have to bail them out? I think I’m more deserving of a handout for doing the right thing than they are for digging a hole.
Wall street gets a reprieve. Common man’s Credit score should be increased across the board by a 40 points. How about that?
These are the death throes of the American economic system. One way or another, we’re going to pay for other people’s stupidity. $900 billion?????
The problem is not that there are not enough foreign ways to take debt from domestic lenders, but that there are not enough patriotic ways to get cash flows to the homeowners.
If the people are mad about the bail out they should be burning that the democrats are going to hold up the 700 billion so they can get more money for the same subprime losers that asked for money they couldn’t afford. Nancy Paloci was orgasmic to get their extra “wealth distribution money” into the bill that will push this taxpayer bill up to the 1 trillion dollar mark. Democrats can’t seem to see we hate this fix but she has the balls to tag on more. Does THEIR greed ever stop?
What Mayor Ray Nagan and Gov Blanco were to Katrina, Bwarney Fwank, and Chris Dodd are to this FINANCIAL HURRICANE!!
Time to march on Washington, and kick all the bums out!!!
I think we should all send our bills to Washington so they can bailus out.
Seriously, call it what you want bailout or loan we still get the short end of the stick. This has nothing to do with taxes; until our tax dollars will be paying for this stupid investment.
As everybody knows and has stated the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and middle-class america gets screwed.
IT IS ALL OUR FAULT! Why ? Because we elected our Socialist leaders. We are living the AMERICAN DREAM.
I will keep working for nextweeks paycheck to pay for what bill I can pay and look foward to one of these banks call me to tell me I owe them. I hope my family does not get sick because we do not have health insurance.
I just thought of this. We will try to impeach a President for having sex with an intern but will keep another if he ruins our country. WAY TO GO!!
I just hope people will wake up and smell the coffee this and every election from here on out. We will voice our thoughts and opinions on a website that lets us but keep our mouths shut where we are free to speak; out in public.
I keep seeing SECTION 8, isn’t that govt. assistance.I have never read where the changed the wording to support. Why do we have to support citizens and not assist them till they get back on their feet.
Oh well, I will go back to keeping my mouth shut.
Hey, stop and think about what is going on here. There is an opportunity to make some serious money. The $700B is going to be used to buy mortgages, albeit some bad ones. But along with those bad ones are some good ones, too. With all of the foreclosures that have taken place over the past year or so, I’m betting that most of the really bad stuff has already floated to the surface. Therefore, what is left is probably not as bad as everyobdy thinks and if the government restructures some of those, they will perform even better. If the paper can be bought for, say 40-50 cents on the dollar, give me some of that action! I’m willing to bet that 80-90% of mortgages that are left will pay as agreed. If that’s the case, somebody stands to make 40-50 MORE cents on the dollar they invest. That’s a 100% return in my book. Even if it takes 3-5 years to get those assets back to that level, it’s still a 20-33% annualized return. Like I said before, give me some of that action!!! People that keep a cool head in a time of crisis will always mop up!
Paulson is from Goldman Sacs. Of course he will look to bail out Wall Street. I think that the $700 Billion be given to the people so that they can invest in whatever makes sense to them – they could invest in financials firms (and bail out the good ones) or they may shore up their house mortgages or pay for their health care, etc. Money directly flowing to the financial firms is equivalent of rewarding the multi-million salaried execs and condoning their risky behavior. We cannot afford to do that.
Barney Frank,
The Republican Financial Crisis reminds me of the weapons of mass destruction crisis that took us to war in Iraq. Don’t let us be duped again by that crowd. What is the nature of the impending crisis and why can’t a decision be delayed until a thorough investigation is made. It took years to create the problems of deregulation and it’s hard to imagine why six months of study can’t be made before committing the country to bailing out the wealthiest people in America.
So much of this lesson was learned in Great Depression 1 (the necessity for the Glass-Steagle Act) that it’s hard to imagine how we got here (a crisis). If we examine the lead up to the Great Depression the crash came in 1929 and the impact wasn’t felt by the American average person until several years later and this only after the neglect of any consideration by the Hoover Administration. Let Wall Street pay for its bad decisions. Let it go the way of the dinosaurs.
It would be a shame if two years from now we are looking back and having spent the entire reserves on the “financial crisis” to find there are no reserves when Main Street takes a hit. The Paulson program will cause interest rates to rise hurting John Q. Public. I notice Goldman Sachs is on the list of 799 financial companies to be cleansed of their debt. How much does this mean to Paulson?
Once stung twice wary,
John W. McDonald
Am I the only who finds it a coincidence that the moment Goldman Sachs (e.g. the firm Hank Paulson used to run as CEO) came under fire, we the tax payer are being scared into this BAILOUT?! This is disgusting and we should all be calling our congressional rep’s to tell them that enough is enough. This could and should be solved by private entities, not the public’s hard earned money. For the past year, Private equity firms have been aggressively raising $billions to invest in distressed assets such as MBS. But all the while, the fat cats at our “too big to fail” organizations have been unwilling to sell or mark mortgage related assets to their current market value — why? Because they would lose their jobs. Now, the US Government is seen as their saving grace — there is a market for these assets, the government is not telling us the truth (note: the government will actually be a conduit, relying on this market to resell the paper)… No, no, no should be our response to the government — pass a law that requires troubled banks to sell, now! Do we live in a country where the few get rich off the many? If the $millions these bank execs have made over the past years can be privatized, so should their losses. This BAILOUT breaks out to approx $2k for every person in the US. So, rest assured the CEO of Goldman Sachs will surely be thankful when he is sipping champagne on his yacht in the Long Island Sound. Only we can take our country back — call your congressional rep and tell him/her that you will be watching how they vote very closely.
How about this.
The government should buyout all the good paying consumers in this country who’s mortgage has been paid full every month.
Then those people can then use that money to buy other things like more property,cars, tv’s etc…. to keep the economy afloat?
Sound stupid doesn’t it? So does this bailout.
I do the good, pay my bills and don’t over extend myself.
What do I get a loss of over 25% in my 401K and a future of higher taxes to come.
I don’t recall signing my ass up somewhere for the licking it will take.
We can’t take care of the poor and the children of this country but we can help the people who have
screwed the poor into to being even poorer.
The Day will come when these people meet their maker.
I do love seeing the people’s comments on here who think this is good I know why.
1 They sit fat and happy off the years of good years in the financial sector.
2 They work in this industry.
3 They don’t truly care about anyone but themselves.
People worry about gun laws because there will be a civil war soon.
To the rich better build high walls.
These are the same people that said that the Iraq war would pay for itself.
Write and call your congressman or woman. Stop this fur lined give away.
The criminals (Republicans) who created the mess have invented one more trick: ‘protect-the-super-rich’; chain the middle class to the wall and make them pay for generations. In a 1000 days the house will come down onto the Democrats, just watch!
The country club set is passing the bill for their life and business style to my children and grandchildren! I am loosing faith in the system. Will the USA fail financially as the next step in this process and sell it assets to rich foreigners? Election day is comming!!!!!!!
Does this mean we all own shares in these financial institutions? Will we have stock options that we can trade in the future? If we put up the money, will we be able to share in the profits if this bailout works? Just wondering . . .
How can we as tax payers keep these bumbling idiots out of our pockets? Learn something about politics. What George W. Bush and the republicans did to this Great nation is a shame. There needs to be heads rolling after this and jail time serious jail time. That’s how you control greed, by making sure the sentence fits the crime and their crime has destroyed this nation. Have you no shame to what you have done to this country Bush and republicans? You’re damn war in Iraq drained our budget and murdered innocent lives. Damn you for what you’ve done.
We can complain as much as we want, however we are in this together. While I do believe we will pay back what is owed, we are very selfish when it comes to money, hince the reason we are in the position we are in now. I am in what is probably calledd the “lower class” at $40,000 a year, yet I am here for my fellow Americans. The bail out will work if it is managed correctly. It is time to stand ups a country.
NO way Hose!
What about this?
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
The MAN wants ABSOLUTE POWER!
ABOVE THE LAW, ANY COURT, AGENCY, CONSTITUTION, US,”The PEOPLE”, unaccountable by ANYBODY with OUR MONEY at hand.
Comment on this, but to me it sounds like “New Emperor, Hitler, Stalin, you name it !”, please think and comment on THIS !
AND – why it is included and what it has to do with solving pure financial / money problem ?
AGAIN – NO and NO WAY !
Why should I be sympathetic to the greed of both borrowers and lenders? Homes sold to people with little or no down, who COULDN’T afford them TO BEGIN WITH? And the easier the credit, the more potential home buyers there were,& the more home prices became inflated?
Sorry, absolutely NO sympathy here-
has anyone ever heard of a BUDGET?
This is just like the Iraq Invasion of 2003. The Republicans tell you the sky is falling, that you will die and lose everything. Their recommendation to solve the problem? Give them trillions of dollars without any oversight so that they can put our country further into debt while enriching a bunch of multimillionaires. The Democrats are too scared to say NO because they’re spineless. This bailout idea is horrible and will ruin this country. The Republicans have cried wolf and we are falling for it all over again.
Does anyone see the pattern?
The country’s security is at stake.
We have to act quickly.
There’s a partial plan, no long-term plan.
The long-term consequences are unknown.
The long-term costs are unknown.
This is the same way we went into Iraq, or is it the finnacial crisis?
What would stop the US Government from selling the debt to another country rather than wait for the US economy to strengthen?
And what would stop a country with the resources to do so if they wanted to have a more firm hand in the going’s on in our country and its economy?
I understand that a ‘Bail-out’ of some type may sound necessary but I feel that the American taxpayer has foot the bill for many of the problems created by big business and the greed of the corporations, banking and mortgage industry. Maybe the people who thought it would be a great idea to purchase a home that they could never even afford and the banks that allowed it to happen should pay…
And maybe the Federal Reserve Bank should be audited… They cannot just print this $700 Billion at the expense of the taxpayer.
The value of the US Dollar is falling and the countries around the world that use it to back their own currency will soon see similar falls in value as well. Food and water will become the major commodities that are traded, sold and stockpiled, for they are only what we really need to live.
There are too many opinions that I may type here so I will end here.
And now we are told that US taxpayers are to bail out foreign banks too. I say NO, NO, and Hell No to the bailout.
Write your representatives.
It is reprehensible that this administration which has the US in debt over 9.6 trillion dollars would even consider granting any kind of “bail out” to mortgage lenders who are in their current position because of their own greed. My opinion–the American people are the ones who are suffering. Let these mortgage lenders whose greed brought them into this debacle fend for themselves. My opinion–let these greedy corporations fall. The American people deserve better. The government cares more about these miserable companies whose CEOs are living in the lap of luxury more than they do the American people who are suffering under stagnant wages, rising costs across the board and the falling value of the dollar. And now they want to “bail out” these miserable companies? Let them go under–and as far as I am concerned–that includes AIG insurance. The American people deserve better than what we are being handed.
The newest revision by Paulson just says “troubled assets” without specifying exactly what they are. So now we will be buying exactly what? It also says firms headquartered outside the U.S. will be elibible! Does that mean we will take over all the worlds bad debt?
If Hank Paulson gets his bailout signed into law, he will personally have unfettered access to more capitol than most nations. If power corrupts…he gets to hire his own people, and spend the money as he sees fit without any oversight or legal challenge. I bet I could build a nation with less than $750 Billion.
I have found several articles stating that Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are poised to buy up distressed real estate in our country. Saudi Arabia, Qatar,Abu Dhabi, etc. They have set aside large amounts of Petro wealth to get in the party…
They will probably pay only .59-.70cent on the dollar for their investment. They will sit on them , and RENT them back to us. Then in 10 years, or when the market has appreciated enough they will unload them. They also have desires to buy up farm and agriculture foreclosures- Which they hope to use to for themselves in their hemispheres’ food shortages.
This is why this is so serious.
I guess if I had to pick who was going to get a big windfall from this mess, I would hope it would not be these kind of players..
With this bailout our national debt will be $11,300,000,000,000.00 and there is no guarantee that this bailout is the last one, GMC and Ford are waiting for their bailout. We currently have a negative savings rate which means that the money is all coming from the middle-east, and China. Our government no longer serves the people, the Constitution of the United States calls on us to get rid of the government. How much abuse by the government are the American people willing to take?
It seems that the $700B “auction”, as the proposal calls for purchase of bad loans, is still unknown how much the taxpayers will pay for the “bailout”.
The government will most likely buy the assets at below-market rates and hold onto them until the market recovers. Ideally, the loans could then be sold at a gain.
That’s going to be based on how quickly the economy recovers and what happens in the mortgage market.
It’s possible that Americans would end up with some of the gain as a “refund-check”??
This is simply a swindle. The idea is to dump the losses on people who had the good sense or sufficient control of their greed to avoid overextending themselves to begin with.
Like all ponzi schemes, the last guy in the chain suffered all the losses.
The difference this time, is the last guy in the chain happened to be the so called financial pros – giant investment banks, hedge funds and derivatives holders. Now if this happened to your brother in law, everyone would express their deep sympathy and then snicker that you knew he was a moron all along. Sooner or later he comes around asking for a handout. He tries to tell you how its really in your best interest, how it would avoid painful situations for his family, the children and so on.
What a crock of s**t!! We pay as taxpayers to buy out all of the banks “bad loans”, their books and stocks go up, the CEO’s get richer, and the little guy gets stuck with battered 401k savings, no equity on their homes, and still higher gas prices. THIS STINKS!! Just like all politicians in Washington! THEY REALLY STINK!!
Simply stated: NO, NO, NO bailout! With a “handout” of $700 BILLION, that equates to $2,333.33 per each of the roughly 300 MILLION people in this country. But since a large number of people are unable to work (elderly, infants, children, severely disabled), that means fewer people to foot the bill, and a higher bill to those who work and pay taxes. Without factoring the non-working, we still have to foot the bill for $9,333 per family of four, and not everyone can afford such an added burden. Ultimately, we must pay the piper, and the piper’s wages are expensive.
Where does this gravy train stop? Can we as a nation not stop this insanity? Bailouts are a temporary fix at best. Ultimately, the nation will collapse under the weight of such financial burdens on its citizens. I just don’t like it.
It is interesting how so many people have been blasting the present administration for this when the root of it really started way back in the mid 1990’s. It takes a long time to blow up a bubble this big. The root of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac problems can be laid at the feet of Barney Frank and his insistence and legislation that forced those two institutions to make home loans to people who could not afford them and did not understand them. Bill Clinton happily signed this legislation into law. This is why there has not been a lot of outrage from the Democrats. There is plenty of blame to poured around on all the politicians regardless of party. Just vote for someone new every time you vote is the only cure for this insanity. Also for all of the people who said that no one could see this coming I say bull. Way back in 2002 former President of the St Louis Fed said that both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would go broke if they continued doing what they were doing. There was plenty of time if anyone in Washington had a clue and not just financial ties to all these companies. Remember Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both gave huge donations to Obama and I have not seen him offer to hand that money over to the US Treasury to aid in this bailout. They are the same Republican’s and Democrat’s – wake up.
The assets we (government) are ‘buying’ are subjective in value. So, who will place a value on these assets? My bet is it will be the ones selling them or third parties with an interest in them; monetary or political. What will happen is the taxpayer will pay an overvalued price and the government will sell it at market value. (lower) The taxpayer will suffer the loss not the company with the toxic asset. And then who will buy the asset? If its a home it will be the one who has a foreclosure on his record and the price will include a high interest rate because of risk. and the company making the mortgage loan? Well, that would be the one who owned the asset to begin with.
A Bank has a toxic asset, sells it to the government for a value that they determine and then buys it back with a substantial increase in interest revenue.
The government comes out good for political reasons, and corporate America for fiscal reasons.
I think we should let it all fall apart, take our money and put it under the mattress and THEN loan it back to the government and corporate America at 15% interest.:-)
This government did not see the problems are coming. Paulson did not see the problems ( because may be he was inside the problem ). Now the government knows the solution. Stop the free market. Stop the bankrup. Ban the short sells. Give him $700B and all the absolute powers. No check-and-balance. This is the solution we need. Trust the government.
Despite the dredging up of old incompetencies about the Bush administration we have to focus on the present. And it is clear that something should be done before the mild layoffs we are seeing across industries currently escalates into disaster.
Once we have moved past the panic, we must rationally put measures in place to prevent this type of panic from happening again.
I say let the politicans pay for the bailout. Heaven knows the make WAY more money that we do and cand afford to shell out cash for this.
The sharemarket should operate with a total ban on all short selling. This major source of selling should be removed and trading rendered ‘clean’, with nothing but real owners of company securities doing business. There should be a return to the ‘good old days’ of 20 years ago, before long-short hedge funds and securities lending came to dominate affairs.
When one advocates federal funding for the ailing or homeless in America, it’s derided as “socialism.” Now, when billions, perhaps trillions, are to be allocated to failing corporate giants, it’s deemed “necessary.”
Go figure.
Since the government is bailing out everybody, can I get bailed out as well? Where do I go to get money to pay for my mortgage?
Do you know the saying, If it sound too good , may be it’s not so good for you ? I don’t mind the bail out. But It should have some accountable from the guys caused all this mess. How come it doesnot spell out how we are going to prosecute the CEO of all this company ??? hang them dry and took away all their worth and selll them to pay for it. Accountable America, wake up !
I agree. All those big fatcats on Wall Street with their millions,,the CEO’s, COO’s and Corporate heads making their millions and all of them with millions on bonuses. I make less than 40k a year. I live fine. I own a home, have a car..yes no credit card, loan, or car payments, just my mortgage. They dont need all that money they make,,put a cap on their earnings first, then maybe this bailout will make some sense and not for them, for the thousands of people that were duped by the banking and mortgage companies when they got their loans. These average earning people lost their homes and now the financial world is in a collapse and now goes any savings they had. This whole financial problem is hitting us regular people. I say bring all our troops home where they belong, stop doing trading overseas of anything, bring our jobs back to the US where they belong and lets get our country back where it belongs.
This whole bailout plan reeks of too many uncertainties which puts too much power in those that run it.
What is really happing to the US anyway? Is Bush leading us in to the North America Union?
Interesting idea. So what we are doing is buying “hard to value” housing assets for cash to banks? Adding 700 billion new dollars to the economy in “investments” that may lose or gain value based on a market with 11 months of houses for sale. So Paulson is advocating a good investment? Does that mean that the banks are going to suck the “market” loss on the difference in the value of the loans. If so then wouldn’t that HURT the banks by realizing that loss in investment on sub-prime loans? And is Paulson going to pay the interest rate on the borrowed money the US doesn’t have? Maybe we should just start a printing press rolling to create more dollars so that inflation makes up the difference in homes paper value v. real value. Hey then our credit card debt is worthless too and we can start a export economy like China!!! Okay children this is how you make a soccer ball; time to pay off daddy’s interest only mortgage.
First of all we let them bend us over to buy a home and then we pay them more when THEY dont like it.
Any congressman who supports this bailout (or any cowards who abstain) will NEVER EVER have my or my familys vote. Have written to my senator to stop this bailout.
This is no longer the United States of America, this is now the Peoples Republic of Goldman Sachs.
I am hopping mad that we’d even consider such an outrageous use of taxpayer dollars. The Republicans (I am one.) in office have failed their basic principle of letting the market work. Let the companies fail, as many as it takes to teach future executives and investors not to do this again.
An absolute outrage. To the extent I can, I will vote against any members of Congress who vote for Paulson’s proposal.
Outright theft.
funny the dems are right on this. you can’t give the money no strings attached. strick regulation to fix waht phil graham and john mccain did to us. also demand the money back. organ stanley ceo made 441 million in the last few years . 441 million. personally some of these guys deserve to go to jail. Hank Paulson said it well ” this is the end of raw capitalism” we are entering a mini socialist state era of our government. WHY? Because of greed.
yes to the bailout to save us all. but not without strings. go get them pelosi!!
Its funny how most people are saying “no bail out”. Do you even have a say in the matter? I think not.
doesn’t this look like a set-up??? If Obama becomes President, he wants to run a socialist state, and with the kind of money he has backing him, those are the kind of people who can seriously compromise the economy by manipulating wall street and the the financial institutions……
bad securities threaten the financial viability of many companies. the government’s solution? buy these securities! sorry, this doesn’t make sense.
I did some searching to see what other countries are saying about this situation. In many cases, their point of view is that – America is done. I couldn’t believe some of the things I was reading. Many believe we are too far gone, and the Bailouts will not help us. That being the case, I suggest we ALL try to keep as much of our money as we can, you know, like maybe not paying for this huge debt? Just an idea….
Great idea. Let the people who blew up the economy try to “fix” it by buying off bad debt at unrealistic marked prices. There are people who will buy this bad debt at true market prices, but the banks and brokerages that caused this mess don’t want to take the hit – they want to keep the profits private, and of course, shove off all the risk on the taxpayers. Great work, if you can get it.
Why should we bail out big business when nobody bails out au little people without a lot of hassle and an interest rate of 24% because we lost a hig paying job or made a bad investment. You look at the salaries these people make and compare it to your paycheck. If the fed id going to write off their debts where do I sign up to have mine written off
I think a great solution would be to vote all incumbents out of office regardless of political party. Could we really do worse? It says something about Biden/Obama when Palin actully is considered seriously as a VP. The American people, or at least the right wing, says “hey, she can’t do anyworse than what we have so far. What has “experience” gotten us”
This is a very important moment for our country and we are acting more Marxist than I could have ever imagined.
If we are going to privatize something, why don’t we takeover something really profitable like the oil companies.
THESE SECURITIES CAN BE VALUED! It is a flat out lie that Paulson is saying. It would take time, money, and people. I know a couple of hundred thousand unemployed people in the financial industry that could help in evaluating these securities, but Wall Street wants the quick fix rather than the right fix. If you want the answer I’ll be happy to give it to you! Remember the misinformation about Iraq! I am an independent, I consider myself a make sense person. This is the best we can do. This all started with the bail out of the “Tech Bust”! Let’s lower interest rates so we don’t go through any pain. You need bottom to start your journey back. The Dow will be under 10,000 in 12 months with or with out the bail out.
This is typical…Americans are listening to the blowhard politicians who have no idea of this crisis and just trying to push their own agenda….if the Fed did not “bailout” (and I use bailout loosely since they actually LENT them $85B at a little less than 12% interest) with a 79.9% interest in the company as COLLATERAL, the Dow would have been down over 1,000 points on Wednesday and we would have been hearing people whining that all of their investments portfolio / retirement account portfolio value would go down 10-30% because the government did nothing. I understand the argument that the government did this on an ad-hoc basis until its plan that it announced on Thursday, which lets not forget before these rumors came out, the Dow was down another 200 points before the 3:00 rally on Thursday (which would have made over 1,000 for three days). Is the plan perfect, probably not. At least someone is taking a leadership role with this plan (whether it’s the correct plan is another debate) and trying to help the financial system out, which if nothing was done who knows where we would end up (9,000? 8,000). If the government did not step in and do something we could easily be at that level for the markets to work it out on their own – and then what would the public say? Not to mention the everyday economic impact of not being able to get a loan.
Yes, mortage companies and the banks should be held accountable. But who in those entities? The CEO’s, Loan Officers, Etc, Etc. What about the people who knew what their mortage payment would go to and STILL SIGNED IT. Politicians scream for justice. And how much did politicians ( of both parties) get from donations. It seems to me that today’s ” it’s someone elses fault ” mentality has erased the personal responsibility required of all of us. I get tired of hearing ” It’s Not my Fault I’m broke or sick or overweight”. Pull your head out of your fourth point of contact and grow up. Should the US Government do this ” Bailout “? What will be worse, having our financial areas fail which would be a disaster for our country or doing the same thing FDR did during the Great Depression. Think about it.
Economic Bubble Theory – Greater fool theory
Popular among laymen but not fully confirmed by empirical research, greater fool theory portrays bubbles as driven by the behavior of a perennially optimistic market participants (the fools) who buy overvalued assets in anticipation of selling it to other rapacious speculators (the greater fools) at a much higher price. According to this explanation, the bubbles continue as long as the fools can find greater fools to pay up for the overvalued asset. The bubbles will end only when the greater fool becomes the greatest fool who pays the top price for the overvalued asset and can no longer find another buyer to pay for it at a higher price.
Please don’t let us be the greatest fools! Let them! Then let the economy take it’s course so we can get the inevitable done and over with already!!!
These companies would not be in this shape if they were not giving the CEOs the HUGE bonuses they are giving them. We cannot afford for the financial system to collapse, so we are stuck bailing them out. If we have to do this, the companies should have to pay back EVERY penny plus interest. They should not be allowed to give the CEOs bonuses like they do in the future and instead of giving the bonuses they need to use that money to pay back the money used to bail them out.
What a mess! I wonder if there is any way to work out some sort of Jubilee year type of program. Evidently, the Jewish people had a system of debt relief every 50 years. I realize it did not address this situation, but I wonder if somehow it might be made applicable. We have all “sinned” so maybe we just all need to start over and try to get it right this time. I realize this suggestion is over the top, but, hey, you never know–where there’s a will, there’s a way.
NO bailout!
We are not slaves on financiers’ land in our own country. No one has the right to destroy these country’s principles for any reason. These people did harm to this economy by inflating the prices and driving it in a consumer based black hole. They should take the black hole with them, it’s theirs, they’ve earned it. I am pretty sure that not all banks are irresponsible and there are lending options to support the good banks. Of course AIG it’s a done deal now, even if the rumor had been that Allianz offered to buy it before the bailout. But why, when the government “has” our money …
If Congress will approve the bailout, it will be the end of America as we know it. And the opportunistic Democrats who are in charge of Congress will bear the responsibility.
where has all the down payments and closing costs people paid to the banks gone? The banks get to keep that and get paid off with taxpayer money for the properties at what value? NO WAY for this debacle, let them fail.
One more crime in a never-ending line of crime. The entirety of the Bush Administration, Most of Congress, All of Wall Street and the Vast Majority of the Media should be put on trial for treason against the Constitution, found guilty and sent to jail or the gallows.
Citizens get no healthcare, no education, no infrastructure and no jobs. The Ruling Class gets Endless Waterfalls of Treasure.
This bailout reveals the sad, awful joke that is the USA.
Paulson this morning said that if you cap the executive compensation, these failing institutions will have no incentive to participate in the market. That might not be a bad idea. The amount CEO and the like are being paid, plus bonuses and incentives, is incomprehensible to the normal person in the street. No-one, and I repeat, NO_ONE is worth that sort of money. And what good are they doing for the community? These executives are nothing but self serving criminals who should forfeit their remunerations and any profit they have made in the last 18 months. There are many good and decent people in the world who would gladly serve the people. Please fix the problem of the FAT CATS running off with all the cream.
I think the Banking Committee had better get a much clearer picture before going Paulson’s route! The market has long known this was going to happen. Every one said, I don’t want to be around when this music stops! Where did Paulson come from…and who is he helping? Think twice. He’s offering to take these risky securities off the financial systems books and transfer them to our government?! What he is doing is insuring these securities will continue to have a market-meaning the government will not be able to shut down these risky securities and their markets! The government has to keep the market in order to have a place to sell them, and possibly turn them over at a profit. Look closely at Paulson’s words..It’s possible that Americans won’t end up on the hook. This will only happen if the Financial Institutions he’s helping will continue to make these loans to facilitate a market. So the Financial Instititions stocks rally, those who created the securities in the first place win, they sit in their macmansions and send the kids to private schools and still get big bonus’s as the stock rallies. AND WHO IS HOLDING THE BAG AGAIN! WAKE UP AMERICANS! We do not need to take these securities…let the Financial Institutions go!
As a business bankruptcy lawyer for many years, I have represented numerous financially troubled small and medium sized businesses. Not once have any of my clients been bailed out by the government. It is simply outrageous that the same banks and financial institutions to which my clients owed money and which in some cases were unreasonable in their demands are now having their own financial difficulties relieved by the taxpayers. Of some consolation is that our government while nationalizing Fanny, Freddie and AIG decided to let Lehman Brothers, who was especially brutal in its dealings with troubled borrowers, be liquidated. Poetic justice!
THIS IS ROBBERY!!!!
The poor US taxpayer had nothing to do with Wall St. melt down!!!! What about all those CEO and upper management a**holes who paid themselves MILLIONS??? They get off scott-free?! Not this time! THROW THEM IN JAIL!!!! The taxpayer got hit for the Savings and Loans scandal years ago, BUT THIS IS TOO MUCH!!! It’s obvious our politicians are in the pockets of Wall St. financial firms. THROW BERNANKE, PAULSON and GREENSPAN in jail for their ruinous policies. ABOLISH THE FED!!! While you’re at it IMPEACH BUSH too!!!! Enough is enough!!!
I’m a quasi-Libertarian and I believe that our federal government basically should do 4 things, 1) conduct wars, 2) fulfill treaties, 3) protect our liberty and 4) oversee the printing and management of our national currency, the U.S. dollar. In the last few years our federal government hasn’t done a very good job at the first 3 but I had hope. Hey, how hard is it to screw up the printing and management of money? Well, apparently they messed that up too.
Buying stocks – slot machine! Unsecured loans – slot machine!
If you are gambling and over 50 – shame on you!
Stopping asking our children and grandchildren to pay for our gambling.
Hot topic. Two quick questions come to mind. Do you trust authorities who did not see it coming, with the solution?
Two, do we tax payers bail out bonuses and participation with inflated salaries, as well?
On a separate topic, talking about “nationalizing” American interests, we could use the help in retribution. Don’t you think?
This is the greatest idea since sliced bread. The fiancial institutions will be able to use frozen receivables that are preforming poorly. Sell the lots of poor preforming receivables, mostly mortgages, for 30 cents on the dollars to the Feds. The Feds, who now own lots of bad mortgages, gets to sell them to companies who are great at converting these frozen assets to liquid or preforming recevables for 41 cents on the dollar. This is capitalism at it’s best. I am very pleased President Bush’s people created the concept on his watch. I cannot wait to see how great it works and how much it can help Mccain for his race for Presidency.
why not just take look at all the loans people have taken out since these practices have begun and re assess the value of homes or ? purchased to todays market and have the gov’t? You and Me, cover the difference, thus the $ can go to ease the woes to the home owners etc. as well as get the money to the lenders that need it most. No more default’s. the aid flows thru the channels in need, balance is moved toward being restored
I am writing in response to the Governments request for a bailout of these financial institutions. I am completely and whole heartedly against a vote for this action. These institutions created this problem when the offered differed loans to people who could not or would not qualify under normal circumstances over the last few years, and now that the terms are up, they can’t move the houses they are sitting on. This idea of bailing them out without severe consequences for their actions and the sale of these homes to investors, only serves to make the rich richer and poor poorer.
Exactly where is this loan money going to come from? Is the Fed going to whip it up out of thin air using Bernanke’s magic piggy bank?
The Fed has already hidden billions of dollars of liquidity it’s pumped into the markets. They stopped publishing M3 back in March of 2006.
This financial crisis is no where near over, and the “bail out” approach is potentially hyper-inflationary.
I personally believe it would be better for Americans if the Government were able to expedite the bankruptsy process for these grossly mis-managed corporations. i.e. Why is an insurance company purchasing derivatives in the first place?
Doing so would be a nasty bump, but the recovery for the average citizen, who’s not a Lehman executive awaiting their 2.5 Billion dollar bonus. Would occur a lot faster?
WTF will this do to the dollar???? To cover the bailout we’ll have to print money until we run out of ink – hyperinflation anyone!?! Hell no! Let the companies fail.
This is not about McCain, Obama; its about almost every American family that owns a home, IRA or mutual fund that is dropping in value. However, whatever agency that is authorized to buy the bad paper needs to receive sufficient rights from these corporations that it can preclude buyouts, bonuses, or new options for the executives who took the bad risks in the first place.
“The 700 Billion Dollar Bank Job” Halliburton was just the tip of the iceberg. It is the final cash out and we are just sitting back watching it happen. You can’t bailout the nation’s financial system this just closes out the books. Think of it as profit-taking on a scale beyond comprehension.
Banks and credit unions already have very strong and competent regulatory oversight through the FDIC, OTS, OCC, NCUA and various state departments of financial institutions.
Particularly with residential mortgages, banks are very rapidly aware of a borrower’s inability to make loan payments. A significant number of financial intuitions are not impacted by such defaults when their 1-4 family loans have been sold to the secondary market, a.k.a. FHLMC (Freddie Mac) or FNMA (Fannie Mae). Gee! Didn’t the Government just take them over? The exceptions may be the S&Ls/Mutuals/Thrifts, which often portfolio their 1-4 family mortgage loans.
All banks and credit unions are required to provide an allowance for loan loss, which is highly monitored and adjusted by the various regulatory agencies. Banks and credit unions are also required to maintain minimum capital (tier 1) requirements to cover other potential loan losses.
Although this may be a difficult time for some financial institutions, it’s a repeat scenario of 1980. We survived that down mortgage market and 20% interest rates through good and realistic institutional loan portfolio management and through strong regulatory oversight, including the creation of the Resolution Trust Corporation (R.T.S.). We weathered it all without bailouts.
This is nothing short of trickle-up panic mongering. There is no reason an additional week or two can’t be taken for Congress back off, take a deep breath, get out of panic mode and understand the ramifications of what they are being asked to do. There is also no reason the citizens in this country should be further burdened by a very poorly defined course of action.
SCREWED BY AMERICA. How does it feel? The American Government has been screwing everyone else in the World and now the American Government is going to screw itself. Remember, this is the “American Government”, not the American People. The American “fat cats” continue to “get theirs” while the hard working Ameican citizens foot the bill for their personal greed and stupitidy. A 2 trillion dollar war based on lies – paid off the Military-Industril machine of Chaney. Killed millions of innocent civilians of other countries – Bush “got his man”. Every American was able to but into the “American Dream” – a home, many we now find without qualifying income or could not aford (sub-prime). And Corporate Financial Institution CEO’s “bring home the bacon” each and every year for themselves and families.
Think about it. Not only do we the American Tax payers have to pay for their salaries 1x in our insurance premiums, but now 2x as they take our taxes as well. Sounds like “excess taxaion without represenation” to me . . .
So just let me know when I can go into my AIG office (owned by the people?) and pick up my insurance (paid for by good ol American tax dollars) . .
When will America have had enough? Or is this simply the modern day “fall of the Roman empire” . .
The financial crisis may already have gone too far or become too risky to do NOTHING. So the government may NEED to step in. But not without something in return and that is called REGULATION.
#1: Put limits on executive compensation and make it retroactive wherever possible.
#2: Discontinue the weird and non-productive fancy accounting schemes and make them illegal. I propose the ‘10th Grade Rule’ Here’s how it works: Set up a seminar of 10th grade students, active in public schools from every part of the country, maybe 100 kids, chosen at random (not ’selected’ by their schools so that you end up with a cross section of dummies and smarties). Present every existing and any proposed accounting scheme & gimmick to the seminar. If the kids can understand it, then give it a chance. If your average 10th grader can’t understand it then throw it out.
#3: Eliminate ‘corporate welfare’ as we now know it. Maybe we need a new definition of the rights of corporations to be treated as a ‘person’ for tax purposes with none of the responsibilities that apply to real people.
#4: Put a higher tax on ‘non producers’ – businesses that have no tangible product or actual service, but who just make deals that don’t add to the GDP. This would hit brokers and agents and arbitrage and lots of other things, but so be it.
#5: Let the Government work. It has a legitimate job to do in certain ways that have been corrupted by privatizing too many of the things that need doing. Put a skills requirement on political appointees so that Agencies aren’t run by bozos with a political agenda or are programmed to make the Agency fail.
#6: Develop a ‘Truth in Speaking’ requirement for political parties, lobbyists, advocates, etc. – these people may often be needed to make things work, but they need to speak plainly and be held accountable for libel, doublespeak, inciting falsehoods. Remember Goebels? He gave Germany false hopes by making defeat into victory, wrong into right, down into up, etc. Sounds a lot like some of the political handlers in the present administration, doesn’t it?
I could go on. I hope you see my drift.
Listen people, it’s as simple as this; if we do nothing and let the financial system fail… can you say depression??? There would likely be a run on the banks. Corporation, who employ you, will fail because they would be unable to receive financing for their operations. Want to buy a new home? Forget it because you would be able to obtain a mortgage. Let’s not forget about your 401k plan at work. It would be severely impacted. A financial meltdown would be a modern day type of armageddon! The gov’t needs to bail out the financial industry because without it would be the demise of our way of life. Wake up people, if AIG can fail, so too can many employers in America. The mortgages that the gov’t is buying my be yours. It would be somewhat difficult for you to pay your mortgage payment without a job! The gov’t is not bailing out Wall Street. They are bailing out all of us.
When these companies made big profits, did they ever think about paying tax for average Americans? CEOs and their management teams were getting outrageous bouns and salaries, but average American workers were getting pennies when compared. No bailout from taxpayer. Government should seize all properties from these CEOs and management teams to pay for the horrible disaster they have created for the entire world!
Paulson this morning said that if you cap the executive compensation, these failing institutions will have no incentive to participate in the market. That might actually be a good thing. At the moment they are doing no-one but themselves any good and are doing the whole world a lot of harm. In Australia, CRIMINALS loose all their assets. Use their assets and not tax money. No-one, and I repeat, NO-ONE is worth that amount of money. CEO’s packages have become so huge and unreal that they are a joke. And, why on earth are they still being paid when they are messing things up? They shouls be penalised.
Congress owes a HUGE apology to all Americans for this crisis and not resolving any issue this year pertainent to middle america. There should be no bailout and there should be restrictions for any member of congress from benefiting from any legislation passed. And no more hidden agenda on bills. I am so angry!!! I also would rather suffer now than put off this bill on my children.
It is time for a sweeping change in Congress and no lobbists allowed but the people at home who voted them in. And absolutly no personal benefiting from any legislation passed while in office. They managed to put regulations on everyone else but themselves and their interests.
LOVE this post!!!!
Last two sentences says it all people!
Plan ahead! I am.
Posted By G. Cecil, Carrboro NC: September 21, 2008 9:04 pm
Why do politicians continue the charade that they care about anyone but those with Big $$$? The only message the rest of us need to send is to THROW OUT ALL INCUMBENTS and THEN THROW OUT THE NEXT SET OF PETTY CROOKS over and over again until the Republicrats get the message. Unfortunately, the Depression is coming too soon for that to work. Oh well, back to living the simple life.
Posted By G. Cecil, Carrboro NC: September 21, 2008 9:04 pm
The problem with George Bush’s solution is that it is a giveway, not a bailout. The Republican have failed to regulate financial institutions and they have been unwilling to assign any blame to mortgage brokers who steered qualified homebuyers to subprime loans and authorized loans to people whose credit was never established. Now they want to rush through a no strings attached gift to speculators.
In typical fashion, the Republicans have no plan to pay for their largesse, while they attack Obama for god forbid, suggesting a responsible spending plan. Rest assured, when George Bush leaves office he will have bankrupted the country, just as the the titans of Wall Street have destroyed our financial markets.
The goal of the plan is to take bad debt off banks’ balance sheets so banks can lend again? The average American is already overleveraged which is why we’re in this mess (and more to come since defaults on credit cards, HELOC’s, auto/boar/RV loans will start showing up on Bank’s 3rq qtr earnings/loss reports). Banks have tightened up underwriting standards while borrowers credit scores and incomes have dropped, so new loans will be limited. Get your gold now while it’s still cheap!
I think the “Bailout” is what we need to do. However We need to not let the CEO’s of these companies have “One cent” for their pay or retirement or anything. The CEO’s of these compaines need to be punsihed by removing everything they own from them to help pay this even if it means they dig ditches afterwards.
Why is it, that businesses need to borrow money on order to stay in business? (Like Mr. Paulson explains). If this is a main reason for the bail out, I say no.
If your business can’t stand on it’s own profits, why should you be able to borrow money from tax payers everytime you give an excessive bonus to your CEO? If you can’t make it, then fold and let someone else try.
Economic Terrorists
I and many Americans are wondering why when we have a financial crisis that has placed the “National Security” of the United States at risk, why we don’t see the FBI and Homeland Security scouring the streets and offices of Wall Street for these “economic terrorists??”
We now have Socialism for the Financial Industry and the American citizen has become the insurance policy.
We now hear there will be more “hearings”…. We have seen dozens of these since the Democtatic Leadership took over in 2006, and there’s never any accountability or consequences for the liars, law breakers, and deceit shown by Bush Administration officials. If more hearings….bring the Hand-Cuffs!!
It is indeed amazing that with all these $$ Billions of dollars the taxpayers spend on Homeland Security, the wire-tapping, air-port screening, invasion of privacy into our banking, phone, Internet and even medical records—–that it wasn’t Iraq, Iran or Afghanistan that brought the United States to its knees, IT WAS OUR OWN BEST AND BRIGHTEST WHITE COLLAR GANGSTERS !!
I have to wonder if the corporations that are being bailed out with taxpayer money will have any sympathy for individuals with money problems. Somehow I doubt it. I don’t expect any sympathy from the Bush administration either.
Unfortunately, I think we do have to do something, BUT, all of the CEOs and upper level admin. people should be required to forfeit all but a moderate ($100,000 or so) payoff before any deal is made. My sister says that anyone who has voted Republican for the last few years finally has the government they wanted–no regulation, no control…
It sickens me to realize the lies told, the greed exhibited, and the contempt for regular people that everyone who had a hand in this must feel. And now we get to watch the Republicans blame this on Carter and Clinton. I don’t think Democrats are blameless, but let’s face it, deregulation and guidance by the invisible hand is all about being Republican.
Another woman for Obama
These banks used the promise of the American Dream to sell us these loans. When we couldn’t pay, we were held accountable and lost it all. The Dream became a nightmare. Well, they won’t fool me twice. It’s time they are held accountable just as we were. Unfortunately, this won’t happen. Our government will rescue them. All the executives will come back to once again receive large bonuses. And all this happens because we no longer have a government of the people, by the people. Special interest rules. We are back to where we started: Taxation without representation. I’m sure our founding fathers are rolling over in their graves.
So the financial geniuses and wizards of Wall Street are finally being seen for what they are: utter failures. Pompous failures at that. For all their strutting and driving around as if they were bright and clever and smart, the results that their petty little minds have produced are now as bankrupt as their ethics and superficial lives. How embarrassing to be a financial ceo or a financial advisor as they are shown for what they are: a burden on society, failed miserable little people, losers at their own game, beggers pleading for help from those for whom they have shown such disdain. Pompous greedy little fellows in your beemers, now begging for handouts from those of us from whom you have stolen from once too often. Buzz off little man, crawl back under your rock, wrap yourself in your false self image and your distorted view of reality. We don’t need you around here. We’re looking for humanity, and freedom, and kindness. We want to feed the hungry, treat the sick, house the homeless. Take your dollar-sign glazed eyes and your slick-willie attitude and move along back to the swamp from which you came. But before you go, do that fine-dressed begger routine for us one more time, will you?
No matter how you slice it the end result will be on the tax payers and we are certainly going to be stuck with the bill. It does not matter who is in office the result will be the same. This country loves to hold their leaders to a higher standard than their own. The companies are definitely a big portion of the problem but who was it that borrowed the money in the first place. I am certain that the borrowers had no one twisting there arms to sign a contract. I am also certain that it was the individuals choice to live beyond their means so maybe its time they put on your big boy pants and live up to their obligations. This mess is so deep rooted and spread throughout the globe that we will be paying for this fiasco a while. For those commenting on the loss in the 401(k), let a few more of these big banks file bankruptcy without a bail out and you may find yourself in the middle of full blown market crash and it will not matter where your money is bank, mattress or otherwise there will be no place and no way to protect your assets. I for one am nothing more than steel worker but I have no and no obligations to anyone. I choose this position and this position is where I will remain. It’s contrary to a debt driven society but it is a choice just the same.
Why does help for struggling homeowners take months but help for rich bankers who brought home hundreds of millions of dollars last year come in a matter of days? Its amazing how rich folks love a free market economy until they are the ones needing help, then all their talk about hating government assistance programs goes right out the window, along with $700 billion of middle class taxpayers’ money. This plan is nothing more than welfare for the rich so they can stay rich, thats why it needs to be done quick, before Bush and the rest of his gang get run out of town.
Okay, let me get this straight. This is not a loan, this is a GIFT. I didn’t agree and specifically, I do not believe ANY CEO of any of these failed companies DESERVES A DIME and I am furious that Richard Fuld expects to walk out of there with a $20 million dollar “severance package.” The man made $354 million in 5 years. How much of a greedy pig can one man be? If I had run a company completely into the ground, I’d walk out with nothing which is precisely what every CEO in this country deserves to do. Let them clean out their desks along with all of the other unemployed, and get their asses kicked like the rest of us.
This is outright wrong to put taxpayer money to bail out companies who are in trouble because of their own wrongdoing. When those companies made huge profits, the profits were not shared with taxpayer so why to share their loss.
In the words of John McCain when it came to helping struggling home owners, “we cannot bail out investors and speculators”.
I don’t understand why it’s so hard for Washington to understand that until the little guy (the one who pays the mortgages) is given some help, this problem will never go away! This bailout will last a few months until the banks go back to congress and say “they’re still not paying their mortgages; we need more taxpayer money to stay afloat”.
The market is adjusting to years of corruption and deregulation. Let those companies that fail, fail. If small businesses supply 70% of the jobs in this country, maybe the failures will allow a few small banks to grow. Yes, it will hurt the markets and the economy, but I’d rather help my neighbor survive than some big, crooked bank….period!
NO HELP FOR THE LITTLE GUYS FIRST EQUALS NO HELP FOR THE BIG GUYS!
So , who will bail ME out? I do beleived that the goverment should bailout individuals in the low and middle class from their primary home debt and this will allowed them to spend more and will help large segmens of our economy that have been struggeling over the past eight years.Also it will allowed some individuals to by a second home and this will eventually will start moving the inventory of homes that are in the lenders hand at this time. This will have a longterm effect than the actual plan alone and will benefit many Americans.
I once got into trouble and had 40K in credit card debt. I had a choice to file bankruptcy or pay it back. I worked 7 days a week and paid it all back in a little over a year. It’s time for Americans,the government and the lenders to take responsibility for their actions. Nobody was there for me to say “it’s ok here is 40k.” It is not fair to the people of this great country to give $700 billion away like this and tax us to pay for it. Paulson you helped your buddy Mozilo at Countrywide and now it’s Hank Greenberg who’s 6 Billion of AIG is fading away. Christopher Dodd, “how’s your mortgage doing?” I wish all Americans could get that deal. My parents taught me that nothing is free. Lets vote these guys out because they don’t care about the hardworking American. Email your congressman today! America these guys work for you.
The proposed bailout is SHAMEFUL.
In my opinion, anyone that votes “yes” on this proposal is a traitor to the American people.
In my line of business, we are paid bonuses when we reached our sales quota at an end of a quarter/year. These CEOS are paid huge bonuses for making bad business decisions. And this administration rewards them with a bail out. Only in America…
Of course we need the government to step in to mitigate the financial crisis. Uncle Sam is teaching us all an important lesson: When you fail in business, don’t fail Lehman-big (because you will just go bankrupt and look stupid), but fail AIG-big, so that the government will bring you bucket-load of other people’s money and make you look really important.
This is exactly the lession we want to teach our next generation of business men and women so that they can fail ten-times bigger than AIG ten years from now.
Why didn’t we learn from the lesson of the S&L crisis? Why did the government allow continued deregulation of the banking industry when it saw what happened in the savings and loan industry? Folks who believe the taxpayers will recoup a significant amount of the $700 billion requested should sign on for Alaska’s bridge to nowhere. With the baby boomers retiring in just a few years, this bailout will have a very burdensome effect on generations to come, not to mention precluding work on health care reform, energy initiatives, etc. What a sad commentary on our elected officials whom we elected to mind the store!
This is the equivalent of the “Shock and Awe” that this administration gave in Iraq. Has anyone continued to count the dead and maimed and the continued cost to taxpayers. NO BAILOUT!!!
Why should the president use our tax money to bail out these two companies. He has spent countless sums of monies on the Iraq war that should have ended along time ago. Now he wants another blank check and our money to bail out (2) Mortgage Companies. Let these two companies fight it out for themselves. They can declare bankrupt because that what the homeowner has to do when they cannot make their payment. Let the two companies feel how it feels to live when their bankrupt and no longer the lavish life style their use to.
It is most appropriate that executives should forfeit or get greatly reduced buyouts and bonuses. After all, they ultimately failed to meet their company’s primary goal. Profit and survival.
Overall I support Obama, but I am behind Republican Shelby on this all the way. Without the concrete details and public approval, Paulson & gang ought not push this through, specially if they can’t articulate the details. This note is to my congressman John Lewis and my Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson: DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT, pass the $700 Billion Bailout!
Corporations have long wanted to and have been treated equal to the individual taxpayer. How in hell can they now want a bailout??? Let them die financially just like the person and or family who has to declare bankruptcy because they lost a job to outsourcing overseas. Oh wait a minute, corporations lobbied Congress to revise the legal codes so individuals have a harder time getting legal protection from debts they cannot pay, even if it is not their fault. This is how revolutions start! This is the greatest country but I am considering a looking for pen to sign up for the next tea party in Boston!
Welcome to the Socialist States of America. Where bad loans get bailed out by decent peoples tax dollars.
We need to vote ‘em all out. And get a pay as you go government started.
The only thing good out of this is the possible start up of a responsible third party.
Why is it that corporate America can be bailed out when they are on the verge of going under, but small businesses are not accorded the same treatment by the government? Why are their CEOs still paying themselves millions of dollars in salaries while their corporations are failing? Why are we, the taxpayers, responsible for bailing out these large corporations? Shouldn’t the corporate administrators be more responsible for their companies’ solvency, even if it means they have to take home lower (God forbid, they only take home 6 figures) salaries? I guess the money big corporate America spends on lobbiests is paying off, lining the pockets of politicians. Those same politicians use the term “public servant ” very loosely, they really mean they are servants of only the profanely wealthy.
hey wheres my new house paid for by the taxpayer? why rent when the goverment will come bail you out, or better yet why isn’t the goverment bailing out every small business when it is the small business that make up the backbone of America ?
We’ve seen this all before with Iraq, the Bush administration’s world champion liars, urging action in crisis mode before anyone can really understand all the facts, scaring people into not doing their duty as Americans – to Question Authority!
‘Tis treason! Corruption at the highest level! Where does the Constitution empower the Executive to spend public funds for private enterprise? It does not! And any attempt to do so represents deleterious abuse of power, contempt for the private citizen, peril to the economic well-being of our posterity and extinction of rule by law. In short…TREASON!
Quick and Clean? This is what our treasury secretary tells us should happen, in order for Congress to write a 700 billion (or more) check. This money being used to bail out banks and other financial institutions who have charged huge interest rates to the tax payers, made billions in profits, and paid hundreds of millions to their highest company executives in compensation.
In other words, he wants a check with no questions asked and no regulations to prevent this greed from happening again.
If he thinks American tax payers are going to trust him or any other financial insitution for the foreseeable futire, he’s nuts.
Congress should demand at least a guaranteee of reform (now, and not later), before he gets a cent.
I’m a father of 4 who makes $60,000 a year that isn’t living beyond my means and still i have a very hard time paying my bills and there is no help for people like me but when a company is on the verge of going bankrupt here is the goverment to save them. It just makes no sense. I’m a salesmanager and I always tell my guy’s don’t complain unless you have a solution so the solution for this is quit letting the republicans control our goverment.
HEARD ON THE STREET…………..
-budget deficits likely to mount!!!!!!!!
-no short selling!
-talk of more stimulus packages!
-bailing out housing !
-Paulson is now looked at as a hero.
-talk of more regulation
-need lower rates
How about going out there and putting in a days work to earn a days pay.
In case nobody’s noticed, the root cause of this train wreck lies in the lap
of our abusing leaders who fake their way thru half a days work while taking in
way more $$$ than they deserve. You might as well give Charles Manson the
the vault combination!!!. When will someone who matters, stand up
and admit that the premis of capitalism is flawed.
How about a new kind of 401k, it(the corny one k) would go something like this:
Invest in your kids overall moral soundness, in a better education for them, in a
healthier diet for the whole family. How about we invest in helping our neighbors
instead of ignoring them, invest in our environment, our physical/mental state.
Maybe we can even invest in our own country by not selling out to the countries
that want to see us die, how novel an idea is that. and on and on and on……
This entire situation is nothing more than the rich politicians helping their richer friends solve their financial mess.
Congress should require as a part of the deal, that any executives who lead companies that receive bailout money must resign without additional compensation.
These CEO’s and CFO’s are continuing to earn multiple millions of dollars for making bad investments, while we, the taxpayers, have to bail them out.
The whole thing stinks.
This is clearly injustice and defies our constitution. All men are created equal but the govt. has chosen to favor only the ones already rich at the expense of all others.
I fail to understand why tax money that we paid honstly should be used in bailing out the CEOs and employees of these greedy financial companies– if anything they should be penalised and their severance packages be instead used to bail out the losses of the millions of small investors whose savings they have played with. Even an average employee in some of these companies like Lehman Brothers was earning an average annual bonus of at least $300,000 over and above the base salary. So these people have already earned in a few years what other people normally earn in their lifetime. Then why do we need to bail them out at the cost of honest taxpayers money– so that they can continue to enjoy their lavish lifestyles while others in the non-financial sector of the economy slog? Were they doing something so important and smart that was helping all humankind? So why should not the rest of the people in the non-financial sectors be paid any compensation– are they not the ones who are actually helping the economy grow?
If the consequences of killing this bailout are as dire as they’d have us believe, so be it. Most of us are willing to suck it up and share the burden. But NO BAILOUT! NO EXTORTION! NO EMPEROR PAULSON!
I see an analogy with the Iraq war here:
– Tenet yelling sky-is-falling on behalf of the Bush administration, and now Paulson is yelling the same.
– Democrats are once again falling head-over-heals to prove their “patriotism” (Rove/Cheney really put this monkey on their back I guess) by quickly-without-proper-debate willing to vote for the “war” (on supposed financial instability) to “save America”.
– Once again, No one is questioning the validity of the sky-is-falling message. Remember, its brought on by a Wall St man, Paulson, who along with Bernanke, just a year ago, claimed “subprime is largely contained and will not effect the mainstream sconomy”! These people have more buddies on the Wall St than Main St. Paulson also bought a bazooka promising to not use it, and firing several rounds only four weeks later. Now he is basically asking for the tactical nukes!
– In the long run, they all, including the Democrats, will claim, “if we knew then what we know now, we would have voted against it after we voted for it…”
– SEC while sleeping when most financial book shenanigans went on, is now curtailing many trading rights to suit its needs… almost a trading Patriot Act!
– Paulson wants the dictatorship without the ability of courts to review it (no, seriously, read the proposal)… no surprise from a Bush administration guy, but once again spineless Democrats are more than willing to go along… just to prove their “patriotism”.
What really bothers me is that the main culprits who actually caused this, will not be paying the cost, and in fact will keep their millions and actually benefit from this bailout that will cost me the taxpayer! For once, I want to see these wall st people, ceo’s as well as the traders and bankers, lose their bonuses and stock options as long as they keep using my tax dollars to keep their boat afloat…
Paulson this morning said that if you cap the executive compensation, these failing institutions will have no incentive to participate! You gotta be kidding me… if they won’t participate when you take away their millions, then I say let them fail, fair no?
Certainly there still many big and small banks in the USA and abroad that are still solvent. The banks that are in trouble had a their shot now it’s time to let the solvent banks continue. 1 trilion dollars to rescue bad decisions is insane. The less greedy will survive.
This is a national disaster! We must act as responsible americans! Contact your Congressman and let them know that they will loose their position if they vote for this. We the people need to take the country back by the most powerfull thing we hold.. our Vote!
Let the CEO’s and the corporations that have not paid one lick of tax in years ante up the money; not us, no way.
EXCELLENT MOVE BY VERY INTELLIGENT
PEOPLE AT THE TOP. THIS SAVES OUR BANK
DEPOSITS AND ECONOMY FROM A REPEAT OF
1929 – 1936
What a MESS! These gurus were paid millions to mess up the economy and now the Fed wants to bail them out for their gamble. What a joke. This mess is affecting far flung corners of the globe with world wide loss. Fix the system so people can’t sell what they haven’t got. (This is pure theft from mums and dads and pensioners accounts)Limit lending for share market speculation. Hang those gurus that have caused these problems, or at least throw them into jail. Sorry. This mess has to be fixed properly, once and for all.
I’ve heard and read that “the government could MAKE money on this”. That is pure crazy talk, WE THE CITIZENS are the government and we’ll never see a cent in returns. Our taxes will never go down, our services will not go up.Those who still believe in this government being of the people by the people and for the people are truly brainwashed.It has become a government,a country,of the corporations,by the lawyers,and for the corporations. I know I would never invest in these poorly managed companies,and never have. So why should I be forced, basically, with the threat of jail or prison to have to now. If I don’t pay my taxes to show my displeasure in this BAILOUT I’ll surely have the gestopo(IRS) come and take me away. Welcome to the new definition of “freedom”.
This shows how irresponsible Bush’s adminstration is and it includes the Federal Reserves chairman. We should let the bad and weak companies die. There will be better comapnies coming up to serve the good of the people. This is just dot.com. Only the strong and truly innovative companies come out and we all have better technologies to enjoy today. I hope that our Congress and Senate are smarter and will vote down such an ireesponsible plan. They have wasted our money on AIG, Fredie Mac, and Fannie Mac. It is more than enough. If they want the bailout, use their own wealth to bail out those greedy people.
My husband and I have put off buying a home for several years now because we live in California and didn’t want to get in over our heads. Now we are suppose to pick up the bill for the people who didn’t use basic common sense! Who didn’t know that if your annual income is $50,000 then you probably shouldn’t be purchasing a house ten times that amount??? What happened to individual responsibility? Not to mention the fact that small businesses are going under everyday. I don’t see the governemnt bailing them out. When you own a business you accept the risk, why doesn’t this apply to huge corporations where the CEO’s are paying themselves outrageous amounts of money. It’s disgusting really. I know I will be watching to see which politicians vote for this and then making sure I don’t EVER vote for them again.
The only way I would be ok with this bailout is if a bunch of people go to prison for robbing us and causing this mess.
NO…NO…NO…and NO again! Let these (censored) Wall Street investment bankers spend some time at the Federal facilities at Fort Leavenworth…..Seng-Seng! I will certainly be watching my represenative’s vote! Call your representative tomorrow!
Why do politicians continue the charade that they care about anyone but those with Big $$$? The only message the rest of us need to send is to THROW OUT ALL INCUMBENTS and THEN THROW OUT THE NEXT SET OF PETTY CROOKS over and over again until the Republicrats get the message. Unfortunately, the Depression is coming too soon for that to work. Oh well, back to living the simple life.
If the term of the bad mortgages was extended to 50 years/ 7%; prices could remain stable while “owners” could look for alternatives..like selling or renting to someone that can afford the mortgage. Buyers of these distressed properties would receive a tax credit given over 5 years of residency. Banks would share in the misery but maintain loans..and homeowners would have houses.
Look, I don’t know if this bailout will work. If it does, then isn’t it worth the risk? All I know is that I haven’t worked in 9 months. I have gone through all of my savings trying to save my house and keep my family fed. I did not take a subprime loan, nor did I buy a house I could not afford. I have lost over $120,000 worth of equity in my home during the last year. Now, my house is worth exactly what I owe and I can’t even find a buyer. The banks aren’t loaning any money to anybody. I just need a real job. $10 an hour isn’t going to cut it. I have never ever been out of work this long and I am about to lose everything. I have liquidated my 401k and cleaned out my savings. I have enough to get us through October and my family and I will be out on the street living in our car. I don’t even qualify for assistance because I made too much money last year. This economy is keeping companies from hiring people and more and more are losing their jobs every day. It’s one thing for those of you who have a job and the ability to provide for your families to criticize the bailout. I for one have to hope that it works and maybe it will free up the economy to expand and I just might go back to work. Like I said, I don’t know if it will work, I hope for my sake that it does.
Why can’t the Federal Reserve loan these US banks and financial institutions the money they need and oversee their financial practices, and hold these institutions accountable for their own mistakes? Maybe, it’s because they don’t have it! Then, who has it? Oh I know…the harding working taxpaying citizens, who struggle in this nation and reap less than anyone in this financial equation.
This situation is very unfortunate, and if something is not done the dominos will fall on all of our heads.
The Americans does the most and get the less. And when this is all over, cut taxes, raise wages, and give us another stimlus check! Yeah…don’t I wish!
bailing out the financial system isnt going to solve the problem. jobs need to comeback to america, also homeowners must stop using their home equity to compensate their salaries, and pass the bill to innocent tax payers when they fail to pay their mortgages. Home equity used to go up in the old days, but salaries didnt . this is what caused all this mess.
I say fire them all and start impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney, Also not a penny the companies made BIG money in the last 5 years. they all should be in jail !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO BAILOUT
This plan makes me responsible for other idiots mistakes. And I don’t need to be on the hook for 10’s of millions of dollars because tons of real estate speculators and greedy people – that should have never gotten mortgages to begin with — got NINJA or LIAR loans, so they could flip houses and make money.
Further, the banks knew these loans were toxic from the get-go, yet they sold them into bonds, cdo’s and the such. Now because the people that cant afford to pay the loans (the flippers and strawberry pickers that never should have gotten loans to being with), now I’m going to pay? Wheres the incentive in that? How’s thazt fair to me? I didn’t flip any houses and I didn’t get rich in the last 10 years! Instead, when I looked at loan documents and said to myself, this is nuts, this is not affordable, I’ll wait until prices come down, because using my simple understanding of math I knew nobody, including myself, could afford theese 600 and 700k homes, – instead of doing the greedy thing and jumping in like lots of my friends were — I was responsible and sat it out. And now to thank me, I have a government that wants to bail out the financially irresponsible and also prop up house prices (Thank you Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer), so people like me who cared enough to know better, still won’t be able to afford a house in the end. The kicker? Had I bought a house at a overheated price, I’d now be able to get a better deal under one of these wacko government bailout programs. But becasue I didn’t, I can’t take advantage of anything at all and have to save my money in the hopes that someday, house prices will come down and be affrodable for me, a guy with a wife and a combined family income of 100k living in Long Island, NY.
This is criminal and lousy.
If you have a right to reap the rewards you have the equal right to absorb the risks and the losses. It is not the governments job to absorb the losses when you gamble and loose!
Why should the Government bail these companies out? What if Pizza Hut is next? Would Congress help them? I say let them fold and drown in their on greed!!!
So, Mr. Secretary had this to say about homeowners
`Regrettable’ Foreclosures
Paulson also said that “the vast majority of foreclosures in this country — as regrettable as they are and as painful as they are — are coming from people who either don’t want to stay in their home and live up to their obligations or those that never had the financial capability to stay in their home.”
Gee isn’t that special… Bankers, Brokers, Hedge fund managers who never had the financial capability to understand and make the loans or the financial capital, get bailed out but homeowners who made a mistake at the hands of these low life’s lose their homes and then have to bail out the millionaires who stole their homes and wiped them out.
Isn’t Wall Street wonderful, with the Treasury Secretary the former head of Goldman Sachs why is anyone surprised by his proposal??
If anyone deserves a bailout it is the poor students who have taken student loans from these greedy banks- the rates are out of control- only Chuck Shumer has stepped up to limit the rates in the future but this does nothing for the graduated students who were preyed upon by these banks.
Here’s how the bailout should work. The government will help any company whose top three layers of managment relinquish all their personal assets and agree to 5 years in jail or 10000 hours of community service. If not they can go down with their greedy companions.
The CEO’s of the company’s who are behind this mess should have to give back their ridiculous bonuses. They received record bonuses because of record earnings due ot loans that were bogus.
They should all have their assets confiscated to help bailout this mess.
Sec. 2. Purchases of Mortgage-Related Assets.
(a) Authority to Purchase.—The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.
I thought the problem here was defaulted mortgages not ANY AND ALL property! Lets change this to address the problems at hand
No way. This is not the USSA. I will vote against anyone who votes for this. It is my #1 Issue. Obama , McCain vote no to get my vote. This has to end here and now.
Henry Paulson was chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs until 2006. How much his compensation was from toxic loans? I gueess nothing wrong back then. I hope he has no Goldman stocks in his retirement fund. May be those worked for him before still have a lot Goldman stocks. 911 call for help because Goldman is next to go
Gains are deemed capitalism and losses are socialized for all to pay. That’s a goverment I am proud of…not!
I understand why people are mad, they are mad that this situation got as far as it did. Government let it get out of control, I don’t think many dispute that. But people, lets get this straight. WE AS A PEOPLE CAN MAKE THIS BETTER. Why do people always look towards our govt, and expect not to give a little as well. The problem was simple. Banks got greedy they loosened their standards, and the rest was history. It takes two to tango. The borrowers are at fault just as much. If we can get out of this, and I know we can, in one large bailout, let us pick up and move on. It will hurt for a minute, but as previous writers said, the government can stand to make a good amount of money on this bailout which should go right back into our pockets. Lets get defaulters into a sweet payback deal, but lets kill their credit for a long time as well. They talked about this before but the opposition said, what about all of us who can make our payments are are paying the going interest rate. Well to some, pride and good credit are worth it, let these defaulters get back on track but hopefully learn a lesson. lets get new management into Fannie, Freddie and all of the other companies that could only look a day ahead at a time. I really don’t understand why so many are making this such a hard choice. The choice is easy, take a quick hit now, it will cost less in the long run, and get our economy back on track.
HELL NO! After the CEO’s give back their FAT paychecks then we can talk, until then NO way. In the late 90’s I lost my job because some fools ran the company into the ground. No one bailed us out and I had to file bankrupcy. Now they want to give money to people who obvious don’t know how to handle it? HELL NO! Tell them to go belly up! We the people have been used by Washington to fund their lifestyle for too long. And now they want us to bail out their friends at the country club? NO!!!! And while we’re at it let’s put Congress on Social Security and see how fast that gets fixed. Bail out a company while the CEO doesn’t have to give up his 32 MILLION DOLLAR paycheck? N E V E R !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AIG – Wall Street – Bailout – They can’t be serious.
If there is going to be bailouts there should be some investigations. AIG as well as many of the other Wall Street firms wasted so much money doing business, they don’t deserve a bailout. Greedy business as usual. They’re asking for a bailout after throwing enormous amounts of money away on employee bonus’. Christmas bonus’ alone were thousands of dollars for employees on the bottom of the totem pole (imagine what they got on the top). This can not be a free ride at the tax payers expense. They lived the high life and now want a bailout. Let another company buy them or bail them out under the strict rule of complete oversight. Investigations and penalty’s is what is needed. The mortgage crisis was created by mortgage business fraud and homeowner greed. Now it’s going to cost the taxpayer more to help them keep their current lifestyles. UNBELIEVABLE!!
The bailout is evil. American taxpayers will be the biggest loser.
Bailout is unconstitutional!
Stop bailout!
Seems to me that market forces are cleaning out the shallow end of the gene pool. Why muddy the water with $700 Billion borrowed from China?
I’m wondering if America is starting to crumble from the inside out… the “Fall Without a Shot Being Fired”. Our government seems to be against its people instead of “by the people, of the people, & for the people”. I’m wondering which people??? It certainly doesn’t feel like its us, the American Citizenry… or me…. I’m all for a better world, but a better world starts here at home… in our country “AMERICA”!! Our government mines its citizens like ore from the ground. Government control of finances is like no control at all. It’s a free-for-all! This was done intentionally and the powers that be know it. They have stolen our wealth and passed laws to make it legal. You can bet a scapegoat of some kind will magically appear and 1 or 2 people might be prosecuted to ’satisfy (and distract) the people’, but what is going to really change? I’m not better off than I was 4, 8, 12, 16, or even 20 years ago. It’s worse!! My income was higher at 25yoa than at 50. Not only is the dollar devalued, but it seems the worth of the citizenry has been devalued along with it. I’m not concerned with ‘Global’ economies. I’m concerned about the “AMERICAN Economy”!!
The whole crisis is like raising children 101. If there is no punishment for misbehavior then children will misbehave again and again. Something as to be done about the financial meltdown, but the pain has to be split. WallStreet enjoyed the gains, now the hat is going round and it is time for the banks to chip in some money. Congress should have the guts and brains to come up with a plan that limits tax payers’ financial exposure and that puts some pain on the banks. This is how you raise kids to be responsible individuals. You help them, but you make them feel some consequences. It is time for tough love. A bailout without tough love will just prolong the problem and the tax payer will still be paying off the old bailout when we have to bail out another industry.
Jay in Chicago, brilliant idea – as a matter of fact, make it just $1 million/person (tax free please)and they could even specify that if you have a mortgage, you have to pay it off in full – this would be a record year for retailers at Christmas.
Absolutely and entirely appalling is what I would term this drama. I have acquaintences on Wall Street that made millions of dollars putting banks in financial positions over the last decade where we’re all going to pay through our noses to bail them out. What happens to those millions? What happens to these clowns of CEOs that made hunderds of millions? As far as the govt. goes both Republicans and Democrats are either incompetent or corrupt. A majority do not deserve to lead our country. At the end of the day it’s the middle class that will pay for the house in the Hamptons and the Tiffany diamonds. You all better believe that. That’s the way it’s always been and that’s the way they want it to be… Time to vote out the politicians that vote for this outrage…
The Bush administration is scaring us so their corporate friends make millions out of bail out. Let the markets do what they do best and teach everyone a lesson and pay the price. After all we should not worry as the US motto is “IN GOD WE TRUST”. This will enlighten everyone whom to trust and it will be a good lesson for all and coming generations. These are the good times for bringing the good values in a degrading society world over. These lessons of bad economics will be good as it will bring the best out of the human spirit and get rid of the crooks as they will pay a heavy price.
No bailouts without taxpayers getting equity or Collateral!
The Government got warrants for the AIG rescue transferable to shares. The same should be done with future rescues. The financial institutions own lot of buildings, other real estate and assets. The taxpayers should hold these as collateral not just the bad loans. Right now all they are buying are bad loans. The financial insitutions don’t give a dime without collateral. How come rules are different when they are the ones receiving the money. There can be no free lunches for CEOs who use taxpayers to underwrite their losses and later on dump millions of dollars through stock options. The taxpayers get nothing.
With warrants, they can be exchanged for shares which can be used to fund deficit ridden programs like social security, rebuild broken roads.
Just paying out billions of dollars in cash and getting nothing in return is a Scam!
Come on people…of course this is ugly. But if you think that letting these companies sink is a good idea, then you don’t understand economics. It’s either you let the feds bail them out, and we pay for it through our taxes, or they don’t get bailed out and you can pay for it when the economy tanks, and I mean really tanks… The feds would let these companies fail if they could, but this isn’t your corner grocery store going out of business. I know it ain’t fair, and certainly greed has a lot to do with it, but the government just can’t let these companies fail. That doesn’t mean though that we can’t take every dime from the executives which we should.
My son was offered a $220,000 mortgage last year although his yearly income was only 40,000. Additionally, since he had no down payment he was offered another $10,000 loan for downpayment and closing costs. This loan was approved on his credit rating ONLY. When he called me I was able to reason with him to understand this was not a responsible purchase on his part and irresponsible on the part of the lending institution. He had to pay for a lawyer to get out of the contract. THIS IS MY POINT – Why should I or my son now pay for the irresponsiblity of other homeowners who KNOWINGLY overextended themselves or banks who helped them. I say if we bail out these homeowners it should be for people who borrowed no more that 3x their yearly salary. If you can remember that formula is from a time when we still had at least some regulation on lending.
This will be like Bush`s Iraq war… blustering “Mission Accomplished” at first and seven years later still accomplishing ! Didn`t we just a month ago got fleeced for $500billion? And now the rush is on for another $700billion by the end of the week please otherwise the World will end. Why will the World end? The Chinese won`t sell us anymore crap on credit? The Russians will invade and take over Alaska ? The stock market will crash? It will crash anyway buying $700billion of worthless mortgage securities won`t stop the downward spiral….there is no confidence in the current government they have a legacy of incompetence. What did these “Financial Experts” tell congress that we can`t be told about? The Banks don`t want to loan anyone any Money or they are over leveraged and don`t have any? Why not give them unlimited access to the feds discount window and don`t charge them any interest….at least we will get the principle back! What`s the problem? The Banks want us to pay them interest for borrowing our money?
NO BAILOUT!
The Unite States is changing to a command economy, just like Venezuela this will work out well.
I wrote my reps. Write your’s too.
Here’s what I don’t understand: we got into this situation because the top 2% of the financial ladder decided ‘hey, i bet we could con people into giving us money by lending a ton to people who can’t afford it’. The same top 2% made TONS of money for years while subprime succeded, then we all realized this really isn’t how the market should work and it returned to equilibrium, as it should. However, now the government is saying ‘hey, that top 2%, plus a lot of regular ppl who got duped, lost a lot of money…lets just give it back to all of them. Seems like another bailout of the top 2% to me. How about this…everyone who represents the top 2% who made money in subprime (including wall street CEOs) pays back 75% of what they made. See how close that gets us to $700 billion…
It has to be iterative and simple from the start to have a chance. Governing $700B takes an army of great accountants – not the banks, wall street, accounting firms, or the government – and yes, this is something over $5,000 per tax payer.
Why in the world would I want my tax dollars to bail out companies in a free market… what’s the incentive to avoid manipulation of rules, current & future, if there is no penalty? How many of these companies are even headquartered on US soil??
And adding foreign banks to the list is simply insult to injury.
If defaulting mortgages are the problem, bail out the homeowners, not the corporations who acted like little more than drug dealers in thier predatory & deceitful tactics.
The key points in this whole debacle MUST be: REFORM, REGULATION, ACCOUNTABILITY! The proposed plans of Paulson, Bernanke, et al. do not include ANY of those. Just to be clear, I believe that Republicans AND Democrats are to blame for ALLOWING this to happen, but it is what the ABC News report called the “Financial Fat Cats” who brought it to fruition. Greed, self-service and corruption are a combination that may well fall into a category of treason if the American economy falls as a result. One problem with this bailout plan is that it includes no demand from “the government”, i.e. the TAXPAYERS, for assets from the CEOs and CFOs, Board members and brokers of these companies and institutions whose bad debt is being assumed by the taxpayers. If ordinary citizens are in bankruptcy, there are consequences to our assets! Where are the conditions to these bailouts that the CEOs, CFOs, et al. SELL their assets and reimburse “the government”, i.e. the taxpayers, for this rescue?! Why are the robber barons STILL going to be living as if the Gilded Age is still their milieu when the rest of us are terrified about our savings, retirement savings, homes, and all else in our “live within our means and don’t be greedy” lives??!!! Obama is making excellent recommendations about modifications and conditions on the “Paulson” plan and they should be guidelines. Republican Senator Richard Shelby and Independent Senator Bernie Sanders are also making excellent recommendations. They should be followed! Barney Frank as recently as 2003 was saying “no” to regulation of Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae per a writer to an ABC News article who quotes an ABC News news item of that time; now he is advocating only that “Main Street” be protected, by which he seems to mean only a bailout of troubled mortgage holders commensurate to the Wall Street bailout. That definition of “Main Street”, Representative Frank, is very limited! Main Street is REALLY those of us out here who are paying the bills, living within our means! There is plenty of blame to go around. The fact is that basic, common sense, MORAL AND DECENT fundamentals of any financial transactions were abandoned for greed and self-interest, whether that occurred on Wall Street and the neighborhoods of the robber barons or it occurred on “Main Street” where people bought houses they could not afford. No mystery. Greed. Why should those of us who play by the rules and live within our means and try not to hurt others have to pay for every scoundrel and con artist who made out like a bandit? REFORM, REGULATION, ACCOUNTABILITY. AT VERY LEAST, those should be the conditions for these LOANS!!
How does purchasing the same toxic debt that has ruined Wall street and thus effected the financial sector with the hope to sell it back later help the American people? Come on leaders, if it had any value, the financial sector will not be in this mess as we speak.
Give us the detail (in plain talk, hold the jargon)on how this will help the people or go back to the drawing board. This bill is treason!
This ia outrageous….
In this they should also outlaw the FICO score…. Fair Issac should be held liable for this mess as well as their scores gave the banks the ability to standardize this reckless lending across the board.
SECTION 8 OF THIS BAILOUT PLAN IS CLEARLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!
THERE IS NO LEGAL RECOURSE OR ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ANY DECISIONS (ILLEGAL OR OTHERWISE) MADE UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF THIS BILL!!!
THIS NEEDS TO BE MADE CLEAR TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC, YOU NEED TO REPORT THIS!
“Sec. 8. Review.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”
The Fed and the Bush Admoin need to stop sugar coating words and throw out the Big “D” word. This plan is very close to the New Deal by FDR it is not funny. The whole world economy will sink if we do not do something. Keep in mind Mr. Bernanke and Mr. Paulson are not partison, they are not supporting Mr Bush, but we are in serious trouble and in fact we are swirling around the toilet bowl. The Bush Admin has done a totally lousy job on the economy and it is five minutes til midnight and if you think the unemployment rate is bad now, just wait. We have to have a bailout or it will be the secong Great Depression.
We are fools and we have agreed to play the fools for too long. Stand up and say no way. Do this to us and you will not be re-elected. IN fact how about we draft Bloomberg for president.
Bailing out the financial geniuses who caused this mess with little regard for the rest of the country is simply a terrible idea.
Paulsen and company are preying on fear to get this through, and, by the look of things, will likely succeed with a few window dressing “concessions” that Democrats will use to show how they “fought” for the common person.
Time for someone in Congress with a backbone to stand up and draw the line, or else the US will continue to be a government OF WALLSTREET AND BUILDERS, BY WALLSTREET AND BUILDERS, AND FOR WALLSTREET AND BUILDERS.
Firstly, thanks to all the fools who put the Republicans in power for the majority of this decade, based on their fear-mongering (terrorists around every corner! bill and ted will wed!). Party of fiscal responsibility? Ha! Small government? Hardly. Secondly, thanks to all the fools who let the Democrats sit around Congress for the same time period trying to figure out what an opposition is for. Thirdly, thanks to the American public who live beyond their means, can’t be bothered to save any money, don’t care about anything substantive, and continue to elect the same thieves so long as they too share your superstitious beliefs. Finally, I’ve had to raid my retirement account to keep from going under this year after being laid off, so Mr. Paulson how much can I have? I am not a CEO, so maybe I don’t qualify…
Every American should be be “spitting” mad and contacting their congressmen regarding the government’s bailout of the financial institutes with taxpayer’s money. If what is going on doesn’t get your blood boiling then you need to call a doctor. The CEO’s and officials of those institutions are paid millions of dollars (some (hundreds of millions) a year to successfully run their businesses. But the greedy buggers took big risks so they could pay themselves more money. Now that their greed has come back and “bit” them in the butt, and our crooked politicians are bailing them out with YOUR TAX MONEY! Plus they are saying that they are going to raise our taxes to pay for it all. THIS IS DEAD WRONG!! Who are they going to bail out next, the airlines or the auto industry? Over the past 25 years our politicians have signed trade agreements (NAFTA, SEATA & others) that cost millions of American their jobs that went to foreign countries, while lying to us that this was going to help us. Then they looked the other way while tens of millions illegal immigrants swarmed across our borders to take the few jobs left at slave labor wages. Next our politicians looked the other way while the Arabs and the oil companies raped the American people over gasoline and other fuels. If the financial institutions need money, let them get it from the rich oil companies. All our politicians want to do is to help those who contributed to their campaigns so the rich can get richer (and the poor gets poorer) They don’t get a damn about the average American except for their vote on election day. There isn’t an honest politician in Washington and anyone who votes for either of the two idiots running for president is a fool. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Americans need to stand up and send all of the crooks in Washington DC back home and replace them with real public servants with limited terms. They blame the housing market as the root problem for the financial crises, but it’s “GREED” that has created this mess and everyone of us are going to pay dearly with higher taxes if we don’t speak up. Call your Senator and Congressman NOW and tell them DO NOT spend your tax money to bail out their banker buddies. If you sit on your duff and do nothing, then DON”T COMPLAIN LATER!!
I have a great plan…Exxon makes a profit of 40 billion a quarter, right? Let’s take the profits from the oil companies and give it to these failing institutions. Leave taxpayers alone! We have enough to contend with. Why should we care about Morgan or Stanley?; Lehman or his brother?; Wall or Street?; Merrill or Lynch?; Behr or Stearns?; I’m trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents. However, I appreciate the government thinking that taxpayers care about the filthy rich. Unfortunately, my empire is failing.
STOP buying into the false left/right, Republican/Democrat paradigm…THEY ARE ALL BEING PAID OFF BY THE SAME PEOPLE! If this burden is put on the American taxpayer, it will be the END OF AMERICA as a nation of free people. We will all be the property of a corporate/government socialist empire that will make us all slaves at the point of a gun barrel.
Warning! Any time an official says they want a quick vote and try to scare the-you-know-what out of you mean these officials don’t want folks to have time to think–just react…remember what happened with the vote to give herr bush war authorization…CONGRESS: PLEASE DON’T DO ANYTHING UNTIL SOME REAL THOUGHT IS GIVEN TO THE ISSUE. It is a serious situation, but don’t make it worse–we the people cannot hand over anymore authority to the Federal Reserve Bank, which for those who don’t know already is NOT Federal–it is a consortium of private banks!
Is government going to bail out taxpayers, when they are in need? I think if Fed continues this way, bailing out Greedy Wall Street giants, who made billions during the boom, we would need to bail out tax payers very soon. Also, the stimulus for 300 million US citizens was only $150 billion v/s $700 Billion for few Wall Street biggies, is this not strange?
Also, is Fed asking these firms to contribute to any future Fed plans to put economy on path of recovery, like adding more jobs here then sending them overseas. They have been outsourcing jobs to improve their bottom line, which helps big head honchos of these firms earn millions in bonuses & stock comps. I think government needs to start asking those CEOs, CFOs & other big wigs to pay back extravagant bonuses in last five years, during which they manipulated this market & destroyed US economy. or atleast forfeit their unvested stock options.
Funny, but when I make bad personal financial decisions no one offers to buy my debt to bail me out so I can keep all my stuff. Why should my tax dollars be used to help these greedy banks who made bad business decisions in approving these “toxic” mortgages???
If we need to have this bailout to save our financial system and our economy then it should come with lots of strings. First, any company that is bailed out shouldn’t be allowed to pay any of it’s executives more than $200K, including all bonuses, deferred comp, etc. These people got us into this mess and end up with $100 million comp packages while the taxpayers get the bill. NO! NO large salaries until all of the bailouts are paid back. Also, include requirements that the companies have to pay back the the government (taxpayers…us) over 10years or less. And, these companies should be required to help restructure mortgages where possible so homeowners can keep their homes when possible.
Why didn’t the government step in to help the homeowners to keep this from getting so bad but now their willing to throw almost a trillion dollars to help the institutions that created these problems.
Who’s watching out for our (taxpayers) interests?
NO. Do not give my tax money to high paying Wall Street CEOs. They have already played with my retirement funds.
I am not convinced with justification. Let the failing banks fail. Provide reasonable loan amounts for good banks with reasonable asset backing. Henry Paulson and other key regulators must immediately resign owning the failure. They should not justify actions with various administrations for this situation. They have miserably failed with current administration and could not realize the impact even 2 months ealier from now.
No tax payers money for Wall Street, please.
Where is money gone? I think we did not learn anything from last bank crisis. Big guy going to make money anyway. Bailout who?
HEEEELLLLLL, NNNNOOOOO!!!!!
No bailout for these fat cats. What more can we take. I ran a business that failed and noone saved me. I invested in New Century Finance and lost my shirt. It set off this mess.And now I’ve had to lose everything and now pick up the tab. So I sat Hell, No and these bums have got to go.
NO, NO and NO! I refuse to allow this bailout and will support only those elected governmental representatives who DO NOT support this asinine action.
although i believe a bailout is likely necessary i feel that there should be money allocated to help people who are in trouble with their mortgages and that there should be some tie to ceo compensation as well. it is not reasonable to allow the heads of these companies to make off with a large sum of money while the economy suffers and we pay the bill.
From what I can see of this mess, if the government doesn’t do this, we could find ourselves ALL standing in soup lines as our parents, grandparents or great grandparents did in the 30’s. We have always been told that that could not happen again, because the banking regulations protected us against it — they just could not get far enough into debt to caus a mess like this. Until, that is, the government began deregulating the financial instituions (along with everything else).
Yeah, I know. The people that ran out and got loans that they could not pay back were at fault. And the banks that GAVE them those loans were at fault. And the government that ignored the fact that they companies were giving loans that could not possibly be paid back were at fault. So we are ALL at fault. And we are all in this mess together.
Right now, the only thing that can be done is to cut a firebreak in the path of this crisis and hope that the flames can’s jump it. Because we all live on the other side of that firebreak, and if the blaze jumps it, we will all get burned, perhaps badly.
If it works, a good part of money will end up back in the treasury, though it may take a while. A lot of it won’t, but that is going to be the cost of keeping the flames away from the rest of us. I, for one, will be keeping my fingers crossed.
I read this bailout may lead us to having a trillion-dollar deficit next year. Look for yourself:
http://www.bailoutville.com/forums/f6/trillion-dollar-deficit-7.html
This wall street crisis is just another example of greed and incompetence that pervades Wall Street. Politicians are much the same.Where in blazes wil they find $700 billion? Looks like they will have to borrow from China again, China may end up having a big stake in Wall Street. We all know what they do with criminals in their country.
7:15 central time zone. Posts to this story around 1100. Those for the bailout about three. I’ve been reading this Talkback off and on for a couple hours now and I am DAMN PROUD to see the majority of folks that found this CNNMoney story so united.
A comment not too far down mentioned small business issues. I think big business has gotten too big. Everything has gotten too big: especially the population. Big Business looks out across the land at all the cattle and and can’t help but slaughter us. They have no conscious.
This is only the beginning, I fear. Make plans People. Time and again experts say those who survive had a plan prior.
Make your plans.
To those who say we can make change with our Vote: I wish that were true. Those days are gone. Just ask Al.
Well, the treasury says they only need another $700 billion to make this mess all go away. Where will it all come from? Oh, and they also want congress to raise the limit on the national debt to about 12 trillion…
And what about those hedge funds, the pension funds and foreign investment banks that bought up all those now worthless CDO’s? Well, they too are apparently all invited to this orgy as well. And now I see we also need to prop up money market funds and I understand GM and Ford have their lobbyists on the hill with hands out, each asking for $50 or $100 billion. And the line is rapidly getting longer, much longer.
Lets do some arithmetic. There is less than one trillion dollars total of US currency in circulation – SO FAR!
The national debt is currently over $10 trillion. If you could put dollar bills end to end, $10 trillion would reach (are you ready for this) not to the moon, but all the way to the sun, and back, more than FIVE TIMES!!
If you cut down all the trees on the planet I doubt you could make enough paper to print this much money.
The national debt will never be paid back. China and Japan will at some point balk at buying more of our soon to be worthless treasuries, and they may very well start demanding repayment on the $1 trillion each they already own.
When this day comes that will be the end of the U$ dollar and the country will sink into a lawless jungle with roving gangs of murdering animals scavenging from neighborhood to neighborhood. It won’t be a pretty sight.
Thank you Wall street, the Federal Reserve and especially the republican party, we the people are going to get all that we rightfully deserve.
And most of the bankers and financial fatcats who brought this all on with their insatiable greed will fly off into the sunset on their private jets to live the good life in far away places.
Well…… It is not a matter of Yes or No on this one. The Damage was done when the Banking Laws were changed in 1999. We Got…. Unlimited Speculation on Worthless Paper Money.
Now, the question is — ” Can our Currency and Economy be saved…”
Think about the alternatives………
By Friday [9/26/08 ] YOU might not be able to get any of your money…!!!
The U.S. Government can “influence” but no longer control the World Markets.
Be Careful what you Wish For……..!
Why does the govt and Congress want to throw good money after bad. No one knows if a bailout of this magnitude will truly work. This is just another legacy from the Bush administration for the American taypayer and their children and grandchildren will have to pay. Most smart analysts can develop an econometric model that will spit out just about any answer to this issue. The worst of the plan is to have private money managers handle this bailout. They will get richer at our expense. Pres. Bush, wake up and smell the coffee…..
NO to the bailout!
There are 2 choices: save the money or save the economy.
Pass the ‘Homeowner and Bank Protection Act’ introduced by Lynden Larouch.
Russia and India are hinting that the ‘Homeowner and Bank Protection Act’ is a viable alternative to this GLOBAL economic collapse.
See more at http://www.larouchepac.com and view the weekly updates.
YES, WE HAVE BEEN TOLD THIS BAIL-OUT
IS A GLOBAL PROBLEM. I AGREE. BUT
SHOULDN’T THE “GLOBE” ACCEPT THEIR PART
OF RESPONSIBILITY?
Stimulus checks were given to everybody, Mistake #1: Why did we give stimulus checks to CEO’s and executives that earn millions? How about a stimulus package for only people who make 75K or under? Makes more sense to me. And now we are bailing out the rich folk? Let them draw money out of the bank and pay it. I’d rather go hungry than to fix their money machine thats broke. We are used to being hungry, Maybe you should try it for a change.
We’ve been lied to for over a year now on how this was contained by both Bernanke & Paulson. LIES!
Country Wide went down and CEO Mozillo made millions. Force him and all the other Wall Teet cronies to give back what they stole from they’re companies and the common shareholders!
Our government is begging for a tax revolt and they WILL get one!
No one has written a comment since Sept of 08. Today is July 2 2009 and I am ashamed of being an American. MY health is poor my money is gone I have no job and the greedy banks now want 5% up from 2%. on credit card balance’s. No more God bless America, God help America!