What Part of "We Don't Trust You" Do You Not Understand?
Yup, we're in a mess now, and no one quite understands what the mess is or what will happen, but everyone knows who got us here. I guess my favorite article on the bailout is by Ben Stein, at the NY Times, who I don't think is voting for the bailout. Here's his practical suggestion: "By the way, if we are actually thinking about tossing the Constitution out the window, why not simply annul these credit-default swap contracts? With that done, the incomprehensibly large liability of the banks would cease, and we wouldn't need this staggering bailout. Shouldn't we consider making the speculators pay some of the price?" The rest of the article is good, too.
On balance, I guess I believe those who say that the ruling class we have now are the ones who got us into this mess, and what they are asking for is more rope with which to hang themselves, and us. If there's going to be a bailout, bailout from the bottom and let the benefits trickle upward. But the ruling class sits in its ruling class bubble and can't imagine how things would work for them if we did that.
Ever heard of "creative destruction"? That's a phrase free market economists are always applying to the effects of the free market when it goes wild and hops from bubble to bubble. Bridges, farms, houses, freeways, people's bank accounts, investments, auto companies, the Chilean economy, the nation of Iraq, public schools, ecological balance, hey, if they offer no short-term profits, then let the market destroy them and build something better. But we absolutely can't apply that term to credit-default swap contracts, no no no, they are too big to fail!
Too big for creative destruction? That's always the last resort of scoundrels. The ruling class drives the bus to the edge of the cliff. The folks in the first class section of the bus climb out the windows. The bus is hanging by the two back wheels. The drivers turn to the rest of the passengers and start screaming, "Save the bus! Save the bus!" and the passengers are expected to get out and push the bus back onto the road, at which point the first class passengers will get back on, and the drivers will drive the bus away, and those who pushed it back on the cliff will be left standing there. Essentially, this is what you should be thinking when you hear the words "too big to fail".
But the ruling class has to learn its lesson, and those who voted for them, or didn't make the alternative case well enough to dissuade those voters have to learn the same lesson. What you did was wrong -- morally wrong and practically wrong, corrupt and stupid, evil and dopey ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Because if they don't learn their lesson once and for all, then we will have to pay all over again when they screw up the next time. That's just the way it is, Tom Friedman, John McCain, Henry Paulson, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan. When you are wrong over and over, we don't think you will ever be right.
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If it's too big to fail; it's too big period.
I still don't understand why this "bailout" money isn't to be disbursed through the FHA and SBA.
Isn't it the small businesses that need short term loans to make their operating expenses that they're worried about? SBA normally handles that.
Isn't it the householder facing foreclosure that would need to restructure their debt that would normally be able to turn to the local FHA office for help negotiating with the local bank branch, credit union (remember those?).
The SBA and FHA have offices on main streets across America, and they are intimately familiar with the business, banking, real estate and civic communities they are a part of. They have the relationships with the banks and business people, they have the knowledge of the individual homeowners, and -- most importantly -- they already have oversight policies and procedures in place, for each individual transaction.
So why are we limiting this oversight to a few top dogs -- including Bernake, Cox and Paulson -- to disburse the bailout money through bank presidents
Why are we hearing nothing about them? They're the ones that are already set up to do the work!
We're on a road to nowhere...
Cheers, and bottoms up,
Jack
Obama needs to start driving the bus. No No and No on this vote. Bush and Co are trying to hang the next administration with this "bailout". Obama has got to get a clue and see the problems this bailout will produce for the long term, as in his term in office. Get a grip, the markets are recovering as we speak and I for one am sick of supporting luxury apartments, fur coats and travel abroad. I have 2 kids to put through college and that is much more important to me then wall street greed mongers.
I like the bus analogy, and I wouldn't vote for my Blue Dog Representative if Herbert Hoover rose from the dead and ran against him.
What gets me is the corporate media. On Monday they were all calling this a "bailout." Now it's a "rescue" (Obama's words also, much to his discredit), and didn't you know? Now that the population has been educated by the likes of Gloria Borger and Joe Scarborough, everyone is frantically calling their Senators and Congresspeople, pleading with them to immediately give the speculator Henry Paulson the seven hundred billion with no strings attached. Because, if we don't, we'll all lose our our jobs, lose our homes, have no food, break our necks, put someone's eye out, and catch pneumonia (thanks, George Carlin, for those last three).
I HATE it when Washington and the corporate media team up like this.
I am listening to the debate on the bailout bill in the Senate.
And you are right. The new buzzword is "rescue." The Senators speaking in favor of the bailout bill, Democrat and Republican, are for a "rescue" bill or "stabilization" bill.
They all have gotten the talking points, I guess, from the White House.
Bailout of Wall Street bad and rescue of Main Street good.
The media is a big part of this. On the internet, sentiment against the bailout is stronger
But if you turn on the TV, they're calling it a rescue, and portraying it as a done deal. Again. The game changer wasn't improvements to the bill, it was the very, very scary day. The actual credit crisis hasn't really trickled down to most of us yet.
Could the stock crash have been staged? The same players selling early in the day, then buying low the next? They are world gamblers after all.
Gosh, ya think?
Phony crisis... Nothing but a scare tactic!
Big business and the Washington elite are trying to scare the taxpayers into going along with this rip off!
Unfortunately, the greedy, corrupted, criminal and blood sucking financial SOBs will get bailed out. And note that we do not get any guaranteed return on our money. We need Warren Buffet not Hank Paulson former CEO of Goldman Sachs in charge of the bill! Well the bill will pass, why? Just note yesterdays 777 drop in the Dow and the 5 percent drops in the NASDAQ and S&P 500. Be sure that this was created by the same people with their hands out. They are telling us give us what we want or we will wipe out your pension plans, 401-Ks and IRAs. They are scaring the Congress and the Senate into action! Note that no one in DC has the guts to go against them! BTW - notice all the business men and Senators and Congress now coming forward saying they are now getting many more calls in favor of the bailout then against. Bunch of BS..!
Contact banking Comm. Charman Chris Dodd and your Senators and let them know what you think!
Here are links.....
http://ban
www.senate
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Your www.senate
I have emailed all my representatives in congress and also reid, obama, biden, webb, and others and expressed my extreme disatisfaction. I tell them emphatically NO. I do not believe they are listening anyway.
I spoke to the local offices of Jim Webb in Arlington and the guy who I spoke with said they are swamped with phone calls against the bill. Most people would like some expert economists input. That is ones from universities, not Wall Street. A further discussion of alternatives.
I think that they are going to rush something through. Just more shock doctrine in action.
Totally well said, Jane Smiley! I've been screaming at Chris Dodd via email, NO BAILOUT!
Love you, Jane, but what part of "We own Tom Friedman, John McCain, Henry Paulson, George W. Bush, and Nancy Pelosi" don't you understand? They have nothing to learn.
This is the first and maybe last opportunity for the middle class to take control of Wall Street and drag them kicking and screaming to the curb, where we can beat them bloody and take what's left of OUR money. It was always OUR money and never theirs. This ship is going down, with or without a bailout. Decades of greed, sloth, violence and American Idol have left the USA dazed and confused, drunk and stupid, inbred and out of luck. It's all over. Remember that saying a few years ago, "It's all good?" Well, it's all gone and it isn't coming back. And that motto which should be on our money: In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash. Ms. Smiley brings up a good point... let's try "trickle up" economics on the greedheads who got us into this mess. And always be clear: what goes around, comes around and the Law of Karma is immutable.
Excellent post. Evidently the gop will claim that any attempt to protect the public is leftist, whether it be regulation, oversight, or the power to renegotiate home mortgages for struggling homeowners. While they portray themselves as having broken with the Bush/Cheney economic policies, it is all too clear that they are for unregulated, irresponsible, unethical business practices. They have not returned to their conservative roots. They have not suddenly become responsible. And the dems evidently are feeling an irresistible pressure to pass anything they can get an agreement on.
The failure of the bailout bill looks more and more to be a good thing, but I am very doubtful that any legislation helpful to the lower and middle classes can be pushed thru in the current political environment. More and more of the gop are claiming that the economic meltdown is all the minorities' fault, and their claims are becoming more strident and more blatant by the hour.
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Amazing, isn't it?
And now the right-wingers ----- through their Fox News megaphone ------ are claiming the best way out of this is LESS regulation and lower taxes. Yes, sure. Let's give more money and power to rich people. They always know what's best.
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