House Of Representatives Backs Bailout
Well, it’s done. The House of Representatives has voted 263-171 in favour of the $700 billion dollar bailout plan.
Now that it’s over I suppose there’s one of two things that Americans can do.
1) Read today’s headlines and then carry on with their lives, which many will do given that they have their own daily survival to worry about.
2) Remain vigilant and make an effort to hold their representatives accountable if those on Wall Street that were responsible for the crisis eventually profit from it, which is certainly not out of the realm of possibility.
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October 3rd, 2008 at 11:15 am
3) Check out those hot Palin pics!
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:15 am
3) Revolt :)
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:17 am
HAHA Dale!
I think they were under the stockholm syndrome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn5VathNJH4
…..and paid off
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:17 am
4) All of the above.
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:17 am
[quote comment="67488"]3) Check out those hot Palin pics![/quote]
Did you catch when she winked at me?
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:24 am
Her winking wasn’t subtle, that’s for sure.
So I guess I can stop hiding money under my mattress.
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:44 am
We get a nice rally out of the stock market for this, but it’s just not over. It helps the banks out some. But, we’re not avoiding a recession by doing this.
The housing market is still about 60% higher than when the housing “boom” started. The probability that we have just thrown good money (including the earmarks) at bad financial assets is not small, unfortunately.
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Wall Streets is dying of gangrene and Congress just bought it a $700 billion bandaid, wonder how that will work out…hmmm.
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Dear Mr. Good,
Of course, nothing really is done at all. I’m with “P Martini” and “Doug” that it is difficult to maintain that 30 years of debt buildup to the tune of 45 trillion dollars can be relieved with 700 billion.
So let’s minimize the bloodbath by offering up financial relief - give another hit to the addict.
No new regulations - same incompetent sector - middle class shrinking - still in the early innings of this game. I’m afraid to watch.
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I hope those senators were wrong. I can’t believe that Congress caved! Just when I thought things would actually change.
Well… here’s to 700 billion going to appease foreign banks/investors because the US would sadly lose an economic war.
And I seriously doubt that if the truth came out that Paulson/Bernanke were in on the foreign investor bailout from the start, that Congress or the American people would stand up and see justice served.
The people have lost! They just can’t seem to stand up for themselves. The elite and powerful have one.
Where’s a bridge when you need it?
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
So I loaned money to someone who couldn’t pay me back.
Now I need new brakes on my car, but I can’t afford them because people owe me money.
So does that mean I might be able to get me some $700 billion dollar brakes?
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
scheiße!
excuse me while i burn some american money in effigy.
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:38 pm
To add on to the ridiculous situation the bill went from a small amount of 3 and a half pages to almost 400 pages of well…see for yourself.
http://www.taxpayer.net/resources.php?category=&type=Project&proj_id=1429&action=Headlines By TCS
Gotta love that pork baby.
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:43 pm
[quote comment="67503"]Wall Streets is dying of gangrene and Congress just bought it a $700 billion bandaid, wonder how that will work out…hmmm.[/quote]
Cloth or plastic?
Revolt !!!
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:46 pm
It’s a long way home.
Now I would like to see the captains of our financial service industry and banking system hauled to Washington to face a congressional probe into improper accounting and flat out lying. If Americans can spent money to question baseball players then they should put the executives in front of the public to face some tough questions.
Prediction: The next Washington scandal, Bush cronies in the SEC arrested.
Now, how do you fight GREED? One idea, a national ethics online class and exam that every American citizen 18 years must pass to retain one’s passport. The best solution, great leadership from the US President and world leaders. Dreaming again.
Hopefully, it will never be as it was. The only way that happens is for every citizen to make an extra effort to be involved with local government and commit to education themselves.
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Tip o’ the ice berg maties!!
Y’ar!
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
[quote comment="67523"]
Prediction: The next Washington scandal, Bush cronies in the SEC arrested.
[/quote]
We can drag them all to Canada and have an inquiry on your behalf. It is such fun to watch.
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:51 pm
[quote comment="67525"]Tip o’ the ice berg maties!!
Y’ar![/quote]
yeah we all remember how the Titanic hit the tip of an iceberg once..
and it fucking sank.
I wonder how many proverbial piggy banks have been smashed open by their respective owners in the last week…
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
They needed to do something to prevent a domino effect of bank failures and who knows if that will be the end of it.
My neighbor, next door, is a perfect example of how the banks got themselves in this mess. He is a first time homeowner who bought a $200,000 house with no money down. NO MONEY DOWN! It was a nice house when he bought it. Now looks like a dump as he does the minimal up keep (cuts the grass if were lucky). So the house is definitely worth less then what his mortgage is. With the ever changing economy the cigarette factory he works at has announced that it will be eventually shutting down and moving to Asia. So it’s just a matter of time that this neighbor loses his job. There is a good chance that he just walks away from the mortgage on his house. I do not wish any adversity on any person. I hope things work out for this neighbor and he gets ‘his act together’. But in my opinion he should have never been given a loan of that size to buy that house.
It will be interesting to see how the bail affects him
I am just amazed how banks could put themselves in this position. I hope the U.S. federal government has a better regulatory policy towards banks with this bailout. If they don’t then the banks will let greed rule again and they will be right be back to where they started.
.
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:06 pm
[quote comment="67529"]
I am just amazed how banks could put themselves in this position. I hope the U.S. federal government has a better regulatory policy towards banks with this bailout. If they don’t then the banks will let greed rule again and they will be right be back to where they started.
.[/quote]
they wont have “better” policies, just re-worded ones. And you can bet your house (heh) that greed A.K.A capitalism will ALWAYS rule in a so-called “free market”…
on a side note, get this: economists figure that atleast SIX percent of the U.S. GDP is from underground economic activity…this is a cash economy, not credit (which is kind of obvious; i dont know any drug dealers that accept AMEX or VISA) so whilst the “regular” American economy is drowning in bills, the underground is flourishing with cold hard cash…
funny that some can’t pay their mortgage but have the $ for Hustler subscriptions and copius amounts of dope…
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Key word so far (for implementing the plan) seems to be: outside contractors!
And I loved this quote:
“Under normal circumstances, the Treasury’s financing decisions are guided by its desire to be regular and predictable,” said Louis Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP in New Jersey.
“However, there is certainly nothing `regular’ about this rescue package, so that approach is not relevant,” he said
Right now, the U.S. is 9.5 trillion in debt. It needs 400 milliards to just keep it up. Tip of the iceberg indeed. And global warming is not going to help melt it.
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:20 pm
[quote comment="67538"]Key word so far (for implementing the plan) seems to be: outside contractors!
quote]
I’m getting a case of deja vu…hello, Blackwater? Is that you?
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Alan Fishman Hired Sept 8th as CEO of Washington Mutual. Left on Sept 25 with a 19 million severence package. 19 million for 17 days of work. This makes me want to vomit!!!!!
The Bailout (simplified)
http://www.economicpopulist.org/?q=content/sunday-morning-comics-burnt-out-bail-out-edition
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
[quote comment="67535"][quote comment="67529"]
I am just amazed how banks could put themselves in this position. I hope the U.S. federal government has a better regulatory policy towards banks with this bailout. If they don’t then the banks will let greed rule again and they will be right be back to where they started.
.[/quote]
they wont have “better” policies, just re-worded ones. And you can bet your house (heh) that greed A.K.A capitalism will ALWAYS rule in a so-called “free market”…
on a side note, get this: economists figure that atleast SIX percent of the U.S. GDP is from underground economic activity…this is a cash [/quote]
I would have thought the U.S. underground economy would have been larger then 6%…back where I’m from (Canada) at one time I worked construction in my younger days it amazed me how healthy the ‘underground’ cash economy was with workers doing jobs on the side for cash because of the high taxes…
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
fuck you, no edit function!
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:24 pm
[quote comment="67545"]fuck you, no edit function![/quote]
ouch sorry..blog newbie
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
[quote comment="67547"][quote comment="67545"]fuck you, no edit function![/quote]
ouch sorry..blog newbie[/quote]
lol i am not new to this hahaha but thanks for your pity :P i am just not paying attention haha
and as for your comment re the six percent GDP figure, im from Canada too lol and the figures I’m stating are from Eric Schlosser’s “Reefer Madness”…it may in fact be higher than 6% but how can you measure an underground economy accurately, really? It’s all off the books…
October 3rd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I guess you could say the IRS sorta helps in measuring the amount of underground economy activity; in a nutshell, they audit the shit outta you and if your receipts, or lack thereof (”Can I get a receipt for that lb. of blow, if you don’t mind?”), don’t add up to what you claimed as income the previous year, well, you’re fucked….
my mom always told me growing up that I should save my receipts….
“But mom, we dont HAVE an IRA!” lol….kids say the funniest shit…
October 3rd, 2008 at 3:48 pm
You know what, the more I think about it, it will be a miracle if this bailout turns things around.
I hate to be negative but I think the damage is done beyond the point of return.
October 3rd, 2008 at 5:38 pm
So I’m 42. Does that make this the worst finacial crisis that North America has seen in my life time? Yes, I believe it just might be.
October 3rd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
What about the interest rate hike in the 80s?
Also unemployment has been worse. I hate the hyperbolic headlines comparing now to the Great Depression, because that time was about so, so much more.
I also find it interesting how CNN can spend mountains of time on pieces dealing with the “Credit Crisis” and then cut to commercials for American Express Platinum.
I am not…making…that up. And I wish I was.
October 3rd, 2008 at 8:22 pm
I just heard this evening that Wachovia was bought out by Wells Fargo Bank which is good news in the southern U.S.
Wachovia’s headquarters are based in Charlotte, N.C.
It sounded like Wachovia was the next bank to fail. Hopefully Well Fargo can get things straightened out.
October 3rd, 2008 at 8:38 pm
[quote comment="67519"][quote comment="67503"]Wall Streets is dying of gangrene and Congress just bought it a $700 billion bandaid, wonder how that will work out…hmmm.[/quote]
Cloth or plastic?
Revolt !!![/quote]
A special denim-like material engraved with “in god we trust” on one side and “got you again suckers” on the other in the denomination of $700 billion. In place of a picture of a dead president there could be the image of Cheney and Bush giving us the finger.
If the original colonist were pissed about having to pay taxes on tea and stamps to make up for Britains’ costs in the French-Indian War, how do you think they’d feel about what’s going on now.
So much for no taxation without representation and government ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’. Democracy has become a dirty word in the US as far as I’m concerned, talk about universal healthcare and programs to benefit common people and you’re a commie, talk about another massive bailout for the rich and you’re a patriot.
And yes this really does piss me off.
October 3rd, 2008 at 10:02 pm
[quote comment="67581"]
I also find it interesting how CNN can spend mountains of time on pieces dealing with the “Credit Crisis” and then cut to commercials for American Express Platinum.
I am not…making…that up. And I wish I was.[/quote]
You’re so right. The economic growth of the US for the past 5 years has been entirely based on rising consumer and public debt. When the credit card bubble bursts, it’ll make the mortgage bubble look like a fizzy Coke.
October 3rd, 2008 at 10:58 pm
[quote comment="67614"]
A special denim-like material engraved with “in god we trust” on one side and “got you again suckers” on the other in the denomination of $700 billion. In place of a picture of a dead president there could be the image of Cheney and Bush giving us the finger.
.[/quote]
I like, I like. Tasteless yet functional - denim does absorb blood (poorly though). I propose the “finger”image on “got you again suckers” side and Bush and Cheney lip-locked on the “in god we trust” side. Share a patent?
Our thinking is off track a bit. The government still is for the people, by the people. It is just their people and not all the people.
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:15 pm
I’m not the smartest guy in the world; but i’m far from being the dumbest. I don’t know for sure what just happened . I’m thinking it was an attack on the USA and the dollar. It may be tied into the shrinking oil war, and those that own oit wanted to be paid in Euro’s. There is a shortage of gold bullion; especially in Asia. (which has loved gold forever. I think gold will drop to $500 an once within a year.
Two people whom I respect very much are very calm right now. They seem to think we were under attack as part of the terrorist war. TheIrish have just insured all the savings and money market accounts in their 6 largest fianancial institutions. Why? Because ever since the USA upped the Federal Insurance to $250,000.00 from $100,000.00, money has been pouring into American banks. People are quietly shifting Euro’s, yen, ponds etc into american dollars. It seems despite the somewhat weaker dollar, europeans especially, are thinking American banks are safer. So, the credit crunch may be eased a little sooner thank we think. But I don’t trust the bastards. But I think this is as much a political showdown as it is monetary.
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Robert R.
Let me try to put your mind at rest, simply for the sake of discussion and joviality. You should know that citizens in those “bucket-of-sin” countries we sometimes prefer not to recognize (You know: Those possessed peoples of Europe who can’t do anything right, but continue to “surprise” us when we’re in the midst of a military crisis and they’re not, or a health care crisis when they’re not, or an economic crisis when they’re not. It was a political liability that 200,000 Germans gathered to hear one of our Presidential candidates speak. Remember? But, I digress into irrelevance.) have known this was coming for over a year. Northern Rock in the U.K. failed last August or September because it was holding toxic U.S. mortgage-linked instruments. There’s no conspiracy. It’s just the effect of a pathetically deficient de-regulatory scheme.
Increasing the FDIC protection was great, especially since the banks will have to pay increased premiums for the protection which only benefits the only people who got screwed in this mess: us, the consumers. The U.K. has a pathetic deposit insurance program which they also are reforming. Until recently, deposits up to only about $70,000 USD were insured. You’re point about the geo-competitive adjustment in the deposit insurance regulation is an interesting one, and hopefully it will draw foreign investment to help stabilize our banking industry, but, generally, I think what we are witnessing is a rather rapid reversal of popular thinking about banking regulation and an equally rapid adjustment of pathetically deficient regulations. There’s no fire. Don’t panic.
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:38 pm
And the rich get richer
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Thanks for the info. I’m not panicing, as I am old and debt free. I’m just wondering if this infusion of cash was a byproduct of the bailout bill; or the reason behind it. It seems to me that regulations will be tougher; but just yesterday, I got those “Checks” in the mail from Discover Card to activate my account. I got a phone call asking about getting a Home Credit Line, and an invitation to “Upgrade” my Chase Platinum Card. ($79.00 Annual Fee!) So it seems things may have not changed that much.
I’m having a room added to my house, and all the contracers are busy! That may just be local thou. The news said most New England Banks never really bought into the Junk Bond thing.
It seems the Wall Street Boys are accepting that their going to lose big money, but are trying to keep as much as they can.
October 4th, 2008 at 9:25 am
This is a question of real wealth versus virtual wealth.
We know for a fact that Wall Street is overvalued, we just don’t know by how much. We saw it with the dot com boom and bubble burst, where companies that had little real-world value were trading in the stratosphere. At Linux’s IPO it began trading at over $100 a share and ended the day at over $200, this from a company that sold support for free open source software. For years Amazon was in the red.
We saw an downward adjustment when it became apparent many companies were using illegal accounting to inflate stock value, with Enron, Worldcom, Toiko, Johnson and Johnson and probably many more involved. Halliburton quietly settled a lawsuit with its’ shareholders for practices under Dick Cheney.
With all these collapses there has been a reduction in the virtual wealth in the US stock markets but never down to the real value.
The housing market had remained hot during all these other crisis so it become the new investing frontier. Laws were changed to allow lending practices that before were considered unsound and they were. The whole point was to have somewhere to dump this percieved wealth so the market could keep going up and a few lucky ones make billions more. It’s been known for several years that there would be a 20% default rate on many of these MBSs (Mortgage Backed Securities) but nothing has been done because it would have ended the game. And they’re everywhere now shaking consumer confidence in all financial products, it’s like an infection.
Pumping $700 billion into the system will buy a little time, what’s really going on is Wall Street is looking for another sector to continue the game without dealing with the underlying problem. Much of America’s wealth isn’t real anymore, my guess is the Dow is inflated by up to 50%.
October 4th, 2008 at 10:20 am
[quote comment="67488"]3) Check out those hot Palin pics![/quote]
Bah! I LOVE moose! I’ll probably never understand people who love to hunt - be it humans or animals.
October 4th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
[quote comment="67666"][quote comment="67488"]I’ll probably never understand people who love to hunt - be it humans or animals.[/quote]
You should really try human hunting some time… Dick Cheney says it’s a very rewarding hobby, and I agree.
October 5th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Doug; good points. Especially “This is a question of real wealth versus virtual wealth.”
It is just coincidence that I am adding a room and a big deck to my house. And making it Handi-cap accessable. But as I told my wife, we will still have the same “wealth”, except it’s going to be As real lumber and not just numbers on a piece of paper!
As an example of real wealth versus virtual wealth……. We bought our house in 1972 for $24,000.00. I was working for a defense contractor making 4.12 and my wife was a Physical Therapist making $5.50. We kept the house and did regular but modest maintenance. A new roof etc, but nothing extensive. During the 1980’s, many of our friends were selling their “first homes” and buying larger homes for, say $179,000.00. We resisted. During this last value run up, our house was said to be worth $350,000.00. (due to having another 1/2 acre building lot attached). We didn’t sell and our friends were moaning about how much money we were losing. We pointed out that it would cost us $350,000.00 to replace! When the bubble burst, our house was devalued to $225,000.00 for tax purposes’. Our friends insist we “lost” 125,000.00. I say we lost nothing.
What we have lost is interest income. Because we were able to save money we normally paid on the mortgage, for the past 16 years, we sometimes earned as much as 12% on CD’s. And 7-8% on regular savings accounts. The past few years, the banks have as much as told us, “We don’t want or need your money”. We have been getting 3/4% on savings and 3,25 on CD’s. Considering that inflation has been running about 3%, we were watching our savings slowly melt away. Hence the decision to withdraw it and put it to use in something tangible. If the banks fail, we’ll still have our “wealth”. I have also invested in vintage guitars (early, at good prices). Again, ‘real” things. Also extra ammo.
Sorry for the ramble, but I hope you can see that there are things that can be done.