Kill the bailout: Go, Shelby, go!
I asked the other day: Will the real fiscal conservatives stand up?
GOP Sen. Richard Shelby stands up:
With anger mounting from the left and right against the Treasury Department’s proposed financial bailout, one of the opponents’ most powerful allies is Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, a Democrat-turned-Republican who espouses free-market principles with a populist streak.
Mr. Shelby, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, said in an interview Tuesday that he is likely to vote against the proposal. “I’ve never supported a direct bailout,” Mr. Shelby said. “I voted against Chrysler when I was a freshman congressman. They said, ‘Well, Chrysler will fail.’ And well maybe if it’d failed then we wouldn’t have the problems facing us today.”
Sen. Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, is one of several conservatives joining Sen. Dodd and other Democrats in their opposition to the Treasury’s financial bailout.
As a Republican, Mr. Shelby would normally be the one to defend a Republican president’s policies. Instead, he’s the leader of a mounting chorus of conservatives who think President George W. Bush has sold out conservative principles.
“I think we’re going down the road of France now,” Mr. Shelby told one television interviewer Tuesday, before quickly adding, “in all due respect for my French friends”…
….Mr. Shelby’s position in the closely divided Senate gives him a great deal of influence. On Tuesday, Mr. Shelby left Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson stuttering in an attempt to defend the proposal.
“What if it doesn’t work?” Mr. Shelby said. “You assume it will work, but you can’t assure us that you know it’s going to work, because you thought some of the other plans were going to work.”
Later, Mr. Shelby said, “there was no satisfaction from my questions that this will be the end of it. They wouldn’t say that — because they don’t know.”
A reminder of Hank Paulson’s year-long bad judgments here.
Call: 202-224-3121.
See what others have said
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Trackbacks
- The Other McCain: Pull the plug
- This ain’t Hell, but you can see it from here » Blog Archive » Shelby: We’re becoming the French
- Swamp Hermit’s *QUICK* Bits « The Swamp Hermit’s Report
- Killing the Bailout
- The Great American National Socialist Experiment » Liam’s Daily…
- $700 Billion Bailout: See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil. « Republican Party of Jefferson County, TN
- Michelle Malkin » Kill the bailout: Call your GOP representative; Update: the deal details trickle out; No deal tonight; Paulson and the Dems bawl
- Seymour Nuts » Blog Archive » Open Your Eyes People
- Wacky Wednesday: Midday Report — McCain’s Senate Office Says ‘No’ PLUS Other Key Bailout News! « Pocket Change - Now Lint Free!
- Michelle Malkin » Road to GOP redemption: Roll back the bailouts, draw a line in the sand
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Fiscal conservative? What’s that? With all the banking craziness, spending and lack of discipline surely the liberals are firmly in control of things….
I just wrote Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn and told them to stand w/ Sen Shelby. Cornyn is facing a tough re-election fight and it wouldn’t look good for him to be seen giving away the bank.
I wish someone would tell Chris Dodd to shut up. It’s hard to listen to the guy who profited the most from Fannie/Freddie rail against the abuse of tax payer money. Maybe he could start the recovery by giving all that money back.
I’m waiting.
Where are the rest of the true conservatives?
Hiding in the shadows, too cowardly to stand up and fight with John/Juan and be lableled a racist for pointing out how many illegals are involved in this mess.
Why is everyone ignoring the damage this illegal invasion is bringing to our nation?
While I’m pleased to see opposition to this ridiculous money grab growing, we’re talking about Washington. I have a terrible fear that some of the opponents (possibly Shelby, possibly not. Don’t know that much about him) are just maneuvering for more pork.
The real purpose of this bailout is to get us past the upcoming election. No one is thinking past November 5TH.
No one is speculating on what this trillion dollar bailout will do to the value of the Dollar. Hint Down Down Down
the price of oil and other imports UP UP UP way UP. We could see a doubling of gasoline prices. Imported foodstuffs rotting because no one can afford them. Household goods unaffordable. Walmart will become the new Macys.
what happened to S190 from the 109th congress? would’ve stopped a lot of bad mortgage packages from being issued.
If you live and work inside the beltway, what does this matter.
In fact, this will INCREASE the beauracracy. More phoney jobs, more lawyers, more consultants.
In Washington, incompitance is a growth industry !!!
Kill the bailout:
and the Lawyers.
“I think we’re going down the road of France now,” Mr. Shelby told one television interviewer…”
I just love that. Right to the point.
Shelby could be a vegetarian communist but if he opposes this insane bailout, I am with him. This is a bailout too far and it must be stopped. What would we be saying and doing if a democrat administration had come up with this? Sigh. Maybe if Kerry or Gore had won a Republican Congress would have made sure this never happened.
Most have already followed the example of McCain, their new leader…
3 points:
1. I agree with Shelby.
The operative principle at work in the current context: Privatize the funds when they are flowing IN, and socialize the costs when the funds are not [flowing in].
2. Recall, also, that at least one of two of those large investment banks have significant foreign ownership; so that, any bailout which ‘funds’ those institutions is also - by definition - a foreign-aid package of sorts as well. And… some of those host governments are not exactly our ‘friends’ either.
3. How can anyone presume any degree of objectivity and truth about Paulson when he was [until very recently, eg 2006] head of one of the large investment banks which is not lobbying hard for this bailout package? Seems like a HUGE conflict of interest to me…
Again, I believe that “Hell No” response still applies…
Crud, sorry -
“..which is not lobbying hard..”
should have been -
“which is now lobbying hard”
…Chalk it up to a “pre-coffee” moment.
Don’t you love how Congress gets to pick winners and losers instead of the collective opinions of “the market”.
I’d submit that the combined insight of the approx 500 members of congress is much much much smaller than the insight of investors/consumers.
Congress needs to understand their real job as defined in the constitution and get back to doing that and only that.
I was talking with a few friends and they brought up a good point as well as some things they have heard. I believe it was S150 that was passed by the Banking committee and defeated on a party line vote my the Democrats. What they have heard was, knowing full well the crisis that was ahead and voting to defeat it gave the Democrats an issue, the Economy Issue. They got what they secretly wished for and now lets see what happens.
You know, if hards times are coming either way, I say let them all go under !! People only seem to learn the hard way.
SOOOOOOOOOOO, let it get hard.
I see on Drudge that the Whitehouse is considering a primetime address to the nation to sell this bailout plan. I submit that no speech by President Bush that does not include the phrase ‘effective at noon tomorrow’ will have the serious tone needed to be effective.
The neocons devoured them.
Senator Dole indicated yesterday on a local station here in Raleigh she will not be voting for it. She seemed to think something should be done, but this isn’t the way to do it. We’ll see.
As a strong fiscal conservative I have some issues with the bailout but there would be an even larger problem in the financial markets and “main street” if something is not done. Most money market funds and regional banks would suffer major drops in value if nothing is done. Last Thursday came close to a run on the financial system. So unless you have all your money in gold bars you would have been affected.
Good to see that CONGRESS is not going to MARCH LOCK STEP on this one!!!
Bush must be under mind control or something, does he ACTUALLY believe the American people will listen to a program that will put our children further into debt. No way! Kill the Bailout now!
rpfinley, we are all going to be affected anyway. NO MATTER WHAT. So let nature take its course, Stop bailing out worthless causes. Illegal Aliens, Inner Cities, Fiscally Irresponsible People, let them fall on their faces. I believe the end result will be the same.
swmbo, I would say a run on the financial system is major cause. The cost is not going to be $700 billion, its what is going to take to finance the purchase of distressed assets. Of course the devil is in the details, but if your current bank were to close for a few weeks I am guessing you would be against nature taking its course.
Shelby’s opposition to this bailout is alright, but I noticed that he chooses to use platitudes blaming nobody but Wall Street, which ignores the bulk of the truth: Congress has much of the blame for this mess! Congress demanded lower qualifications on buyers for home mortgages. “No money down…not even a job to ensure that the banks would get some sort of monthy payment? No prob!! Give’em a house anyway!!!”
Congress also encouraged Fannie/Freddie to turn those mortgages into investments to support the lenders. “We need to make sure all Americans have a house…so hey, put your money into these mortgages…even though no money is being sent to pay for them!!!”
Such idiocy. I think Michelle should post and quote what Senator Jim DeMint has had to say about this, which is far more truthful. DeMint Opposes Wall Street Bailout
Unfortunately he is joining Dodd. I saw Dodd this morning and guess who were standing behind him. Yep the code pink moonbats with the “get of out of iraq” pink hats.
As me old man use to say: “Whatever you do in haste, you get to repent at leisure.”
Just look at the people in charge: Bernanke, Paulsen, Reid, Pelosi, Bush, …. and tell me you trust them. Since most of us believe that they have systematically violated the public trust, we do not believe them now. We see a massive socialistic coup de tat, being foisted upon us with the … or else… situation they themselves helped create.
First they should resign. Then lets talk about saving the financial institutions.
maybe, maybe not. but this has to end somewhere, and it might as well be now…the ‘fix’ will just paper over the problem (socialism) and just set up a bigger fall in the future.
I am glad I voted for her.
How is Dodd, and how are the others who skimmed off the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae gravy train, getting away with having ANY voice in all of this?
I’m so weary of this. Why has Nancy Pelosi kept her own freaking job?
Thank God for a few good men like Shelby and DeMint who are standing against this un-American and un-Constitutional money and power grab. $700 Billion is just the tip of the iceberg of a new massive government corporate welfare system. The federal government, under the current executive and legislative leadership, cannot and will not restrain its desire for more power for itself and less freedom for the people.
We, the People, must send ALL the bums packing in November and start over. If that doesn’t work, then we need to start over, period.
Mister P,
They may have cried wolf one or ten times to many but take it from someone in the trenches on the financial system. The ripple effect of not doing anything would be catastrophic. Money market funds would have had losses and than the redemptions would have forced more selling. The selling would lead to distressed prices and more redemtpions and a vicious cycle that would affect anyone who was using a bank.
Time for pitchforks and torches.
I don’t doubt what you say. But you can not have the same people in charge who created this mess in the first place. I also work for a major bank (who is doing relatively well, because it avoided the sub prime loans). Even they did not mark rapid rise in appraised values as a risk when approving loans. It has been obviously a problem and just 2 months ago Paulsen was telling us their was NOTHING to worry about.
BTW: Who got all that money? Those people who sold their houses at those ridiculous prices. We are bailing out our financial institutions and politicians who created this mess.
Here’s a question (and I’m serious, if someone can intelligently answer this, please do).
As I see it, the government is attempting to interfere with a necessary, and in fact overdue, market correction. Intense speculation (and some truly spectacular bad decision-making by these firms) has grossly inflated the value of these firms. Is the administration’s position that the overvaluing of these firms is better for the economy than allowing the correction would be? And if this is the case, do they really believe that they can stop the correction from occurring?
IMHO, they can’t do it without turning the dollar into toilet paper, which will accomplish the correction anyway, as well as torpedo our economy and trade status world wide.
I’m not exactly an economist, so if I’m seeing this wrong, please tell me.
rpfinley, no one is going to come and save my job, my company or my industry if we don’t make a profit. My advice is to either produce or get out of the business. Nobody forced you into the financial system and don’t ask me to save you, your company or your industry. You guys have been intoxicated on selling cheap credit and now your chickens have come home to roost. Yes, lots of people will lose their jobs; it’s called the economic cycle and thanks to your industry and government stooges, we are about to take a wild ride down.
But, don’t try to scare me into bailing you out! I have cash, gold, food and ammo to ride it out. What’s your plan?
7thson, this isn’t to save my job or bank much like mister p we in theory would be okay. The problem is that its not just guys in Manhattan or a few banks. It will be a total collapse of the system worse than 1929. As an alternative to this you let the government use 700 billion, clear out the problems and in theory actually make money in the long term. The financial system is connected to every business and that is what people have to realize. It won’t just be banks that fail but a number of industries and businesses.
Absolutely. There have been whispers of revolution in the past few years, and if stuff like this continues, those whispers may start to turn into action. According to the Dec of Indep, it is sometimes necessary for a revolution.
“Economic Meltdown”… the great equalizer.
and…
Just ’say no’ to corporate welfare.
If people want us to vote them into office as Republicans then its time for the Republicans that are in office right now to get their butts front and center and start acting like Republicans are supposed to act!
Just like when the world couldnt trust the American government after we violated the trust of the Vietnamese people 35 years ago, well why should the world trust the American financial markets now that we are violating the very tenets of what capitalism stands for?
The best solution to this seems obvious to me. Instead of giving that $700 billion bailout money to the guilty parties (greedy banks, poor credit risks, corrupt community organizers), give it to people that are financially responsible. You know, people that have reasonable mortgages, good credit ratings, good histories of debt repayment.
If the federal government sends me a check for $50,000, I gaurantee I will put it to good work rebuilding the economy, unlike some idiot who sucked the equity out of his overpriced house to buy jet skis, motorcycles and vacations in Cancun.
Scare tactics with nothing to back it up.
Government make money? That is the ultimate oxymoron.
It’s called the free market. Someone’s failure is someone else’s opportunity. The problem is that Uncle Sam wants to play and that’s NOT his job!!
Oh, just so the Republicans are not confused, dont think that we are distracted by all this financial B.S either, we’re still watching you on immigration also.
We havent forgotten..
Not lead by the same cronies who created this problem in the first place. Again, any bailout needs to come with a caviat - RESIGN!
I don’t buy that.
You are right though - there will be winners and there will be losers. If we let the correction actually work by market forces - the winners will be the most productive and the losers will be the inefficient. If we “force” a correction by political means, then the winners will be chosen by politicians and the losers will be EVERYBODY by the devaluing of their money through inflation.
For the gov’t to “purchase” these loans at $700B - they are using money they don’t have. They have to print it. Sooooooooo - that makes the value of all the other dollars out there worth an amount reduced by exactly $700B.
Let’s not forget either - Our Gov’t got us in this mess - it’s not likely they will get us out. History indicates gov’t has often taken a problem and made it much worse.
For those on limited budgets:
Call Capitol Hill Switchboard TOLL FREE:
1-877 851-6437
1-800 828-0498
1-800 614-2803
1-866 340-9281
1-866 338-1015
1-866 220-0044
If Dodd, Frank, Schumer, Raines, Johnson, and Mudd —at the very least —are not stripped of their committee positions and then impeached or charged with crimes, millions of people like me will join the leftists of old in believing the Game is Entirely Rigged in favor of the rich and powerful.
Obama and Biden say they want to try Bush / Cheney for war crimes if they win. If they do that, while letting the criminals in their own party “skate” over impoverishing this country as they enriched themselves, they will truly launch a second American Civil War (and not a peaceful one).
Lotta guns out there….!!!! For the firt time in my life I’m gonna go out to buy one and learn how to use it.
The Second Amendment looks more and more
important right about now.
8:16am PT.
I’m getting to head out for the day, but, for those of you that have a chance to monitor Bernancke’s appearance in front of the Joint Financial Services Committee (House+Senate) on CNBC…
Congressman Paul and Senator DeMint are mentioned to be upcoming questioners of Bernancke. That should prove most interesting - especially with Ron Paul on this particular issue.
…Just FYI.
The Bailout Solution
Please read this less costly solution.
http://www.hussmanfunds.com/wmc/wmc080922.htm
Its on… 8:41am PT
Dodd, Barney Frank, and those who helped perpetrate this mess will be against the bill until all the “pork” they want inserted is added to the bill. Then they’ll be for it.
Demint, Shelby, and Bunning are against it because of conservative fiscal policy and not wanting to reward the crooks who caused this mess.
That is a difference with distinction.
Ben Stein has an excellent article out today, and addressed one of the unvoiced questions I have had about this whole mess:
Who profits? Who really “wins” with a massive government bailout?
Why the secrecy? Paulson’s “ask no questions/no oversight” demand is breathtaking.
According to Ben Stein, speculators stand to make almost limitless profits with the failure of these mortgages — is this why Paulson is hinting that $700 Billion might not be enough?
I don’t know anything about Credit swaps, but allegedly Barry Obama does, according to the bragging in his autobiography outlining his understanding of financial nuance, and meetings with Japanese bankers and German bondholders.
Maybe Barry can hold a press conference and explain these complicated and bottomless instruments to the taxpayer, and WHO will actually profit from the freefall in the mortgage liquidity market.
Follow the money.
http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/yourlife/109609;_ylt=AihYXGa_2tf9PJDeCl.2G0S7YWsA
Buffett calls credit crisis, economic pearl harbor
The resolution trust company made money for taxpayers, Chrysler made money for taxpayers.
Now you are naive, we don’t have free markets, we have regulations all over the place. In fact the one market with the least regulation is the credit default swap market and its $62 trillion dollars.
JoeBren, I completely agree with Hussman but it doesn’t sound like gov’t is that smart.
Everyone, I am not saying this is a great answer but compared with doing nothing its a much better choice.
Is this the same Ben Stein that says that speculators have nothing to do with the high oil prices?
rpFinley. I am sure much of your fear is justified. But have you ever heard of extortion? We have the same people who have FAILED to protect the market DEMAND more money or else we revisit the GREAT DEPRESION. They then ask us to TRUST them to do what they want with OUR MONEY.
At some point we MUST stand up to those who are THREATENING us.
Following on #54 rpfinley, et al…
Individuals have had the ‘fredom’ to fail economically throughout our nation’s history - even with dire or morbid outcomes. (And, yes, I’ll offer due recognition to social programs - however justified or not…)…
Why not provide large and powerful organizations that same freedom to fail and ‘feel the pain’ as the humble private individual has had? When that happens, and ONLY when that happens will the people that led those institutions astray learn from their mistakes. Just say ‘Hell No’ to corporate welfare.
…The above not from a die hard free-market capitalist, but from an economic progressive/social conservative.
People confuse leaders of these conglomerates as Capitalists. The Capitalists are the ones who take chances with THEIR OWN money.
Buffet invested in Goldman Sachs and negotiated preferrable terms - 10% ROI and the right to buy common stock at a steep discount.
The taxpayer is asked to pony up cash, no questions asked, with no preferred terms.
Unbelievable.
Buffett is for Buffett. Bloomberg is for Bloomberg. They are on the inside and will make money either way this goes.
Hello, is this thing on?? That’s why we shouldn’t trust government to fix it!!
RE: Mr. P #55 –
Why did you choose to not address the concerns I actually raised in my post and respond with sarcasm instead?
Are you stating then, that the unregulated Credit Default Swaps are not a cause for concern?
Cox testified that regulation and oversight of these instruments must begin immediately, and there appears to be consensus within the financial community. Regulation may be necessary, but it again deflects from the core issue of who specifically is profiting from the bailout? And why should I be on the hook financially for that? Remember, government pays themselves “first” and I don’t have a veto over that.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=ajXNMd45_cio&refer=us
i’ve sent off emails to both my senators and my congressman to say NO MORE BAILOUTS FOR BAD BEHAVIOR. NO FEMA BAILOUTS FOR PEOPLE ON THE COAST W/O ADEQUATE INSURANCE,OR IN FLOOD PLAINS W/O INSURANCE, OR FREE HEALTH CARE THROUGH THE EMERGENCY ROOM FOR PEOPLE, LEGAL AND ILLEGAL, WITHOUT INSURANCE. SEND FANNIE AND FREDDIE CEO AND CFO TO REAL PRISON WITH BUBBA AND THIS CRAP WOULD CEASE IMMEDIATELY.
We’d be opposing it, just as we are now.