Bailout-mania: If you didn’t see this coming…
During the Crap Sandwich 2.0 debate (such as it was, what with the Paulson/Bush/Pelosi/Reid gun to our heads), the Hill’s few staunch conservatives were derided by Chicken Littles in both parties for warning about the unintended consequences of massive bailouts.
The bailout opponents were mocked for their “ideological purity.”
Their intellect was doubted.
Now, with the floodgates wide open and every last corporate special interest clamoring for a piece of CS2.0, the Chicken Littles are horrified at what the bailout opponents knew would happen all along.
Noooooobody could see the subprime crisis coming, the bailout boosters claimed as the blind Paulson led his blind followers along.
Nooooobody could see this mega-bailout orgy coming, they will now cluck.
Bull.
It’s been on the horizon for more than a year.
If you didn’t see this coming, pro-bailout Republicans, you don’t deserve leadership positions in the party that is supposed to stand for fiscal conservatism and the free market. And you certainly don’t deserve to complain about the outcome with any shred of credibility. The blind should step aside and let those with 20/20 vision take over. We need a fiscal conservative counterinsurgency that fights with foresight, not in hindsight:
When the government said it would spend $700 billion to rescue the nation’s financial industry, it seemed to be an ocean of money. But after one of the biggest lobbying free-for-alls in memory, it suddenly looks like a dwindling pool.
Many new supplicants are lining up for an infusion of capital as billions of dollars are channeled to other beneficiaries like the American International Group, and possibly soon American Express.
Of the initial $350 billion that Congress freed up, out of the $700 billion in bailout money contained in the law that passed last month, the Treasury Department has committed all but $60 billion. The shrinking pie — and the growing uncertainty over who qualifies — has thrown Washington’s legal and lobbying establishment into a mad scramble.
The Treasury Department is under siege by an army of hired guns for banks, savings and loan associations and insurers — as well as for improbable candidates like a Hispanic business group representing plumbing and home-heating specialists. That last group wants the Treasury to hire its members as contractors to take care of houses that the government may end up owning through buying distressed mortgages…
…Meanwhile, the list of candidates for a piece of the bailout keeps growing.
On Monday, the Treasury announced it would inject an additional $40 billion into A.I.G., amid signs that the government’s original bailout plan was putting too much strain on the company. American Express won approval Monday to transform itself into a bank holding company, making the giant marketer of credit cards eligible for an infusion.
Then there is the National Marine Manufacturers Association, which is asking whether boat financing companies might be eligible for aid to ensure that dealers have access to credit to stock their showrooms with boats — costs have gone up as the credit markets have calcified. Using much the same rationale, the National Automobile Dealers Association is pleading that car dealers get consideration, too.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of good news for them individually,” said Jeb Mason, who as the Treasury’s liaison to the business community is the first port-of-call for lobbyists. “The government shouldn’t be in the business of picking winners and losers among industries.”
Mr. Mason, 32, a lanky Texan in black cowboy boots who once worked in the White House for Karl Rove, shook his head over the dozens of phone calls and e-mail messages he gets every week. “I was telling a friend, ‘this must have been how the Politburo felt,’ ” he said.
The Congressional bailout law gave the Treasury broad authority to decide how to spend the $700 billion. Under the terms of the $250 billion capital purchase program announced last month, cash infusions are available to “qualifying U.S. banks, savings associations, and certain bank and savings and loan holding companies, engaged only in financial activities.”
That definition has grown to include private banks and insurers like Allstate and MetLife, which own savings and loans. It may also encompass industrial lenders like GE Capital and GMAC, the financing arm of General Motors, provided they win approval to reclassify themselves as a bank or savings and loan holding company.
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The government cannot print it’s way out of this mess.
The government cannot tax it’s way out of this mess.
But they will try.
So what do you think will happen?
see zimbabwe for our future!
SIGH - I say again, at this point it would be cheaper just to pay off everyones mortgage.
I had to read it again.
I love the line about the National Marine Manufacturers Association, wanting to stock their showrooms with boats.
I have not read anything so funny in years.
Good news, you will be able to pay off your mortgage with a days wages. Bad news, a loaf of bread will cost $100,000
This government consists of the most inept gaggle of turds ever assembled during the past 200+ years.
Fortunately, guns sales are going through the roof. No need to bail out S&W et al.
U-da-man Obama.
No kidding. Have people pull together their bills, go to some government office, and cut a check to the debtor(s).
Heck of a lot less expensive.
I’ll line up my bills - why work and pay things off the old fashioned way?
“Spreading the wealth” can be quite infectious, can’t it?
The late Chicago columnist Mike Royko used to say that the Chicago motto was “Where’s Mine?”
Now that Chicago-style politics have come to Washington, this should be stamped on the dollar bills they will be printing.
Meanwhile, I worked six days a week for six years to pay off our mortgage. We invested in our 401K and the stock market, only to see 6 years’ worth of gains wiped out. We didn’t borrow against our house and speculate or take a vacation.
We were chumps, obviously.
Where’s our bailout?
I think we should all mail copies of our bills to the White House and ask them to please send proof of payment ASAP.
Rmemeber when I put together the screw you, i’ve got mine bill of 2008????
I think we need to present that to congress.
Might as well stock my garage with boats, there are just as likely to be as many people shopping for a nice watercraft there as there will be in a Boat Showroom.
There are none so blind as those who will not see. Obviously, there must be something in the rose-colored glasses everyone seems to wear in the beltway that prevents them from seeing reality as it is, until it reaches out and slaps them in the chops.
However, there is a solution to all our problems. I just wish I’d known about this years earlier, instead of working myself to death. I could have saved a whole lot of energy.
Common sense is extinct. To all those in the bailout line, don’t you realize that the very people who will pay for said bailouts, will no longer have the money to buy your products. Ergo, you’ll still go out of business. Capiche!
Enough is enough. Leftists worship Darwin, come on Nancy let’s let nature take it’s course. You dance with the devil, you get burned. Responsible people and companies will thrive after this. Continued fake money bailouts just worsen and prolong the inevitable.
The good news is, gas is $2.38 a gallon at the corner.
As Marine snipers like to say: “You can run all you want but you’ll only die tired.”
They have to crash our economy and currency so they can save us by merging with Mexico.
Let’s not forget it is 60+ years of Democrat policies that have brought us to this point, regardless of who we sling blame on. Getting to the root will destroy the tree.
Hey.. Here’s a GREAT idea. Let’s give Detroit automakers a couple of hundred billion dollars so they can continue the same old broken down union backed business model that has caused them to bleed money for the past 3 decades.
Here’s another great idea. If they find that Hoover dam is leaking 10 million gallons of water a day, they should fix the problem by adding 200 billion gallons of water.
Where does our country find these geniuses?
Just sent this to my senator
Dear Senator Bob Bennett,
Since everyone else is getting part of the bailout, I would also like to get a piece of the pie. This seems fair since I will pay for it eventually. Paying off my mortgage seems like all I would need. Who do I send my mortgage information to? Thanks.
Capitalism is dead, a socialist is in the White House, and the world cheers.
What are the requirements for being labeled a “bank holding company”? Can I get my daughter’s lemonade stand converted into one so she can get a few $billion? She deserves it more than GM…it’s for the children.
The more Congress meddles the worse it gets.
One of the signs of insanity is when someone tries something that fails, knows that it fails, but then repeats the same solution over and over again.
We are there.
Until the taxpayer can no longer produce, and the Government goes broke, and the world whines. Then what?
Hyper-inflation will be the Democrats only solution.
For those who care, that pounding you hear in your head, is the sound of the final drops of grease being squeezed through the gears of capitalism.
The roaring is the heating of the machine as it works harder and produces less.
Soon it will be quiet though as the machine cannot run long without grease.
Do not be afraid, time is past for fear.
The blood trail for this entire world debacle leads straight to the front door of the Congressional Democrats. The Republican leadership apparently cannot see it but the American people can. People with pitchforks and firebrands meet there at high noon on doomsday.
American express is now asking for a bailout.
sigh… All I need is 182,000 for my mortgage. GM wants 50 billion.
That same 50 billion could pay off 200,000 on 2.5 million mortgages.
talk about stimulus.
I want the $150k back that is gone from my IRA — Without it I will have to plan on dying within the next 10 years or so!
Prediction
The only company left having significant impact on the failing economy is Wal-Mart.
Soon they will be faced with attacks from all directions. Even more than they are already
At first they will be asked to give more back
Then More
Then…
Who will defend them?
The same people who defended the auto-industry
hahahah
It is human nature. We were great, they were not, and they resent it. Mankind loves to cheer the underdog, but they also love to see the top dog get knocked back into the pack.
Even though the Congress has all time low approval ratings, most of the House was re-elected. What can you do?
I cannot believe anyone is still in the stock market…I wouldn’t be surprised to see the DOW at 2,000 a year from now..
Nobody bailed out Big Oil in 1998 when oil hit $9 and I got laid off.
Here is a whacky idea. Maybe 3 domestic automakers is one too many. Especially since they signed ruinous contracts with the UAW for pensions and health care and high wages for generally low skilled labor.
Let GM or Ford or Cerebrus file for bankruptcy, renegotiate new contracts with the UAW, close unprofitable plants and car lines, and come back.
Or just let one fail, and the people like me who try to buy domestic when at all possible will have one less choice where to buy, and if the quality is decent, market share for the two survivors would increase by about a third.
Ed finally a voice of reason.
As regards the Auto industry.
The only viable way forward is through bankruptcy.
Sustaining a failing business model is just welfare.
I see no way Chrysler survives.
GM probably will not in it’s current configuration.
There most likely course of action is to file bankruptcy and sell off profitable/desirable divisions.
Perhaps sell Corvette/Cadillac, eliminate other passenger car lines
Ford probably remains intact for a while.
Nissan and Toyota become dominant.
The current bailout philosophy is flawed. With regard to individuals, the bailout is aimed at the weakest among us who will probably fail anyway. This while weakening the strongest among us who must pay for the bailout.
The bailout should be aimed at the strongest among us. Help the responsible, make them stronger so they have discretionary income to spend and stimulate the economy. Reward the responsible so there is incentive to be personally responsible.
On an industry level, the only way a bailout money should go to banks or other companies is if all senior management and stock holders are wiped out. We need to purge those who got us into this mess. If we don’t, we will just have more of the same and an astronomical bill to go with it.
What the bailout for the financial industry is doing is rewarding those who got us into this mess. This makes no sense at all and almost guarantees the same mistakes will be made again.
the big 3 automakers are an example of government policies in action…paying people for not working, paying for their healthcare etc.
bankrupt…just like this country is.
WE should have had a bailout in 1895 to save the whale oil lamp industry.
And a bailout in 1920 to save the horse drawn buggy industry.
The loss of these two great industries has devastated America.
You know, way back when I was in college, I got in trouble with my Amex card. Only a couple grand, but, couldn’t pay it off. They called and called and called, harrassed me, etc. I did end up paying it off.
I want my money back. If Amex wants to be bailed out……
Expres12, while your reasoning is correct, you do not take into consideration the philosophy of those encouraging bailout
The people charged with doling out public funds do not believe in the profit motive.
Their philosophy forces them to believe that government bureaucrats can run any business. They beleive that all they have to do is take out the evil CEO who ran the business to make a profit and then they can take and give away that profit. ie. Spread the wealth.
Their flaw is that only skilled business people can actually run a business. Bureaucrats fail at everything they touch.
They cannot see their own hubris. They simply label evil anyone who disagrees.
ok
I can stand in line and await orders.
Tell me what to do Barney Frank.
Take charge and run it.
Only now Barney Frank can no longer hide.
The success and failure is now his responsibility
Or Chuck Schumer’s
Chuck instead of going to Washington today, go to Youngstown Ohio and show those people how to run their business. Or Detroit. Show those people how to produce a car.
Show them how to schedule the on time delivery of raw materials.
Order a year in advance the electronics that will go into those cars.
Come on Nancy Pelosi, show us how it is done.
Do you see where this is going?
I’ve heard of the bailout number reaching $3 trillion. My alternative solution:
Divide that money up among the 50 million Americans with the best and most responsible credit histories. Deposit it directly into our bank accounts. That’s $60,000 each. I’d probably buy a car, (bails out the auto industry) keep half of it in my bank (bails out the banking industry), buy some consumer items (bails out the retail industry) and, heck, I’ll even kick in 50 cents to buy a New York Times and keep the bird cage liner industry in business.
Why would this idea never be adopted? Because the money coudn’t be stolen by the corrupt Wall Streeters and politicians that have stolen everything else.
I’m going to try my best to avoid doing business with any company that gets bailout money. Forever. It’s not much, but it’s obvious that we’re powerless to influence this juggernaut, so it’s the only thing I can think of.
I think you people are just MEAN. All these people making $15-$20 an hour or have started a small business should be PROUD to bail out $35. an hour Auto Workers-their expensive Health and Pension plans. Proud to help. Just because the Auto Workers and Big Auto management has made it virtually impossible for better cars to be made, profits to be made, debt to be paid off that is NO reason for you MEAN people you keep your money.
I have seen the pain. My neighbor’s sister and brother-in-law are living with them. This brother-in-law was laid off some time ago from a Ford Plant making the Ford Ranger. He drives a Toyota Tacoma. With in a year of being laid off he lost his house. He worked for Ford for twenty + years, received a HUGE buy out and is broke.
Please help. Donate something in my name. I drive a Ford.
Bugler, you are more powerful than you give yourself credit for.
Only do business with people who are privately held conservative businesses. When possible.
Take charge of your spending.
You will never regret it.
I feel your pain!! as soon as I have a visit from my intern, I’ll get right to work on it!!
ps: my new car will be a NISSAN!!
The government said “bailout” and AIG heard “Let’s party til its 2099″. Hey Pelosi, hey Barney, I’m still waiting for my cake. . .
A few days after the federal government unveiled an $85 billion bailout package for the insurance company AIG, executives from one of the firm’s subsidiaries went on a week-long retreat to the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, Calif. The tab: $443,000.
“I was totally unaware that there was any plan for any conference,” AIG’s ex-CEO, Robert B. Willumstad, said today during his testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “Had I been aware of it I would have prevented it from happening.”
and more:
“American Insurance Group executives have been ridiculed for spending $440,000 for entertaining themselves at a spa only days after receiving $85 billion in a public bailout. It appears that they have gotten the message. They went hunting partridges instead in England at a cost of $86,000. That is over three times the average income of the American citizens bailing them out for poor business decisions.”
Paying bills is just old fashioned just like the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and God. Heck, having bills is old fashion as is “owning” something. Writing.on.the.wall.
Republicans are grasping at straws when the answers are right in front of their face.
The GOP will change, but where is that change going to lead us? Will we move in the right direction? Or the wrong?
we have been judged, and found wanting….
AAAhhh #48 - the election is over. The Democrats won…find something else to do but please stop campaigning.
I’ve been bamboozled and hoodwinked. Oh wait, I never bought into the notion that bailing out fledgling businesses (of their own doing or otherwise) was a good thing. Socialism is here, folks. Misery for all.
Whoops… here’s the link to the entire article.
Well heck Paulson, why didn’t you say that in the first place…whateva you need we’ll be there!
CALL.US.STUPID.
On the matter of the current bailout of Automakers.
Currently they, all three, are asking for another 25 billion in promises.
What would that be, 10 Billion to Ford, 10 Billion to GM and 5 Billion to Chrysler. Roughly, probably not exact but close?
Let’s stick with GM. Is 10 billion going to be enough? For how long?
The numbers do not seem to add up.
If they lost 2.5 Billion this past quarter. What is their expected loss this quarter?
What are their costs?
In an economy with faltering sales and worse going forward. The real cost of bailing out GM could be much much more than what is in front of us now.
It could be as much as 50-75 Billion next year alone. Maybe more.
With no limits beyond that.
Because once you have thrown 100 Billion at them, where and how do we stop?
Are you prepared to give GM, a company I love, 100 Billion dollars. Over the next 18 months. If not sooner.
30 - great minds…we posted parts of the same article..
I continue to be outraged by this. But by all means Paulson, Dems, Republicans - do carry on.
our governmnent is out of control
Apparently, no one needs or wants our permission. Just our money…our taxes will be through the roof and we will not be able to purchase any of those nice shinny cars they are making. Oh wait, I get it. We will bail out the automakers and they will in turn, give us cars. Oh, ok…
MissCheryl, you are right,
But it will never be enough.
The more the government pours into a failing business, the farther the credit markets run from their paper.
Who will buy a car or truck from a company that is only alive because it is propped up by bureaucrats.
These are just a couple of the potential unintended consequences of this “BAILOUT”
OCG - we have a co-enabling, dysfunctional government.
“We” do not have a “government”
“We” have a “state”
And the “state” is hungry
The AlohaGuy Bank Holding Company wants to know “Dude, where’s my bailout?”
Indeed. I’m angry as heck.Something has to give.
I am furious about this financial situtation - how these morons are handling it and how they, on both sides of the isle are destroying the citizens of this great country because of their own political agendas. They are the enemy. I don’t want to hear dems vs republicans..they are in the same basket - thieves and liars.
I.AM.LIVID.
and it will, the value of our dollar will collapse, inflation will pick up steam…the market will collapse…
its gonna be a wild ride!!
Look soon the bailout will hit a fever pitch, almost there but not yet.
What will anyone who holds a mortgage do when he deadbeat down the street gets to walk away and nothing happens to them.
And the home is offered for 15 to 20 cents on the dollar. Or less.
Who will continue to pay their mortgage then?
Why would you?
This bottomless pit is looming over the horizon.
There is no bailout without everyone getting a bailout. And what that means is clear.
The banks know it.
That is why they simply have set on the original portion Paulson gave them.
Soon we will all line up and have some zeros erased from our mortgages.
Do not fight it, just get in line.
For there is nothing you can do about it.
Our legislative branch has completely lost touch with anything but matters that concern their own comfort and reelection. Egotistical madmen and women, drunk with power, lining their pockets, and not concerning with the “little people”. They know that once elected, with the layers of protection that have been carefully built up over decades, they are virtually untouchable as they pass endless pages upon pages of flawed legislation.
I have come to this realization about the financial situation the direction of our future.
We are moving toward a Fascist State. It’s easy to call this Socialism, but it’s not the government owning the means of production - it’s government in bed with the corporations.
What we have to look forward to is a more dependent corporatocracy. As we haven’t really had a free market for about 30-40 years, all of our debts and favors are going to have to get paid. Foreign countries are no longer going to lend us endless amounts of money, as we can’t pay it back. This leads to hyper-inflation as the government simply prints money to make up for the shortfalls. This country is going to get Weimerized when the massive increase in the base money supply is unleashed.
The “government” will do anything and everything except cut spending for their favorite projects and groups.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: I am taking this opportunity to declare that I am now a bank. The First National Bank of Me is open for business. Please send my share of the bailout immediately.
Our biggest problem is that the crooks who keep taking our money in the form of bailouts are smarter than anyone on Capitol Hill. And the few smart ones in congress are bought off.
There is not enough money in the till to do everything for everybody. the great thing about capitalism is (was?) that companies could operate as carelessly as they wanted—and they would fail. It didn’t affect most anyone else because they were on their own nickel. Bad/stupid behavior met its own end. Good/smart behavior was rewarded by continuing to be in business. Now, we have the auto companies wanting the taxpayers to subsidize unwise, overly-cumbersome contracts with the unions. They weren’t wise to begin with, they look even stupider now. Let GM fail. Let them re-organize. Do NOT bail out bad behavior—you’ll only get more of it.
..and btw, it is NOT true that people can’t get a car loan. If you have a decent down payment and good credit, you can get a car. Easily. What you CAN’T do is have no-money-down, 18% payments that are 1/4 your take-home pay and crappy credit. That’s a GOOD thing, people! Bad loan practices are what got us here. And don’t even talk to me about banks now saying they want help for credit cards, when they were offering them (as Dave Ramsey says) to dogs and dead people! Let them suffer the consequences of their stupidity like everyone else has to!
THe UAW is committing murder/suicide. Ed’s got it right. Let the automakers declare bankruptcy and renegotiate their labor contracts.
On a related note, I remember reading once that Longshoremen make about $70/hr. They are probably wondering why the American ports are losing business to Mexico.
Unions have killed industry in America.
Southpaw Bank Holding Company
Now open for business. I’ll be
making loanshoarding cash as soon as I get a check from Mr. Paulsen.in the late 80’s missouri had the choice to vote itself a right to work state or not. we voted to not be a right to work state, and we have lost virtually all our manufacturing business. we had 6 auto plants, we have 2 and they are both failing and will be gone soon. we had mcdonnel douglas, and now we have boeing which is about 1/10th the size of mac doug. we had 3m in columbia employing 1200 people, now that is in indonesia, with a skeleton crew in missouri. while alabama, south carolina and texas have built new car plants for toyota, nissan, bmw, mercedes, hyundai, we are now discussing bailing out michigan’s failed socialist project. unions are corporate socialism, socialism always fails, so bye bye g.m. socialism will never work, because it goes against human nature.
Seems like no-one has put these 2 points together yet so I will.
In the first qtr of 2009, GM is supposed to give the UAW 30 billion in order to ‘get out from under’ the ongoing retirement payments of retired workers. The purpose ofthis payment is to transfer the ongoing payments to those retirees to the union bosses.
Clearly, this bailout is all about having the US taxpayer make that payment for GM.
Of course, once the union bosses ‘divert’ the 30 billion into their own ‘purposes’, they will be demanding that the US govt come to their rescue. This will probably be in ~ 4 years or so - so dont expect that part to be ‘tied’ to the actions being taken today.
Hhheeyyyy! Irish Stinkweed!
Lookie here! You were calling people all sorts of names for supporting McBailout & his arm-twisting ways.
I even know how McCain did it;
“My Friend(tm), I’m gonna lose! And I’m gonna lose BIG! If you want me to beg The One for you when I’m the Senate Interface with Republican Sellouts, you’d better vote my way!
My Friend!(tm) ,Look at how Conservatives spurned me, and see what I’ve done to their party! You’ll be next!”
Freddy I agree with your post concerning where any bailout money given to GM/Ford/Chrysler is actually going to go.
Everyone knows it it is not going to save these companies.
The number to GM alone is going to grow if they actually begin giving.
It is 10 Billion now. But that is likely to grow to 50-75 Billion in 2009. Maybe more.
It is simply life support and this patient is not coming off the ventilator once connected.
Well the Emminent Domain laws have been changed so that Private entities can now confiscate your land, so what is going to stop the USSA from setting a new ‘Fair Market Value’ based on a worthless currency and confiscate everything? Are they going to allocate everything into the collective for that Global Society that the Euros are so happy to propose?
Look at this partial release from AFSA, an auto finance lobbying group. This has got to be the first and only tax break that Babs “Red” Mikulski has ever supported. We must be in a world of hurt to get her to cut taxes on anything….
This afternoon, AFSA staff attended a news conference held at a Bethesda, Md. dealership where Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) announced legislation designed to stimulate new vehicle sales through tax incentives. Also participating in the news conference were Annette Sykora, Chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, and Darren Petty, Government Liaison, United Automobile Workers, Local 239.
Under Senator Mikulski’s proposal, new vehicle owners would be able to deduct auto financing interest and sales-excise fees from their income taxes. Families who make less than $250,000 and individuals who make less than $125,000 would be eligible to receive the tax deduction, which would be good for vehicle loans up to $49,500 on purchases made from Nov. 12, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2009.
I swear I’m going to send an e-mail to every politician who voted for this bailout, and demand they bail me out too, since they’re so generous with our tax money. I could use a pay off for my mortgage and credit card bills.
Spread the wealth.
This certainly isn’t new. I remember when we could deduct our interest on car loans, credit cards and homes from our income taxes.
I am almost starting to believe (dont quote me) that maybe this whole thing is not malicious.
I think these people are just SO completely out-of-their-league, stupid and overwhelmed by the enormity of this all, that they are under the idiotic belief that to do anything is better than nothing.
)It doesnt matter where you are going, just as long as you get there as fast as possible
)If you blow a tire, speed up. (I see the economy as the tire, we are the car and the politicians are the crack freak shooting at the police while waving to the helicopter)
There will be no end to the demand for bailouts! Trillions of dollars will be doled out to corporations. The “wooden arrow” earmark fiasco was just the beginning.
If the nation weren’t already swamped by liabilities I guess it might matter. Add a few more trillion on to the $53 trillion we already owe people and I don’t suppose it will change things much.
Bush and the GOP sold the nation out years ago. Obama will only complete the job Bush & Co. started. Why does the left hate the man so much when he has been implementing their polices all along?
One day, after the “Second American Revolution,” this period of insanity in American history will be called “Carter’s Revenge.” Conservatives have long denounced Carter as the worst president in history. Bush and Obama will prove us wrong on that point. Bush an Obama will make Carter look like a genius.
I remember the days when all interest was deductable too. But, they fixed the problem of consumer debt when they made interest expenses non-deductible. Can you imagine what horrible shape the economy would be in if people owed a lot of money on credit cards and had to default on their loans?
Thank goodness the federal government is out there taking care of us….
WE82, I was going to make that connection as well, but knew someone could do it much better than I, which, you did.
This is what they will really do:
People. This bail-out business isn’t going to work. Our economy is going to come unraveled. Obama is going to fail. It doesn’t matter what he does or doesn’t do.
Corrections happen. This one is unavoidable no matter what tax policy or monetary policy ploys we try. The government will just make it worse.
So, even if it does suck, we have to industrialize the United States once again. The service economy has failed. We have to make tradable goods once again. But what does this mean?
1.) Lower wages for the working class - necessary to compete with China and India
2.) A return to necessity of hard skills and talent in order to get ahead
Capitalism is not dead. America can rise, again. Don’t place so much faith in the importance of government because this one is sure to fail