Congress today voted 263-171 passing the country's biggest financial bailout. The vote came after members of the House of Representatives debated the business of a (700) billion dollar bailout this morning. Representative David Dreier (R-CA) ranking member on the House Rules Committee, called the bill "a necessary evil."
"Today we are not experiencing market failure," Mr. Dreier said. "We’re experiencing the inevitable attempts of government to manipulate the market."
More about the historic rescue measure, here.
Comments (29)
it's 700 TIMES a "billion dollar bailout"!
And how would bailing out wallstreet from certain disaster constitute the "party is over"?
If anything the bailout is to continue the "party" with the failsafe of the taxpayer support.
Is it still full of pork? They mentioned in the newspaper today that they would trim the fat
They took $40 out of the plan to refinish Jesse Jackson's deck.
"trim the fat"
sure....
Get ready to eat your pork chops
That title should read "The Party is On!"
Just because they handed out favors, doesn't mean the party's anywhere near over.
As far as pork is concerned: If they trimmed any fat, it was just to make the rest of those chops juicer.
Not that I want it to fail (especially since the money is now all but spent), but I've got such a bad feeling about this.
On an unrelated note; Platinum and gold are currently at 60 day lows. Just sayin' is all.
Adding to my bad feeling about all this stuff was seeing a headline and photo in the NY Times this week--a few days, ago, in the International pages--about some scary-looking right-winger being elected in Austria. I got this nasty chill down my spine thinking about all the parallels to the 20s and 30s.
Your neighbor,
Don't worry, if a WWII scenario plays out, we'll just send our massive, powerful military forces over there to save the day again!
Oh, wait. They're...busy.
Yeah, a war got us out of the bad situation before...but we already have two of those going on!
all smiles
After all, they get to keep their hands in our bank accounts for the next few generations.
pathetic.
After all, they get to keep their hands in our bank accounts for the next few generations.
Unlike, um... when?
like, um, day before yesterday when nearly a trillion dollars was off limits.
From a NJ.com article:
Wrestling with whether to support the government's $700 billion bailout plan for Wall Street, Rep. Bill Pascrell considered the grim economic landscape, spoke to a few constituents and reviewed changes to the rescue package he had helped shoot down four days earlier.
Then Pascrell (D-8th Dist.) considered a pithy aphorism involked* by Alexander Hamilton at the nation's founding. "I realized to myself that the perfect is the enemy of the good," Pascrell said. "We're never going to have better than this at this particular time." (*great editing again)
(or to paraphrase John Stewart, you want us to spend 700 Billion Dollars of taxpayer's money on a bailout; well that'll cost you another 150 Billion Dollars of taxpayer's money.)
Anyone want to guess how long it will take for "new" "companies" to form on wall street which will buy the debt from major brokerages? Then the new "Grifter Co." will sell them to us taxpayers. TPor "Grifter Co." will have to accept all sorts of regulation in return rather than the Wall Street firms.
Let the fleecing begin!
Do you get extra points if the "new" "company" is able to be tied to a politician?
Darn, I knew that was too easy.
"I realized to myself that the perfect is the enemy of the good"
That aphorism is the equivalent of a shrug. He was convinced it was the best plan they could devise and it was urgently needed. OK, but did they really weigh other plans? Is the plan even "good"?
A "good" plan now is better than a "superior plan" later.
How do I know? The legislative process failed to demonstrate that.
It occurred to me several years ago that although it took World War II to get us out of the Depression, that can't be true again if we have another depression, because we no longer produce anything. A service oriented economy whose financial savvy keeps the world humming smoothly seems to have lost its way. Perhaps our enemies will not only buy our bonds, but continue to produce our ammnition, as the Chinese do today.
True, Jimmy D. The only thing left that we produce is American entertainment. P.J. O'Rourke said it best when he said that no one produces a better "All My Children" than America.
And guns and ammo.
But cars and machinery, textiles, toys, computers? No more.
I didn't really expect many on this board to understand the need for this bill. Yes, it bails out Wall street as you like to call it. But please recall that wall street helped you aford your mortgage (those who are still paying) and infact, employs a significant amount of baristaville's inhabitants.
This may be beyond many people, but try to think of a frozen credit market, which is what we had prior to bailout. No small business loans, no payroll, no new mortgages, no chance of selling you home, much less buy a car. Sound fun?
No surprise most of baristaville was against the bailout. Chad is doing just fine at the law firm - tons of billable hours. Oh well. Time to drop the kids off at soccer. Geee....I hope my manicurist is still in business....
ER, looks like your going to be one of the bigger eyed "deer in the headlights" when the depression really hits and you figure out you were just taken for an extra $850 Billion that didn't help.
(except maybe make a few deserving people a little richer)
I believe the party is indeed over. A long-term investor, who feels, like a lot of people (worldwide, apparently)duped by the financiers and subsequently ripped off. This reminds me of bailing out homeowners or insurance companies who collect premiums to indemnify those who build mansions on the beach. It's probably better though if we all get along instead of pointing our fingers mean spiritedly at one another.
Well, this doesn't look promising.
"This may be beyond many people, but try to think of a frozen credit market, which is what we had prior to bailout. No small business loans, no payroll, no new mortgages, no chance of selling you home, much less buy a car. Sound fun?"
According to what I've been reading (written by mainstreem economists) the buying of bad debt by we taxpayers was not the best solution.
In my continuing effort to provide the best possible financial advice, I hereby offer this proven method for getting out of mortgage debt.
I have no mortgage debt, nor credit card debt. No car loans either. We save and when we can afford something we pay cash.
There's something to be said for delayed gratification. But I still feel screwed for having put savings in index funds.
ironically walleroo, Wall street learned this lesson but improved upon it a bit. They held a gun to our heads.
Walleroo, while I appreciate the advice, I think it is important for people to know they should not give up hope. Believe it or not, there's plenty of opportunities right here in town for people who are having trouble paying their debt to earn a few extra bucks.
that guy doesn't tip. take it from me.
Boy, I'd love to know the context of this photo.