This bailout blows. I was on the fence about it for a while, listening to the politicians making me terrified. Then I found out some interesting things:
- Only the politicians are spreading the fear, not the economists. Economists are generally saying “no bailout!” When politicians disagree with experts, I get nervous.
- For $700,000,000,000, we could probably buy every house in foreclosure in the U.S.!
- And then there’s the standard stuff about how many billions have been spent by financial firms’ lobbyists, how the responsible people are going to get screwed into taking on the bad debt of those who were less responsible (both gullible homeowners and slimy lenders), and how it’s entirely likely that this bailout, by itself, could damage the value of the U.S. dollar even more than the Bush Presidency has, all wars included.
More annoyances:
- There is more pork in this bill than in a Carolina barbecue.
- After failure in the House, the Senate has cleverly bypassed the constitution (which requires all spending bills to pass the House first), in order to pitch the same bill.
- This is more money than ANYTHING ELSE in the American budget. This amount could have fixed social security. It could revamp our education system into something phenomenal and progressive. It could provide healthcare, possibly for everyone currently without it (Bush famously repealed a bill 1/2oth the size of this, that would have extended health benefits to low-income children; apparently that was too big, and too much government).
- This thing will just perpetuate our belief in eternal bubbles. If we keep (temporarily) getting away with s%#*, then we’ll never learn our lesson. Our kids will learn our lessons, though, and our grandkids. Boy howdy will they ever.
It’s pretty obvious that politicians’ reasons for wanting this thing are only minimally (if at all) related to what is good for the country in the long run.
What’s the answer, then? I don’t know. And I realize I could be dead wrong. Maybe if we don’t bail out the weasels, then we will hit a tipping point and descend into eating our neighbors’ brains by next week. But me, I’m in favor of letting the institutions go bankrupt. It works for me on several levels. It’s the way our system is supposed to work. It’s good behavior management. It will probably lead to increased responsibility in the future. It scratches my itch to feel vindictive and self-righteous. See? So many levels. Of course, it might kill us all, especially if you listen to everyone except the non-Presidential-candidate GOP right now. Mr. Obama, what the hell is wrong with you? Your populist demagogue undawears is showing on this one. Mr. McCain… nevermind. We saw your transformation into McCain 2.0. Nobody is surprised anymore. And Mr. Bush? Sheesh. There was a time when I bought your sweet lies about fiscal responsibility.
I guess I’m with the House Republicans for now (the ones who stopped this bill, not the sissies in the Senate), even though I am most certainly not with them in trying to use this as an excuse to repeal taxes to please their faceless corporate masters.
BTW, this issue is not academic for me. Killing the bailout will make it harder to buy a house, and it will probably murder my already-sickly retirement account. :(