As President Bush tries once again to create a crisis atmosphere with the aid of Treasury Sec. Paulson, and convince the American people that a financial Armageddon is imminent if Congress doesn’t immediately pass a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street with no strings attached, the ordinary person in the street is wary and remains unconvinced.

Link to rest.

I watched the hearings yesterday and Paulson looked to me like he is still in the CEO mode. He has no idea what will happen and is full of it if you ask me.

Nathan

I posted these questions yesterday and got bupkis in response. Let's try again.

1. What did Paulson and Bernanke tell congressional leaders on Friday that scared them so badly. This is a free country, and if we are gonna be the ones paying to solve the problem, someone had darn well better tell us what the alternative is... in frank terms. What happens -- in detail -- worst case -- if we say "no bailout"?

2. Why $700 billion? Why not $100 billion? Why not "some now, we'll see what you do with it, and then, perhaps, more later"?

3. Who gets bailed out? Greedy CEO's? (*)(*)(*)(*) 'em! Banks? (*)(*)(*)(*) 'em! Let them live with the results of their greed and malfeasance. Are we worried about credit drying up? How about corporate America doing without corporate welfare for a little while and living within their means -- just like WE are required to do? Are we gonna buy up these properties and put people out on the street? (*)(*)(*)(*) THAT! I would rather see my money used to help people refigure their mortgage payments and KEEP them in their houses, instead of having to pay DOUBLE to bail out greedy predatory lenders, and then pay for the social services that will be needed to keep people from freezing this winter.

Ah gots questions, folks. Do they gots answers?

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"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."

--President-elect Barack Obama
November 5, 2008

You should have watched the debate, last night on P.B.S., between Allan Meltzer, Paul Krugman and another guy. The third guy remains convinced that a financial meltdown is imminent and will lead to paralysis in the economy and Congress must act quickly. Ordinary businesses which need to borrow funds to conduct their business will be unable to do that. Basically, he believes the sky is falling. Allan Meltzer opines that Wall Street banks should be given an interest bearing loan and let the chips fall where they may- no bailout. Paul Krugman falls somewhere between the two. He believes that a bailout may be needed but not by the end of the week. He is adamant that Henry Paulson's initial plan stinks. It is awful. Bernanke's insistence that these bad assets be bought at "hold to maturity" level means that the tax payer will be asked to OVERPAY- hence there MUST be an equity ownership in the banks for the taxpayer to recoup these losses.

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Lumberjack Jane- Maine's answer to Sarah Palin

"...Sarah Palin could stride past the frontal cortex of every American and plant a 3 inch heel directly on that limbic circuit..." Sam Harris

Paulson lied to Congress regarding the bailout saying that his proposal included oversight, that he wanted oversight, when in fact it prohibits oversight and includes immunity. They bailout is another scam from the same people who put the economy in the tank.

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You, you, and you, panic. The rest of you follow me.

Last book read: "The Gate House" ~ NelsonDeMille
Now reading: "Nam-A-Rama" ~ Phillip Jennings

I say let them fail, this is the inevitable end of the great credit pyramid shceme, and like any other pyramid shceme, someone gets left holding the bag.
I made no money off these peoples bad choices, and they sure werent offering anything to the tax payers when the getting was good.
I and a whole lot of other people are currently holding money out of the stock market, waiting to see whats going to happen, let stock prices fall, get these crooks off wall street, and Ill be in 100%.
Any decision can wait untill after the election, IMO.
We need to get back to living off our incomes, and building real worth, instead of living off credit and false equity.
where I live a 2000 square foot house is not worth 300,000.00, and many people are finding that out right now, and guess what?, they couldnt afford it to begin with (that is, without a false 10% equity increase yearly, to pay their mortgage with).
Responsible people will be fine, if you bought a house to live in, rather than an investment, chances are you can afford it.
but if you over paid for a house gambling on ever increasing home values, then you are subject to the risk/reward nature of any other investment.

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"What would DICK do"?

worry about trickle down doom. What if the world financial community decides that the U.S. is not too big to fail and they stop funding the debt?

I don't know but I am glad that Dems are slowing down the process! Take a deep breath congress people- try to get this right.

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Lumberjack Jane- Maine's answer to Sarah Palin

"...Sarah Palin could stride past the frontal cortex of every American and plant a 3 inch heel directly on that limbic circuit..." Sam Harris

Yeah Bush got everybody into panic mode....lol.

Do you watch the news,read a paper,look at Yahoo?

Now tho when it doesnt suit their argument the Dems have decided things arent a dire as their media has been portraying for MONTHS?

Go ahead let them fail...Ill be fine.

You folks will be here in a few months as this (*)(*)(*)(*) does trickle down blaming the Bush for letting them fail.Catch 22 I suppose.

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Its already been happening.Most countries can never put a wholesale stop to holding US treasuries in their reserves,all they can do do is reduce their exposure temporarily.Many countries have done this.

You think their objective by taking this debt is to keep the US afloat? Its got nothing to do with it.

By getting this right you mean raping the bill with add ons? Same tactics used to hold war funding hostage?

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Well la ti da. Consider this: The "ordinary person" on the street is grossly ignorant when it comes to economics in general and the financial markets in particular. So you will have to pardon me if I tell Joe Ordinary to sit this one out. He has no idea what is going on and needs to just admit he knows nothing about it and can't really form an opinion. Unless he can tell me off the top of his head what a CDS is, how Freddie and Fannie f-ed up and how the financial system in this country works in some detail I'm simply not interested in his thoughts on the matter. Does he have any thoughts on the Super Collider he can share?

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.