Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
A chance to vent.
OK, a few minutes ago Prez Bush made a statement to the press urging Congress to pass the bailout legislation cobbled together over the weekend. The closing paragraph from that AP story:
"I know many Americans are worried about the cost of the bill," Bush said. But he also said the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the federal Office of Management and Budget expect that the "ultimate cost to the taxpayer" will be much less.
I'm actually not that concerned with the *cost* of the whole thing. I'm concerned - no, make that pissed off - about the fact that we're bailing out investment banks, speculators, criminally incompetent CEOs, predatory lenders, and people who committed to mortgages on houses they could in no way afford.
This is your chance to vent - what pisses you off about this whole debacle?
Jim Downey
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What gets me the most
is that we'll probably bail them out one way or another, whether this current plan fails or passes. There are a few republicans and some Dems showing a little principle and fighting against this bailout, but they are the same ones who will find some way to lower taxes on the rich again, or come up with an "economic stimulus" plan for the banking industry in the near future. It also bothers me that this hurry hurry plan is being used as a political football and a distraction, while neither party is willing to tell the truth and say that we're just going to have to tighten our collective belt for a few years and work through this.
I have to admit a dirty secret though...on the whole, I don't give a rat's ass about any of it. The more I research this issue, the more I am of the opinion that a major banking crash, a major housing crash, and possibly even a nice multi-year depression would be great for the country, especially for poor folks like me. It wouldn't really affect my quality of life too much, and it might force some debate about our national spending priorities. And who knows, if I survive it, maybe prices will be low enough for working people to start buying homes again.
The Folks Back Home
The Folks Back Home is an item on dKos that pretty much says the same thing: most average people hated the bailout, saw no reason to support it from their own interests, and told the pols to kill the damned thing.
Personally, I think that this is very heartening. Maybe the average person is so pissed off that it will actually have a modest impact on "business as usual". I'll admit it won't satisfy my desire to break out the pitchforks and torches, but it's something...
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Yeah, I seriously wonder how
Yeah, I seriously wonder how my quality of life will be affected.... I don't really see what could change, other than the APR on my credit cards, but I've been paying on those pretty aggressively this past year so that shouldn't hurt too much. I don't own my home, so worst case we go back to the one-bedroom apartment that we moved out of a year ago. I just got my Social Security statement in the mail today and since entering the workforce in 2000, my highest earnings was $27K. I just had to laugh. For someone so educated, I barely made a penny. Now I'm on a $26K stipend, but tuition comes out of that. I've survived on much much less, so nothing really scares me too much.
Personal take
I'm bothered by the fact that when my business went belly up 2 years ago, no one bailed me out. Now I have to bail out the very bankers who shut me down :-(
I'm concerned that Warren
I'm concerned that Warren Buffet is going to make a kajillion dollars on the financial crisis while our government is too stupid to negotiate a deal like Buffet's.
I'm reminded of George Carlin
"It's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it."
With the impending double whammy of peak oil and global climate change, this little economic bump in the road is going to look like a picnic in two years. As a card carrying member of the International Cynical Bastards and Misanthropes Association, I welcome extinction. I just hope there's enough time to treat the greedy scum who are responsible for this mess in the same manner as the Italians treated Mussolini.
I Heard the Echo of Carlin Too
. . . and I heard the scuttling sounds of a million small improprieties on the part of the mortgage applicant, the bank, the holding company, the buyers and sellers of debt, the lawmakers, and of each and every person or entity that had an interest in the purchase of a modest home by someone of near or less than modest means.
No single person or entity has done more than present the proposed deal as in the best interest of all parties; no single person or entity has demonstrably broken the law, yet the sum total of these self centered improprieties as well as the creation of financial services and "tween" corporations has observably reached a tipping point. So pointing the finger at one source won't suffice. It is time to consider the value of, well, basic values.
Examples would be honesty and the ability to perceive reality and react accordingly. For instance, if you gross $2000 dollars a month, you should be smart enough to not assume a mortgage costing over $1000 a month. If you are a lender serving such a customer, you should be smart enough not to approve their application. And if you are buying this loan from the lending bank under the impression that you can pass this debt down the line later on, you should be smart enough to know that you can't do so for long.
Maybe it's just the effort my parents expended showing through. The effort they burned up teaching me simple shit like honesty and a realistic outlook. If it is their concern showing through then I'll apologize for my enthusiasm. But no apology is offered for their efforts. We must certainly teach our children how to get along successfully with other people of they will most certainly teach how not to.
E Pluribus Unum
Jim, you're NOT concerned
Jim, you're NOT concerned with the cost of this whole thing? Bailing these companies out definitely isn't the just thing to do, but I learned long ago that when you focus on dispensing justice rather than on the outcome of complex situations like this you will get nothing but failure. Its a waste of time to consider what should happen based on fairness. What we need is a solution to this problem.
But just who the hell came up with this crazy idea that it would strengthen the US if we invest in companies that aren't making it? Its such a philanthropic notion to throw a life-line to a few drowning individuals, but do we have a life-line to throw and what is it tied to? Its very easy for the person drowning to bring down his rescuers with him. We need to be considering if we are in the position to issue a bail-out like this, and what the government's financial situation will be even in the best of outcomes. The last time I checked this was still a capitalist nation.
I have to laugh, because I think 15 -20 years ago, it would be the Republican party that would balk at this kind of government involvement, but now it seems to be the Dems.
It's a boondoggle.
Well, let's just say that the amount of money being squandered, which I have ranted about before, is actually less of a concern to me than the fact that we're giving it to rich, greedy bastards to begin with. I expect government to waste money - and in some ways, this boondoggle is no different than many others in the past and yet to come.
As to Justice? Todd has the right idea. This is one of those situations where I think that the Old Testament is a good place to start looking for ideas. Sure, save the firms - but drive the bastards who made these decisions, barefoot and in chains, across the country, with free rotten fruit available for anyone who wants to throw it at them.
I'm just cranky, I know.
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Cranky is okay. ;-) I'm
Cranky is okay. ;-) I'm annoyed with the urgency of all this. It didn't happen overnight, but this week its the center of the news and we have to hurry and do something now. Students have been denied student loans for no good reason for the past few years, but that was of no concern to anyone... I've personally paid several hundred in late fees because I couldn't get an emergency loan to cover tuition/fees until I got my real refund check. I'm disgusted by the laziness of this solution and the laziness in looking the other way as it happened.
It does throw progressive tax rates into a different light
It's mostly the super-rich who are behind this debacle, let THEM pay the highest tax rates that go for the bailout.
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