House Backs Bailout, Despite Lingering Concerns

posted by John Nichols on 10/03/2008 @ 3:37pm

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President Bush did not wait long to begin the redistribution of wealth upward.

He signed Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's $700 billion bailout plan into law Friday afternoon, shortly after the U.S. House reversed its Monday rejection of the measure.

The House voted 263-171 to give Paulson the money and dramatic new authority to prop up badly-run financial institutions that he deems "too big to fail." That compares with Monday's 228-205 vote against the plan.

Voting "yes" on Friday were 172 Democrats and 91 Republicans. That compares with 140 Democrats and 65 Republicans who voted "yes" on Monday.

Voting "no" on Friday was a reduced bipartisan "skeptics" caucus of 108 Republicans and 63 Democrats. That compares with 133 Republicans and 95 Democrats who voted "no" on Monday.

Dozens of Republican and Democratic members who had voted "no" on Monday voted "yes" after a week that saw uncertainty about the economy heighten as the Senate passed a version of Paulson's plan that had been "sweetened" to attract more House support. Among the switchers were prominent Democrats -- many of them progressives -- such as John Lewis of Georgia, Elijah Cummings of Maryland, Betty Sutton of Ohio, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Bruce Braley of Iowa, John Yarmuth of Kentucky, Bill Pascrell of New Jersey, Donna Edwards, of Maryland, Lynn Woolsey of California and Hilda Solis of California.

Illinois' Jesse Jackson Jr.'s staff said he switched from "no" to "yes" after the congressman, a leading backer of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, had "received assurances from (Obama) that, if elected, his administration will aggressively use authority in the bill to prevent foreclosures and stabilize the housing market."

While the bill backers tried to point to silver linings, however, even Paulson's most prominent ally on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged that the bailout bill was flawed.

"We were dealt a bad hand; we made the most of it," House Speaker Pelosi admitted after Friday's mid-day vote.

It was for that reason that many leading members of the skeptic's caucus -- a coalition of generally progressive Democrats and generally libertarian-leaning conservative Republicans, along with some embattled incumbents who did not want to cast an unpopular vote --- held firm in their opposition.

Leading the charge, as on Monday, was Ohio Democrat Marcy Kaptur, who objected to the end on Friday that Paulson's plan was being rushed through Congress without proper deliberation.

"Only one committee was involved," complained Kaptur in a fiery final floor speech. "This bill is just an end run around the American people three weeks before the election while this Congress is skittish."

Aware that her side was unlikely to prevail in the face of a massive media and lobbying push to get the bill passed before the weekend, Kaptur closed by saying: "Pray for our Republic. She's being placed in uncaring and very greedy hands."

Comments (43)

Oh dear God. Now we will have to hear LVL ignore the fact that this bill was proposed by Republicans in the first place and blame it all on the Democrats. Unless of course it DOES stabilize the economy, in which case we will have to hear how Bushes brilliant plan which was resisted by Democrats saved our country and the world from a Great Depresion.

Posted by Cccomfo1 at 10/03/2008 @ 3:50pm
Now, watch the local Right claim that "it was ALL Democrats who voted for this" and somehow NANCY PELOSI originated the idea (poor Dubya innocent...and McCain "hoodwinked" into voting for it!)

LOL

BTW, Mr Nichols, it's not a "bailout"...it's a "rescue"!

"The first thing I'd do is say,'Let's not call it a bailout,'' McCain said this morning. "Let's call it a rescue. Because it is a rescue of Main Street America..."

Posted by Maskdelta at 10/03/2008 @ 3:51pm
but where will $700,000,000,000 come from?

Posted by frosty zoom at 10/03/2008 @ 3:56pm
Posted by Cccomfo1 at 10/03/2008 @ 3:50pm

Great minds think alike, huh, CCC?

Or is it we're just so used to the usual hypocrisy and disengenuousness of our local Righties???

Posted by Maskdelta at 10/03/2008 @ 4:04pm
madeinchina.....

Posted by frosty zoom at 10/03/2008 @ 4:06pm
Or is it we're just so used to the usual hypocrisy and disengenuousness of our local Righties??? Posted by Maskdelta at 10/03/2008 @ 4:04pm

I think we can have it both ways.

Posted by Cccomfo1 at 10/03/2008 @ 4:08pm
Too big to fail_

Sounds like an appeal to the faculty of a high school. And what a consolation to the fans. It will be 3 billion & a cloud of dust instead of a devastating aerial game that would insult & demoralize the opposition with it's audacity & intimidation. But the end result will be the same. Greed 70 Americans 0

Posted by Sorelish at 10/03/2008 @ 4:10pm
Well, the Obama/Biden/McCain/Palin Axis just got its way. Just a few more of the bribes these bacteria typically take were required and the American people have just purchased the biggest pig-in-the-poke in history. I don't know who's likely to benefit most personally from these developments, stephin-fetchit's chief economic adviser, "Citibank Bob" Rubin, or "MBNA Joe" Biden, but if you think one or other of them won't benefit from this insanity at all you're as much a schlemeil as the Obama-filth that typically populates this blog. Progressives vote Nader!

Posted by john lowell at 10/03/2008 @ 4:22pm
Just watch - it won't make any significant difference to the stock market. Its still gonna implode. Thanks guys. Re-election time for those in the Senate and the House who voted yea is gonna be very interesting, to put it mildly. So where does that leave us? Screwed again, and at the mercy of someone who is NOT interested in our best interests. When the HELL is the country gonna wake up? After its too late and it goes to s**t.

Posted by ucnick at 10/03/2008 @ 5:04pm
Posted by ucnick at 10/03/2008 @ 5:04pm

Yup, off over 157 points today and likely to go down further, I'd submit to the 6000 level before this whole thing stabilizes. And the human carnage in the meantime! But just trust him, ucnick, Stephin-Fetchit's going to change things, he had only your interests in mind when he voted to support this "rescue". Don't you understand, he and the Democratic Party are really different than McCain and those awful Republicans. Can't you just see how different he is? Vote Nader ucnick, you'll sleep better.

Posted by john lowell at 10/03/2008 @ 5:15pm
This bill was supported by Paul Krugman, Barney Frank,Joe Biden, John Lewis, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. It's a bill, albeit flawed, intended to end the credit freeze that's already affecting Main Street. Small businesses, 401K's, and college loan recepients will all be helped by its passage. We all know that Republican policies got us in this mess, but inaction given the current circumstances doesn't seem like a viable option.

Perhaps I'm just not liberal enough for this forum.

I'm new, so be kind.

Posted by halfchihuahua at 10/03/2008 @ 5:20pm
Posted by halfchihuahua at 10/03/2008

"We all know that Republican policies got us in this mess, but inaction given the current circumstances doesn't seem like a viable option."

It wasn't just the Republicans, son. The most destructive impetus for deregulation came from both Phil Graham (Republican) and Clinton's Treasury Secretary "Citibank Robert Rubin" in the 1990s culminating in death for the Glass-Steagal Act. Glass-Steagall died with the enthusiastic support of establishment Democrats as well as Republicans. Understand, there's a Politboro running the show here and both McCain and Stephin-Fetchit are part of it If they can't bribe so as to get their way they'll crush you. And you're spouting their mantras? Oy!

Posted by john lowell at 10/03/2008 @ 5:40pm
I agree that repeal of Glass-Steall has been a disaster, and retract my statement on the GOP being solely responsible for this mess. I think that the point I'm trying to make is that economists of almost every possible stripe seem to view inaction as a dangerous option.

Y'all seem to forget Phill Gramm's role in Glass Steagall's repeal and his role as a McCain economic advisor.

Posted by halfchihuahua at 10/03/2008 @ 6:14pm
What if they held a Depression and nobody came? I watched (as I assume many of us did) the other day as the powers that be ran the Stock Market down by a one-day record 700 plus points. This de-nuded my pension and other ancillary accounts by an admittedly frightful amount, but I was too bemused and/or angry to fall over backwards in lame imitation of diabetic shock. Time enough for that next week. To those of you who are not conspiracy theorists, I will politely assume that some sort of mass hysteria was at work. Whatever you call it, it did work. A few semi-meaningless pork barrel tweaks here, an alternative energy credit or ubiquitous annual "AMT fix" there, and voila, the bailout became law and we are now all Paulsians. One fears it will benefit Wall Street corporatioons and executives more than middle class Americans wondering how to make ends meet or steer clear of foreclosure, but I have a feeling I'm preaching to the choir. The stock market came roaring back until the bailout was safely in the tank, and then did precisely that. Now what? Depending on voter sentiment, we will either be inaugurating the Mother of All New Deals, or measuring the bomb shelter for a new HDTV, presuming there is still a grid to siphon power off of, and programming more enticing than the 'Conelarad' icon.

Posted by dsteven2 at 10/03/2008 @ 7:47pm
Posted by Zero at 10/03/2008 @ 7:00pm

"The bailout was ROBBERY. Nothing else. A panicked, corrupt Congress, a panicked, corrupt White House, and a bunch of greedy bastarads looking to exploit this crisis to see if they can not just get through with all their money restored but maybe make more."

And done, as Lew Rockwell put it, with the connivance of the "Fed, the Treasury, leadership of the Democrats and Republicans, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, all the major think tanks, most talking heads, the wealthiest corporations, important academics – in short, the whole of the power elite." There, sir, is the problem. The ones who created it and the ones who are making us eat it. And, happily, the air here seems to be free of its usual Obama-stench tonight. Wonder why.

Posted by john lowell at 10/03/2008 @ 8:01pm
Posted by RedRiver_. at 10/03/2008 @ 6:04pm

RED/RIO....you are full of crap...and I can PROVE it, because you won't answer THIS question about your "info"---

"What percent of the failed mortgage loans were CRA loans?"

Posted by Maskdelta at 10/03/2008 @ 8:25pm
John Lowel writes: "Understand, there's a Politboro running the show here and both McCain and Stephin-Fetchit are part of it If they can't bribe so as to get their way they'll crush you." and "And, happily, the air here seems to be free of its usual Obama-stench tonight. Wonder why."

I wonder why you find it neccesary to invoke racial sterotypes like Stepin-Fetchit when referring to Obama. Do you really think veiled racism puts your arguments over the top?

Posted by Guiles at 10/03/2008 @ 8:28pm
oh, john lowell is an #@!@#$

nothing more.

this "BAILOUT" is a farce.

and i, a non-citizen, will pay for it almost as much as you will.

inflatE

inflaTE

inflATE

infLATE

inFLATE

iNFLATE

INFLATE!

POP!

Posted by frosty zoom at 10/03/2008 @ 9:55pm
Posted by Guiles at 10/03/2008 @ 8:28pm

Could the identification of a "racial" theme in my use of the stephin-fechit metaphor be a product of your own hairtrigger hypersensitivity, Guiles? Eliminating the racial aspect - which is your invention - I could think of no better allusion than stephin-fetchit to the weak, establishment-assuring wussiness of Obama. Remember the AIPAC speech? I'll never forget it. Calm down, Guiles, the allusion is to the behavior of an individual, not to race.

Posted by john lowell at 10/03/2008 @ 10:23pm
I wonder why you find it neccesary to invoke racial sterotypes like Stepin-Fetchit when referring to Obama. Do you really think veiled racism puts your arguments over the top?----Posted by Guiles at 10/03/2008 @ 8:28pm

Guiles, john lowell is insane.

Insaner still that everybody around here (Right OR Left) knows that and isn't going to heed his "advice" and let McCain win.

But he'll disappear by November 5th.

Posted by Maskdelta at 10/03/2008 @ 10:26pm
Posted by Darin_the_Troll at 10/03/2008 @ 10:21pm

Here, Darin, go over to counterpunch and look up Paul Craig Roberts' articles on this question over the last couple of years:

www.counterpunch.org

You can argue with him.

Posted by john lowell at 10/03/2008 @ 10:30pm
Posted by Guiles at 10/03/2008 @ 8:28pm

Not to be too offended by Maskdelta's imposing himself on you, Guiles, he's a little backward, you see. I know, I know, his breath can be offensive at times. He forgets to cross his legs. We're working on that.

Posted by john lowell at 10/03/2008 @ 10:38pm
I'm just glad that Congress took this seriously... and it looks like they stretched it to fit many of the concerns voiced across this nation. This rescue is not going to fix the underlying cataclysm in our economy... namely, the dismantling of our manufacturing infrastructure and the steady removal of US jobs and capital to other countries... but it may well succeed in its 'life saving' mission, as we all hope it will... and... with careful oversight and decent planning, we could get a return on a sizable portion of this money.

The next president will be addressing our need for a 'real' economy... and indeed... the change will be a welcome one... from sea to shining sea.

Ready to roll up your sleeves and set your 'mind set' to turning this thing around?

Oh... and let's not have anymore talk about privatizing social security for at least a decade... O.K?

Posted by ttr at 10/03/2008 @ 10:39pm
Most of the comments above have good points, esp. Zero's "Its ROBBERY", but none put together what has happened in terms of psychohistorical motivation. They never do.

The unconscious group-fantasy is MOTHER RAPE. America the beautiful. Texas oilman and Wall Street Jews. Reminds me of early '60 Dylan lyrics:

"The Rainman brought two cures "And said, Jump right in "One was Texas medicine "The other just railyard gin "So like a fool I mxed 'em "And it strangled up my mind "Now people keep getting uglier "And I have no sense of time." -Memphis Blues Again

It was CONCEIVED to IMPREGNATE AMERICA with an illegitimate and deformed CHANGE-ling

- as part of the ongoing REPUBLICAN PARTY REBIRTH FANTASY, via PALIN'S WOMB (Rick Davis said it himself in St. Paul: "the new Republican party is 4 days old". But the theme is everywhere, surely scripted into Rove's calendar calculations for permanent majority after 2008).

One now understands why Roe v Wade, and GOOD MOTHERS NEVER ABORT! were such resounding subtexts. IT IS ALL ABOUT ABORTION -- at both personal ('baby killer mommie') and transpersonal (McCain, troop killer mommie) levels, if you do. LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION, the Catholic choir boy Biden dutifully intones. Without God in 'em, why should Libs and commies care?

But this rape-impregnation had real Satanic overtones. She (represented by Nancy Pelosi) is summoned, traumatized with news of greal peril, told to fork over what she and the children had, including the cookie jar. "Make it QUICK and CLEAN and NO NIGGLING and we're outtahere", said son of Paul said. "You don't come through, you die. Maybe anyway, we'll see." She tried to hold out the first time, telling them what they were. "Poison!" Boehner croaks. She demurs.

Posted by jones at 10/03/2008 @ 10:48pm
by jones at 10/03/2008 @ 10:48pm...

You make Palin's rambling seem concise and well reasoned...

Posted by ttr at 10/03/2008 @ 10:59pm
One more point, the most important.

The situation defined psychologically calls for this choice: ABORT THIS LATE TERM MONSTROSITY EVEN NOW, BY DECLARING THE ACTIONS TAKEN BY THIS CONGRESS NULL AND VOID (file suit on constitutional issues, with punishments for the criminality-of-being illustrated by the rapist/killers), OR BEAR THE ILLEGITIMATE DEFORMED CHILD AND SUFFER THEIR ABUSE PERPETUALLY HEREAFTER.

There are two other, related, powerful psychodynamic strains: -- Satanic resonances and Catholicism. The number 7 mysteriously appears 1. as number of years between 9.11.01 and 9.12.08; 2. as number of $bn + 0's; 3. as number of DJIA points lost Monday -- 777 -- on Rosh Hashanna. Sort of like a Satanic jubilee. Then, a U.S. Archebishop from St. Louis at the Vatican denounces Democrats as the Party of Death, citing Biden and Pelosi as lapsees. They did indeed guard the gates for women who terminate unwanted pregancy and lowly citizens who would hold onto their money and homes. Poison! This is direct and unpardonable intervention by the Roman Catholic hierarchy in U.S. election politics. BENEDICTUS REPTILIANO

These remarks are further elaborated at sidthomas.blogspot.com.

This is more than merely intuitive analysis, though carried out on this real time mega-event as if made up on the spot. It is Psychohistory of the Present, an undergraduate college course I created and taught before recently retiring. The abortion issue entered the group fantasy process in America just as the Vietnam war wound down, conjoining 60's protestors and liberals as 'Enemy" of goddamizing patriotards everywhere. It has taken this long, gone down all these trails of gender-sex-power-rebirth politics to pit McCain (fetal hero of the psychopaths)/Palin v "Death Party" Dems

Posted by jones at 10/03/2008 @ 11:34pm
http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/1352

The First Global Financial Crisis of the 21st Century

This book is available to download for free. Click on the links below to download either the full book or individual sections and the preface, introduction, chronology and glossary.

The First Global Financial Crisis of the 21st Century

A VoxEU.org Publication

Edited by Andrew Felton and Carmen M. Reinhart

"ENJOY".................

Posted by frosty zoom at 10/03/2008 @ 11:40pm
THE RECKONING

Agency's '04 Rule Let Banks Pile Up New Debt

By STEPHEN LABATON

Published: October 2, 2008

"We have a good deal of comfort about the capital cushions at these firms at the moment." -- Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, March 11, 2008.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/business/03sec.html?ref=business

Posted by frosty zoom at 10/03/2008 @ 11:41pm
Hello, In a way i suppose I hope that I am alone in this but in this importantant (I guess?) election, I am going to leave choice for president blank. I am so disappointed that Obama, whom I had such high hopes for could possible side with those awful people and actually work hard to push this fraudulent bill through. He, in my prediction will be a one term President because for not standing up to the will of the people who he says he'll represent joined hands with the rotten gangsters that have ruined the future for at least a few generations generations to come as well as our own. How can he get anything accomplished under the present conditions we are facing. The ruling powers set him up and he and his advisors fell for it. I haven't felt this sad since Iwas 15 yrs old and learned Bobby Kennedy was murdered.

Posted by time2act at 10/04/2008 @ 06:49am
Texas border...

chialis

maybe a wee bit of homegrown in there.

But it doesn't take a stoner to recognize rape.

"..One was Tas medicine, "The other just railyard gin "So like a fool I mixed 'em "And it strangled up my mind "Now people keep getting uglier "And I have no sense of time."

Posted by jones at 10/04/2008 @ 07:47am
The class war is over and the wealthy have won.While we were busy wading in sewage trying to survive by scavenging a living they were busy deregulating while living in well regulate gated communities all the while telling us that they were creating wealth for everyone. Mark to market "Give me a thousand dollars and I will triple your money in Las Vegas".

Posted by lachatte at 10/04/2008 @ 08:42am
btw

you want basic undisciplined late jr hi Thai bud stoner logick, see Mark Ames "America needed a redemption narrative" (The Palin Fix)

OK, but no couppie doll. He just lacks the names for the correct group fantasy: REDEMPTION <=> REBIRTH. (Christian thing, actually, but goes to the fetal origins of experience and pushing the BAILOUT BILL through -- Operation Rescue; remember Randall Terry? )

The narrative since Vietnam has been, is, and will forever be, REBIRTH (=> "Never Abort!" "Never Surrender!" "Never Again!" -- "WE'll Make it Through this time around!")

Palin was the Killer Mommie required to produce the illegitimate and deformed RAPE CHILD. Can't say No to the psychokillers. It is REBIRTH NARRATIVE, counting down these last 30 days to Vote! (get in that booth and DO IT!) ('Countdowns' are always re-birth tokens.) Without REBIRTH NARRATIVE, you dramatizacres can't see the connection between the Palin Fix, the Bailout Bill, and John "Fetus Man" McPain.

(Ames and all should stick to the sign-uses. What they say and show (think: sight gag; gagging at the sight), PLUS intuition (reading deMause on fantasy analysis surely helps) reveal exactly where "they are coming from", "where their head's at" (think: Palin pussy and Jesus' halo). DELIVER US FROM SIN

Amen

Posted by jones at 10/04/2008 @ 08:52am
Gotta love Marcie Kaptur, Dennis Kucinch and Bernie Sanders. Listen To the rationalization for voting for "the bailout" and the analyzation of the bill as nearly a unanimous "flawed". Are these people nuts? What if McCain wins? Why doesn't the corporate media pick up on Marci, Dennis, Bernie? Hey give me a thousand dollars and I will triple your money in Vegas. And let's deregulate some more while I hide out in my well regulated gated community or on my private island and screw you guys. The class war is over and we, "the working poor", have lost.

Posted by lachatte at 10/04/2008 @ 11:14am
And now the litany of apologies begin...."I really didn't want to vote for it...its deeply flawed....."the President rushed us into this"......the President mislead us......

Bush after signing was careful to point out "don't expect to see any relief any time soon...it will take time....i.e., I will be long gone by the time it hits the fan.

Major networks....after signing of course....start asking questions.....

Love the dumb look of CNN's Ali Velshi whose degree is in religious studies and who wrote the book "Get Rich, Sleep Well," as the stock market continued to decline after House passage on Friday. Velshi was one of the more unquestioning hysterical cheerleaders for immediate passage. Friday he was saying....."I told you not to invest this week...I told you..." As I recall Velshi was claiming the market was gonna crash unless we did this. Oh....it would have been much worse on Friday if the bill hadn't passed...yeah right.

Lipstick on a Pig indeed.

Posted by OneVote at 10/04/2008 @ 11:46am
"In setting up the program, Mr. Paulson has relied on a cadre of former Goldman Sachs executives: Edward C. Forst, a former co-head of Goldman's investment management business who is on leave from his job as executive vice president at Harvard; Kendrick R. Wilson III, formerly chairman of Goldman's financial institutions groups; and Dan Jester, who was deputy chief financial officer at Goldman."

NY Times 10/03/08 Mark Lander

Rest assured....Treasury is working on conflict of interest rules....hahahahahah

Posted by OneVote at 10/04/2008 @ 12:17pm
Not to be too offended by Maskdelta's imposing himself on you, Guiles, he's a little backward, you see. I know, I know, his breath can be offensive at times. He forgets to cross his legs. We're working on that. Posted by john lowell at 10/03/2008 @ 10:38pm | warn this person

He has allowed his precious bodily essences to become contaminated

Hahahah sort of if it weren't so bizarre

Posted by A_Pax_On_Your_Houses at 10/04/2008 @ 1:04pm
Posted by Darin_the_Troll at 10/04/2008 @ 10:50am

Darin, WHERE would I find "Unreliable Sources by Mark Ames" exactly?

Posted by Maskdelta at 10/04/2008 @ 8:29pm
Posted by A_Pax_On_Your_Houses at 10/04/2008 @ 1:04pm

Yes, its sad, but we simply can't have these odours, now can we?

Posted by john lowell at 10/05/2008 @ 12:02am
Here's something from Alexander Cockburn on Stephin-Fetchit and the bail-out:

"I never heard anyone speculate that Obama might, against all the odds, rally to the “No to Bailout” cause. His Yes was pure. He told reporters in Clearwater, Florida last Wednesday that "issues like bankruptcy reform, which are very important to Democrats, is probably something that we shouldn't try to do in this piece of legislation." In addition, he said that his own proposed economic stimulus program "is not necessarily something that we should have in this package.

"In the crunch, almost invariably, Obama does the wrong thing and in my opinion he always will. Just count out the moments of surrender: reauthorize the Patriot Act? Aye, from Obama. The “class action fairness act”, sought by Big Business for years. Aye from Obama. Capping credit card interest rates? No-o-o from Obama. FISA? Aye from Obama. With Robert Rubin at his side, his bailout vote was as sure as that of the harlot of the credit card companies, the six-term senator from Delaware, Joe Biden."

Yup, in the crunch, almost invariably, Obama does the wrong thing. Progressives need someone with better instincts: Nader.

Posted by john lowell at 10/05/2008 @ 12:07am
Darin_the_Troll: The truth hurts doesn't it... Greedy hands Mr Nicholes? Oh, you mean the dems on the finance committies, with their hands out, or the dems at Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac, with their hands out, or the dems that stopped legislation in the early part of the decade that might have put a muzzle on the vermin (stopping their money flow), and stopping the subprime scandle? I swear, Barny Frank looked a little like Jabba the Hut on the O'Reilly Interview, very fitting - maybe it was just the camera or something... The Day of Reckoning will arrive, slowly but surely, when the Senate hearings start next year. The funny thing will be the guilty ones on the panel starting to resemble vampires trying to hide from the light of truth. The public will eventually tire of being ripped off by these creeps and send them packing back to the rat holes they came from. "No matter how cynical I get, it's never enough to keep up." - Lilly Tomlin -

Posted by pyeatte at 10/05/2008 @ 12:24am
The Nation Magazine January 17, 2002

Enron: Crony Capitalism

"The rise and fall of the house of Enron should trigger comprehensive investigations--civil, criminal and Congressional….."

The Enron scandle was to the tune of 60-70 Billion Dollars.

The Freddy/Fannie bailout will reach 1 Trillion Dollars.

Does it not warrant the same scrutiny?

Posted by Incoming at 10/05/2008 @ 12:49pm
Largely ignored in much of the discussion I have heard from many of us who are having to hold our noses, reach for the barf bag, and realize we may need to do this, is the hope that this will at least get us through the Bush administration. A progressive government can make this a rescue, not a bailout.

For those Naderites claiming Obama is more of the same, pull your head out of the sand. It would be the ultimate act of stupidity and flushing our nation down the toilet as the most critical juncture in our history, to not do everything we can to support Obama and real change, and dramatically reshape the Senate while we are at it, as 56-60 votes is now a very serious possibility!

Turning this bailout into a rescue mechanism to keep people in homes, invest in local communities and community lending and even micro credit, and reinstating real regulation and oversight on our economy may well be worth the price. It is a complete refutation of the Reagan garbage about Government being the problem, which has been our 28 year mantra.

And let me add the obvious- if we keep people in their homes and stabilize our real estate markets, it adds value to the biggest nest egg most middle class Americans have, their homes, while also insuring that greater value will get paid back to taxpayers on the otherwise worthless paper we are buying.

We can turn this into an era of public reinvestment and progressive government. Or we can committ collective hari-kari. It is up to us this next month.

LarryS. Or, imagine Pres. mcCain appointing Palin to oversee the bailout.

Posted by larrys at 10/05/2008 @ 4:28pm
The DEMOCRATS could have and should have prevented this!

OK for the sake of argument... lets say it was COMPELETLY-TOTALLY-100% the REPUBLICANS fault/problem. Then DON'T BAIL THEM OUT!!

The TRUTH is,

it was a bailout of the RICH!!

Anyone think Hank Paulson ain't gonna get a piece of the 700 billion?

Posted by bleedingheart at 10/05/2008 @ 7:34pm