“On Monday afternoon, Wall Street basically stopped trading to watch TV…”
That was a quote in a news article I’m reading just now. Sweet mercy. All eyes were on Congress to see what would happens…thumbs up or thumbs down. Well, we all know the answer. I really have no idea whether that was the right or wrong decision. Economic policies and bailing a country out of HUGE-N-WIDE debt is beyond me. However, I do know this: I’m a little bit worried? I’m not really worried about losing anything I own or my job, but I am worried that this country has no direction on what to do. Unless SOMETHING happens, we’re headed south…way south.
“Bailout bill defeat could cause painful recession…”
That’s another quote, which pisses me off. Why the fuck won’t anyone admit that we ARE in a recession RIGHT FUCKING NOW?!? I think it’s clear that we are. The market has been dropping rather steadily in the past year, let alone three months, or whatever the standard/benchmark/rule of thumb is. WTF people? Let’s get serious! It should read, “Bailout Billy in the bayou’s defeat may cause depression, you dumb sons a bitches!”
September 30th, 2008 at 7:57 am
I agree 100% man. I think this whole bailout situation has a lot of people straight pissed because
a.) They don’t really understand how it happened and just exactly what in the blue fuck we’re bailing out.
and..
b.) All the fuckin doom and gloom preaching coming from Washington.
So we’ve chugged along for the last several years with nobody saying shit and now suddenly, literally overnight, we’re told the economy is in dire fuckin straights and the government HAS to spend 700 BILLION dollars to make it right? Oh, and as Yates astutely points out, all this 2 months before what is arguably the most pivotal election in this countries history!!
I was worried at first too and I think it was because I was allowing myself to buy into the hype they are trying to feed us. I don’t think this is as bad as they make it out to be. I mean the plan has been rejected twice now we’re still standing. Everyday they keep saying Wallstreet hit a new low, but then every morning they say it’s bouncing back. I think what it comes down too, is a bunch of companies and the people who ran them, made risky and bad choices and rode what I call the “9/11 Wave”, meaning all the false sense of security that was created when the fed lowered interest rates right after 9/11, and now it’s catching up to them and they are fucked and looking for a blank check to wipe the slate clean.
Personally at this point I hope the bailout doesn’t pass but that just me and what the fuck do I know about economies. I also wish Obama would have came out from the beginning and condemned it for what it was instead of meandering same as McCain. I think he would have been in a much stronger place right now with the American people if he had.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Of course the market takes a historic dump right after news that the bill was defeated. Speculation aftermath, I would assume, is directly related to the dire statements out of the whitehouse. All the doom and gloom coming out of the whitehouse all of a sudden, seemingly confirming the bleak outlook from economists. And of course all eyes are on washington to seal the deal.
The bailout plan does have a possible upside if it does pass. Should we take on these illiquid assets then we would benefit when they eventually spring back, or at least become valued to a point where other institutions would wish to buy them. I fear, however, that we would be taking these loans on at face value or at some ridiculous cost, thus making it impossible to recoup.
All the provisions in the bill that were apparently put in to make wall street and CEO’s more accountable are without teeth and really have no substantive impact. I really don’t see them passing a bill that will allow courts to adjust people’s mortgages because that would basically upend the value or projected value of these “illiquid” loans, making these assets even more worthless than they already are. My guess is that they want to have the government bailout and purchase a holding stake in these massive companies just so that foreign banks can’t. No sense in letting foreign banks make off with the largest American financial institutions as well a huge portion of our debt.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Yeah but in all honesty JT, I think we all know that the possible upside you speak of is only an upside for the big-wig “poli-fuckin-ticians” and corporate CEO’s. Even if this shit does end up making a profit someday the American people will never see it. They’ll either spin some bullshit story of how it’s not possible to give it to us, and it’ll be locked in the courts for 16 score years, or they just won’t tell us about any profit and pocket that shit sight unseen.
Personally I’m starting to view this whole bailout malarkey as Bushs’ last big rape and pillage of America before he retires to the comfortable security of “steer fucking” back in Texas.