700 Billion to bail out the banks

[austinado16]

Funny but this seems like chasing bad money with worse money.

[JohnandLeann]

Yes this is a very unpopular bail out all around for everyone.  
Let the big executives liquidate their own properties and other assets that they gained by taking advantage of people that wanted to own a piece of the Dream, but did not have jobs or economic proof of reliability for those loans.  
We should not bail out the greed due to very poor business decisions of the banks.

[dkutz]

I got this email today, not a bad idea....
Subject: A Quarter $ Million to EVERY CITIZEN!!!
 I'm against the $85,000,000, 000.00 bailout of AIG.
 
 Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000, 000 to
 America in a We Deserve It Dividend.
 
 To make the math simple, let's assume there are
 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.
 
 Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man,
 woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at
 adults 18 and up..
 
 So divide 200 million adults 18+  into $85 billon that
 equals $425,000.00.
 
 My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a
 
 We Deserve It Dividend.
 
 Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let's assume a
 tax rate of 30%.
 
 Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That
 sends $25,500,000, 000 right back to Uncle Sam.
 
 But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their
 pocket. A husband and wife has $595,000.00.
 
 What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your
 family?
 
 Pay off your mortgage

[Dee4j]

I got this email today, not a bad idea....
Subject: A Quarter $ Million to EVERY CITIZEN!!!
 I'm against the $85,000,000, 000.00 bailout of AIG.
 
 Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000, 000 to
 America in a We Deserve It Dividend.
 
 To make the math simple, let's assume there are
 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.
 
 Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man,
 woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at
 adults 18 and up..
 
 So divide 200 million adults 18+  into $85 billon that
 equals $425,000.00.
 
 My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a
 
 We Deserve It Dividend.
 
 Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let's assume a
 tax rate of 30%.
 
 Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That
 sends $25,500,000, 000 right back to Uncle Sam.
 
 But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their
 pocket. A husband and wife has $595,000.00.
 
 What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your
 family?
 
 Pay off your mortgage

[austinado16]

This has "save my fat cat croanies who gave me millions during my last 2 campaigns" written all over it.  

I agree.  Let these exec's take it in the shorts.  

LOL... I paid my property tax (installment #1 of 2) with my $1,238 economic by-off check.  I basically said, "Here you go county tax assessor, it's fake money, freshly printed and has no actual backing or monitary value.  I'm not going to cash it, you cash it."  What a joke.

[coach]

meanwhile, the foxes continue to guard the hen house and its new addition

[jeepmaniowa]

meanwhile, the foxes continue to guard the hen house and its new addition

/rant on/

I always questions the value of "Higher Education".  I would suspect most if not all of the CEO's of these failed companies are "College Educated", as well as most of the two and 3 downs.  However, it's apparent that the professors failed them.  What really funny about this entire deal, is that education is costing more, and look at what they are churning out.  Educated idiots.

Then, I remember the average IQ is 100.  That answers a lot of questions right there.

/rant off/

[boncrab]

I am just a little frustrated with the blame I am hearing here.  This current economic slump we are in has blame to show from every facet of those loans.
 
And... intelligence isn't the issue here... GREED had/has it's hooks in the entire issue.
 
Bankers/Mortgage brokers saw interest only loan payments....
 
Real Estate agents saw large and multiple commissions...
 
Individuals saw bigger houses for smaller payments....
 
And all blinded their eyes to the future consequences...
 
Not to toot my own horn.... but when I first saw those loans being offered I was pulled in... but I'm am glad that I had the forsight to look down the line a few years and realize that there was no way we could afford that payment. And to refinance every 3-5 years would cost even more in loans fees, etc.
 
But the temptation for a bigger house at a lesser payment then I was making at the time was awfully enticing.  But I ultimately have me to blame if I make a bad choice.  Whether I be a seller or a purchaser.

[sacrawf]

I am just a little frustrated with the blame I am hearing here.  This current economic slump we are in has blame to show from every facet of those loans..

Agreed.  No one was forced against their will to sign a mortgage on a house.  No one has been sold with credit at gun point a new car, pop up camper, or ATV that they couldn't afford.  And no one is forced to buy video game systems, computers, tattoos, and pay-for-view cable tv on credit cards that they cannot and don't intend to repay.  We are all being held hostage by a whole lot of deadbeats not paying their bills.

[wavery]

This is all true, well and good. However it doesn't address the real issue that plagues this nation.
 
The bottom line is, this nation does not produce anything. We have nothing to sell. We are a net consumer......PERIOD. That is the route of this whole economic crisis. It has been evident for 30 years and no one is addressing the issue or willing to deal with it.
 
It started with union protectionism making the cost of labor so high that big business had to go over seas in order to obtain labor cheap enough to keep their products competitively priced so they could sell.
 
American workers (unions) were not willing to accept wages that would keep American companies profitable (union greed). As jobs went over seas, Americans were forced to change careers and accept lower paying jobs anyway. The shortfall in income started being filled by debt.
 
The average American that was making $50K a year, now faced with making $40K had a choice....lower his standard of living (stop spending) or go further and further in debt. As these workers lost buying power the economy started to suffer. The gvm't decided to step in and resolve that situation by meddling with the credit system. Lowering interest rates encouraged bowering way beyond people's ability to pay back.
 
Rising real-estate prices (due to cheap loans) gave borrowers leverage to keep borrowing (mostly refi's) and getting deeper in debt and the spiral continued until the banking industry was so consumed with debt (because they had to borrow money to loan) that it couldn't survive because of the debtors inability to repay.
 
When real-estate prices started to fall, this removed the ability of people to refinance and thus prop up there poor spending habits. That's when consumer confidence really went in the toilet but it is too late. Controlling personal spending really isn't the answer anymore. People have to be willing to work and accept less for their labor. This is a "World Economy" now. Most people in the world are happy to work for $5 an hour. Until American's are willing to compete with the rest of the world, we will continue to lose the competition.
 
We can play the blame game all we want but until Americans are willing to go back to work and we have more people that are willing to work hard, produce an American product and take risks that involve PRODUCTION, this country will continue to go down the tubes.

The gvm't can bail out the financial institutions today (more debt) but at some point, it all has to be paid back. That means that our grandchildren will HAVE to compete on the world's labor market AND pay back debt. It's a terrible thing that this country has inflicted on future generations.
 
IMHO, the gvm't needs to stay out of this. Let the financial institutions fail and allow this situation to self correct. This should have been done years ago. Instead, the gvm't started dropping prime interest rates to encourage borrowing to increase spending. This was a BAD solution. I said so at the time and have been saying for years that this would come back to haunt us. You can't cure debt by increasing debt. It's like using one credit card to pay off another credit card.
 
America has to go back to work. We must stop sending jobs over seas and start producing in America again. That will mean hard work and long hours for our children and grandchildren.

[waygard33]

This is all true, well and good. However it doesn't address the real issue that plagues this nation....
...America has to go back to work. We must stop sending jobs over seas and start producing in America again. That will mean hard work and long hours for our children and grandchildren.

AMEN BROTHER!

To continue the thought, we Americans, and people in general, are 'short-sighted'. Until we start paying attention to long term consequences, we're doomed to failure.

A hard working American, NOT government handouts, can go a long way!

What's the story?..."You can give a mean a fish and feed him for a day...OR you can teach a man to fish...and Voila...now you've got something.

wg

[oreo57]

Wayne & Wayne(wg) exactly............

[ForestCreature]

America has to go back to work. We must stop sending jobs over seas and start producing in America again. That will mean hard work and long hours for our children and grandchildren.

I know I probably should not be replying to this after ingesting a bottle of wine, but I'm gonna any how.

Wavery, I could not agree more. Until this country gets it's produced goods to a level that exceed imports we are all screwed.

The bail out should not take place. I resent my hard earned tax dollars bailing out a bunch of greedy banking investors that preyed on the desperate and ill informed. One of the biggest bitches we all should have is the people who ran us into ruin still walk away paid more  in mere bonuses than any of us could ever imagine earning.

[oreo57]

I know I probably should not be replying to this after ingesting a bottle of wine, but I'm gonna any how.
 
Wavery, I could not agree more. Until this country gets it's produced goods to a level that exceed imports we are all screwed.
 
The bail out should not take place. I resent my hard earned tax dollars bailing out a bunch of greedy banking investors that preyed on the desperate and ill informed. One of the biggest bitches we all should have is the people who ran us into ruin still walk away paid more in mere bonuses than any of us could ever imagine earning.

[/b]
 
I believe you and Wavery are agreeing as he stated the Gvt. should stay out and let the companies fail, which in turn should stop those bonus's for CEO's except in WAMU's case they where swallowed up by someone bigger.

[CajunCamper]

The bottom line is, this nation does not produce anything. We have nothing to sell.

I'm with you, I can't dispute much of anything you have said. The one extremely valuable commodity that the United States produces more of than any other country in the world is, FOOD.

The US is the world leader when it comes to producing and supplying the world with food. No one else comes close.

When push comes to shove, I'd rather out produce the world in food than toys, radios and televisions.

CajunCamper