Should Congress pass a bail-out plan?
Barclay Palmer
AC360° Senior Producer
The stock market is rebounding, because big investors expect Congress will come back to DC Thursday and pass a bailout bill after all.
But that's what so many were expected over the weekend and right through Monday morning - even President Bush and Congressional leaders!
Monday was a slap-in-the-face reminder that even in the face of a global emergency, Congress just can't agree on most things, other than massive spending, and even then there are some hold-outs.
Or, you could say that this only proves that we really are a democracy - that bail-out opponents in Congress voted against it because they were hearing anger and opposition to it from thousands of their constituents.
But with the Dow's 778-point drop, members of Congress are hearing more calls from constituents saying, "Do something!"
So.. place your 401k bets! Will Congress get pass a bail-out bill? Should it? If so, what kind? If not, and if the goal is to keep cash and loans flowing to keep the economy going, why not?
Let us know! Thanks..
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Filed under: Bailout Turmoil • Barclay Palmer • Raw Politics |
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No to the bailout. In a couple of months when this thing doesn't work, because it won't, the fools supporting it will be crying victim saying something stupid like "how could we know." So here is an we told you so early on.
The people have the same information as you. We can deduce that 700 billion will not solve the fact that American's are overleveraged not just the banks. It will take years to balance our books. Growth has to slow down to allow the foundation of the middle class to strengthen. Business have to have transparency to allow for proper investment. Private individuals are not businesses and they can't carry so much debt. Cash must become king again. The majority of investments should be in tangible things. Fake money has been the delusion of our society for too long. I must re-evaluate my values, I know many Americans have theirs in place and that is why we are calling for a no vote. I hope those who believe and know this will vote must be NO will use theirs come election time to remove those how believe the lies of Paulson.
Congress!!!! Help!!!!! bail me out I lost my job now close to losing my home. Help with unemployment benefits extensions!!!!!! Help Americans that need 'HELP'...
The Gov should not bail out anybody..Let the natural scycle of the U.S economy play out, and whever goes down with it oh well inclduding myself if I was a part of this economic fall out
I wanted to vote yes to bail them out, but they keep slapping us in the face. This week 2 banks raised my credit card interest rate and lowered my credit line. I have a small business and am never late with payments and always pay much more than the minimum payment. My fico score was 704 last week and who knows what it will be next month. It doesn't seem to matter what congress does, they are going to make us pay for their mistakes one way or another.
The simple 'staight talk' answer. HELL NO! We won't pay!
Congress should be ashamed for even asking such a thing.
fannie may, freddie mac and wall street put themselfs in this position
and now wanting congress bail them out seems criminal.
inditements instead money is what they should receive.
This is a one trillion dollar bail out plan subtracting 300 billion already used in AIG, Fannie/Freddie and Bear Stearn. If Wachovia has 300 billion high risk loan, we have to think this left over 700 billion dollar proposal is not enough. We cannot afford it. Why we waste the resources. Please do not forget the three billion dollar already in the Wall Street pocket.
Listening to Lou Dobbs (who now proclaims to be "fair and balanced"), when he expounds on the proposed bailout makes me want to throw up. He, a supposedly educated journalist, projects the analytic capabilities of a third grade child in his editorials on this subject. I believe Mr. Dobbls would be better suited to join the right wing crew at Fox News who also claim to be "fair and balanced." If he trully represents the independent-thinking citizens of our country, then I fear for our country.
Let's do someting that makes sense with the $700 billion. How about building windmills and retooling the auto industry to produce electric cars. This would reduce unemployment, cut our dependency on foreign oil, reduce our military need and cost of policing the world oil markets, reduce our trade deficit, reduce greenhose gas emissions, etc.
We just need some common sense!
I am amazed at how stupid these people are who say "NO BAILOUT." Read your history books people. The great depression really happened. The economy has been floundering for the past 8 years. Exectutive and legislative mismanagement and lack of enforcement of supervisery provisions already in place have, no doubt, brought us to this place. Whlile the causes need to be fixed, if our economy collapses, all of us will be adversely effected, not just the "fat cats" on wall street. When the economy collapsed back in the 1920's, the Republican president and congress failed to take any significant action. We should not let this happen again.
There will be a bailout but when there is a bailout maybe there should be something in there that taxpayers can tangibly grasp such as a cap on usurious credit card interest and/or bring back the tax deduction for consumer interest that is drowning a vast number of Americans. With 850 billion in credit card debt, it would be nice to know how much interest is generated on the debt each month. Should be capped at prime plus. Look at the 3-4% banks are paying on CD’s.
Ask yourself, is it really that wise to put more oil drilling platforms off shore with the potential disruption caused by the threat of hurricanes. Look at the Atlanta area gas supply right now???
From what I gather from news and reading other bloggers, I can not believe why individuals believes that the bail out would favor the rich. The reality is that the bailout was geared toward helping bad mortgage debt which is the "stressed home buyers with adjustable interest rate". This method would relieve the credit markets and provide another revenue source for the american government, until the debt is paid off. Having the american economy fail because you think you are sticking it to the "man" which in reality sticking yourself . Talking Heads what is your solution because I have not heard anythings but scrape.
I simply cannot justify bailing out a bank that pays a CEO that has been on the job three weeks millions of dollars when the bank goes down. He got his money first!!! Let the banks who survive have the business. Why should the taxpayer who will never see that kind of money have to bail them out? Wall Street will recover!
Dear Mr. Presedent,
I am just a simple man, I make only about $35,000.00 a year. I feel that the congress and the senete just think of the rich perople, and there own wallets, I feel, that what you need to do is just give the people the money and let them bail out the banks...give me enough...and I will pay off my home, that is bailing out the banks...with the remainder of the money I will buy a new car, that will help the auto motive industrey. Then
with the remannder or the money, some people will takes vacations, which will help out tourisum. Hence,
we the people will be bailing out our own country.
Thank you for your time.
Matthew L. Hayes
Charleston, SC
I have a bail-out proposal to stimulate the economy. Since this is "our" money, how about taking 300 mil and giving 1 mil to every American. Watch the market move then!!!
This bail-out is nothing more than giving money to the very people that got the market into this mess. If all else fails, loan them the money at 10%. I can't believe anything the White House tells us anymore and the Republicans, bless their heart, are the biggest liars and cheats that I have ever seen. Democrats take a close second. Screw them all.
Is it possible to use the proposed bail out money to buy up oil fields for ownership and turn around and drop the gas prices for consumers?
What bothers me so much about all this pseudo-disaster is that the minute the American people stood together and said, "Let them die!", Wall Street "miraculously" came back from the dead. We were being played by the fat cats but this time we didn't fall for it. Unfortunately, the idiots in Congress apparently are more concerned about where those great perks are going to come from if they don't defy us and bail out the scum on Wall Street. The good news is that we can still send Congress packing with our voices and our votes.
I fault the financial crisis entirely on the Bush Government. They should have had regulations in place to advoid this. A CEO has no right to give himself or herself a payout or bonus. The company comes first. Too many people are living way beyond their means. This is the times. Maybe it is time for people to feel the crunch instead of having everything they want. So many people have very little and work so hard for what they do have. This is what makes me upset and so many people are wealthy and uncaring. I blame all of this on the Republicans and I think from what I have seen and heard that a John McCain, Sarah Palin ticket is very scarey. He is what I would class as a war monger and she is just as bad. I lived in Alaska so I know of her. She should be home raising her kids instead of being a politician. John Mccain isn't much better, he is milking his POW experiences and military career to get into the presidency and that is no experience to lead a country. His wife is a multi millionaire so how would they know how the average people live>>>> I am changing my Politics for the first time in my life and voting Democratic. I like the way Obama conducts himself and he came from a poor background and I think this is what we need. Bush is wealthy, so was Clinton, and the wealthy do not know how the average person lives. Thank you
The random amount set for the bailout is way too high. Anyhow, maybe the CEOs of failed and/or corrupt companies should be required to give most of their golden parachute money back. Otherwise, why should they have a say in any of this?
Let the economy clense itself just like how the planet clenses itself, maybe then these congressmen and woman won't get re-elected
Bailout?
Bailout whom? The executives that have made billions of dollars off of our 401K.......Recklessly took my hard earned money to line there pockets?
No Bailout for those people let them feel the pain I felt as a struggling middle class worker.
CJ
Alaska Resident
Well, something must be done. I do not live beyond my means. I do not spend excess money on extravagent things. I know how to budget my money. But bottom line is this...ALL of my excess cash is not going to savings at all anymore...it is all going towards gasoline and groceries. I understand there are people in trouble with mortgages right now. I empathize with that situation, but at the same time, is it fair for EVERYONE to suffer??? Actually, I think it is. It is the only way to correct the problem, or at least get a handle on things. Sometimes we all have to take a hit in life to make things start moving in the right direction. I only hope it is not too late when Congress finally decides to do the jobs they have been elected to do!
Wendy: please leave the thinking to those who can actually do simple arithmetic.
300 million people x $1 million = $300 TRILLION
The (stupid) bailout proposal was for $700 BILLION, which is more than two thousand times less than that idiot Crowe's "brilliant idea."
I'm going to go along with Lou Dobbs – I read his interview with Kiran Chetry – and agree that it does seem a little rash to throw down $700 billion over night. This "bail out" may just hurt the people more than anything. I'm glad that some representatives rejected this bill- what will it do for THEIR people? -agreeing with Robert G. (previous poster).
And even though the DOW may have dropped 777 points, if I was a big time business person I would drop a load of money into it just as the day ended because we all know it'll come back, thus providing me with a large return. Worth the risk? oh yes I think so.
We need a bill that will penalize not benefit the administrators and CEO’s that created this mess. This means no money to them at all! A bill that will jump start the lending institutions so that companies do not go out of business or lay off employees because they can’t meet the payroll or pay the bills. We need a plan to oversee that ensures that this does not happen again, and I think this plan should not include Paulson or any people connected with Wall Street otherwise Americans will not trust it. And lastly, we need to rewrite the bad loans. If we fail to rewrite these mortgages and allow the foreclosures to continue, anything else we do will not matter since foreclosure is the root of the problem.
"The Buck Stops Here" is what I want to here from my government stop the partisan bickering Mr. Bush and give us a solution. As a former military we have saying “Make it happen” and as a business owner “No excuses” is our cry. For the past year and a half I’ve heard the housing blame go from Loan Originators to Mortgage Broker to Irresponsible Bankers, now its Wall Street. When is someone in this country going to say : “The Buck Stops Here”
THIS IS A NO BRAINER. If everybody had the gov. to bail them out they would be reckless too. NO BAIL OUT
Simple solution to ecomomic crisis.
Be a hero to the individual taxpayer/citizen.
Tke the 700 billion bailout (or less) and give ti directly to the above, say $500,000 each. How many payments I really don't know maybe 100,000,000.
What could happen?
Individual gets $, pays off credit debt, distressed mortgages,etc.
Credit institutions get this money and get bad debts off books and begin to make credit avaiulable again.
Corps. and business get the needed infusion of $ by selling to now solvent consumers and are able to get loans from banks etc.
Wall St. is again calm and investors begin to invest again.
Politicains get to boast about being a hero and having the individual citizens interest at heart.
Remove the stigima of no action Government and eliminates the impression that taxpayers are again bailing out the fat cats and corrupt fininacial officers of Corps.
I feel this is a win/win for everyone.
I don't understand how these over paid people that are suppose to be so smart can't figure it out. Corporation after corporation has been taking us to the cleaners while they get there Golden Bonus's and we get our lives turned upside down and our pay cut. Let them pay for there mistakes. Don't bail them out, let them bail them selves out. A bill needs to bein effect to regulate these people and there incomes. Pass the money around!!
Why don't they help them out with there money issues with a good bill covering all the issues and then take all the people that are responsable for this and tax them. Let them pay for it all.
Don't pass a bill that is not complete or it will never get fixed. Look at NAFTA!! And who really cares about Rep or Dem it's We the People.
They make more money in a week than I will see in my life!!
I don't feel for these overpaid idiots!!
This has been the most do nothing congress in history. Why should the tax payers foot the bill. Pelosi is a pinhead, of a leader. She needs to be run out of town. Congress had better listen to the people, or suffer the consequenses. It's they're choice. NO BAIL OUT
I am so sick of all reporters telling us "the people don't understand" – how dare you? Is it hard to believe that we understand and still don't want government intervention? The irresponsible spending spree over the last decades needs to come to an end. Yes, we will go in a recession and everybody will feel the pain – but sometimes it just needs to get worse before it gets better!
The bail out plan does not prevent us from going into a recession and there will be still jobs lost, homes foreclosed etc. What are you doing then? Bail out more?
READ MY LIPS NO BAIL OUT They made this mess let them clean it up. Wall street can go to hell. Americians are worried about putting food on the table, gas in the tank, keeping their heads above the water. No money for wall street.
I think the government should stimulate the economy by helping both the taxpayer and the financial institutions.
Giving money to the people does not guarantee they will use it to pay off loans or credit card debt. Giving money to the banks to bail them out does not guarantee that they will not find themselves in the same situation in the future.
Why not create vouchers, payable to financial institutions only, for the taxpayers to use to pay their mortgages and credit card debt? This way when the people submit their voucher for payment it will help them to keep their homes and alleviate their debt and in turn it will help the banks to bounce back from the current crisis.
It does not make sense to provide financial aid to the banks only and leave the taxpayer to pick up the slack. We cannot afford to live now (i.e. unemployment rate, taxes, gas prices), why not help all involved?
Who is bailing out the middle class. no one was worried until wall street was hurting, well wall street can go to hell, and Nancy Pelosi with them. Maybe Pelosi will help Obama to lose the election, then Palin can sell Pelosi's jet on ebay. I have no confidence in congress, this has been the most do nothing congress in history. Why would anybody vote for a democrate is my Question.
Have any of the Washington officials even told us the names of any of the corporations that need this bail out?
Do any of these corporations have common board members? (Is Mr. Smith on 3 or 4 or more of the board of directors of these companies who apparently don't understand how to run a business?)
I want to know why the vp's and up along with the board members of all these firms are not behind bars right now.............
Without the bail out the golden parachutes still exist, right?
Some of the parachute holders fund some of the legislators' campaigns right?
Could it be that simple: vote yes and you don't get campaign funds?
If so, are there Conflict of Interest Issues???
We should have seen this coming. The Fed and Hank Paulson definitely should have seen this coming. But, alas, we didn't. I don't believe we have any choice but to "buy" the toxic securities from the banks so that the credit markets can unclog. But ... the politicos we have in Washington seem to know little if anything about economic problems or anything other than what they need to do to get reelected. Given this rosy scenario .... it might help if the media would stop calling it "The Wall Street Bailout" – even you filed it under "Bailout". Wall Street is not really understood by the Nebraska farmer, and New York has always been a nice place to visit, maybe.
It isn't a bailout ... it certainly isn't just for Wall Street. It is for us all and indeed for the health of our country.
I must be missing something here. I have seen comments on giving everyone in America a million dollars. I have even gotten emails about it (imagine that). How is this cheaper than 700 billion? Do we only have 700,000 people living in this county? Or is my math off and 300 trillion is less than 700 billion?
I think I missed a joke somewhere...
Besides that point, it is who you are if this bail-out will help or not. If it passes it will help some and hurt some. If it fails it will help some it will hurt some.
All the news is about why the bail out did not work and how to redo it
It seems to me the people do not want it,maby thats why they voted that way. if not it should be,
steve
If congress continues to state that money is the solution to the problem, then why not pull a group of top financial analysis from various accounting companies to strategically come up with a plan? I am more inclined to take their advised and stand behind their proposals.
McCain said he was going to suspend his "campain" and did not. Is that a misspeak or an outright lie?