Comments on: BREAKING NEWS: Economic Bail-Out Bill Fails

By: impromptublogger

impromptublogger — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:55:00 +0000

It’s all very scary no matter what the outcome is. We just bought a new car 3 weeks ago, but I shudder to think if we had tried to a car loan now!

By: pajamadeen

pajamadeen — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:53:00 +0000

Interestingly, it appears that the $700 billion figure was just pulled out of the hat. There seems to be precious little information to support the idea that $700 billion will be "the fix." Some estimates go as high as...$3 trillion!

I wrote a related post about the Wachovia failure, if you're interested.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 07:44:00 +0000

The bill has real problems, but they should have been able to come up with something much better — and passed it. Can we seriously wait two days for them to come back?

And who exactly is lobbying for the middle class, because from what I read online, it looks like our interests are totally left out. The limits on executive pay are a joke, and the assistance to mortgage borrowers would not come close to putting a safety net under the plummeting housing market.

The Democrats gave up bankruptcy protection for affected borrowers to win Republican support and got nothing in return. Ben Stein got it right on Larry King Live tonight — let’s bail out Wall Street from the bottom up. Pay that $700 billion on mortgages, helping homeowners, rather than for paper/securities which obscure the actual value. Until then, I’ll be hiding under the bed too.

By: mommapolitico

mommapolitico — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:29:00 +0000

Happy Rosh Hashanah (from this Catholic girl!)despite it all!
I still think that when Ben Stein starts to echo what I’m telling my husband, it’s a scary time for us liberals. We need to re-regulate the financial industry, and then drop $250G into the pocket of every American citizen over 18. Tax it, and do it as a voucher so that it can only be applied to certain things: paying off existing debt, mortages,dutting equity into your home/capital improvements, college costs for yourself and kids, etc. (I talk more on my blog about this.)I am disgusted and sickened that there are still partisan politics at play, and that much of why this ridiculous bailout didn’t happen was because the guys who are running for re-election won’t vote for it. (Can we please elect more women now???)

By: Amy@UWM

Amy@UWM — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:59:00 +0000

We’d hide under our beds down here in the South except that we’re all too busy trying to find gas. The water’s drying up, the gas is drying up, the money is drying up and the credit is drying. Pretty much describes what our lives are like down here. Pretty scary.

L’shana tova. I hope it gets a whole lot better in the new year.

By: Shonda Little

Shonda Little — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:58:00 +0000

Great post.
Another thing I would like to add is that under normal circumstances, the country would borrow money from foreign lenders in this crisis. But, since we have nearly exhausted our credit to pay for the war, accumulating a huge debt we haven’t even begun to pay back, has left that option.
As you know, I live in deep Republican country, in Western Oklahoma where one of the nation’s biggest gas reserves is. Almost everyone I know was wildly in favor of this war and a tax increase seems to be one of the only issues they focus on during election time. The truth is taxes must be increased to pay for wars. Slapping a yellow magnet on your war ISN’T support.

By: judy in ky

judy in ky — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:00:00 +0000

I think we should all begin to listen to Chicken Little. To continue with the nursery rhymes, our government is broken like Humpty Dumpty, and I don’t see how it can be put together again unless Republicans and Democrats put aside their rancor and work together. I am not optimistic.

By: anniegirl1138

anniegirl1138 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:35:00 +0000

This is not a surprise. Public opinion was completely (nearly) against this and the average person doesn't really understand how the economy works or where money even comes from (it's a bit more complicated than the paycheck making the ATM spit money at you).

And that is no surprise either. We listen to education gurus howl about the need to teach algebra at the expense of consumer math. Perhaps if we taught our kids practical math skills they wouldn't grow up to max out credit cards, drain the equity in their homes or take on ARM's without knowing how they work.

It's not just Wall Street that needs a lesson in money management. The American people do too.

From what I have read and heard without a bailout, credit will dry up even more and it's possible that banks could shut down. Possibly like what happened after WWI (my grandfather's family lost their farm when that happened). People would be without access to their checking/savings accounts. Businesses could not make payrolls or pay bills either.

The bailout will bail out everyone for a while anyway. No bailout. I hope everyone has a alternate plan for a while because things could get dicey.

Even though I am living in Canada, most of my money is still in the States. I don't expect my pension or 403b's to ride this out well or at all. My bank account will probably come through but I am ready to be unable to access it for however long - because I think that might happen.

Hiding under the bed might have been an option too but luck placed me ahead of the curve on emigrating.