Archive for October 2nd, 2008
Senate Bill on Bailout will cost even more to American taxpayers!
Bailout bill passes Senate, Despite sweetening, measure faces stiff fight in House reports BaltimoreSun.com:
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat, was similarly unconvinced. “The Senate measure has changed my position from ‘No’ to ‘Heck, no,’ ” he said. “With the Senate amendment, the bailout has gone from bad to worse, $105 billion more in public debt worse.”
You tell ‘em Rep. Lloyd Doggett! Our Representative Bobby Scott here in our Viginia District also thankfully voted down the bill when it went through the House the first time, and I have certainly let him know (again) that I for one have not changed my mind on the NO vote I expect to see with this regurgitated bill with all it’s spoonfuls of sweetening to supposedly help to make the medicine go down.
Have these people lost their mind voting yes?! Things will be bad regardless, but they will be a lot worse for a lot longer if they pass this bill. And the blackmail of the American taxpayer will continue. This sets a very bad precedent. Who’s next on the list to be bailed out?! How much more will the American taxpayer’s children and grandchildren have to pay in excessive taxes!?!
If you want to know what REAL economists are saying about this bailout, check out this article, The Great Bank Robbery of 2008, at Mises.org:
The Paulson bailout failed in the House. If it isn’t a death blow to the plan, it should be. This is not an economic plan: it is a heist.
It will go down as The Great Bank Robbery of 2008.
The economics behind it are nonsense, but we are naïve if we spend much time even considering the “arguments” for it. This is a money and power grab, pure and simple.
Just as magazine covers today feature scantily clad women that would have been scandalous a generation ago, in the same manner Paulson’s proposal — made in broad daylight and on national TV! — is almost naked in its audacity.
and this:
But Won’t the Credit Markets Collapse?
Some observers would admit the legitimacy of my analysis above. “However,” they might say, “the Paulson Plan, or something like it, is necessary to avert a total meltdown of the financial system. We’re not trying to boost aggregate investment, so much as clearing out a clogged pipe.”
This talk of a breakdown in the financial system is a bogeyman. Steve Landsburg does such a great job of exploding this myth that I will simply quote him:
So what’s special about banks [that they deserve a bailout]? According to what I keep reading, it’s that without banks, nobody can borrow, and the economy grinds to a halt.
Well, let’s think about that. Banks don’t lend their own money; they lend other people’s (their depositors’ and their stockholders’). Just because the banks disappear doesn’t mean the lenders will. Borrowers will still want to borrow and lenders will still want to lend. The only question is whether they’ll be able to find each other.
… [A]s any user of match.com can tell you, the technology for finding partners has improved since [the 1930s]. When a firm wants to raise capital, why can’t it just sell bonds over the web? Or issue new stock? Or approach one of the hedge funds that seem to be swimming in cash? Or borrow abroad?
… I’m not sure these big Wall Street banks are really necessary, and I’m not sure we’d miss them much if they were gone. Maybe there’s something I’m missing, but if so, I think it should be incumbent on Messrs. Bernanke, Paulson and above all Bush to explain what it is.
The majority of Americans oppose any form of this type of bailout. So why do the majority of the Senate and nearly half of the House support it? That’s what I want to know. If they bypass what their constituents want in favor of big business, the banking cartels and fat cats on Wall Street, why are they in office? There is an election coming up very soon, and the tally of votes should be remembered when Election Day comes and they should pay for their lack of vision.
In the meantime, lets let our Representatives know what we think! I did my part. I hope you will take a minute and do the same. Your Representatives need to hear from you now! This vote could go before the House Friday … tomorrow!
Call the congress switch board at: (202) 224-3121
Find your congress person’s contact info here: http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml
There should be no doubt in their minds how we feel about this, the greatest bank heist of 2008.
