Here’s some thoughts I’ve found from others about the proposed bail out of banks.

From Matt Furey:

As you’re probably aware of by now, today is the day that Senator John McCain is back on Capitol HIll - presumably to “fix” our nation’s broken economy.

Hold the phone a minute.

Let’s ponder the question no one is asking: How does a government that is already a gadzillion dollars in debt “fix” the economy.

Think of this. If my business was a gadziillion dollars in debt, would you ask me for a loan. Would you ask me how to improve my financial situation. Would you allow me to “fix” things for you.

Not likely.

Yet, millions of Americans place their hopes in politicians and the Washington elite - most of whom have NEVER owned or operated a business - to ride to the rescue… to save the day…

Well, I got news for you. A band-aid on a cancerous tumor doesn’t make it go away. It may make you FEEL like things have changed - but your feelings may be dead wrong.

Yet, while all the finagling is going on in Washington to save our economy - there is a clandestine group of men and women who really don’t worry about which way the
economic winds blow. Why. Because no matter what - they are going to “find a way” to profit from it.

And these from the Rude Awakening:

First up, some thoughts from David Myhre reporting from, Stuart, FL…

Same message, different story. We MUST pass the Patriot Act NOW. Saddam has WMD - we MUST act NOW to protect America. The financial markets are falling - we MUST act NOW to save America. All I can say is, the town that heard the “WOLF !!” cry only took two fake calls to realize they were being conned. What about us and our “leaders” in DC ?? How many of these BS scares will it take to realize they’re blowing smoke again ? The Empire of George II falls back to its most successful ploy - act now or be destroyed. And anybody opposed is anti-American.

Answer me this, Hank and Ben - if Congress throws a couple trillion dollars after the stupid losses financial institutions have blown, will you GUARANTEE it will fix the problem ? Will you sign over your personal wealth to the US government to help pay for your plan’s failure ? The two most important questions are:

If we don’t accept your proposal, is a crash certain ?

Will this plan fix the problem and avert a crash ?

And therein lies the true question. Nobody that I know has said a crash is certain whether or not a “bailout plan” is carried out. Similarly, nobody I know of has certified that a “bailout” plan would fix the problem. It all boils down to credibility. And the administration of George II has none. Paulson in my book, who was head of Goldman Sachs during its massive increase of leverage, has none. And clearly, Bernanke’s opening of the Fed discount window has averted nothing and perhaps aggravated the situation.

Let the mismanaged financials fail and their assets get bought up by more ethical competitors. Let the fools who bought overpriced real estate using idiotic mortgage plans rent. Let the law of logical consequences solve this problem. Sure, some of Hank and Ben’s country club buddies may have to sell the house in the Hamptons, but hey, fair is fair. Bailouts aren’t.

In fact, it is not a slap in the face to people like me - it’s a right cross and a low blow by people who are in positions of trust who cannot be trusted. I worked hard, saved, invested wisely, never bought a new car, paid my bills and lived within my means. How dare you spoiled Wall Street brats tell me I should be responsible for scalawags such as you ? Millions of RESPONSIBLE Americans are NOT losing our homes to foreclosure because we bought homes we could afford. How dare you swindle us into paying for the irresponsible people who wrote loans to people who you KNEW couldn’t pay and the ignorant ones who bought more house than they could afford.

This plan in every aspect is UNAMERICAN. The FAIR way to solve this mess would be to sieze the assets of the offending financial institutions and use the proceeds to protect responsible Americans from the ill effects of the greedy financiers who caused this mess. The FAIR way to ensure it never happens again is to ban the officers and directors of the companies that created this mess from ever working in a financial company again.

But hey, socialists have never really cared what’s fair. Or Capitalists, for that matter. And former capitalists who want to socialize losses after pocketing profits couldn’t care less about the poor shmucks they con into paying for their irresponsible behavior.

I do not believe one word Paulson or Bernanke say. I believe a shakeout is the only thing that will scour the scum out of a largely dysfunctional financial sector that operates without ethics and is more casino gambling than responsible investing.

In 1930, the perps jumped out of windows. In 2008, the perps get a golden parachute. We’ve come a long way, baby, and it isn’t all for the better.

And this, from Marc Abramsky, a sympathetic Canadian…

Always interesting reading your eletter. Very informative with a nice tidbit of useful information daily.

I am Canadian and I agree strongly with your take on Paulson and the way in which he Fed is acting in bailing out their rich buddies.

I think people have long understood this double standard but never before has it been so blatantly waved in front of the public’s face. I simply can’t fathom how this debacle has been allowed to take place. That the clear minority should be able to exercise this appalling act without so much as a peep from the tax payer and general populace. Even here in Canada (where we are deemed very conservative compared to our southern North American’s) this would cause a minor revolution. Especially in Quebec. These greedy, self-serving, ego centric, morons, should be herded up and thrown in jail. Nothing less. This is a crime scene, no different than Enron or any other scandal where greedy executives have deliberately taken the public’s money.

In fact thieves might be better here, at least they are anonymous unseen faces until they are caught. These jokers are supposed to be leaders. The whole world watches now with complete disgust as liars, cheats, thieves and crooks are rewarded for their crimes.

What a sad place the USA has become. What was once a worldly icon of freedom, opportunity and integrity has become a sham. A place where white collar crime flourishes.

What are your thoughts?

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 at 7:24 pm and is filed under Money/Banking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.