Financial Crisis and $700 Billion Bailout: Various Thoughts from Various Places
On Saturday, I painstakingly wrote out a couple of blog posts about the $700 billion bailout on my mobile from Blogworld in Las Vegas. I was very disappointed that only my short blip on the national debt managed to be saved.
Since Saturday, of course, plenty of other people have been writing about the financial crisis and the $700 billion bailout. (Note: At a session I attended on financial blogs at Blogworld, at least one panelist said that the final cost of this situation would likely be $2 to $3 trillion.)
So, because I’m behind (thanks, Shanna, for taking me to the tapas place and the Greek festival on top of the conference activities) this morning, I’m just going to treat you to some of the highlights of the financial crisis coverage:
- Your ability to get credit is likely to be diminished, reports SmartMoney.
- Investing blog asks if this is a straight up bailout masquerading as a bridge loan.
- Let the lawsuits over the results of the financial crisis begin, reports BusinessWeek.
- Calculated Risk thinks that Congress should consider the $700 billion Treasury bailout plan very carefully, rather than just letting the Administration ram it through. The Wall Street Journal reports on Democrats’ plans to create limits and other conditions.
- The rhetoric is that this bailout will save us. But Consumerism Commentary challenges us to think it over and decide on the merits ourselves.
- Taxgirl looks at Paulson’s claims that the bailout will be good for taxpayers in the long run. (If someone else buys all the debt from the government.)
- My Two Dollars reports that foreign banks are going to be included in the $700 billion bailout plan. (See earlier point about the true cost of the bailout. And the fact that both McCain and Obama aren’t changing their plans.)
- Over at Action Forex, there is an analysis of the $700 bailout plan and its effect on the U.S. dollar in forex trading.
- A look at how the bailout might have been necessary for the wider economy — even with the drain that will result — at Personal Finance Corner.
- Both Get Rich Slowly and Moolanomy offer insights into the financial crisis — how we got here and where we are going.
- Frugal Dad offers a look at our culture of instant gratification, and the patience we need to develop as a society if we want to do better going forward.
- For more links, both Behind the Mortgage and MarketWatch have some directions for coverage of the financial crisis.
What do you think of the $700 billion bailout?
Tags: $700 billion bailout, Blogworld, financial blogs, financial crisis, government bailout, national debtRelated Stories
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11 opinions for Financial Crisis and $700 Billion Bailout: Various Thoughts from Various Places
Dems: Don't Forget Homeowners with $700 Billion Bailout Plan - Mortgage Rate News
Sep 22, 2008 at 5:19 pm
[...] political maneuvers have begun. Rather than just shoving the $700 billion bailout plan through like the Treasury and the rest of the Bush Administration wants, some members of [...]
Stock Market News: Stock Buybacks the Order of the Day - Money & Investing - Banks.com
Sep 22, 2008 at 6:14 pm
[...] big new on the stock market (well, other than the fact that confidence is fading in the $700 billion bailout now that political wrangling is involved), is the announcement of some major stock buybacks. Stock [...]
Brian
Sep 23, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Its a stupid idea to bail these companies out. We the taxpayers will basically pay off their stupid debt that was generated from being greedy. The government who was suppose to watching these companies let it continue because they too were making crazy money from it.
Most Americans have enough debt to worry about then saving CEOs millions of dollars in salary. The way to do it is basically say your are bankrupt and start taking the debt out of the CEOs billions of dollars pockets.
These CEOs are sitting in their multi-million dollar homes while the American people they do not care about will save their butt.
Its not right they we have to take the bad debt, did we decide to make bad decisions, then why do i have to pay for it.
Pinyo
Sep 23, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Thank you for including my article. I am still waiting to see how this will all work itself out.
miranda
Sep 23, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Brian! It does seem quite unfair to parrot a line about “free market” and “trickle down” for years and years and then bail out the banks and their executives at a cost to everyone else.
I actually really like a solution posited by BloggingStocks (http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/09/23/an-alternative-to-the-banking-bailout-bail-out-homeowners/): Let homeowners refinance through the government, and then the government gets equity in those homes — as well as the option to sell the bad debt. Then the bad loans get off the banks’ books, the government stands to actually make money, and homeowners get out of trouble.
All of this without giving all-out handouts or waiting for the system to completely collapse and take everyone down with it.
Scott @ The Passive Dad
Sep 23, 2008 at 5:25 pm
I would also add that whatever bailout occurs will not sit well with many Americans. I recall the backlash with Enron and Worldcom and how lavish the CEO’s lived in excess. Well, the same occurs on Wall St. and it’s going to frustrating to watch taxpayer money help out millionaires.
Also, if we get ourselves into a financial disaster, we have to file bankruptcy with no government bailout. The common taxpayer is too small to bailout, while the large Fortune 500 companies are exempt. It will be interesting to see how this changes our government and financial regulation.
miranda
Sep 23, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Thanks, Scott! I agree that it is hard to see millionaires bailed out while Main Street gets the shaft. It’s like that story of how the secretary has more taxable income than her boss, because he knows the loopholes. The middle class routinely gets the shaft.
Of course, there were all sorts of regs after the Depression, meant to keep this sort of thing from happening again. And with deregulation, instead of seeing business policing itself through the “free market” we have instead seen new ways of making a lot of money in risky ways for a few people, while socializing the risk so that the rest of us pay.
Can You Really Afford to Buy a Home Right Now? - Mortgage Rate News
Sep 25, 2008 at 11:52 am
[...] the news of the economy, and with (an almost certain to be passed) $700 billion bailout in the works, many people are rethinking the idea of home ownership. This is a good thing. Before [...]
Chinese Economic Stimulus Boosts Stock Market - Money & Investing - Banks.com
Nov 10, 2008 at 10:55 am
[...] China expects to spend over the next two years on economic stimulus. (It should be noted that the $700 billion bailout passed in the U.S. does not *count* as stimulus money. It is considered rescue money. Which, in [...]
China Announces Its Own Economic Stimulus Package : Experiences of a Forex Trader
Nov 10, 2008 at 12:00 pm
[...] is the largest stimulus package to date (the 0 billion bailout, apparently, doesn’t count as "stimulus"; it is seen as "rescue"), [...]
Forex News Online » China Announces Its Own Economic Stimulus Package
Nov 12, 2008 at 7:19 am
[...] it will inject $586 billion into its own economy.This is the largest stimulus package to date (the $700 billion bailout, apparently, doesn’t count as "stimulus"; it is seen as "rescue"), [...]
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