Here are a few things I don't get, however.
- Where is this 700 billion dollars coming from?
- How is this going to help the economy, given that the U.S. already has a huge economic deficit?
- How are we going to raise this money without raising taxes? (oops, wait Obama does want to raise taxes, but only on the richest Americans. He, if fact, has proposed tax cuts for Americans making less than $90,000 a year, while McCain will stick with the same policy that got us in this damn mess.)
- Why aren't we modeling this bailout, as Hillary Clinton herself suggested yesterday on the Today Show, on ones enacted during the Great Depression--a historical model that was overwhelmingly successful?
3 comments:
(1) Each American will potentially owe $2500 per person. Our household hit the $10,000 mark because of Sweey Baby L (Damn Kids!!!!). Of course, this tag will be more because of interest or if the plan does not work.
We will get the money by borrowing it now and paying for it later. That is if another country will lend it to us.
(3) The next president, no matter who it is, will need to raise taxes in some form. The alternative is to cut enough government programs (an ideologically charged assertion) to cut spending though this does little to cut the debt.
(4) Like other aspects of "History" the great depression is ideologically charged. Free Marketeers, a group who has little credibility but may possess enough votes, argue that FDR's programs put the Great in the Great Depression (where as the rest of the world called it the Depression.
(2) One of the most important fights in this bailout is whether or not the American citizens would gt an equity stake out of the deal. Paulson argued no; Congress argued yes. If the bailout is successful and there is a return on the investment (as housing prices return to form) then the American people may make some money on the deal.
Right now prices are not at their "correct" price, The bailout will help regulate prices. The question is over whether or not Wall Street or the American people will benefit.
If housing prices return to form this will help the economy. If we avoid a Depression, this will hurt the economy even if there is a slight loss on the investment. Enacting smart regulations to prevent this in the future, even if there is a slight loss, will help.
1. Where is this 700 billion dollars coming from?
I *think* the Treasury will just print more currency, which will, of course, tank the value of the dollar even more. So I'm not really sure that the bailout is a good solution, especially for those of us who aren't CEOs or at the top of the economic food chain.
So for the middle class, our money won't go as far. Bush didn't address this point last night. No surprise, he only the talked about that scary stuff that would sell the bailout.
I also think it bears mentioning that "America"TM doesn't hate socialism, it hates socialists.
Therefore, because they self-identify themselves as free-market capitalists, everything they do is capitalist.
If you enter into the equation KNOWING that (I = capitalist) + (capitalist = good) then anything you do is on the side of the angels.
Unless you are Sullivan, in which case this is just the best damn way humanity has found to blah blah blah.
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