The Financial Bailout

[Gil Martin]

I called my Senators and Representative and told then I was adamantly opposed to this $700 billion dollar package. This is the largest appropriation bill in the history of the world and there are no scheduled hearings, no expert testimony (and over 100 prominent economists say the bailout is not needed) and no clarity of what it really involves. We have no assurances that Congress understands the problem and no way to know that this financial bailout will work. Congress is acting like this is a term paper being written the night before it is due. This is twenty times bigger than the Enron scandal, where people went to jail. I want to know why the rush to judgment? Let the financial sharks eat other financial sharks and use their own money. Then lock up any CEOs and anyone else that may have conspired to give out mortgages to folks with no income, no job and no assets. My grandchildren may have to pay for this Wall Street socialism. At least fifty percent of the taxpayers surveyed are opposed to the bailout and that number may grow. All the best...
Gil

[Adam Helmer]

Gil,

I also am opposed to Capitalism on the way up and Socialism on the way down. I agree, there is a rush to judgement and handout, WHY?

I saw on the news that foreign markets are pushing to ensure their investments in the "toxic" mortgages are safe. Hey, when you invest you take risks-tough bounce.

One twit in Congress said on TV, "There is some good value here for taxpayers." If there is good value, let those Wall Street folks put their money into the bailout.

A question of this magnitude deserves a national vote!

Adam

[skoonz]

Yeah, I'm no financial expert but bad investments are bad investments, if I lose $ thru a dodgy finance company the government doesn't bail me out and yet Fannie & Freddie and others get money back thru the US govt

[Dan Morris]

Any time I've messed up, there was no bailouts......profited from the good and paid dearly for the bad!!!! We will all have to tighten belts......but we will survive without it! I'm with you guys.
Dan

[rattus58]

I agree.... protect those investments that are toxic? What does toxic mean? We elect these idiots with a 9% approval rating to handle my money? No thanks you. They blame the republicans 100% and take no responsibility for the last two years. Frankly I'da let the Democrats vote themselves off a cliff. I don't believe in Bailouts of any kind. If you want to loan them money... maybe, what happens on default? Buy toxic assets? What is wrong in infusing money into the market so that the healthy banks can do business as usual? Why are we supporting failed institutions with failed management? Same thing I'm thinking of who we elect.

Aloha....

[fabsroman]

I think the bailout, and the rush to spend $700 billion, is what got us here in the first place. Creditors were rushing to lend money, and borrowers were rushing to buy houses at exorbitant prices and borrow the money. Now, Congress is rushing to give the money to the creditors, and they aren't really thinking through this. They spent more time on steroid hearings than on this bailout problem. There is definitely something wrong with the voting system.

I have asked this on other forums, and haven't received a response. Does anybody know if an Senator or Representative incumbent has to go through a primary election? The reason I ask is because in the states that are set one way or another (e.g., Maryland is democratic forever), they will never yank an incumbent Democratic Senator or Representative if they have to be replaced with a Republican. So, even if we wanted to replace everybody in Congress, it just wouldn't happen. I think it should, but it just won't.

[Dan Morris]

Colorado, they still have to do a primary....been a few incumbents dumped too!
Dan

[rattus58]

This is a good reason to start clamoring for term limits....

Aloha...

[huntingvet]

I have to admit that I trust GWB almost blindly, but I gotta ask how I will be directly affected if this bail out doesn't happen. So what if Circuit City decides they won't loan me money to buy my next big screen or Ford won't lend me money to buy my next truck. My life will still go on, my mortgage is a fixed 30yr loan, my job seems secure. I chose not to buy a house the past 2-3 years because of the "housing bubble" that everyone said didn't exist. Any one have a guess as to what all the politicians are fearing?

[rattus58]

Yes... November 4th....

[fabsroman]

The politicians are fearing that they might not be able to use credit cards any more. Imagine what it would be like if people actually had to save their money and pay cash for something before they could buy it?

Imagine what it would be like if we also got rid of social security, and people would no longer be able to blindly rely on social security to take care of their retirement, but would be forced to realize it at a young age.

What is astonishing is that excluding retirement accounts, America has a negative savings rate.

Huntingvet,

You and I are almost in the same boat, except my wife and I had to buy a house 4 years ago because we needed one. However, I knew this was a bubble, so we only bought a townhouse instead of a single family home. Now, our debt is equal to 15% of our income, and it only consists of our mortgage. It has allowed us to save a bunch of money.

[Jack]

"I have asked this on other forums, and haven't received a response. Does anybody know if an Senator or Representative incumbent has to go through a primary election?"
Fabs, the answer to that is: maybe
Any time an incumbent is challenged within his own party by another candidate, there will be a primary. That doesn't happen often, admittedly, because unless the incumbent has some serious problems, the party (whichever he belongs to) will support the incumbent.
But, it does happen. A recent example would be Joe Leiberman in Connecticut being challenged in the Democratic party senate race in 2006. Leiberman lost the Democratic party nomination, ran as an independent, and won the Senate race.
Usually, primary races within a party take place when the party is out of office, or the incumbent retires.

[Valigator]

I am no wizard when it comes to money, but did anyone open their mail today...read those little updates you usually throw away about a "change regarding your credit card account"

They upped your interest rate...I called them..I said am I reading this right? I pay automatically thru my bank on time and twice the minimum due and your raising my rate of interest? This poor guy must have got hit all day, so he said "dont take it personally that notice went out to all our customers"...I asked him if he has ever heard of balance transfers? And to consider this balance transferred...he sounded like he was wore out and apologized...so take note:
They are changing your due date to every 23 days, late charge is prime plus 23.99% and some other added rate I cant decipher..so be careful..

[Valigator]

Oh heck I veered off topic...this country runs on credit, like it or not...you personally might be one of the few who pay cash for everything you need...but your companies don't. If they need a piece of equipment, chances are they will buy on credit with the best terms they can negotiate...its part of overhead and can often be tax deductable in some cases...for those of you still working..look around tomorrow...see how much and how many of your customers pay with credit.....I am not advocating bailout...but we cant do nothing..

[fabsroman]

Val,

I buy almost everything with credit, but pay those credit cards off every month a week before they are due. The reason I buy everything with credit cards is because I hate carrying around a lot of cash, and I get a ton of rewards by using them.

I was getting 5% back on gas, office supplies, and utilities from one card, but they just sent me a notice that gas will be reduced to 3%. I guess they are losing too much money with gas being so high.

Another card gives me 5% back on groceries and pharmacy.

Another card gives me 3% back on gas, office supplies, home improvement supplies, computers, and restaurants.

Another card gives me 3% back on the 3 most used categories of expenditures out of 15.

All of the cards give me 1% back on everything that doesn't fall within one of the bonus categories. We probably save $1,000 by using the credit cards and it doesn't cost us anything.

By the way, most of the credit companies are changing their agreements because they are trying to make money anywhere they can. I would be willing to bet that they also figure that in a down economy more people will be defaulting on their credit cards and declaring bankruptcy.