House Republicans share the blame, and not only because they opposed the bill by about two-to-one, 133-65. Their immediate response was to say that many of their Members turned against the bill at the last minute because Ms. Pelosi gave her nasty speech. So they are saying that Republicans chose to oppose something they think is in the national interest merely because of a partisan slight. Thank heaven these guys weren't at Valley Forge.(emphasis mine)
Update, as I've been trying to figure out what the hell's going on outside my head: read this letter (PDF format) from a healthy bank. (Purportedly. I haven't tried to check the veracity. Found the link via a fool.com discussion.) Kinda the other side of the bailout coin.
5 comments:
This was my reaction also. Are they so petty as to be willing to do harm to the country in reaction to someone's opinion. I doubt it. They may be petty but in this case I think they where blatantly dishonest and were looking for an excuse.
We are seeing people panic (Bernanke and Paulson). Those are two people who should not be scared. It was a horrible rescue plan as proposed by Paulson. The government could capitalize strong institutions and receive equity in return (as Buffett has done) as the economists are preaching, and let the dying institutions die (similar to what Sweden did). Paulson and Bernanke said that they would buy the bad paper for above fire sale prices (close to the banks' asking prices), which is against Buffett's assumption of what Paulson will do (http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2008/10/01/1/an-exclusive-conversation-with-warren-buffett), but Buffett stands to lose if the rescue plan isn't enacted as it stands or a better alternative isn't passed.
The bank pdf is correct. Paulson and his closest people are from Wall Street. They are looking after Wall Street, not Main Street. As far as the GOP, I'm not sure the country can afford the GOP unless it comes to its senses and becomes more moderate. However, I am still seeing delusion in supposedly normal people. I was a bit anxious last week after witnessing all of the hysteria in Washington. I have nothing to compare this to in my experience. But it is not as bad as the Cuban Missile Crisis when the world really was on the brink of annihilation.It also seems that we will not have another Great Depression. It is astounding that we have 0 of 5 investment banks now, and that they were grossly mismanaged and overleveraged to the extent they were.Strange days ahead for sure.
Congratulations on addressing politics on your blog and getting sane, measured responses from your regular readers...
You can see what happened on MY blog when I made a political post yesterday... unfortunately, I ended up closing comments so you'll have to email me if you want!
Paul; I wish they'd just come out saying, this was thrown together too quickly and we need to spend more time on it before committing taxpayer money to the cause.
In the first ten minutes of the debate, I wish Obama and McCain had put the best points of the plan on the table and the points that they thought still needed to be hashed out. Everyone in the American public could have been assured that the lawmakers were agreed on a general course of action but were still hashing out the specifics... and instead of panicking that "nothing had been done", investors could have sat still for a few days.
I had heard that Wells Fargo was a good match to Wachovia so I'm glad that deal went down... and without asking for any of my money to help out. (Of course, I may be helping out later.)
Lots and lots of people are panicking and losing sight of the long-term. I'm investing money that I'm not planning on needing for a lot of years. Just wish I had more to invest right now, if only in index funds and blue chips.
Yes, thank you all for sane, measured responses. I'm grateful for thoughtful readers!
You might want to wait to invest except for the usual 401-k payments. The market will likely fall some more. Let it bottom and then put your extra money in. No sense paying more for shares when they'll be cheaper tomorrow unless you have information otherwise. But yeah, this will be a buyer's market shortly. My dilemma is, do I put my money in the market, or do I save it in case I don't have a job after December?
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