Apparently each of us is going to be responsible for an additional $2,000 in debt for this bail out. If they are going to hand out $2K with my name on it, it shouldn’t be to pay private school tuition for a Wall Street broker’s kid or to put fuel in his private jet.
My “illiberal view” of this attempt was expressed some time ago”
“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.
“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?”
“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.”
“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge.
“Both very busy, sir.”
“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very glad to hear it.”
I’ve seen no earnest effort by the denizens of Wall Street to correct their own affairs by a reduction of salaries of top management and a reform of practices. Talk to me after that has been attempted.
]]>So, if there’s a poor CEO living on the street who needs a sammich, I’ll buy him one. Just don’t give the CEO money, he’ll blow it all on booze.
]]>In addition, if somebody doesn’t pay the taxes, a lot of these places are going to be sold at tax auctions. No one needs that additional complication.
Something needed to have been done for quite some time, but they stalled until the situation became critical and now the people who have been telling us that “the fundamentals are strong” are saying if they don’t get a blank check with no oversight the world will collapse.
We need what we had in the 1930s, because we know that worked. This is no time to try something new.
]]>As for the bailout program, something has to be done about those toxic mortgages. Unless you take those off the books once and for all and re-capitalize the financial system, you risk a 1930-1932 style meltdown. But I swear, the Busheviks just can’t resist the urge to loot. Even when we’re talking about avoiding a new Great Depression, they’re looking around and saying, “now, how can I fix this so that my cronies in private enterprise get loot from the public treasury?”. I was not too upset about the AIG bailout because at least the Fed got ownership of AIG and could give the boot to the managers who had engaged in the risky practices, and make sure they didn’t happen again. But this latest bailout… the more I read about it, the more it’s like, “who the fuck are they kidding?” I mean, it allows the Treasury Secretary to just throw money at anybody, anywhere, as long as he claims it’s “mortgage related”. Talk about a leopard not changing its spots…
– Badtux the Finance Penguin
]]>Let these banks fill out the same forms used by people applying for food stamps, at the same place. Then make them pick up the money at Wal-Mart or the Dollar Store. Let them see how people who need money to feed their kids get treated by the government.
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