The problem is the word "Bailout"

[cushla_machree]

Every time i hear the word bailout, I just have images in my mind of fat cat wall wall street execs walking away with billions of dollars in profit and leaving us with this financial mess. Every time people lost their retirement, top brass gave themselves huge severance packages. They got greedier and greedier, and suddenly, blasting into the news was the huge economic disaster looming and how we the taxpayer needed to 'bail' them out.

I know nothing about economics, I took a whole class in high school on the stock market and I still have no clue as to how it really works and how people trade commodities and futures and whatnot, frankly, it gives me a headache. And I'm college educated, so if it makes no sense to me, its no wonder that many Americans didn't want their congressmen/women to support this bill. It sounds like we have to clean up the mess while they get to keep on making their billions of dollars. I'm not going to lie, i found it slightly amusing today when i heard that their jaws dropped on wall street when the bill failed to pass.

But from all the reading i have been doing here and watching the news, it seems like we have to do something, because the value of the dollar depends on it. I just makes me so mad, these same people espousing free market principles, want us to socialize their debt. Why can't i wake up tomorrow with my debt gone? Its not going to be christmas tomorrow for me.

I'd like a little bit of accountability. It just seemed like Paulson came in and demanded this or that, and we were told this had to be done, or else. NOW NOW NOW. I don't trust them. I still don't know if we should bail them out, but these people have been raping our country for the past eight years, and i am not about to go running to protect the obscene amount of wealth they have accumulated while they scream the sky is falling. Maybe it will, but I'd rather have more debate on this. The cynical part of me wants them to clean up their own mess. Deep down sometimes i think the crisis is going to happen no matter what, and 'bailing' wall street out will just protect their assets while they leave us with the sinking ship.

[provis99]

1. I took economics; this is a bailout of fat cats, and it is a bad deal.

All we would be doing is buying up assets that no private corporation would buy. Its basically like buying mudpies for $700 billion, without any authority over how the bailout recipients are going to spend the money. They could just pocket the $700 billion, put it in Swiss banks, and let these companies fail after all.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. and you can add to that the fact that most people and many banks and

mortgage companies were not involved in the sub-prime mortgage scams. So those who played it straight are being forced to bailout those that schemed and plundered the country.
I can totally understand your desire to see them have to clean up their own mess. The way this bill is written, none of the people who played the biggest roles in this mess will lose that much, while the rest of the country could be forced into soup lines.

[cushla_machree]

6. Maybe Im just too young

I don't have a mortgage, and I only have a 401K that has a pitiful amount of money in it. I have crappy health care, so thats not going to change. I can't pay my bills anyway...student loans, car loan, credit card debt, insurance premiums for car and health, rent, gas bill....I'm already screwed. I can't imagine things getting any worse because it already is that bad, i can hardly afford the gas to get the groceries I can't afford.

Yet somewhere in all of this, i am supposed to feel bad for wall street, the same wallstreet that deregulated itself and gave out the subprime mortgages to people who couldn't afford it (and they knew it and made money off it anyway. I'm supposed to feel bad that maybe the CEO of some company may have to sell one of his jets or 10 houses?

They won't anyway. We bail them out, we pay for it and they continue to make money. WE don't, they just cut our jobs. Or we bail them out, and they just invest the money overseas and we still hit a recession. I'm still trying to find out where i benefit.

[BrklynLiberal]

7. No matter how it is sliced, I think the little guy is going to suffer. The only

consolation may be if the big guys are suffering too.

[scheming daemons]

8. Those who "played it straight" will be swallowed up by it as well...

Educate yourself.

[MadHound]

3. In this case, your images concerning bailout are accurate

Which is why this defeat of the bailout is a good deal. Yes, we need to do something to help our economy, but we can get a better deal. A month before the elections, we the people can hold our reps accountable and achieve a deal that benefits the people rather than the fat cats.

[Cronus Protagonist]

4. You bail out that which is sinking

Seems like a fair metaphor to me.

[Venceremos]

5. The first three responses

to the OP sum it all up better than I ever could. I'm only posting to express my agreement with them. Thanks guys - great explanations.

[JDPriestly]

9. This is not about symantics. This is about really bad fundamentals.

About jobs that no longer exist. About infrastructure in disrepair. About too little investment in the technology we really need and too much in junk we don't need. About the export of honest employment to underdeveloped countries and generations of Americans who know how to consume but not how to save. About worshiping capital and despising work. About greed and arrogance. About liars in high places. About a whole nation that has been in denial since 1980.

As Nancy Pelosi explained in the speech that made the Republicans so angry, the bail out is not going to help matters unless we spend much, much more for economic development right here in America.

Our rail networks is worse than those in other industrialized nations. Our schools don't measure up. Our cars cost too much, burn too much oil and are not as dependable as some of the imported ones. We don't make consumer goods any more, not even textiles.

The bail out will help only if it is part of a comprehensive plan to rebuild America.