HUGE MISTAKE FOR OBAMA TO SUPPORT THIS BAILOUT!

[searchingforlight]

I think he should walk away from this deal. I work for a utility and when someone has run-up a bill it is sometimes better for them to let them be shut-off. Believe me when I say it helps them to face that they are overextended. Sometimes they have to readjust their lifestyle. Perhaps moving to a more energy friendly property, cutting out some other expenses (cable, cell phone, etc) monitoring usage. Bailouts are always a bad choice when there are lessons to learn.

[mckara]

1. We Need the Bailout

The American economy cannot survive without a bailout.

Is it better to let the system crash to prove it?

[paparush]

11. The Bailout has been happening - Look at the Fed Discount Window

WASHINGTON -- Direct borrowing from the U.S. Federal Reserve's expanded discount window soared to new highs among both investment and commercial banks in the latest week as lawmakers scrambled to put together a $700 billion plan aimed at healing severely strained credit markets.

Meanwhile, a loan to troubled insurer American International Group Inc. on Wednesday totaled $44.57 billion, more than half the insurer's $85 billion credit line with the central bank. AIG last Wednesday borrowed $28 billion from its Fed credit line, which had been announced just days earlier. "You're seeing financial institutions all over the place take advantage of the Fed's offer to extend credit," said J.P. Morgan Chase economist Michael Feroli. "The Fed may be the lender of last resort, and I guess a lot of people are at their last resort now."

The Fed on Wednesday provided $72.67 billion in credit for its recently announced money-market mutual fund liquidity facility. The figure is more than 20% of the asset-backed commercial paper the funds held in August, Feroli said.

Total borrowing at the discount window, including both depository institutions and primary dealers, more than doubled to a record $262.34 billion Wednesday from a previous record $121.29 billion in the prior week, the Fed said in its weekly report Thursday. Total average daily borrowing also jumped to $187.75 billion from a record $47.97 billion in the prior week.

Lending through the primary dealer credit facility, created in March for investment banks in the wake of the near-collapse of Bear Stearns, reached a new record of $105.66 billion as of Wednesday after hitting $59.78 billion in the previous week to end a weeks-long stretch in which investment banks didn't touch the facility. The figure includes loans made to broker-dealers Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch as well as their U.K. counterparts as part of an announcement the Fed made over the weekend.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122237806611776365.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[JuniperLea]

12. Hoover's bail out didn't work...

No promises this will either...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

20. My Good Friend ,Hoover's Only Response Was To Balance The Budget Which Exacerabted The Problem

I don't know what the answer is but I don't think "tough love " is...

[mckara]

26. Is It Better to Fall into a Depression Without Trying Anything?

We're between a rock and an immovable object.

Let's hope a bailout will save us from the abyss, after 25 years of excessive consumption.

[krawhitham]

27. I think what the OP is saying is, work to get a bailout behind closed doors but do not vote for it

It will not be popular with Joe 6pack but it is needed to hold off a depression. Joe 6pack might just vote for the candidate that does not support the bailout

[JuniperLea]

29. There is no saving us...

The bailout only means more debt. If Lehman Bros, who survived the great depression, has failed, there is no propping us back up at this point. We are going to be on a bumpy road for a while... Obama really has his work cut out for him.

If Bush says we need it, we surely do NOT need it. Why would we believe the rat bastard who got us into this mess? Why would we trust him to show us the way out? That makes no sense at all. Even if someone knows nothing about global economy, this simple test is enough. This is the last ditch effort to rob us of every last time in cash and credit. Then they conveniently have a new Democratic POTUS to point the finger at... Clinton and Obama did this to us, it certainly wasn't the neo-cons in control for the past eight years... this is what they will want us to believe.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

2. I agree -- voting for this bailout without very real and meaningful ...

...conditional market reforms (and I don't hear them talking about anything very meaningful) is a big mistake -- like voting to give authorization to wage a war of choice against a nation that has not attacked us without a Declaration of War from Congress.

He would earn big points with the voters to stand up and call this gargantuan con job what it is.

[yardwork]

3. OBAMA ISN'T ON THE COMMITTEES WORKING ON THIS!!!!

This is hugh!!!! Im series!!!! Obama doesn't have anything to do with it!!!!!!!!!

[Lex]

4. LOL!

True. :rofl:

[yardwork]

8. heh heh heh

[searchingforlight]

5. He can vote and he can take a position against it.

[yardwork]

9. Thank you for dropping the caps and implied hysteria.

I trust Obama to handle this well, as he's handled most things.

[stillcool]

23. yeah but there's nothing to vote on...

[Left Is Write]

14. THANK YOU!

Sorry...I had the uncontrollable impulse to shout too.

;)

[renie408]

6. No offense, but that is a really BAD analogy.

Do you get that part of 'readjusting' the ENTIRE banking/mortgage/investing system 'lifestyle' includes YOU not being able to buy a car? Or YOU not being able to buy a house? Or that utility you work for not being able to borrow money to fund expansion or perhaps to make payroll? Do you get that there are tens of thousands of mid-sized businesses that rely on access to credit to stay in business? Do you understand that if thousands of small to mid-sized businesses fail, the ENTIRE COUNTRY will be fucked? What happens to your job if a large percentage of the customers of that utility you work for can't pay their bills?

Yes, it needs to be reworked. But if we don't bail it out first, there won't BE ANYTHING TO READJUST.

[chitty]

7. We have huge problem in this country right now.

I own a retail store in Phoenix, the economy is in dire straits.

Believe me.

My whole life is tied up in this business and I can only hope we make it.

Shit rolls down hill and it's hitting the small business owners right now. Hitting us VERY hard.

It's only a matter of time before this starts hitting the average consumer as hard as we are getting it.

Something needs to be done for all of us.

[vaberella]

10. Obama is looking for bail out with equity shares for the people. The companies become PUBLIC

property. Do you an inkling of what that means? When the nation starts getting returns and revenue with interest from the loans racking up 86% it would go to us. He had even said that was his primary focus without anything for CEOs.

They were on the bailout provided by Dodd and Frank. WE get and we get he money back. The stupid freepers who are pushing no bail out our fucking up our nation. and willing to risk more jobs for the sake of a free market that obviously doesn't work.

[ClarkUSA]

16. BINGO... such as what happened to Sweden in 1992 during a similar meltdown

In that case, the government ended up with 0% payout when adjusted for profit - they made a nice net profit for Swedish taxpayers in the end.

[stillcool]

25. I think this is a real problem...

I am pretty ignorant about what all this means, but it seems to me that the $700 billion bailout has not been explained in terms people like me can grasp. I see it implied that this is just bailing out the banks, but obviously there is more to what the consequences of action and inaction are, and how the language of the bill defines it as something different then just a 'bail-out'

[HughMoran]

13. SCREAM!!!!!!!!

YELL!!!!!!!!!

[4_Legs_Good]

15. I think this is more serious than your average person understands

When you can get Senate Republicans, Democrats, the President and the Cabinet members in charge of this stuff to agree, I think there's probably a good reason.

I'm listening to Dodd a lot, and I think he knows what the hell he's doing, and will give him the benefit of the doubt.

Obama needs to look at all the facts and vote accordingly. It may well be that this is one of those moments where he has to look America in the eye and say, "you're not gonna like this, but..."

David

[Scooter24]

17. I look at it this way.

There are two major proposals floating right now. One is based on the original Paulson plan which allows the government to buy the debt. The other, the Republican proposal, allows the government to insure other company's in their efforts to buy the debt from these banks in lieu of the government buying the debt directly.

Ultimately, under the Republican proposal, when a loan fails, the tax payer is going to end up paying for it in the end. So the winner here is the corporation. If someone happens to pay off their loan then the corporation gets the interest. Both win. If the loan fails, then they shove the debt onto the taxpayer, take their government insurance money, and washes their hands of everything. They still win. Thus, the homeowner loses, the taxpayer loses, and the corporation with zero liability has everything to gain.

The Paulson proposal, though lots of work was still needed on it, at least allowed the government to help homeowners through legislation instead of just kicking them out. The money gets returned to our pocketbooks and not the pocketbook's of a corporation's executive team.

Neither plan is perfect but I'm much happier having the government in control here than the under the control of a profit-hungry corporation.

[Teaser]

18. Next time, capitalize the title

thanks.

[searchingforlight]

21. Hey, you do what you can to get some input.

I like to know what the views are here. I have seen many a subject die because it was a boring lead. Every so often it is fun to see people upset. It is such a rare occurrence on DU.

[seabeyond]

19. just let me know when, cause when there is a run on banks, i want to get my cash

out. we have plenty, so i will probably make it thru the struggle, but those living from paycheck to paycheck, god help them

[texshelters]

22. Huge Mistake!

Is a HUGE EXAGGERATION!

While I disagree with Obama's support of the bailout, he won't
take a lot of political flack for it. Obama has a lot of
corporate support and it is no surprise that he supports a
bailout of some kind. However, unlike McCain and his friends,
he wasn't instrumental in causing this disaster. But the
Republicans and McCain keep trying to lay it on him. 

Peace,
Tex Shelters

[KayLaw]

24. I'm with you.

I've been listening to CNBC and they're linking Bush with the Democrats, vs. The Maverick Republicans. All Democrats should walk away. If the Republicans are so sure calamity is near, let them lead the way out. It was their dedication to lack of regulation that brought us here. Even Peter Schiff is blaming the Democrats for the bailout.

[mtnsnake]

28. Agree. Obama needs to distance himself from any taxpayers bailout

or it will give the Republicans the ammo they've been hoping for. Afterall, if you bail out elitists, then what does that make you? He's a shrewd politician, so I'm sure he'll figure out a way to say fuck the bailout tonight.