Details of the proposal haven't been released but everyone says the crux of the plan would involve using hundreds of billions of dollars of government money to buy distressed assets from financial companies so banks could carry on with their normal borrowing and lending. The move would leave "banks with more money and fewer problems," summarizes the Post. The NYT notes that the plan could add up to "the most direct commitment of taxpayer funds so far in the financial crisis." The LAT points out that at the meeting with lawmakers, Paulson and Bernanke suggested that once the markets calm down the government would be able to sell the assets to recoup taxpayer money and perhaps even make a little profit on the side.
http://www.slate.com/id/2200475?wpisrc=newsletter (http://www.slate.com/id/2200475?wpisrc=newsletter)
Rescue Dawn
By Daniel Politi
Posted Friday, Sept. 19, 2008, at 6:49 AM ET
So what we are definitely going to get is this. The taxpayer gets to bailout all those high-roller "risk-takers" we all read about in Econ 101. They get their money restored because now we all own a huge chunk of valueless securities they "risked" inventing and selling. Three-Card Monte where City Hall sends over a cop with a bag of money for the con while he also takes money from the shills?
Is there not something that doesn't only indicate rottenness in Denmark, but a rather bad smell coming from Washington and Wall Street as well?
My personal thought is simply let them drown, just like they all claim the "free-market" would do to them if they weren't astute. Yes, I am well-aware that I will suffer greatly if that occurs as the house of cards 20 miles high will land on my head, along with the bodies falling from the upper stories of that house.
But, dammit, they've preached this crap for three decades: "greed is the ultimate good and will police itself." About time we changed the law enforcement landscape I should say and crashing to earth from 20 miles high should do the trick nicely. At least we'd have some respite as we burn copy-paper for fuel while we await the next generation of carnies to grow up and steal whatever value the rest of us actually produce. 20 years, sounds like a nice nap to me.
Nikki
Remember, money, economic systems and government exist because people have faith that they are their and are good things. It seems in today's world faith is why people do things. But objectivity still has the better probability of predicting the future.