Bailout failed
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| Mon, 09-29-2008 - 2:20pm |
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago
WASHINGTON - The House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue package, ignoring urgent pleas from President Bush and bipartisan congressional leaders to quickly bail out the staggering financial industry.
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Stocks plummeting on Wall Street even before the 228-205 vote to reject the bill was announced on the House floor.
When the critical vote was tallied, too few members of the House were willing to support the unpopular measure with elections just five weeks away. Ample no votes came from both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle.
Bush and a host of leading congressional figures had implored the lawmakers to pass the legislation despite howls of protest from their constituents back home.


what the bill said
http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/28/ayo08c04_xml.pdf
I understand that constituents' opinions matter, but are they economic experts? Do they have an alternative to keep our economy and credit from freezing? If so, they need to say so and stop extorting votes out of their reps. And if those reps are not strong enough to do the right thing in the face of opposition, then they are in the wrong field.
No one knows what will work. But we have to temporarily stabalize the markets, and this plan, which both parties worked on should have gone through. This posturing to look like they aren't like their GOP leader, Bush43 is childish and dangerous to our economy.
Bad day on Wall Street.
Sopal
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There have been plenty of alternatives proposed by economists floating around out there. It's true the majority of constituents are not economic experts, but neither are many of our representatives in the House. I think Paulson and Bernanke know that, and that's why they came out with only a 3-page proposal to begin with. They think all of Congress, as well as all of us taxpayers are dummies, and only they, along with the failing firms' officers have the expertise to cure the failing economy.
It was those supposed financial wizards created this mess! They need to give serious consideration to the alternative solutions.
For starters these are a couple:
1) Convert all the firms' creditors' stakes to equity positions. That shores up their capital so that they can make loans, but leaves the risk with those who chose to take it on.
2)Decrease interest rates on all outstanding mortgages by 2-4%. They could also do the same for credit card and other consumer/small business debt. That would restore confidence, give most taxpayers a break and stimulate the housing market again to avoid more foreclosures, and to get the current backlog of homes off the market.
The government costs to implement either of the above proposals would be minimal, compared to the costs of the legislation voted on today.
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http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/october/meet_the_new_health_.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQTBYQlQ7yM