Responsible bail out
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| Wed, 11-19-2008 - 9:05pm |
I am for the bail out. I've supported the overall idea since it was first proposed. What is distressing is how we are apparently totally bungling the power granted to this administration.
My bad. I should have known they could not even get this right.
On the way home tonight, NPR's Marketplace ran a story on how executives are being paid bonuses, and that companies are paying dividends - out of this funding. Few are doing anything remotely close to lending.
Barney Frank was right to be outraged at the lack of assistance for homeowners, and the continued reluctance of the administration to assist homeowners.
And today comes word of deflation, a huge, huge red flag that screams the 'd' word. Folks, we are on the cusp of 1930, and our leaders, given latitude they did not have in 1930, are f'ing it up.
I am no expert on this, but the way they explained this tonight, deflation can spiral downward, last occuring way back in the 1930s.
There is 450 billion left. How do we use this intelligently? First thing that has to happen is mandate no bonuses and no dividends to any company receiving funds. Mandate they must lend, and we will gurantee mortgages they renegotiate to better terms for the homeowner, allowing them to stay, with a certain acceptable parameters. Set quotas on how many mortgages they must underwrite a day, how many auto loans, etc. Publicise acceptability criteria, so people know before going in whether they qualify.
If there are one too many automakers in Detroit, don't close one, set it to a different task - any ideas out there on how we could divert them to something that helps us face other issues? America has to build things again... what can we get them to build? Financing isn't the problem, the money will be there - any ideas?

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“Hire replacement labour? Do you know how incredibly volatile and dangerous a practice that is? Go look at history.”
“you keep repeating your thoughts of "unskilled workers."
“False.
“This attitude is what caused inequality and poverty. Paying middle class workers a decent wage is not a bad thing."”
"I was 20 when Reagan was elected, and actually voted for Carter. But soon realized how much better the economy got under Reagan looking back. But it took a while, as the farm economy was in a crisis then as is the housing crisis today. The farm sector has learned it's lesson in how to handle credit.
If you don't like deficits, hold on because if Obama gets all he wishes for, you haven't seen nothin' yet."
Interesting perspective. Wrong as a matter of the facts. But interesting. Here is the data that shows the bigger picture about Democrats and Republican politicians and what they do or don't do for us when we give them our power:
"The accompanying table, which is adapted from the book, tells a remarkably consistent story. It shows that when Democrats were in the White House, lower-income families experienced slightly faster income growth than higher-income families — which means that incomes were equalizing. In stark contrast, it also shows much faster income growth for the better-off when Republicans were in the White House — thus widening the gap in income.
The table also shows that families at the 95th percentile fared almost as well under Republican presidents as under Democrats (1.90 percent growth per year, versus 2.12 percent), giving them little stake, economically, in election outcomes. But the stakes were enormous for the less well-to-do. Families at the 20th percentile fared much worse under Republicans than under Democrats (0.43 percent versus 2.64 percent). Eight years of growth at an annual rate of 0.43 percent increases a family’s income by just 3.5 percent, while eight years of growth at 2.64 percent raises it by 23.2 percent."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/business/31view.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1220925717-m0PHN3OD5ZOh/hLN4UUk1A&oref=slogin
It's easy to lose site of the facts when Fox keeps cheerleading for the Republicans. Fox kept right on cheerleading the Republicans into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. I hope you bone up on your facts soon.
Best, SD
"Car companies should make their prices competitive with the marketplace...and then adjust costs to operate at a reasonable profit. "
That is good reasoning, but when politics is involved it gets more deeply involved quickly.
Oh, by the way...
Shortly after starting this discussion with you last night my ID was deleted and my IP address was blocked.
"I agree... flexibility is key here, and that includes the unions. While I've argued pro union in the face of a pov I've never encountered before, one 16 standard deviations to the right of Bush it seems, I do think the unions must offer concessions."
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