In brief: the failure of the bailout

[demiurgent]

It's surprisingly simple.

Neither major political party was willing to sacrifice the election to save the nation.

There is nothing more basic than that. Neither party would sacrifice personal power in order to save the economy of the United States of America.

My representative voted Nay. For the first time, I'm considering voting against her in November. I'm certainly calling her office tomorrow to express my deep disappointment in her.

For those who don't want to see the bailout of Wall street firms because gorsh, they's all rich and it's not fair? I hope you really, really enjoy the next ten years.

Comments

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

This wasn't a plan. It was a $700 billion hail mary. The Treasury has outright said that that figure isn't based on anything, and they just wanted a really big number.

Of course, by insisting on such a ridiculous amount, they've pretty much doomed any more moderate proposal, because a smaller amount will be perceived as insufficient. And in economics, perception is reality.

For once, the Republicans in Congress actually did something right, IMO. Of course, they did it for the wrong reasons ("Nancy Pelosi said something mean!"), but still.