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

[izzylobo.livejournal.com]

And the Evil Terrorists were going to Evily Terrorize us with Evil Terror - and so we got the Patriot Act, and warrant-less surveillance, and all the other happy horseshit that came along with it.

The economy is important. It's hurting - in part because now everyone has convinced themselves that if omfg the bill doesn't pass, the economy will implode - and it's important to do something.

But seven hundred billion dollars (or even the three-mumble hundred billion the current version of the bill provides for as immediately available) is a *lot* of money. It's money we don't have, on top of a hundred or so billion that we've already spent on this. And that doesn't count Iraq, or the current deficit, or anything else. This would be a huge sum of money even if the government hadn't been wastrels for the last 8 years.

And it's being given, potentially, to people who aren't very trustworthy. Paulson walked up to the Hill with a suggested bill that should have gotten him clapped in irons. The current version doesn't look much better.

Do the *right* thing - yes. Do something to stave off, sure - as long as it isn't a naked power grab, combined with the largest fleecing of the American public in history? You betcha.

But I'm not convinced this bill would work, that it wasn't a naked power grab, and that it wouldn't, in the long run, just be squeezing the last few drops of capital out of the public, before it all collapses anyways.

Sometimes, the cure really is worse than the disease.