Finanaical Bailout Has Remarkable Effect on Economy

Well, it's a damn fine thing we passed that $700 Billion "bail-out" measure last week. It has had a remarkable impact.

Downward!

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped nearly 800 points to 9561.32. The first time the average fell below 10,000 since 2004.

The credit markets and banks are still not loaning money; banks are begging for cash from the government (that means you and me!), in the form of $900 billion in "loans;" and individual states are coming forward for "bailouts" (everything starts in California).

I don't know what that all really means, but it ain't good.

This guy knows what this really means, and he agrees with me:

“Whatever money you may need for the next five years, please take it out of the stock market right now, this week. I do not believe that you should risk those assets in the stock market right now.”

But, have no fear, gentle readers, President Bush tells us everything is hunky-dory, it is just "going to take awhile."

So, as long as you don't plan on retiring in the next couple of years, you might be OK.

So, thanks Barney Frank, et. al. You really saved the day this time.

And you want these guys running healthcare in this country????

John McCain the Hypocrite or Did He Blow It Big Time??

For a candidate who has built his presidential campaign on fighting earmarks and other bits of political pork-barrel spending, John McCain is either a hypocrite or missed a huge opportunity by voting for this nightmare of a "economic recovery" package.

As I have railed at before, and again, and yet again, this recovery package is one part economic fixes and three parts "crap sandwich."

AND MCCAIN VOTED FOR IT!!!

This document was a giant 450 pages earmark!

It might have been a cynical maneuver, but it would have won McCain big points had he stood up and said NO!. He could easily have done some quiet internal polls of his senate brethren, determined that it would pass easily, then came out and screamed about the pork.

I cannot, in good conscience, vote for the bill in its current condition. This goes well beyond economic recovery to include some of the most opportunistic hand-outs to special interests and pounds of irrelevant pork! Fellow Senators, give me a clean economic recovery bill and I will support it! In its current form I cannot!

How hard would that have been?

Has "The Maverick" been tamed? Is this race over?

A huge opportunity missed to help prevent the utterance of the following: President Barack Obama.

Will Congress Save Us From the "Bailout"?

I know I am just spinning wheels here, but I urge the U.S. House of Representatives to recast the "Emergency Economic Stabilization" bill H.R. 1424 into an actual "bailout" measure.

Crop out "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008," and lose the rest. This section consists of only 111 pages out of 451, leaving 340 pages of tax breaks and other gimmes to myriad special interests and dis-interests that have been analyzed ad nauseum by honest journalists and reporters.

I can't agree less with the "solution" to the economic mess that the entire legislature is considering: handing $700 billion dollars to one person to dole out any way he see fit.

But, if you are going to pass this solution anyway, at least take out the parts that have nothing to do with Wall Street, mortgages, and the banking industry.

Pass a bailout-only bill. The country deserves honest solutions to the problems we face. You will have plenty of time later to throw softballs to your friends and lobbyists.

Force the Senate to re-vote on the bailout-only portion of the bill and see how they respond. If this is such a dire crisis, why would Senators need earmarked incentives to sign onto a solution?

Show the Senate and the American people that you take this issue seriously enough to evaluate the bailout on its merits, not What's in it for me?.


Do what is right for the country and solve the problem you are setting out to solve.

Senators Approve Pork-Laden "Bailout" Bill

I don't know why I am surprised.

Barack Obama ridiculed John McCain last week for not being able to multi-task. And when a politician multi-tasks, I guess, this is what we get as a result.

Our intrepid U.S. Senators worked into the evening to craft a bail out bill that will help stem the fiscal crisis in the U.S. They wanted to help not just Wall Street, but Main Street, too.

They ended up helping pretty much every special interest group short of NAMBLA.





Here is just a partial list of the crucial items in Senate bill H.R. 1424 that Wall Street was crying out for.

• tax deductions for computer donations (pg. 291), food donations (pg. 293) and book donations (pg.294)
• tax breaks for filmmakers and TV producers (pg. 298)
• tax exemptions for children's wooden bow and arrows -- not those phony laminate types either (pg. 300)
• duty extension for wool products -- worsted wool and combed wool both! (pg. 295)
• caps on excise taxes for Puerto Rican and Virgin Island rum (pg 280)
  
• tax breaks on cost recovery for restaurant improvements and "certain" retail space (pg. 274)

But, thankfully, they refused to include tax breaks for really big toy arrows. Hey, at least the senators had the children in mind.

And I love this piece of congressional magic -- they are going to turn anyone who receives a settlement from the Exxon Valdez accident into a fisherman (pg. 302). That will help that single-mother in the Bronx pay her mortgage.

My company will do well: they are extending the "Indian Employment Credit;" we have a number of good folks from India working here!

In this "economic recovery package," only 111 of 451 pages are dedicated to economic recovery!

I could write 451 pages of my own on the audacity of the senate to give one person the power to dole out $700 billion dollars to pretty much whomever he wants.

The Secretary is authorized... to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, troubled assets from any financial institution, on such terms and conditions as are determined by the Secretary, and in accordance with this Act and the policies and procedures developed and published by the Secretary. (pg. 6)

So the secretary of the U.S. treasury can buy any "troubled asset" as long as he determines it appropriate and abides by his own policies. Now that's oversight!

I don't know about you, but I will sleep better knowing that my 401K will mushroom now that we have extended tax breaks for economic development in America Samoa (pg 279).

Phew!