Does it worry you that Hank Paulson has completely changed how he’s spending the $700 bil. bailout? It was passed as a bad debt purchase program and is now a stock purchase program for banks, and for non-bank financial companies, and insurance companies, and maybe the auto industry, and who knows, the newspaper industry could sure use some, too.
Anyway, I heard a comment from a financial commentator that Paulson seems to be throwing money at the wall and seeing what sticks. That struck home with me. It’s good to be open to the most effective solution, but doesn’t this feel like a recipe for waste and giving money to banks who don’t really need it. These really are extraordinary times: the stakes are immense and the government is really just making it up as it goes.
6 Comments
We need to get Paulson out of there NOW!!! This to critical to let someone experiment with OUR money. Let Obama appoint his own TS now and get him approved now and start fixing this problem.
Yes it does.
If you think the Obama TS will do anything different your wrong. This is a problem that had been brewing before the Bush administration and I fear we will still be feeling the effects long after the next eight years.
The equity stock investment in banks is a beter way to go because it forces them to eat the crap sandwich they made of bad debt.
You can’t let the banks fail for psychological reasons, but until you let bad businesses fail, even if they are the size of GM all your doing is prolonging the inevitable. We cant have a working capitalist system until there risk reward profile is returned. These Corporations took risk and they were rewarded with profits in the good times now they need to take their obligation in the bad times.
Why havsn’t the goverment restructured the entire board AIG instead of them going on trips on the taxpayers dime, I say we put Walmart Execs on the board and teach the AIG guys how to save money.
Paulson’s actions clearly show that this administration has absolutely no clue what to do.
No kidding Ben. Bushco and his merry band of lame ducks are CLEARLY making this up as they go along.
Of course, they’ve always done that. The “business community” must be so proud for supporting these losers all these years.
Look where it got the “business community”.
Bankrupt
But hey, continue to vote republican. It’s easier than thinking…