Sep 30 2008
Where do we go from here?
United we stand, divided we will fall.
These words echo so true to me in this time of partisan-politics. Even as the House of Representatives did not pass the $700 Billion Wall Street bailout plan, within minutes both sides of the aisle were attempting to put the blame on the other party. They’re missing the point, the American people did not want the bailout and the House, wary of angry voters with elections coming up in five weeks, didn’t want to lose their jobs.
What the point is: Rather than focus on the failed bailout plan and petty reasons why it didn’t pass, we need to focus on where we’re going from here.
I was strongly against this bailout, but that’s not to say that we don’t need some form of relief. Congress does need to do something, and fairly quickly, or else a lot of Americans are going to suffer. Not feeling the pinch yet? Ask anyone with a 401K who’s lost thousands of dollars in the last week and a half.
I’ve played the blame game for this recession. I still stand by my words, that the Federal Reserve and Wall Street deserve credit for the situation we’re in. Many others have their own theories for how we ended up in this state too. Regardless of who’s to blame, America needs now, more than ever, to move forward together. We need a bailout plan that will not only help the situation now, but will improve our economic strategies as we move forward as well.
How do I propose doing this? Sheesh come on guys, this is only a blog, and I’m only a college student, what do you want from me? :)
One proposal that has been floated back and forth is raising the FDIC limit on bank deposit insurance (currently at 100,000). This would be a good idea as it would increase confidence in banks. John McCain and Barack Obama both support this measure. Another proposal being tossed around is for the Treasury to use its exchange stabilization fund (ESF) to help backstop the market. The ESF allows the government to influence currency rates without affecting the money supply from the Federal Reserve. If used creatively though, it could serve as a tool to help guide us through this recession.
Whatever plan of action Congress decides to take, they need to be careful. Americans will be paying close attention to the details of the new proposal. If our legislation fails to produce something that people can see will help Main Street as well as Wall Street’s woes, it’s entirely possible that the new proposal will fall as well.
One candidate in particular is saying what the country needs to hear.
“While there is plenty of blame to go around and many in Washington and on Wall Street who deserve it, all of us now have a responsibility to solve this crisis because it affects the financial well-being of every single American,” Obama said. “There will be time to punish those who set this fire, but now is the moment for us to come together and put the fire out.”
Nicely done. It’s good to see that you’ve come around to see the bigger picture. I was opposed to the “bailout”, until I realized it was actually a rescue. Will it be perfect? Hell no. Is it necessary? Hell yes. We can work around the shite to make it better. I actually believe that.
I’m not opposed to a bailout if it is actually going to work. Gambling with $700 billion of tax payers’ money is not acceptable. They have nothing concrete to substantiate the expesne. How did they come up with that figure anway?
If they’re going to bail out these financial companies with my tax dollars, I expect a share of the profits when things turn around. Of course, I know that won’t happen because the whole thing is a big political ruse. The politicians of both parties are all for privitizing profits and socializing loss. Before taking out the tax payer, we should start with cutting federal politician’s salaries, retirement funds and other perks the government gives themselves. That might solve the problem right there.
Oh yea there has to be some investment from Government to pull us out of this mess, that is obvious. But I think the way they proposed us to do this what most people were worried about. A quick fix is never a good thing. I don’t want to be too harsh here but Wednesday might even be too early to know how to best approach this problem. Time will tell the extent of the damage and the best way to fix not only for present time but for the future as well.
The way we look at spending money I believe is the root to all of this. It’s not only the Federal reserve but how American Society looks at the idea of just piling on debt in hopes to pay it later.
“There will be time to punish those who set this fire, but now is the moment for us to come together and put the fire out.”
So true. I guess my thing is, yes, the government needs to do something. I fear that a quick-fix bailout just won’t teach the lesson.
Once we get this sorted out, the next president needs to institute a “new deal” that includes job-creating ventures into the renewable energy sector.
I think a thorough review of what FDR did to pull us out of the great depression would be a good idea. One of the strategies that he took was a trial-by-error method. If a program/system wasn’t working he cut it off, and if it succeeded then he kept it going. Baby steps, I guess. There’s no reason that we should rush this thing through
p.s. i responded to your question re: where i work on my blog. well, i kinda did. :)