10 Things You Should Know About the Trillion Dollar Bailout

Originally posted by nyk537
So did McCain in 2003 and 2004 along with President Bush.

Point is, people who want to blame this on Republicans have no idea what they are talking about.

So, what you are saying is that people who want to blame this solely on the Republicans doesn't know what they are talking about but people (like
you, for instance) who want to blame this crisis solely on the Democrats do?

If that's your point then you don't have any idea what you are talking about.

Anyone who attempts to saddle either party with the responsibility is either blind or ignorant. Both parties deserve the blame. As do the financial
institutions that ignored best practices and wrote loans that were doomed to default. Those who took out mortgages on homes they had to know they
would be unable to pay also are to blame.

Let's stop the partisan crap. We are in enough trouble without turning this into yet another Right vs Left pissing match.

I never said it was all the Democrats fault, I'm only saying that this is not Bush's fault or McCain's fault or anything else. This is a
compilation of many events that go all the way back to the Clinton Presidency. There is no single person or party to blame. I'm only sticking up for
those being wrongly accused. Either way, we are in the mess now, and pointing fingers won't get us anywhere.

Well, if anyone wants my opinion.... wait, what am I saying? I always give it anyway....

What we are seeing is a panic. Not at the grass roots level, but at the upper tiers of finance. This is not the Republicrats vs. the Demopublicans,
but rather the banks vs. the Fed vs. the industries vs. realtors vs.... you get the idea.

Everyone with power is lobbying and maneuvering in order to come out on top. They are doing this because they know what the American people (and
indeed, the people of the entire world) don't yet realize: it's over. The goose that laid the golden eggs is dead.

In a healthy economic system, the industries manufacture goods for the people to buy. The people can buy them due to the fact that they have
expendable income (income that is theirs to buy what they want with it). The more expendable income among the people, the more goods are bought, which
means more jobs to make those goods, which means more expendable income. Banks act like a buffer to smooth out short financial glitches, providing
money via credit in order to allow people to purchase easier and to purchase more expensive (and needed) things, like homes and cars.

It is the people who run the economy. Every time someone buys a gallon of milk from the grocery store, they are paying for the farmer to keep and care
for his cows, the machinery to milk them, the driver and truck to carry the milk to processing, the processing equipment, The processing building, the
guy who runs the equipment, the driver and truck that brings it to the store, the displays in the store, the store itself, the guy who stocks the
shelves, and the guy who runs the store. Every piece of equipment and every building mentioned above also has it's own similar chain of people and
equipment that the purchase of it provides for. Eventually, it comes down to just two things that form the basis of the entire economy: people
performing jobs and resources from land. Everything depends on these two commodities.

Notice I never mentioned government. That's because government is not necessary to a thriving economy. Government (and taxes) are a drain on any
economy, but due to greed and immoral business practices, it is a drain which needs to exist in some small way to regulate things.

What our (the US) government has done in the past decades, however, is to force itself to become a major player in the economy. Now we are seeing the
results of that. Efficiency is not rewarded by government, because it sits atop the economic system in order to regulate. Efficiency is driven from
the bottom; should a company make a better product at a better price, the resulting desire of the people who purchase will make that company more
profitable.

Management is a type of 'private government' that regulates individual businesses. It too is a necessary drain, as there are too many workers who
will take advantage of their company. As such, management sits atop the economy of its individual company in order to regulate, and as such, should
management become too bloated, it will collapse its own company.

In other words, the people hold up everything else. As long as there are enough people with enough income (power) to support that which is above them,
everything runs fine. But as government begins to enter the picture more and more, things begin to shift away from this balancing act. Every person
who is supported by government instead of private industry is one more person who is not carrying their weight, placing a heavier load on those who
are carrying the economy. Also, government becomes bloated, demanding more and more from the people in the way of taxation. This increases the total
load, while at the same time leaving less people to support the load.

People have an innate tendency to try and keep up with the latest that their society has to offer. This helps a thriving economy, as it makes people
want to buy more and thereby keep the flow of power (money) moving. But when this jealousy turns to those who are being carried by the government,
their desires for equality place a heavier burden on everyone. This is socialism. The weight of a bloated government combined with a low number of
workers to support it places an extreme burden on those workers. Eventually, it will collapse.

We have been in such a collapsing system for at least a decade now. The collapse has been forestalled by government programs that siphon money back to
those who are desperately trying to carry the load of a bloated government. But every time things seem to stabilize, someone in the
business/management tier decides they can get more out of life by siphoning off a bit more power. More bloating at the top, followed by a readjustment
that further bloats the government and increases the load at the bottom, is the result.

Soon, very soon (it could happen this week, as a matter of fact), there will be a final collapse. The pressures of higher fuel prices, the massive
governmental beaurocracy, The subsequent rise of food prices, the disaster relief efforts, and far-reaching social programs have overloaded things.
The tower is beginning to shake. Just as a real tower shakes at the top in a wind storm, this shaking is being felt at the highest tiers, causing a
scramble for a better, safer position. And just as any tower with too great a load will collapse, so will this one, crushing the people under it in a
manner not unlike those poor souls buried under the Twin Towers in 2001.

Look up! The sky is not falling, but that tower above you is. I pray we do not endure this collapse of everything we have known while arguing about
the two headed snake of politics, but then again, the band on the Titanic played on while the ship sank... perhaps it is more human nature.

Yeah marge deregulation has been a Republican mantra for decades but now that fact has become uncomfortable as the birds come home to roost so they
try and muddy the waters regarding its history.

Yes there were Democratic collaborators but the imputus always came from the right.

We had fair warning as to the path deregulation would take with the savings and loan mess of the late 80's and early 90's but the republicans kept
insisting that it was a fluke.

Now John (Mr. Keating five) McCain wants to be president... and consider one of the architects of deregulation, Phil (a nations of whiners) Gramm was
his financial advisor until he came out with that little gem.

Today in the hearings very clear was pointed to the how the present administration has been so adamant to fix the nations problems when it comes to un
employment, services ( as they has been cut to allocate funds to the war on terror) health care and many others but when Benanke and Paulso said they
want 700 billion dollars from the American tax payer yesterday our President has not problem pushing this through congress with no questions,
regulations and oversight.

[soapbox]
It's hilarious to see what those with a partisan ideological agenda can come up when grasping at straws to cast blame. Anyone who thinks the whole
entirety of Congress is not guilty is sadly mistaken. This has continued through multiple administrations, Democrat and Republican, and multiple
congresses, Democrat and Republican controlled.

This is what always happens in a crisis scenario. Instead of agreeing to work toward a solution based on commonly shared grievances, people
always come in and create, intentionally or not, internal factions which leads inevitably to internal power struggles. Rather than agreeing that the
whole thing stinks in its entirety we're arguing over which part stinks the worst.

But by all means keep on in-fighting to your hearts' content, it's not as if divide-and-conquer ever worked.
[/soapbox]

Yes all of congress is guilty for allowing (and or voting for) dereuglation of the financial industry and failing their job as overseers but the fact
remains the imputus for deregulation came from the right during the Reagan administration.

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