This blog explores the contemporary political and cultural trends from a distinct perspective
The growing crisis
Published on September 30, 2008 By Bahu Virupaksha In Current Events

The 7oo billion $ suggested by the President of the US and his Treasury Secretary has been rejected by Congress and as I predicted in an earlier blog, the conservative Republicans voted against the bailout on the ground that state intervention in the economy would be a betrayal of the very creed of Burkeian conservatism represented in the strand of Reaganomics.

There is no doubt that a bail out package will eventually be passed as the US economy cannot survive for long in the present state of crisis. The cascading effect of banks tumbling into burnout can only be averted if liquidity and confidence is injected into the financial system and Paulson's remedy is from an economic point of view just right. But then there is the political point of view always important in an election year: The chances of John Maccain that for msometime seemed bright have now dimmed and that is important.

The financial crisis is spreading misery across the US and homelessness has dramatically increased. Even wellheeled professionals have now started mothballing their possessions and have moved into parking lots with their children and in some cases even their pets. It is time to bailout those really affected by the crisis.


Comments (Page 1)
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on Sep 30, 2008

Are you sure you have your title right?

on Sep 30, 2008

Typical of Bahu to blame only Republicans when 90 Democrats voted no to the bill after Pelosi gave a very interesting speech telling those who are up for relection it's ok for them to vote no. It seems obvious that with a Democratic lead Congress, Pelosi and the Democrats are useless yet again.

on Sep 30, 2008

Typical of Bahu to blame only Republicans when 90 Democrats voted no to the bill after Pelosi gave a very interesting speech telling those who are up for relection it's ok for them to vote no. It seems obvious that with a Democratic lead Congress, Pelosi and the Democrats are useless yet again.

Eh, wait a minute there. Off course, some Democracts voted no to the bill, but then again, there were more Republican who voted agains the bill than there were Democracts. Considering that the democrats are a majority by themselves, I'd say Republican ratio who voted against is much higher. Let's not start blaming the other party when it failed. I think everybody here (and in the USA in general) are pretty quick to get into the blaming game, while right now, THEY HAVE TO FIND WHAT TO DO NEXT FIRST!!!

on Sep 30, 2008

The financial crisis is spreading misery across the US and homelessness has dramatically increased. Even wellheeled professionals have now started mothballing their possessions and have moved into parking lots with their children and in some cases even their pets.

What?  Where do you get your propaganda from?

on Sep 30, 2008

Off course, some Democracts voted no to the bill, but then again, there were more Republican who voted agains the bill than there were Democracts.

That just shows there were more smart republicans voting aginst the rich than there were democrats.

on Oct 01, 2008

That just shows there were more smart republicans voting aginst the rich than there were democrats.

As I said it in another post, the bailouts HAS to be done if we don't want to seriously wreak the economy. The libertarian philosophy attitude in that case will lead us into a potential serious depression, and nobody wants that. The people are right to criticise the rich of Wall Streets for putting themselves into that situation, but if the bailout isn't accepted, we might see a lot more of bankruptcies on the part of banks, insurance company and investment firms, which might spiral down to stopping the credit for almost everyone - thu stopping consumming.

on Oct 01, 2008

As I said it in another post, the bailouts HAS to be done if we don't want to seriously wreak the economy. The libertarian philosophy attitude in that case will lead us into a potential serious depression, and nobody wants that. The people are right to criticise the rich of Wall Streets for putting themselves into that situation, but if the bailout isn't accepted, we might see a lot more of bankruptcies on the part of banks, insurance company and investment firms, which might spiral down to stopping the credit for almost everyone - thu stopping consumming.

No, the bailout will do more long term damage both in lessons not learned, and in devaluing the dollar.  Medicine does not taste good because it is not meant to be candy, but a necessary evil to get rid of an infection.  So it is with this situation.  I am not sayign that more republicans will not get stupid.  But so far, they are not.

Credit will tighten, and there will be ripples in the economy.  But the solution is not to shove it under the rug (bailout).

on Oct 01, 2008

Eh, wait a minute there. Off course, some Democracts voted no to the bill, but then again, there were more Republican who voted agains the bill than there were Democracts. Considering that the democrats are a majority by themselves, I'd say Republican ratio who voted against is much higher. Let's not start blaming the other party when it failed. I think everybody here (and in the USA in general) are pretty quick to get into the blaming game, while right now, THEY HAVE TO FIND WHAT TO DO NEXT FIRST!!!

You may wanna point to Bahu first since he was the one blaming Republicans. Of course I would not expect you to say the same to him. But just as you said, Democrats are majority and they had the chance to get this done but failed and their only excuse was to point to the Republicans, as usual. This is suppose to be bipartisan, an idea meant to help all Americans regardless of party affiliation, but Democrats continue politics as usual always blaming Republicans for everything they screw up and for what they can't accomplish. Kinda ironic considering many here are blaming Republicans because these mistakes happened when they were majority.

Besides, I was one of the people who was making this an all around problem. There is enough blame to go around but obviously some here wanna play the blame game except when the blame point to Obama.

on Oct 01, 2008

As I said it in another post, the bailouts HAS to be done if we don't want to seriously wreak the economy. The libertarian philosophy attitude in that case will lead us into a potential serious depression, and nobody wants that. The people are right to criticise the rich of Wall Streets for putting themselves into that situation, but if the bailout isn't accepted, we might see a lot more of bankruptcies on the part of banks, insurance company and investment firms, which might spiral down to stopping the credit for almost everyone - thu stopping consumming.

I agree wit DrGuy, this will only show everyone that you can always count on the Gov't to bail you out rather than teach a lesson as to not to let this heppen again. I have to believe there are other ways to do this, throwing money at something does not always fix the problem. We need a solution that does not bail out the guilty parties, one that will fix the problem and make sure it does not happen again without rewarding people for their mistakes.

Otherwise, to be fair, maybe everyones credit should be reset to zero. How come I can not benefit from my mistakes as well?

on Oct 02, 2008

You may wanna point to Bahu first since he was the one blaming Republicans. Of course I would not expect you to say the same to him. But just as you said, Democrats are majority and they had the chance to get this done but failed and their only excuse was to point to the Republicans, as usual. This is suppose to be bipartisan, an idea meant to help all Americans regardless of party affiliation, but Democrats continue politics as usual always blaming Republicans for everything they screw up and for what they can't accomplish. Kinda ironic considering many here are blaming Republicans because these mistakes happened when they were majority.

Besides, I was one of the people who was making this an all around problem. There is enough blame to go around but obviously some here wanna play the blame game except when the blame point to Obama.

Well, I hadn't answered his initial post because.. well, because I though his post was just partisanship babbling, and I though it'd be somewhat ignored. But someone came and blamed entirely on the Dems, and I wanted to say something about the whole blame game going on here.

And I have seen as much pointless blaming on the Dem side than the Republicans, so I don't think a party could actually adopt an holier-than-thou attitude regarding the whole problem of "Let's point fingers rather than save the economy". GODDAMNED ELECTION!!!

on Oct 02, 2008

I agree wit DrGuy, this will only show everyone that you can always count on the Gov't to bail you out rather than teach a lesson as to not to let this heppen again. I have to believe there are other ways to do this, throwing money at something does not always fix the problem. We need a solution that does not bail out the guilty parties, one that will fix the problem and make sure it does not happen again without rewarding people for their mistakes.

Otherwise, to be fair, maybe everyones credit should be reset to zero. How come I can not benefit from my mistakes as well?

If every single person in America was on the verge of bankruptcy because of stupid behavior, then it would probably happen, since letting everybody bankrupt would crash the economy.

YES, these people have to learn a lesson. YES, the taxpayers are going to pay for the mistakes of others. YES, it's a socialist-like action.

But not doing it will hurt everybody.

Credit will tighten, and there will be ripples in the economy.

Credit will more than tighten, it's going to be so small you could smuggle it trough the airport. There aren't going to be "ripples in the economy", the economy will effectively crash and implode on the long-term. IF the bailout is aggreed, and only then, the consequence will be a credit tightening and ripples. But if we do nothing, it could very well plunge USA (and the world) into recession. You should not underestimate the crisis as just another recession. It's a complete sector of the economy that is in deep crisis, and that happens to be the single sector on which all the other goes to when they expand their business!

on Oct 02, 2008

If every single person in America was on the verge of bankruptcy because of stupid behavior, then it would probably happen, since letting everybody bankrupt would crash the economy.

I am glad you posted that, because it takes this to the ultimate conclusion and shows the problems with the whole scenario.

If everyone is on the verge of bankruptcy, then what is going to happen/has happened?  Your money is worhtless.  That is what all these bailouts are doing.  Basically penalizing (they can raise taxes or not, the damage is paying the bailout) everyone for the sins of the few.  The bailout will cheapen your money.  You lose whether you pay more in taxes or not, and the hardest hit - the poor of course.  Dont believe me? Ask Weimar Germany. 

This bailout will not go that far, simply because it is not "all" but just one section of the economy.  So the results wil not be catastrophic, but will be bad.  It is bad, but the good thing that most people see is that the bad part will not be so easy to see.

Credit will more than tighten, it's going to be so small you could smuggle it trough the airport. There aren't going to be "ripples in the economy", the economy will effectively crash and implode on the long-term.

No, that is the hyperbole.  The reality is that credit will tighten, we will go into a recession, and come out stronger.  You fail to realize that while thigns have gotten bad, the banks are for the most part still very sound.  And for them to make money, they have to lend money.  It will not disappear.

on Oct 02, 2008

I personnaly think you are over-optimistic about the situation, Guy. The banks for the moment aren't "very sound", they are in panic mode. They haven't stopped their activity for the moment, but people just don't trust any sort of lending for the moment, and even the LIBOR rate is going trough the roof. Treasury bonds have sold at -1% only in the past months, which means people didn't trusted a bank to hold their money, they'd rather have the governement do it at loss.

Sure, the average consumer haven't felt directly the problem - yet. But that's because many bank hopes that the bailout is going to happen, and they know that if they actually stop the credit for the consumers, it's gonna be the end.

And 700 billion dollars injected to cover for the junk investments the financial sector has made won't plunge us into an inflationary crisis. You won't create new money, you will simply garantee the asset they own. If you were giving money directly to the consumers, then yes. But the banks will be using that money to lend to solid investors, not to invest themselves.

And except if the governement starts acting really stupidly - which will never happen -, never the money will become "worthless". At worst, in the worst-case senario when you actually give the money to the stupid consumers, you might have a surge in inflation, but won't make the money "worthless". That's an hyperbole, if I've ever seen one.

A Depression is an actual possibility if nothing happens, most economists agree on that. A Zimbabwe-like inflation crisis? Nobody actually believes that, save you.

on Oct 02, 2008

state intervention in the economy would be a betrayal of the very creed of Burkeian conservatism represented in the strand of Reaganomics.

Actually it would go back to Adam Smith and is seen as a further advancment of the economic ideas of John Maynard Keynes. 

But using the term 'Reaganomics' is so much more inflammatory in current times.

on Oct 02, 2008

But the whole point of state interventionism - Keynes's philosophy - was to prevent another catastrophic crash. And this is what we are facing today.

And Keynes's philosophy is the determining attitude of the federal governement right now - even Reagan hasn't stepped away from *that*. So I really don't see what we are betraying, if we are actually saving the economy as a whole from the stupid actions of a few.

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