The Bailout Made Simple (And A Better Idea)

[democrat2thecore]

Let's scale the whole thing back to $1,000. One grand. A bailout is needed because 5 families can't pay their $200 mortgages. All the Wall Street gurus tell us the mortgage problem is the bottom line. So, Wall Street wants to take a thousand dollars to "save themselves." Just one problem: Why not bailout the five families with $200 each to pay their mortgages?


David Sirota has just blogged about this same general concept and calls it the "Question Of The Day."

Here is a portion of his post:

Anyone who thinks we should pass the $700 billion bailout bill as is needs to answer a simple question: How does handing over $700 billion to Wall Street help the economy any more than, say, handing over $700 billion to homeowners, or spending $700 billion on a New Deal-style full employment program? In fact, you have to answer an even simpler question: How is handing over $700 billion to Wall Street a BETTER way to save the economy than helping homeowners or investing in the economy?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: If the liquidity problem is being fueled by banks holding worthless mortgage backed assets, and those assets are worthless because homeowners are having trouble paying their mortgage, then those pushing a Wall Street bailout need to explain why giving money to bankers - and not to homeowners to help them pay their mortgages - is the way to address the problem.

In considering this bill, the burden of proof is on those who want to spend 5% of our entire economy on a gift to Wall Street. If you can't answer that simple question, then I would suggest the White House fearmongering - the same kind that we all bewailed during the lead up to the Iraq invasion - is inhibiting your ability to think clearly. And not a single supporter of this bill - not Paul Krugman, not Brad DeLong, not Nancy Pelosi, not Henry Paulson, not ANYONE - has been able to answer this very simple question. The only thing most of the proponents have done is make a substance-free political argument - that this is supposedly the "only thing that can pass," even though DEMOCRATS CONTROL BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS.

http://action.credomobile.com/sirota/

[democrat2thecore]

1. Sirota's Books - Hostile Takeover, 2006 and The Uprising, 2008 -nt

[Gold Metal Flake]

2. I just posted about this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7249864

This has been done before. The Hoover bailout did not work. The FDR New Deal HOLC refinance program did. My Rep is an asshole extreme RWer. You got a Rep with a brain you can talk to?

[democrat2thecore]

3. I just read what you wrote - same thing. FDR-style populism -nt