Posted on 09/19/2008 8:18:13 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Paulson plan could cost $1 trillion By: Mike Allen September 19, 2008 10:27 AM EST
Congressional leaders said after meeting Thursday evening with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that as much as $1 trillion could be needed to avoid an imminent meltdown of the U.S. financial system.
Paulson announced plans Friday morning for a "bold approach" that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. At a news conference at Treasury headquarters, he called for a "temporary asset relief program" to take bad mortgages off the books of the nation's financial institutions. Congressional leaders had left Washington on Friday, but Paulson planned to confer with them over the weekend.
"We're talking hundreds of billions," Paulson told reporters. "This needs to be big enough to make a real difference and get to the heart of the problem."
Stock markets soared around the world in anticipation of the rescue, with British and Chinese indexes recording their biggest gains ever.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” said lawmakers were told last night “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications, here at home and globally.”
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Where does the money come from? Pre all of this mess we were projected to run a 400+ billion dollar defecit. We have a gigantic debt on top of that. Now we are spending hundreds of billions to bail out companies and might have to do another trillion on top of that? Sounds like a recipe for disaster.
...another good idea:
Let’s vote for Obama and implement all his big ideas—about half a trillion’s worth.
There is going to be serious inflation over the next 5-10 years. Anyone knowledgeable enough to know what the best investments are given inflationary circumstances?
I think Raines, Johnson and Gorelick should be indicted for misuse of funds and fined triple damages for each dollar they made while in charge. Maybe quadruple. If the “fine” is so small that they still make out like bandits, what’s to stop them or others from doing so again?
Borrow as much as you can !-0)
As my son says, if we have to bail them out, we should get their salaries and bonuses divided among us as well.
Attention: Chicoms and Saudi shoppers-we still hate you,but
we such a deal on a trillion dollars worth of T-bills!
The solution being proposed by the Bush administration is the most expensive bailout in the nation’s history, sharply curtailing the ability of the next president to push for tax cuts or new spending.
No tax cuts for McCain, no new spending for Obama...why do I get the impression that if the Dems are voted in they'll ignore this restriction, yet if McCain gets in the no new tax cuts will be heralded from the housetops.
Oh here is the great part. All those mortgages we will be buying, Uncle Sam will be refi’ng them when the homeowner bleats for any reason. That is part of the plan, Barney Frank said so. So you have an ARM..guess what you are guranteed a refi at a rate you can afford. Who the hell sets that, what agency wil handle that. The workouts departments at most lenders are totally clogged as is. Can you say ...goodbye housing market. No bank will be writing paper.
Ah gee, Fox is waiting for The One to make a statement. I’m going to take a nap.
I don’t know where it’s coming from but I know where some of it is going, into my pocket. I bought 40K of an industrial stock 2 days ago and it’s up over 22% since purchase. Thank you Paine Webber! Oh wait, they’re gone. Thank you me! hehehehe. I guess it’s just a big ole casino after all.
Or more aptly, run with the herd, get trampled. What happened two days ago was a dream for patient investors. Could the DOW go to 9K, possibly. Likely? Negative.
Do the banks and institutions that prudently managed their funds and are not in trouble receive the same benefit... or is it just those so mismanaged that the government will support?
Are we promoting efficient use of our economic resources by bailing out failing companies?
The taxpayer well is going dry. People made poor decisions and now expect those that made prudent decisions to cover for them. This will weaken the economy, not strengthen or save it. We are merely staving off the pain, not healing the wound.
If this is true, wouldn't the recovery of the real estate market cover the paper losses that are being experienced at this time?
Diversity.
Don’t do the ‘Enron’. If you are working for a company, ensure not all of your money is not invested into them.
Check out some Bear Funds.
http://mutualfunds.about.com/cs/strategies/l/blbear.htm
Also, Treasury Inflation Indexed Securities are a good hedge.
http://www.treasurydirect.gov
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.