Posted on 10/10/2008 8:34:02 AM PDT by QenBirQeni
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Friday the U.S. government was moving aggressively to address the financial markets crisis, but he acknowledged that anxiety was feeding on itself as stocks continued to plunge.
"The United States government is acting; we will continue to act to resolve this crisis and restore stability to our markets," Bush said in an eight-and-a-half minute statement in the White House Rose Garden aimed at calming Americans' growing fears.
The credit markets have remained largely frozen despite coordinated interest rate cuts by central banks and government intervention to safeguard deposits and provide additional liquidity to lenders.
Stock markets have continued to fall dramatically which has drained the value of retirement accounts and limited the ability of companies to raise capital, stoking fears of a global recession and potentially a depression.
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(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
It's a real shame McCain voted for this bailout bill. I don't say this lightly, but one has to see the dangers of what may come in the future. Consider an Obama/Biden presidency, which is looking more likely than not, and a Democratic controlled Congress. We've allowed our current government to increase it's control on the economy past Keynesian levels, even dangerously close to controlling huge quantities of financials, which weak as they are, can give an Obama White House immense control over our financial institutions. The real blame truthfully should rest with these giant financial powerhouses, which although love to mitigate risk by utilizing complex mathematics and exotic vehicles to structure trades, they cannot foresee the risk of being indebted to the government. Our political and financial leaders have caused trillions of dollars to hemorrhage out of 401(k) and other retirement plans. This issue is compounded further when you understand that 50% of all working individuals in the US are invested in the stock market in one form or another.
One thing bothers me deeply with the Obama/Biden presidency and a government with increased financial control of free markets, and that is taxation. This bailout bill has the potential of real returns but it can also be used as a club Obama can yield to pressure corporations, upper class and middle class individuals to swallow the increase in taxes. This leverage over our financial institutions is poison to our economy and no self respecting, logical, red-blooded citizen should accept. Given the likelihood of victory, Republicans and conservatives in general should be weary of the future. Unfortunately it we can thank president Bush's bailout plan for giving the Democrats a stepping stone from which they can ascend to complete control of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. We can also blame a divided Republican/Conservative base which for years has stagnated and has not represented a big enough of a challenge to the liberals. So, I consider this current mess we are in, including the potential win of the left, as a wake-up call to Republicans and conservatives who prefer a limited intrusion of government into our daily lives, our faith, and our pocketbooks.
Yet, still I foster the hope that McCain/Palin will ascend to the presidency, although they would have to contend with an contentious Congress. At least, there's still hope that the Obama/Biden campaign will fall flat on its face and lose. There's always hope. Otherwise what can we say to our descendants that we lost hope in freedom? I don't think so.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the
wage payer.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than
your income.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting
class hatreds.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away
a man’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them
what they could and should do for themselves.
William J. H. Boetcker, 1916
(often attributed to Lincoln)
I read the title of the post:
“Government Can Fix It All,”
My first thought was of Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) in Fast Times at Ridgemont High saying “My dad has an awesome set of tools.”
I know what the government needs to do to fix this. They need to declare war on it. Everytime we declare war on something (poverty, drugs) it gets stronger. Let’s declare war on credit, housing and banking, in general.
Wow, great reply! My sentiments exactly.
Not real or anything close to real. The original bill called for buying impaired assets. That doesn't help bank balance sheets, doesn't change their status to investors (insolvent and worth zero), and certainly doesn't get them to lend a dime to the greater economy. The assets themselves are almost worthless and may not even be mortgage related (according to the bill).
All that can be done now is direct cash infusions in the trillions. The Fed takeover of the commercial paper market will help but it's not permanent. The impaired banks need short term loans so they can die gracefully and not all at once.
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