0 chance of it passing.
Posted on 09/27/2008 11:32:07 AM PDT by Petronski
I've received phone calls in the last hour from two economists I respect, one of them Larry Lindsey, the other in a position where he'd prefer not to be named. Both have government experience, neither is alarmist by nature, and they say this:
The huge European bank Fortis is apparently about to fail. The ripple effect on the American banking system could be disastrous, with bank runs, liquidity crises, and stock sell offs possible Monday. Wachovia may well fail next week. As Larry put it, this really will be 1933 soon if we don't move rapidly to stabilize the banking system.
And here's the bad news: the current bailout bill, whatever its merits and likelihood of passage, does nothing to address this.
Congress should pass by Monday simple legislation doing two things:
1. Giving the FDIC authority to provide unlimited deposit insurance through the FDIC for transaction accounts in banks.
2. Authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to provide unlimited protection of principal in money market funds through the Treasury's exchange stabilization fund.
Maybe my acquaintances (and I) are too worried; maybe this legislation wouldn't quite be the right solution. But I wanted to sound what may be, unfortunately, a needed alarm.
William Kristol is editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
0 chance of it passing.
bttt
One that hits everywhere, almost simultaneously, with a predilection for destroying things financial.
Re-inflating the bubble is the Paulson plan.
Anybody who doesn’t know that the FDIC limit is $100,000, and is at risk of losing funds over that, deserves to lose it. When somebody runs through the gates and gets run over by the train, I can’t feel that bad about it. Sorry.
Bzzzzt. No points for you.
Send it to everyone in your email box. I got it that way and I sent it that way.
we took 5k cash out of the bank this morning and hit the mattresses. i'm in the southeast with long gas lines/shortages, food prices continually rising - have you checked the cost of toilet paper lately?
if this trickle up/down/sideways continues - i'm ready for the short term at least. but i don't like the way this country feels right now - nothing i've ever experienced before in my 57 years. say a prayer for our side - we are who we need right now - not them.
No.
2. Authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to provide unlimited protection of principal in money market funds through the Treasury's exchange stabilization fund.
No.
At most, offer an easy way to refinance loans back into local banks to get them all out of the speculative market- They don't belong there in the first place.
“I’ll stick with the Paulson plan...”
Tell me, genius, what exactly is the Paulson plan you speak of? Gimme some details since you’re so tuned in to what’s going on behind the closed doors.
Do you imagine I’m on your witness stand? Under your interrogation?
Do you truly think I’m going to engage in a colloquy with someone who brings only personal insult and lies to the table?
LOL
Yep, housing prices are always going to go up. What a crock. Thanks for sharing this touching story.
Thanks for the document link. I’d laugh if it wasn’t so tragically true. That’s why I hope against hope that the Congress will actually follow their Constitutional mandate and regulate interstate commerce to fix the fraud. When the whole thing collapses the congresscritters better have some tough body guards because the “bitter people who cling to God and their guns” will know who they want in their sights first...
Some fires are just too big to put out: you can hose them down all you want, but they are going to burn until there’s no fuel left.
To stretch another analogy, once the Titanic hit the iceberg, it was only a matter of time before the ship was on the bottom: there was simply no intervention available after that point that could change that outcome. It’s a waste of time trying to fix the hole in the hull, you just have to focus on getting all of the lifeboats into the water.
Rep. McCotter's (R-Mich) Forceful Rebuke of Bailout Plan on House Floor
View it then come back.
He’s long on populism, short on economics. His response is a great plan six months ago. Did he propose it then?
Interesting class-warfare rhetoric too.
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