OK:
Please explain the following so we can understand the obvious.
1. Why now? Why just before probably the most pivotal election ever? Why when we have a choice between darkness and light do we also have a bone jarring crisis that drops all the aces to the other guy's hand?
2. Why did congress race to save the money lenders and the deadbeats, foreign investors and Washington bureaucrats, when the market (measure of national testosterone levels) was set to tank?
3. Why DID the market go up on the lack of a bail out, then plummet when we were 'saved' by congress? (And, why was that not noted outside of FR prior to its being too late to matter?)
4. Might it have mattered?
5. IIRC there was previously a trillion dollars set aside for mortgage rescue - why was that not used? If it was used, when, how, to what purpose, and why didn't that have an effect that we could see?
I don't need to ask about the media blaming republicans and covering for dems, or about the sheeple automatically turning left in a crisis; both are a given. I won't ask why the same populace that pleaded with congress NOT to bail out the mortgage mess will reelect the culprits come election time; that too is a given.
However, if you can answer the first five; can you explain why my DTV receiver crapped out just in time for me to miss watching the FOX babes discussion of the whole affair with Neil what's-his-name?
The economy never went into a recession. (market says we will now) This is a fact, and their talking did not affect anything, with the exception of public opinion. Public opinion rarely has much in common with reality in regard to financial affairs, and the so called recession at the end of Bush 41's term was never a recession at all! (case in point) yet the public opinion is that there was one and the truth has never been able to overcome that erroneous opinion.
The reason is, that the media is the primary disseminator of public information and they continue to distort the truth.
The media, to include all of the media as a general rule, has distorted the opinion of the Conservatives as well as the Lib's, and I can't do a damn thing to fix that, except to point it out, which I have done repeatedly..
The stock market responses to the bailout plan was real. They sent a message that the plan was necessary, the message was heard, and now the market is back to looking at the global trade markets which have been the only bright spot in our economy for the last two years. The market is saying that in the next six months, the global GDP is going to fall dramatically and this will affect the US exporters, and be a drag on the entire economic situation and recovery potential.
The thing is, that all this is true. The bailout plan, now passed has yet to be implemented, but when it is, you will not see a recovery! You will not see a change. It is what you won't see that is the indicator of success or failure of the plan. If the credit markets don't crash, and the entire system does not seize up and fail, causing over half of the U.S business sector to fail and a resulting 30%+ unemployment, the bailout will be a success!
The bailout will not cause a recovery, it simply stops a disaster that was in progress, and still is to some degree but to a lesser degree since passage on the expectations that it will work when implemented to avoid total breakdown.
This is what the media is not telling you, or me, or anyone, because they either don't understand it, or don't want to.
Not sure what trillion dollars you are talking about. There are a half dozen actions already done by Congress that do add up to about a trillion dollars, and they are things like the stimulus packages and mortgage programs designed to help at the tail end of the financial system. A trillion dollars is but a small percentage of the whole Quadrillion dollar investment market, and it's but a bit of bandage on a gaping wound. There will be a lot more that will be needed. The 700B package is only a targeted response aimed at the root supports that are holding the entire structure up and the number is dwarfed by the size of the entire structure.
In short, we know from history that doing nothing is not the right option, and we also know that trying to repair it at the tail section is not productive and only makes it worse, so we must do what we are doing and we will be doing more as necessary until the problem begins to dissipate. In any case, we will be in for a rough ride. The length of that ride will depend on success's by the Fed and the return of confidence in the public sentiment..
Can't help you about your cable.Mine was fritzy yesterday as well.