House to Vote on Bailout Fri, Write Your Reps.

[Ksandra]

Fuck the bailout. Let all the banks die.

^ fix for my opinion.

I don't work for the bank anymore, but after working for it I realized how bad they are and how they do very little good nowadays. No reason to give them money for screwing people over in the first place.

[Arnwulf]

We were told by our company President yesterday that our bank has canceled our business line of credit. We only get it back if the bailout passes, so basically, no bailout = no job for me.

We're a fairly small company but have been in business for almost 80 years. This is the first time, including the Great Depression, that we've ever been in danger of going out of business. It's basically almost impossible for small businesses to get any credit right now.

[Komm Suesser Tod]

Ok, so if I understand the problem correctly, the banks are low on cash because they gave out a bunch of loans that people can't pay back, right? So how is this bailout going to do anything but stop the economy from dropping out of the sky just for now? People are still going to have that debt, and they won't be able to pay it back, so whether it's months or years away from now we're going to have the same problem. Why not pay off the debts of people and reform the way loans are given out? That may not be the best solution but I think it's better than just saving the banks for a little while and leaving the people fucked.

[netz]

Ok, so if I understand the problem correctly, the banks are low on cash because they gave out a bunch of loans that people can't pay back, right? So how is this bailout going to do anything but stop the economy from dropping out of the sky just for now? People are still going to have that debt, and they won't be able to pay it back, so whether it's months or years away from now we're going to have the same problem. Why not pay off the debts of people and reform the way loans are given out? That may not be the best solution but I think it's better than just saving the banks for a little while and leaving the people fucked.

1. The government buys the debt, but not the full value of it. The companies are still going to take a hit, but hopefully not enough that they fold.
2. The government renegotiates the bad mortgages. In essence, the people who can't make their payments and have held on for this long are going to get their house at a lower cost.
3. When companies are on more solid ground, the debt is going to be opened up for sale again, and it will be taken off government books that way. Hopefully, lenders will feel comfortable having these new loans on their books, since the interest on them is still an opportunity to make money.

#2 saves the irresponsible little guy, #1 has the direct effect of saving the irresponsible banks who loaned to the idiots in #2 who are now going to effectively profit from it, and the direct consequence to you is that you'll be able to get a loan in the foreseeable future.

[kuronosan]

But... but... without more than a million a year, how will I use my Learjet to scratch the itch on my toe?

[Maxxthepenguin]

Let the banks who fucked up die. The economy is trashed anyway. Why should people making multi millions of dollars a year be rewarded.

Do you know what is even going on?
Banks are recalling small business loans, killing otherwise fine businesses because they need money.
Students are suddenly finding their student loans falling through, killing their education.
Etc

I don't give a fuck if you are indignant about who personally benefits; this is bad for everybody. We're at the "give them what they want so people aren't fucked over even more as time moves on" point.

Better yet, cut everyone's salaries making over $1m a year to 1m. I bet we could cut a LOT of that number down really fucking quick. and if anyone tells me you can't live on 1m a year, shut the hell up.

Less than 1% is going to pay salaries, I bet.

[Moridam]

Let the banks who fucked up die. The economy is trashed anyway. Why should people making multi millions of dollars a year be rewarded.

Better yet, cut everyone's salaries making over $1m a year to 1m. I bet we could cut a LOT of that number down really fucking quick. and if anyone tells me you can't live on 1m a year, shut the hell up.

You... do understand letting the banks die and letting the credit market freeze has tremendous effects on the whole population, not just a few executives, right?

[Maxxthepenguin]

Yes, i understand the ramifications of all of this, and i'm willing to watch the economy fucking tank so it can be rebuilt from the ground up. It's the people that are in charge of the banks atm that are tanking the economy, so why should they be rewarded by keeping their fucking jobs?

They're called golden parachutes because they're being thrown out of the plane.

These are excessive severance packages.

[Kuya]

I'm moving to Spain.

[Maxxthepenguin]

I'm moving to Spain.

You don't even live in America

[Kuya]

Actually, we don't even have this banking problem; the rules here are really tight.

[skurlover]

Why should they be rewarded with a severance package for screwing up? They shouldn't. Fire em. If they could manage money they'll have no problems surviving on their savin..ohwait.

You do understand the word severance right?

[Maxxthepenguin]

Why should they be rewarded with a severance package for screwing up? They shouldn't. Fire em. If they could manage money they'll have no problems surviving on their savin..ohwait.

They're largely being gotten rid of. That's what matters most. The reason we have to pay them, though is because things have to get passed. They shouldn't be given excessive severance packages, but honoring their excessive contracts is the way to keep this from taking so long that most Americans (and, frankly, the rest of the world too) get boned. It's the same reason that the stupid pork was attached: you have to get past all the people who are crippled by fear and/or greed and, frankly, this needed to be passed last week. The market is committing suicide over this shit. People are losing their businesses and can't pay for school.

[Shuemue]

I'd love to see an economy rebuilt from the ground up.

Put Elphaba in charge, you'll come crying back to England asking us to take over again.

[Dimmauk]

I was surprised that Mr. "No Pork" McCain voted for something that had so much "Sweeteners" attached to it.

[Correction]

He's also Mr. "I need the support from senators who need the pork in the bill to justify their yes votes so they don't get crucified by their constituencies and cost me the General Electon" McCain.

[eunhye]

Is this the only way? To spend $700 billion+ ? We can't think of any other solutions? It's like ice cream. Damn this tastes good. What flavor is this? Must be vanilla ice cream.

Why don't you create a bill that gives back to the people? The money will be used for people who can't pay their mortgage, offer them a 5% loan. Offer students a 5% loan. Offer small business a 5% loan. Why do we need to buy bad assets in the first place?

[Maxxthepenguin]

This has been happening for years; this is not a new concept in the American Economy. This bailout does not fix ANYTHING, and it's just a finger in the dam that is about to break.

Banks calling people up, saying "hey, we actually need that money back, it's not you, it's me" is pretty new. Denying student loans is also pretty new.

[0ni0n]

The house is being melodramatic, it's like how your gf won't give in until the last minute when things are heating up... we all know the bill is gonna pass one way or another, not only because main street needs it as badly as wall street, but also most politicians will have to reciprocate because they are on the payroll of special interest groups. This pork barrel laced so-call revised bill is self-evident that the longer it takes for it to pass, the more expensive it is gonna get for the average taxpayers. The best method i think would be to bailout wall street out one last time and slap it with penalties, strict oversight and scrunization from now on, so that bankers are no longer given incentive to gamble other people's money with impunity.

[Norellicus]

Let the banks who fucked up die. The economy is trashed anyway.

Because clearly its the banks' fault that they received political pressure to grant subprime loans to lower-income citizens who wouldn't normally qualify otherwise, and who still didn't actually qualify for the loan once the subprime period expired.

Clearly.

This bill should have passed the first time, and the fact that its passing now only shows the ignorance of our own political leadership to economic impact of their decisions. Like someone already said, the irony of "700b is too expensive, let's add 150b in unnecessary incentives" just KILLS me.