Of Mice and Bailouts
“When I picked up my newspaper yesterday, I thought I woke up in France,” Senator Jim Bunning, Republican of Kentucky, said at the hearing. “But no, it turns out socialism is alive and well in America.”
New York Times, "Opposition From Both Parties Over Bailout Plan," 7/16/2008.
We live in scary times. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, IndyMac, Bear Stearns, Countrywide, New Century Financial. The frightening part is how connected all the parts of our economy has become - from the financial markets to the houses we live in. No longer does the failure of one entity in this chain remain limited to itself, affecting only the shareholders in a single corporation. Instead, it causes reverberations throughout the entire U.S. economy that may be both unpredictable and long-term. And let's not even get into the international ramifications.
All the while, Congress and the Fed vacillate between bailing out these ailing market players, for fear of what will happen otherwise; and paralysis, for fear of aiding those who do not "deserve" to be helped.
And my question, throughout all of this, is -- how could we not see this all coming? The house of cards was bound to fall.
New York Times, "Opposition From Both Parties Over Bailout Plan," 7/16/2008.
We live in scary times. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, IndyMac, Bear Stearns, Countrywide, New Century Financial. The frightening part is how connected all the parts of our economy has become - from the financial markets to the houses we live in. No longer does the failure of one entity in this chain remain limited to itself, affecting only the shareholders in a single corporation. Instead, it causes reverberations throughout the entire U.S. economy that may be both unpredictable and long-term. And let's not even get into the international ramifications.
All the while, Congress and the Fed vacillate between bailing out these ailing market players, for fear of what will happen otherwise; and paralysis, for fear of aiding those who do not "deserve" to be helped.
And my question, throughout all of this, is -- how could we not see this all coming? The house of cards was bound to fall.