On the "bailout"
The number $700 billion is staggering. I've been trying to get my head around the posturing (and the very light TV news stories) and understand what is being proposed. Like almost any political hot topic, it's been changing daily. It's important. Add $700 BILLION to the national debt (which is how you would have to account for it using GAAP accounting!) and you change the big economic picture of the country dramatically. Someone has to pay for the debt eventually. That just doesn't seem to percolate some legislators' thinking.
So proposal #1....WTF...total executive branch control without any accountability and no oversight whatsoever. Read more here. The section 8 thing especially scared the crap out of me: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." So that one deserved to go down in flames.
Counter proposal (9/25)...OK, this is a bit better. There is accountability and oversight on the mortgage front, but there is still a lot of ground to cover in the long term. This proposal offers structure in the short term but leaves the barn door wide open for pressure tactics (lobbying) and a return to the conditions that prevailed and led to the current situation once the immediate crisis is averted. What about reform?
With the election so close, are our elected officials so reluctant to do their jobs? Apparently so. A plan for real reform has not been proposed (that I'm aware of) and the only people I have seen calling for one are columnists and economists.
On a personal note, I have been very conscious of the danger the economy is in for some time. I have a very limited income due to the work I do. Yet on a weekly basis, I receive new credit card offers. Every time I pay off a credit card (the vet bills do tend to pile up from time to time) they increase my spending limit. Whenever I pop into my bank, they offer me more money on my home equity loan or a refi on my mortgage. Every financial institution I deal with has encouraged me to be irresponsible with my personal finances for years. I do not find it at all odd that those responsible for this approach with consumers should be responsible for the same behavior with the finances of their corporations.
As the bumper sticker says "If you're not outraged, you haven't been paying attention"
So proposal #1....WTF...total executive branch control without any accountability and no oversight whatsoever. Read more here. The section 8 thing especially scared the crap out of me: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." So that one deserved to go down in flames.
Counter proposal (9/25)...OK, this is a bit better. There is accountability and oversight on the mortgage front, but there is still a lot of ground to cover in the long term. This proposal offers structure in the short term but leaves the barn door wide open for pressure tactics (lobbying) and a return to the conditions that prevailed and led to the current situation once the immediate crisis is averted. What about reform?
With the election so close, are our elected officials so reluctant to do their jobs? Apparently so. A plan for real reform has not been proposed (that I'm aware of) and the only people I have seen calling for one are columnists and economists.
On a personal note, I have been very conscious of the danger the economy is in for some time. I have a very limited income due to the work I do. Yet on a weekly basis, I receive new credit card offers. Every time I pay off a credit card (the vet bills do tend to pile up from time to time) they increase my spending limit. Whenever I pop into my bank, they offer me more money on my home equity loan or a refi on my mortgage. Every financial institution I deal with has encouraged me to be irresponsible with my personal finances for years. I do not find it at all odd that those responsible for this approach with consumers should be responsible for the same behavior with the finances of their corporations.
As the bumper sticker says "If you're not outraged, you haven't been paying attention"