Money

[zsof]

CG and I were trying to explain the financial crisis to Ro last night, which devolved into a discussion of politics and what Republicans believe and what Democrats believe. It was interesting and CG and I continued it after Ro was bored and had run outside to play

Comments

[gwynubis]

The bailout is a bandaid. It's a short-term fix to a long-term problem. I'm more upset that the pointy-headed bosses in the financial sector waited this long to expect the government to bail them out, when they should have been responsible for their own bail out. Subprime lending is a bad idea in the first place. But nooooooo (in her best John Belushi voice) they had to get greedy and create more victims of foreclosure.

On a happier, less political note, Chorizo is pretty tasty.

bailout

[fatefox]

As I see it - the rich who made their fortunes off of sub-prime lending (which wouldn't have happened BTW if the banks had not deregulated) are annoyed that their stocks are going to tank and want those of us who got screwed to pay for it.

This is like stealing everything but the kitchen sink then having the police go in and steal it for you. IMO.

I could be way off, but if the stocks fall, only people with money IN stocks will be hurt the most. And even in that case, they'll take a loss on their capital gains, and probably come out ahead. Those of us on the bottom will suffer what we must, as is the reality of life.

Fun stuff.

Re: bailout

[fatefox]

You are quite right that deregulation (led by Phil Gramm) has taken us here (and interestingly, Mrs Gramm's "Enron loophole" led to CA getting ****ed with a deliberate power crisis before Enron collapsed. Interesting pattern

Re: bailout

[fatefox]

Agreed.

It makes me think of a quote about capitalism that I like. It's something along the lines of "Capitalism privatizes gains and spreads losses through the public."

Lots of this was caused by plain old American Greed(tm), because I know a lot of people who made less than me that were getting mortgages with a ballooning interest rate because everyone "expected" interest rates to stay low. Everyone but bankers, that is.

I don't mind a bailout of some sort, but it had better come with some practical regulations, everything from true oversight by something more than their own accountants to a really close look at executive salaries. I know execs work really hard for their 6+ digit incomes (no sarcasm intended for the most part) but when for example, the failed CEO of AT&T is fired with a multimillion dollar severance, something is wrong. I could've run AT&T into the ground for a lot less money

[dwer]

Dems want to at least try to bail out homeowners. That's why they're pushing this.

Homeowners

[fatefox]

I don't mind bailing out homeowners; however, I don't want to bail out home flippers who over-extended themselves buying a dozen houses in the hopes of getting really rich. They should suffer for their greed; people who were hoping to get just a bite of the American Dream should be given a chance.

IOW, if you have one mortgage on one home, you get help; if you have multiple mortgages, pick ONE. I don't think that's too unreasonable.

[nearlyvalkyrie]

BTW, IMHO, major bonus points for discussing it directly with Ro. I believe a solid financial education begins at home, and I'm forever grateful to my own parents for teaching me all the lessons they did, and kinda sad for some of my friends who never did, then got themselves in stupid, easily avoidable trouble. Yay for good parenting :-)

[zsof]

Thanks!

Money

[nitesongofafish]

Dear folks,

You all seem to feel there's something wrong with getting rich through speculation.

(And now I will duck.)

- Johannes (liberal at the core)

Re: Money

[zsof]

Bad Laurel! No biscuit! :)