ok, financial markets and bailout.
this might not make me very popular, but although i don’t like it, i support the $700,000,000,000.00 bailout.
why?
because it will prop up our banks and investment houses long enough for real reform
to implemented and it will keep the u.s and global economy from sliding into depression.
if more banks and investment houses fail you’ll see a severe recession and possibly
a depression.
and this effects everyone.
the reason that people start businesses and create jobs is because they have access
to capital.
the reason that people buy houses or renovate houses is because they have access
to capital.
if people close businesses or stop buying or renovating houses they will stop
creating jobs.
people will be fired. unemployment will skyrocket. retirement accounts will dry up.
more mortgages will be foreclosed on.
and the world will head towards severe recession or depression.
this bailout isn’t bailing out fat-cats on wall street, it’s protecting local businesses
in iowa and kansas and sacramento.
it’s protecting shakey mortgages in idaho and florida.
it’s protecting retirement accounts in alaska and maine.
it’s protecting your job. it’s protecting your neighbors job.
wall st screwed up. seriously. the collusion between the different financial service
providers has been disgraceful and dangerous.
and securitizing high-risk mortgages was, in hindsight, a disastrous idea.
wall street screwed up.
but to let the banks and investment houses fail and to let the dow and the nasdaq(and the ftse
and the dax and nikkei, etc)plummet is to create a crisis that will effect every person on
the planet(the global depression of the 20’s and 30’s, resulting from protectionist trade practices, caused world war 2, for example).
the republicans(and some democrats) in the house of representatives(most of whom know nothing about global
markets and finances)have made a huge mistake in not supporting the bailout.
to be clear, no one likes the bailout, and no one is happy at the thought of having
to use taxpayers money to buy up crummy securities.
but it’s a necessary evil, and to let the banks and investment houses continue to fail
would have deleterious consequences that people can’t even begin to imagine.
again, not just for bankers and brokers, but for you and your friends and your grandparents
and your children.
the markets do not exist in a bubble, and to pretend that they do is to exhibit a dangerous lack of understanding of how the global economy actually works.
if the gop in the house don’t pass the bailout they won’t be punishing wall street, they’ll
be punishing you and your friends and your family.
moby
