What Killed It?
So, what killed the $700 billion dollar bail out for the second time in 4 days? The same thing that shot it down last week. Too much government control of the markets in the plan. Toss in a healthy dose of voter sentiment against the plan and it was ripe to die.
The Republicans who wanted less government buying of bad debt, and more government insuring of companies who would buy it won again. At this moment a lot of folks are saying it's a losing day for everyone, I disagree. I think that the American taxpayer came out ahead by this getting defeated.
A great sidenote to this, the folks who've been commenting on my other bailout posts who claimed the GOP couldn't have tried to fix this in 2003 and 2005, because they controlled Congress should be taking note. Nancy Pelosi stood up and told her troops, who control Congress, that this HAD to pass, and it didn't. Even with a majority, and the leader wanting something, it doesn't always pass. 40% of House Democrats bolted and voted against the plan.
One congressman noted last week that his phone calls about the bailout were running 50/50. 50% saying "No", the other 50% saying "HELL NO!". So, if nothing else, it seems that occasionally our representative government actually does what the people want, which evidently wasn't a huge bailout of Wall St. with their money.
All the news isn't bad though. With this huge drop in the market so close to the end of the month, the 40% of my retirement fund that I moved to purchasing of index funds in August should do quite well when they buy tomorrow. Since I'm not planning on retiring for 20 or so years, they have plenty of time to move back up to the range that will make me comfortable at 65. Buy low sell high works quite well.
To finish this off, here's a great YouTube video of a 2004 Congressional hearing, where Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's practices and leaders are praised by Democrats, and Republicans beg for some oversight.
The Republicans who wanted less government buying of bad debt, and more government insuring of companies who would buy it won again. At this moment a lot of folks are saying it's a losing day for everyone, I disagree. I think that the American taxpayer came out ahead by this getting defeated.
A great sidenote to this, the folks who've been commenting on my other bailout posts who claimed the GOP couldn't have tried to fix this in 2003 and 2005, because they controlled Congress should be taking note. Nancy Pelosi stood up and told her troops, who control Congress, that this HAD to pass, and it didn't. Even with a majority, and the leader wanting something, it doesn't always pass. 40% of House Democrats bolted and voted against the plan.
One congressman noted last week that his phone calls about the bailout were running 50/50. 50% saying "No", the other 50% saying "HELL NO!". So, if nothing else, it seems that occasionally our representative government actually does what the people want, which evidently wasn't a huge bailout of Wall St. with their money.
All the news isn't bad though. With this huge drop in the market so close to the end of the month, the 40% of my retirement fund that I moved to purchasing of index funds in August should do quite well when they buy tomorrow. Since I'm not planning on retiring for 20 or so years, they have plenty of time to move back up to the range that will make me comfortable at 65. Buy low sell high works quite well.
To finish this off, here's a great YouTube video of a 2004 Congressional hearing, where Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's practices and leaders are praised by Democrats, and Republicans beg for some oversight.
Labels: bailout, Congress, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
posted by Crazy Politico at 7:51 PM
1Comments:
And Congress wonders why its approval rating hovers around 10%.
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