Americans reluctant to fund bailout, poll finds(Times Bloomberg)

[RamboLiberal]

Source: LA Times

WASHINGTON -- Most Americans don't believe the government has responsibility for bailing out financial firms with taxpayer money, a core part of the rescue plan Congress is considering to halt the near-meltdown of the nation's financial markets, a Times/Bloomberg poll has found.

Reluctance to use public money to rescue private firms runs across all parts of the population, the poll found: Democrats and Republicans, high-income and low-income families alike.

When asked whether the government should use taxpayer dollars to rescue ailing financial firms whose collapse could have adverse effects on the economy, 55% of the poll's respondents said they did not believe the government should be responsible for funding a bailout plan.However, when some of those who opposed a bailout were interviewed, several said they would reluctantly accept a bailout plan if Congress decided one was necessary.

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Asked which candidate could do a better job of handling the financial crisis as president next year, 48% of registered voters named Obama and 35% named McCain.

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When asked whether they felt less secure financially now than they did six months ago, Americans divided neatly in half: 50% said they felt less secure and 49% said they felt no different or more secure.

Of those who said they felt less secure, 59% favored Obama for president and only 30% favored McCain. But of those who did not feel less secure, 58% favored McCain and only 33% favored Obama.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-econpoll24-2008sep24,0,5343090.story

[fascisthunter]

1. reluctant? More Like Opposed

[GinaMaria]

9. opposed and actively resisting! n/t

[pankcake]

2. Bail out the poor and the middle class

Instead of taxing us, we should be bailed out of the increasing gas prices and crumbling stock market.

[FMArouet]

3. Incompetence? Or Devious Malice?

(1) Incompetence and inattention. Is it credible to argue that neither Paulson nor Bernanke could foresee the risk of this liquidity/insolvency crisis? Nouriel Roubini at rgemonitor and bonddad, billmon, Jerome a Paris, and New Deal Democrat over at Daily Kos have been analyzing this creaking Ponzi scheme of debt and derivatives for the past year. Even your humble servant (an ordinary observer and investor) posted a warning analysis last year on July 29, 2007: Must Fools in Paradise Ignore Canaries in Mineshafts?

If Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson--with the economic data at their disposal--could not see this crisis coming, then they are colossally incompetent. They should accept responsibility for their failures and should resign.

(2) Devious malice. But if ex-Princeton professor Ben Bernanke and former Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson are not incompetent and inattentive (and their successful careers do not suggest that they are), we are left with only one alternative conclusion. Bernanke and Paulson knew that the vast unregulated universe of fortune-producing sub-prime mortgage derivatives, especially the credit default swaps, were a classic Ponzi scheme that ultimately would have to collapse. Paulson's and Bernanke's assigned roles were to jawbone (as Paulson frequently did at the end of trading days during which the key stock indices had dipped alarmingly) and wave magic monetary wands (as Bernanke frequently did by opening discount windows and using other forms of Federal Reserve legerdemain to keep funds flowing through an increasingly constipated financial system) to keep the party--the looting--going as long as possible, and in any case until after the elections in November.

Just one problem. They came up about six weeks short of their target. Last week's meltdown forced them to show their hand and pull out their "Nationalization of Finance Capital" plan.

So it all really boils down to this simple formula:

Unitary Executive + Nationalization of Finance Capital = Dictatorship of the Looting Class

What a wonderful time to be a CEO of a Ponzi scheme investment bank!

What a wonderful time to be an invested member of the looting class!

As virtually every lucid observer on the Left and Right has correctly pointed out:

Gains are privatized. Losses are socialized.

I'll even bet that they are going to get away with it.

[Ramoel]

4. Here's another vote against the bailout

Wall Street is losing money because they screwed up...

I guess it's our patriotic duty to give them some money so they feel better.

[FrenchieCat]

5. Sounds like the Bail out is out!

[nolabels]

7. There is a new website erected to help stop it

Looks like a lot of republicans traffic through it but still some good stuff there maybe :shrug:

Stop the Housing Bailout!!!
http://www.stopthehousingbailout.com/

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

6. you can't trust the crooks, why give them so much money?

it is insane to borrow ourselves into oblivion and mortgage our great grandchildrens' future to
bail out the already stinking rich thieves who caused this debacle.

[OakCliffDem]

8. K & R