bailout feelings

[Johonny]

I guess I'm trying to have a strong reaction to this thing but I can't really work up much care. I see it as just more of the same from a terrible Bush White house. Create a problem, throw money (well print money and then throw it) at the problem you created, and have no long range goal but to get you through that last day in the white house without the house of cards falling down. This bailout probably does nothing long term. Bush says failing to approve it would risk dire consequences for the economy and most Americans. Once again showing he doesn't get that since he's taken office it's been dire for most of the middle class. Part of America has been in recession for almost his whole presidency. Just because one class is doing well and that has balanced out the other classes losses isn't an economy I'm that desperate to save. Indeed it's an economy that is doomed to fail down the road again anyways. To me the no bonus to CEOs, who and how much oversight and how much stake the government gets in the companies are no brainers, but not something needed to rush this into existence. Allowing home owners to save their houses isn't all that exciting to me since I didn't buy into the over priced market. I try to have empathy for people. I care about the home owner with medical costs, but the basic pure consumer that signed a bad deal? I'm having trouble working up the care. I wonder "whats the incentive to have been financially diligent?". This plan apparently doesn't have anything in it for people like me. I was a bad American. I didn't consume, consume, consume and now I have to be punished with a lower and lower dollar. My feeling is it's a made up bandage anyways. They know most Americans are afraid to use the court system and most Americans will simply lose their house anyways due to lack of knowledge on how to use the new laws to save it. The Dems would be better served holding ground by demanding an end to the top 1 % tax cuts during the Bush term and then even increasing those taxes beyond that to make up for lost tax revenue since 2001. The Dems should demand the reforming of every new deal regulatory program ended since the day Reagan took office. That would be a sign to middle America that this program isn't just about legging Bush to January, and then watching this all fail under the next president, but about really changing the economy of America so that once again creates and maintains a strong middle class.

[stray cat]

1. My problem is potentially trillions of dollars that no one has a responsible way to pay off.

I'm not crazy about the government running up bills on my credit card

[Johonny]

2. It's just more money

really in the end Bush has spent a lot more on other crap. The Dems plan (if the bail out worked) could potentially regain part of the money spent. Here's important questions not answered. Why this much money? Why not a phase in budget of say 200 billion with the potential for more if it's shown to be needed? This appears to be a magic number drawn up on a piece of paper to sound good but has no real meaning.

Why not increase the top 1 % taxes. Heck screw freezing CEO bonuses and simply tax at 80 % anything over 15 million. That will help keep those bonuses down.