I disagree with the entire concept of bailing out the banks....

[kentuck]

After all, there are a lot of local and community banks and credit unions that are in good shape. It is these international financial conglomerates that have gotten themselves into trouble. They should be permitted to fail or to be nationalized. They are not a productive part of our economy.

It would more productive and better for our economy to simply give that money to the people that will spend it. Because, most economists say that a dollar spent at the bottom is worth about $7 to the entire economy. For example, if you buy a loaf of bread, the farmer makes a profit and the guy that sold the tractor to the farmer makes a profit and the person that packages the bread makes a profit and the truckdriver that hauls it to the supermarket makes a profit and the person that stocks it on the shelves makes a profit and the supermarket makes a profit - all off of that one loaf of bread.

However, when the money is stuck in the bank, waiting for someone to borrow it, it does little good for the economy. That is why I disagree with the whole concept of bailing out these banks.

[HereSince1628]

1. Maybe it's because when you buy a piece of ham or spinach bundle only 8% makes

it into the hands of the ruling elite.

If you bail out the banks the roi to the ruling elite is over 50%.

[Idealism]

2. You can't get by with just community banks

Citigroup employs roughly the same amount of people as GM does worldwide, over a quarter million people. On top of this Citi ensures thousands of businesses can make payroll and continue their operations. They also hold over $2 trillion dollars in deposits and assets worth over double that. They are simply too big to fail, unfortunately. They government has to step in to help or our country will literally stop moving, and I don't feel like being blamed for the collapse of the world do you?

[kentuck]

3. I don't buy it.

Sorry.

[rucky]

4. Market share is not set in stone.

The deposits of these banks would grow, and so would their staff.

[Idealism]

6. Growth like that doesn't happen overnight

and thousands of businesses would more than likely fail in the meantime. If you let citi fail, all the mortgages they hold, even those that are not in the red, would turn worthless which would further depreciate home values all across the country. Not good.

[rucky]

7. Market share seems to be a bigger concern for the Citibanks of the world.

Seeing as they've used the bailout money to snap up more banks, when they should've/could've used it to unload their bad paper.

[Idealism]

9. There was a problem with the bailout money

I don't recall offhand any banks they acquired, Wachovia fell through when Wells Fargo beat them to the punch. But thats another story. The bailout money was originally supposed to be for troubled assets, the toxic mortgages. But this was deemed as too slow, and these banks were as close to the end of days as we've ever seen. What good would is it to buy up the mortgages that caused you to have more write downs than receipts if your company is bankrupt? It went from TARP to 'horde cash for armageddon' because these companies, like Citi, saw the writting on the wall and knew they were going to need every dollar they could manage.

[Winterblues]

8. Isn't that what they said about Goldman Sachs and AIG and Stanley Morgan and

and and and and and..??? I don't buy it either...For more Americans will be effected if the Big Three fail than one huge bank...

[Idealism]

10. Simply not true

Millions of American's mortgages are through Citigroup or a subsidiary of theirs. Like I stated, over $2 trillion in deposits globally. Thousands of businesses help meet their payroll demands monthly through Citi loans. More Americans would be affected by allowing them to fail. I am not for letting Detroit go under either, both are equally important in my estimate, but to cut off your knee because your foot is hurt isn't smart.

[rucky]

11. They can stop originations and shut down their retail business

and retain a servicing portfolio while they try and clear out the books or get bought out. That's pretty much what all the other casualties are stuck doing.

[Lasher]

5. Good description of demand-side economics.

Supply-side help get us here and yet the Bush administration will put their trickle-down ideology first, to the very last day.