This isn't about collective ownership of assets or the means of production to benefit the society as a whole. This is straightforward crony capitalism. What Bush and Paulson want is to transfer $700 billion from American taxpayers to their buddies on Wall Street. They want the American people to hold onto Wall Street's Big ShitpileTM just long enough for the companies and executives to clear their respective books and portfolios and then they'll give these companies right back to those same people. All at a significant loss to the taxpayers.
2 comments:
Steve, I'm going to have to disagree with you here. The fact of the matter is that the markets are illiquid, and as long as the markets are illiquid it's bad for everyone. You post a LOT about being for the worker- illiquid markets mean pension funds in the shitter, retirement accounts in the crapper, and anyone who needs to get a loan be it house, car, or whatever, can't do so at a reasonable rate.
The Bush plan is a bad one- it potentially overpays for assets at a serious cost to taxpayers. It's valuing securities that people far smarter than the government can't put a value on. That said, it's a step in the right direction- someone has got to get these financial institutions back to a level where they are better able to leverage. otherwise everyone pays in a big, big way.
I've been pretty clear in stating that something needs to be done but that the Bush/Paulson plan should be DOA. I've never denied that there are serious issues in the markets or anything of the sort.
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