I was as gobsmacked as anyone else to see the rejection of the workout plan yesterday.
I know it was mishandled. I know it was mislabeled. I expected Republicans to turn on it for ideological reasons.
What I didn’t expect was that people like Kos would turn on it. When liberals make the perfect the enemy of the good we all lose. When liberals decide to act like petulant children in the process, they deserve to lose.
Earth to Digby, to Jane Hamsher, and to the online cocktail party over at Huffpo.
There is no pony.
That is, there is no magical plan that can pop up here to please you, pass the Congress, and win the President’s signature. And by January it will be too late.
Let’s recapitulate:
- This is a problem caused by Americans. Americans created phony money which could not be priced once foreclosures started, because you couldn’t be sure which CDO had how many bum loans in it.
- The $700 billion is not a bailout. The money would be used to buy up this paper, determine its value, repackage it, and resell it. We should make money on this. We’re Mr. Potter, picking up some bargains.
- So long as these trillions of dollars we created are seen as worthless, foreclosures will rise and the value of the same paper will go down. The profit we can expect on the conversion could turn into a loss.
- This is a worldwide problem. We are doing more damage to other countries now, every day, than the terrorists did on 9/11, especially to poor people, who are always hit hardest by hard economic times.
I’ve compared this bill to a laxative, meant to clear the big shitpile from the colon of the world’s financial digestive system. Sometimes it takes strong medicine to clear such an obstruction. But if you don’t clear it you die.
Barney Frank & Co. knew they had Paulson and Bush over a barrel. They were able to spend a week forcing the Republicans back on every point. The final bill was as good as it was going to get. It had everything your party leader, Barack Obama, said he wanted.
I can understand a doofus like Kucinich voting no. I can’t understand the Netroots following him over the cliff.
I think the reason they voted NO is the American people. The people are getting their homes repossessed, struggling to keep up mortgage payments, worried about their jobs and they see the rich east coast bankers getting a handout from the government.
Congress reps are getting flooded with emails, phones calls and letters. All saying the same thing – ‘You support this handout and you’ll lose your seat next month in the elections’.
Naturally they respond to their constituents.
I think the reason they voted NO is the American people. The people are getting their homes repossessed, struggling to keep up mortgage payments, worried about their jobs and they see the rich east coast bankers getting a handout from the government.
Congress reps are getting flooded with emails, phones calls and letters. All saying the same thing – ‘You support this handout and you’ll lose your seat next month in the elections’.
Naturally they respond to their constituents.
BillK might well be right, but for the very same reason these dissenters better hurry up and get a new version of the bill passed. Delay sends the economy farther and farther down the tubes (the world economy as Dana rightly points out) and does not help those currently suffering at all. Voters are fickle and will be happy to forget that they used to be against a bailout when they realize how badly they need it in a few weeks from now. If the Congressional dissenters let things get to that point, they are screwed come election day.
BillK might well be right, but for the very same reason these dissenters better hurry up and get a new version of the bill passed. Delay sends the economy farther and farther down the tubes (the world economy as Dana rightly points out) and does not help those currently suffering at all. Voters are fickle and will be happy to forget that they used to be against a bailout when they realize how badly they need it in a few weeks from now. If the Congressional dissenters let things get to that point, they are screwed come election day.
Would you like me to send you the comments from our Congresscritters and candidates here in New Mexico? The liberal Tom Udall and paleoconservative Steve Pearce voted against the bailout – for the same reasons. Summarized, they are:
(1)Not enough oversight.
(2) To much relief for Wall Street, not enough for Main Street.
They do not oppose a bailout per se. They want a quick trip back to the drawing board and a bailout that is not designed to protect the fat cats many of our representatives feel it their duty to protect.
Would you like me to send you the comments from our Congresscritters and candidates here in New Mexico? The liberal Tom Udall and paleoconservative Steve Pearce voted against the bailout – for the same reasons. Summarized, they are:
(1)Not enough oversight.
(2) To much relief for Wall Street, not enough for Main Street.
They do not oppose a bailout per se. They want a quick trip back to the drawing board and a bailout that is not designed to protect the fat cats many of our representatives feel it their duty to protect.