Stephanopoulos: Officials Meet Behind-the-Scenes on Failed Bailout Bill

Although I would love to say that the blame should be put on Bush, the reality is that the blame needs to spread all around, and mostly it is because of greed. Major investors looking to make more money, loan officers putting people into very risky loans, and charging them the most amount allowed by law for them, speculators looking to make a quick buck on real estate, and the banks who lowered their standards to make more loans.
I have been a mortgage loan officer for 10 years, and have seen the decline in standards that have precipitated the current problems, and although there are many others, this is clearly what is at the root of it.

The NY Times today says,
“Aides to Mr. Obama said he had NOT directly reached out to try to sway any House Democrats who opposed the measure.”
Nearly every single member of the Congressional Black Caucus voted AGAINST the bailout!
Good Job rounding up those votes, Obama!
This is what to expect from an Obama administration: Expend no effort, make no sacrifices. Then dish out blame.

Stop playing the blame game, it is counterproductive. This was the entire reason that McCain should have stayed away from this during an election. No matter the outcome it will be highly politicized and contribute to partisanship and both sides have made it worse.
The mortgages that are still going through foreclosure need to be addressed. There should be a freeze on these, or at least an emergency renegotiation of the rates to prevent as many foreclosures as possible. Work with homeowners to pay what they can afford. This does not let homeowners who purchased bad loans off the hook and does not reward bad loan practices by bailing them out free of obligation. In the meantime it gives time for these loans to regain their value without costing taxpayers. Unfortunately this will only work if implemented soon.

I think some people should lay off fox news they are lying and twisting peoples mind!

Let see, Nancy Pelosi blames everything on the Republicans. I guess the last two years of fiscal spending which should be blames on the Republicans even thou the Dem’s have control of the Senate that add all the pork spending in their district. During the Clinton Admin. the Dem’s deregulated the bankning industry. I am sick and tired of the blame game just to get a candiate elected. My parents are in their mid 70′s and have 400,000 in a savings account. They stand to lose 300,000 due to the greed in Washington & Wall Street & Financial Institutions CEO’s that got greedy. That is their life savings. It is NOT their fault along with many other responsible Americans that did not over spend or extend their credit and put the ecomony in the present state. They will never ever see the return on their money that the current bail out plan contains. Let the economy correct it self and everyone suck it up and due without.

“Nearly every single member of the Congressional Black Caucus voted AGAINST the bailout!
Good Job rounding up those votes, Obama!”
NEWS FLASH!!!
McCain got less than 1/3 of his white caucus to vote-didn’t he fail to deliver?
DON’T PLAY THE RACE CARD.
Obama & McCain are running for president of all the people

George, I always have such respect for nonpartisan views and delivery. PLEASE….. check out the flood of communications into Congress from average Americans who don’t want to bail out the great casino on Wall Street. A trillion dollars should be spent at levels closer to those who will hurt the most. Wall Street Tycoons need to figure out how to heal themselves.

Stop watching FOX news? You think there biased watch one of the other news ch. Here’s a letter I sent to CNN.
I happened to scan the news channels when I came to Headline News and a Spanish looking man was talking about Gov. Palin. He seemed to continuously question Gov. Palins ability and experience to lead this country and made it sound like she was totally lost. I didn’t hear him say anything about the inexperience or incompetence that Obama has. He was quite obviously very biased in his attack on Palin to continuously attack her when she has far more experience than Obama has. He seems to think people are stupid and are not taking this vote serious. I think this news guy is the one that’s lost. He must be if he thinks running a state government doesn’t take experience and shows competence. Why would anybody vote for an Arabic Muslim person? I take this vote dead serious. It’s no wonder only about 20% watch your news channel. How biased can you get? I’m not watching it.

Has anyone considered that maybe the home “owners” who foolishly took out mortgages that they had no hope of ever paying off might also share some blame? The people going into foreclosure should have thought it through before taking on these mortgages in the first place. The bankers would not have been able to over value these subprime loans if no one was doumb enough to take one out in the first place.

Socialist Bailout Plan Attacks United States Constitution
The preamble of the United States Constitution: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Section I of the bailout bill: “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, Section 2, Purposes: Provides authority to the Treasury Secretary to restore liquidity and stability to the US financial system and to ensure the economic well-being of Americans.”
The Constitution promotes the general welfare of Americans. The bailout bill ensures economic well-being of Americans. There is an enormous difference. Our founding fathers never intended for government to guarantee or “ensure” anything. There is nothing in the Constitution about ensuring general welfare, only promoting it. The crisis is this bill bestows ultimate power to the Treasury Secretary to do whatever he wants to do to “ensure economic well-being.” That is limitless power in the hands of one individual. That’s socialism.
Keep in mind that anytime the government guarantees something, hold onto your wallets.
The political hacks created this “Crisis.” Creating a “crisis” is the easiest way to manage the behavior of a frightened citizenry.
The buzzword during this election has been “change.” This is terrorizing “change” like we’ve never seen.
Dorunda.com

People might save more money in thrifts and hometown banks if the government would just give every American a $1,000 tax break on the interest. Why are people taxed on the interest of their savings? The rates are so measly anyway. If folks could just take the first thousand of interest paid on a savings account and not have to pay taxes on it, people just MIGHT start saving again.

That was the problem joel,people were to stupid,and now they want to say “wait the goverment is suppose to protect me from myself”.Thats why so many are willing to vote for Obama he will protect me.Please

Not one person should lose one dime in any bank or thrift or credit union — even if they have a million dollars in it. Many people have their retirement savings in a savings and loan. 250,000 is still waaaaay too low. Each depositor should be able to have EACH account insured for a high amount, not just the total number of accounts. No wonder people are worried.

The only reason this bill has failed is because the Dems want 20% of this money to guarantee the low incomes loans the Dems secured thru all the inside deals they made with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac thru there buddies. Were asking the same people that created this mess to now clean it up, the Democrats. They blocked Bushes regulation bill in 2003 to tighten up on credit lenders and now you have people getting loans that didn’t even have a job. Way to go Dems! Crash the lending industry and now blame the Republicans. It’s the only way you do things. Watch your 401k sink to nothing.
You think I’m voting for a Democrat?

Suspension of the mark to market does NOT need congressional vote.
That is already a power of SEC.
SEC Cox should get on the ball and do that TODAY.

This is an excellent post , I’m grateful to you , thanks a lot .

What part of the root of this problem (the bad mortgage loans) do the congress have a hard time wrappin their minds around? To me, the bailout, without consideration for Main Street and the root problem is like trying to build a home on quicksand. Remove the quicksand, replace it with some sort of solid foundation, then rebuild. Idiots!

This bill should have failed, needed to be slapped down and congress was right to do so….
If this had ever been about buying up foreclosed homes I would have been first to shout hooray! let the gov do just that and stick all those displaced people from the hurricanes in them…
but this was never about foreclosed homes. They wanted to buy “Bad Debt”….
just what was that bad debt? CDO’s FASB 157, Mark to Market, unsecured loans these big banks routinely make to each other. promissory notes nothing more, all of it totally worthless with no hope of ever repaying. this bill should have been ripped up and tossed in a fire! …
If this bill had passed who would run this massive program? who would oversee manage administer to make it fair and equal? “OUT SOURCED” they said. they were going to give this money to the very same people who caused the problems and put them in charge of who gets a share… Ludicrous madness, toilet paper has more value than this bill! …
To be sure there are many valid reasons this bill needed to be killed and made to stay dead…
but putting all that aside what has America in an uproar is simple classicism…
They were asking we little guys, ma and paw, normal red blooded American to pick up the tab for the top 3% income earners…they asked we little guys to dig into our pockets cut back on good programs like schools, hospitals, feeding the shut in and elderly, cut back on road projects and even our own pocket money in the form of a higher tax burden and for what??? So some CEO making $179,000 per hour can go back to business as usual?… I think not!…
My own congresswoman Heather Wilson voted “yea” for this bill. she should be brought to task for her answer right now! Vote of Non Confidence, censured, Made to sit in her office and do nothing but doddle until a replacement can be found!…
Normally I do not favor the will of the people, the common man has little real understanding of the complexities. However in this case the voice of the people was correct, we all knew this wasn’t right, Instinct screamed something shady was going on. Heather’s yea vote proved she never asked questions never did her homework and once again showed her total contempt for her constituents! she has failed in her duty to protect the interests of those who put her in office. A clear case of misfeasance and she should be fired for it! Along with the other 204 people who voted yea…

Mookie: YOU ARE MY HERO! Amen to your post. Could not have put it out there any better if I were God.

Anyone refusing to show up in congress today to resolve this urgent problem should be forever branded as unamerican.

They keep saying we will pay if this bill isn’t passed I haven’t read anywhere where the people that are losing their homes are going to be helped?? Did I miss something???

Everything MUST stop for the Jewish New Year. This is more important than anything else in the United States of Israel! The International Jewish Bankers must be taken care of first!

The democrats have brought nothing to the table. We do not want this bailout. If you are losing your home. Sorry. You have to deal with the consequences for your choices. That is life. Trying to make the American public responsible for your failures and your bad choices is not acceptable.

dems have nothing is right; we should not be putting the responsibility of all the publics bad choices in life on the American public tax dollars. If you bought out of your price range or if you did not read the contract or if you thought a variable interest rate was ok even when you were not qualified; tough. Some people belong in apartments. Gives them incentive to save money, clean up your credit and take responsibility for your life.

Why did the author of this article provide %’s for the previous # of voters, but not the following?
“While voters don’t like some of the details in this bailout plan, they want the government to get something done to constrain the economic fallout before it ripples throughout the economy.”
I believe 2/3 or more of the people are against it.

Looks like the Family didn’t do their job either.
Watch the video all the way through.
Enlightening!!!
Here is a story on the real culprits of the financial meltdown.
Video included.
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/194131.php

Every single one of those congressional maggots needs to be fired. We dont need a bailout package. How about taking the money from the padded CEO pockets and using that for a bailout? Its about time congress got off their ass and did something for the people. As for the election… How about it for a man who served his country. Go get ‘em Johnny.

Oh! It seems the KKK has arrived.

The answer is simple. Extend them credit like they extend credit, charge then stupendous amounts of intrest and huge amounts of late payment fees if they miss a payment, call them at all hours of the day and night and when they are having dinner.Threaten and cajole till the bills paid. Change the Bankruptcy laws so the big financial gainers such as the managers and CEO’s are held responsible thru their own assets if the bail out isn’t paid, after all they just need a little break to get back to profitiability, so why wouldn’t they personally want to guarantee the bail out. All the above seems to work for them, so it should work for the goverment.

MP, don’t beleive the hype, I have been following Obama for 2 years and have never heard him saying anything other than his dad working in Kenya govt so get your LIES straight.

The place would be better off if they just let the investment banks file bankruptcy and the people that shouldn’t have gotten a loan to start with will learn a lesson, lose there house and start over. You can’t keep living above your means. It’s going to catch up with you. Same goes for the gov. as we are now seeing.

NO NO NO NO TOENY BAILL OUT THE TAX PAYERS DONT NEED TO PAY BUSH SCREW UP

This is not about teaching someone a lesson who took out a bigger mortgage than they could afford–Read this– “let’s say that the Treasury did not support the debt of the mortgage agencies. The Chinese bought over $300 billion of that stuff and they were told that it is essentially riskless. The flow of capital from them and from other central banks, sovereign wealth funds, and plain old ordinary investors would shut down very quickly. The dollar would fall say 30-40 percent in a week, there would be payments system gridlock, margin calls at the clearinghouses would go unmet, and only a trading shutdown would stop the Dow from shedding half its value. Most of the U.S. banking system would be insolvent. Emergency Fed/Treasury action would recapitalize the FDIC but we would lose an independent central bank and setting the money supply would be a crapshoot. The rate of unemployment would climb into double digits and stay there. Many Americans would not have access to their savings. The future supply of foreign investment would be noticeably lower. The Federal government would lose its AAA rating and we would pay much more in borrowing costs. The deficit would skyrocket.

I watched a miracle yesterday. I was never so proud to be an American as when I saw this EXTREMELY BAD and DANGEROUS bill get defeated in the House.
I believe the American People now more than any other election in the history of United States have a very clear choice to make in less than 30 days.
Those who Voted for the Bailout get voted out
Nancy Pelosi – Gone
Barney Franks – Gone
John Boener – Gone
Roy Blunt – Gone
The will of the American People – Priceless
Sincerely,
Kevin Grondahl
Proud Citizen of the United States of America

95 democrats did not vote for there own bill. Yes, i said there own bill. Once they made the stup id changes that the dems knew were unacceptable to the repuklicans; it was over and it was about partisan politics as usual. Dem maggots will do anything to hurt W and our country just to not let him appear to have any worthy credit that may transcend to W #2. dems are 5tupid.

Re focus…
I think it is okay to pint blame for the our current countries situation – President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney both supported and urged law makers to deregulate the banks. It is an historical fact look it up. Now that the deregulation has taken advantage of the American population and is now in financial crisis, our tax dollars are requested for a bailout. The answer is NO!!!!
We are a capitalistic society and should not be socialized for the interest of the rich or people in power. NO direct support from the government should be given to the financial markets or any private organization for bailout purposes. The American people do not want to purchase non-performing paper. The government should not own interest in any corporation and this should be illegal (goes against capitalism). If the government wants to bailout anyone it should be the 50 states of America (the federal government’s primary responsibility) that will be affected by large revenue losses due to this financial crisis. A crisis that was created by the deregulation of banks and the financial markets.
You don’t’ even know if the bailout will work. It is better not to take action then to take the wrong action that could do more damage. I will not transfer a $700 billion debt to my children and my children’s children because of greedy bakers and politicians. The press says it is necessary to prevent property values from plummeting – give the states aid to offset their financial losses to lower property values (another answer).
There are many other alternatives for the bailout and our leaders need to explore them all. We want justice – we want the leaders (boar members, presidents, managers, shareholders) that profited from these financial activities to lose their wealth. Their wealth should be used to bailout the financial markets.
I urge every American to contact their senators and congressional leaders via email or a written letter to express how you would like them to vote with respect to this $700 billion bailout. Let your senators and congressional leaders know that how they vote is directly attached to your vote when they are up for reflection.
This country is WE the people and WE need to take it back with our votes. Enough is enough.

family4us- ur an 1diot. you do not have a clue or your just a liar. which is it? what you state as fact is wrong. The dems are the ones that blocked regulation that mccain was trying to move forward since 2003. we were warned. you look it up goofball.

My Fellow Idiots,
Again, arguing about who’s to blame! They’re all to blame! They are protecting Wall Street!
You’re all missing the most important thing! They’re at it again…BEHIND CLOSED DOORS!!!!! THIS IS MY HOUSE YOU TURDSS…OPEN THAT DAMN DOOR AND COME OUT INTO THE LIGHT YOU EVIL BASTARD!

The failed bailout was Bush, Polson, and Bernanke’s preferred solution of government intervention to this “crisis”; the same government intervention that got America into this mess in the first place.
One need not look any further than the government-sponsored enterprises of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the legislation passed by Congress such as the Community Reinvestment Act and the Federal Reserve’s loose monetary policy which produced an unsustainable housing boom; a boom created by an increase in the supply of money and not from increased consumer demand.
This bailout was nothing more than an attempt to prop up these over-inflated markets and keep those assets trading at prices far in excess of what any buyer would be willing to pay.
An economic adjustment is needed and will occur, liquidating worthless assets and bad debt at fair-market values. Thus, bringing prices back in-line to the demand side of economics rather than keeping them artificially inflated, which the failed buyout would have done.
The President, and subsequently the Congress, sought to take the “easy” way out rather than pursue the right way to correct the errors of the past. The Congress needs to repeal laws like the Community Reinvestment Act; enact laws that enhance competition and advance the safety of our financial system; and institute a compulsory financial safety overseer to ensure that financial institutions, insurance conglomerates, etc… are safe for consumer consumption and to ensure that these behemoths to not undermine established professional procedures and regulations, again.
Further, executives’ salaries must be made reasonable and their incentives must be tied directly to long-term (5 to 7 year, not the current one year) financial success and positive-growth performance; they must be held accountable for their organization’s well being; and they must share the risk of their management, or lack, thereof.

Its MCcain’s fault. He got in the way. Its also Bush’s fault. He was too focus on trying to find massive destruction weapons in Iraq and ignored the fact that the worst bomb was about to explod in the US economy.

So what got us here? Well, you can say “white guilt” got us here, political correctness got us here, or a combination of all those things. Democrats’ desire to socialize the country got us here. Efforts to stop it failing — and we’re on the verge of even more of it, ladies and gentlemen. Stanley Kurtz has been researching Obama, and he has a great piece today. Let me just give you a couple excerpts. “What exactly does a ‘community organizer’ do?” and one thing a community organizer does, if he’s Barack Obama, is pressure banks to make bad loans. Obama’s fingerprints are over this, too, because his group ACORN is all involved. The Community Reinvestment Act “was meant to encourage banks to make loans to high-risk borrowers, often minorities living in unstable neighborhoods. That has provided an opening to radical groups like ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), and a group that is constantly engaged in illegal voter registration, among other things.

For all the people that are saying sorry
for people losing there homes need to
realize they are losing there homes not because they couldn’t afford it at the time of purchase but remember all the job lay offs and factories going over seas or to Mexico for cheaper labor. Yes some are getting another job but not always paying the same! This bailout
only helps the rich. I’m glad it failed!

MP,
Fact Check – Black people are not the only ones losing there homes!

An Alternative Economic Rescue Plan
Huge Bailout = Huge Inflation = Bankrupt America
American people from both the left and the right will not vote for any politicians who sell out tax payers to big wall street interest in exchange for campaign contributions and ignore advices from many economist.
In 1992, a Swedish real estate bubble burst, creating a banking panic and freeze. The Swedish loaned banks money, but in exchange, forced banks to promptly write down bad real estate investments and issue warrants to the government. Warrants–the right to purchase stock at a preset price–gave the government bank stocks cheap. At the end of the crisis, and government sold off its shares at a profit, so the entire rescue cost less than 2% of Swedish GDP. See “Stopping a Financial Crisis, the Swedish Way” NYT Sept 22.
Wednesday night, two economists, Larry Kotlikoff and Perry Mehrling, proposed an alternative plan, in essence a clever way to implement a Swedish solution in the US. See “The Right Financial Fix” on the RGE Monitor and “Bagehot plus RFC: the right financial fix” on the Financial Times website. The KM plan works like this:
Despite what we hear that “no one knows” the value of toxic bonds, there is in fact a market for them, current barely functioning at distressed prices. Holders of such bonds understandably don’t want to write them down to those levels; the bonds might rise again, and a write-down might make the holders “insolvent” –that is, their debts would exceed their assets.
Enter the KM plan. The Treasury would offer default insurance for the roughly five different classes or “tranches” of bonds sold in the market, ranging from the safest AAA bonds, to the worst BBB bonds. Insurance premiums would be set based on the market value of the bonds just before the crisis hit, and would range from low for AAA, to very high for BBB bonds. Buyers of insurance would pay either cash to the Treasury, or preferred stock. (Preferred stock is non-voting, but has priority in payout over common stock.)
The plan would have these effects:
1. It would get the market for toxic bonds active again–quickly.
2. It would allow bond holders to insure the bonds against default, simultaneously reducing their risk and effectively writing the bonds down to market. Holders could in fact sell bonds paired with insurance policies as relatively safe investments.
3. In many cases, Treasury would lay out no cash up front. It might even take in cash payments for insurance from stronger banks. Treasury might have to make loans to weaker banks–in exchange for more preferred stock.
4. With toxic bonds either insured or sold, confidence would return, banks would resume lending. Eventually, Treasury could sell its preferred stock at a premium.
Even with the crisis past, of course, the economy will take many years to recover from the waste and distortions caused by the real estate bubble. But by preventing a prolonged credit freeze, the KM plan can greatly lessen the damage–and ensure that the long-term benefit goes first to the taxpayers.
But what about homeowners desperately trying to renegotiate rip-off mortgages? The KM plan, by imposing a quick write-down on mortgage-backed securities, will make it much easier for homeowners and lenders to renegotiate. Rather than a loss, reduced payments from borrowers will look to lenders like gravy.
Gingrich’s four-point plan includes:
(1) suspending immediately mark to market provisions
(2) repealing immediately Sarbanes-Oxley
(3) setting the capital gains tax rate at zero
(4) passing an “extraordinarily powerful” energy bill to return $500 billion a year to the American economy instead of going overseas”.
Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago suggest ways to force the banks to raise capital without tapping the taxpayers. First, the government should tell banks to cancel all dividend payments. Banks don’t do that on their own because it would signal weakness; if everyone knows the dividend has been canceled because of a government rule, the signaling issue would be removed. Second, the government should tell all healthy banks to issue new equity. Again, banks resist doing this because they don’t want to signal weakness and they don’t want to dilute existing shareholders. A government order could cut through these obstacles.
Robert Borosage of Campaign for America’s Future invokes Naomi Klein’s “Shock Doctrine in asking whether we’re going to “get fleeced in this crisis” But depressions have some salutary effects – the scoundrels go belly up, the weakest get purged, and in the wake of the disaster, people demand strict regulation of the money lenders to keep their greed and predatory behavior in check, and government spends money on the real economy to put people back to work.
The immediate consequence of the bailout will be the devalue of US dollar that will lead to inflation. Americas dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity. Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted.” The consequences of Trillion dollar Treasury debt is called “Crowding Out”. Crowding Out is the phenomenon that occurs when the US Treasury sells debt in a world where foreigners and Americans are no longer flush with dollars. That means that the dollars to buy the debt must be squeezed out of the financial system and interest rates are forced up. Trillion dollar deficits aren’t chump change! However, squeezing a trillion dollars out of the money markets of the world is clearly impossible and the only remaining option to fund the US Treasury’s insatiable appetite is through “monetization”. Monetization means that the Federal Reserve would step in and print up new money out of thin air and buy the Treasury debt. If that occurs, monetary growth rates would soar and, in turn, create very high inflation as too many dollars start chasing too few goods. Rising inflation forces interest rates up, and rising interest rates always have devastating consequences for the prices of financial assets such as stocks and bonds.
Last week the Treasury announced a $50 billion insurance plan for money market funds, which restored confidence in them. “It wasn’t necessary to move to Plan B.” said Ed Yardeni, a veteran Wall Street analyst. Doubting the financial Armageddon scenario, Yardeni said another measure that could have the same effect as the $700 billion rescue plan is simply to change accounting rules for bad assets – mostly bonds with mortgages as their collateral. Right now, banks and others with this toxic debt by law must write down losses every quarter. They are forced to put a present-day value on these assets. Yardeni thinks suspending this rule could do the job without taxpayer money. “It’s more hype than real risk,” said James K. Galbraith, a University of Texas economist and son of the late economic historian John Kenneth Galbraith. “A nasty recession is possible, but the bailout will not cure that. So it’s mainly relevant to the financial industry.”
“This crisis could become a chance to re-evaluate our priorities as a country,” Business Week economist Michael Mandel argued this week. “Rather than stressing home ownership and consumption, we should focus on investment and innovation, which have a bigger long-term payoff.”

Our country is in a mess. The only man, currently running for President, who has the common sense, the understanding of the needs of our middle class, and the courage to really make a change for the better is Senator Barck Obama. He will cut taxes on those making under $259,000 a year and tax those who have brought us to this mess to pay for much needed laws and programs to make America once again a “shining city on a hill”, instead of our continuing to dwell in the srevant camp mostof us live in, thanks to the Republicans. It is time for HEROIC change, it is time for OBAMA.

They need to tell the investment bankers that went along with the Dems mess to hit the street if the gov is taking it over.

Obama cut taxes? Get real.
• SEPTEMBER 24, 2008 WSJ
How Your Taxes Will Fare Under Obama
Sen. Obama has called for raising the top ordinary income-tax rate, now 35%, to 39.6%. (This means a tax increase for everyone). He also has proposed raising the current 33% rate to 36%. But he would leave the other income-tax rates unchanged. Sen. Obama wants to raise the top long-term capital-gains rate on stocks, bonds and other securities (as well as the rate on qualified dividends)( down goes your retirement nest egg), now 15%, to 20% for households with income of more than $250,000 or individuals over $200,000. He hasn’t said what he would do about the top capital-gains rate, now 28%, on sales of art and collectibles. He also favors higher Social Security taxes on high-income workers. One big question about the Obama proposals is when they would take effect.
I think you need to take the Obama test.

This scare tactic is just created by the left to push the right into voting for there pork laiden bill on the bailout. Banks are still loaning money, credit cards still work. Your still going to the store and spending money. Money still works.

It shows what an idiot Barney Frank is saying the hurt republicans (because of Pelosi’s speech) wouldn’t vote for the bailout when 94 democrats voted against it. They voted against because it was a bad bill! Pelosi talked about Bush spending most of the surplus in his first two years but left out that Bush inherited a recession bound economy and that little thing called 9/11 that i think cost a couple of bucks. Dont get me wrong Bush has spent way too much. But Barney Frank is loving the fact that Americans are hurting…it means more democrats will get voted in. He blocked McCain’s bill for oversight on Fannie/Freddie in 2005 with Dodd and Obama while taking money from these companies. Now here we are and its all the republicans fault?

What is all the PMI insrance for on a house loan that everybody has to pay? I thought that if you can’t pay your loan it was suppose to guarrantee your loan?

Corrupt Dems said “The Democrats made rules to force banks to give loans to low income people without down payments. In 2004, there was a congression hearing that the Republicans and McCain warned the congress that Freddie Mac and Fennie Mae will collapes if they continue the practice of reckless lending and cook books to give their CEO big bonus. Berney Franks, Chuck Shulmer, Chris Dodd and many Democrats who got the most money from Freddie Mac and Fennie Mae claimed that there was no crisis and Freddie Mac and Fennie Mae were doing just fine.” ***** this is absolutely correct and is fact. Check for yourself. Finally someone that has actual facts instead of made up bologna

US folks live in a lie. U got into this mess because most USA citizens are really stupid. Due to that, some really smart politicians and Wall Street dudes get advantage.

I am for a bail out plan oly because we have desperate times, and the consequenses are dire. Barak’s proposal for increasing the insurance to $250,000 can only assist the rich and no one else. The limit of $100,000 today can be spread out over multiple institutions, in essence insuring far more than $100,000. That reveals who Barak wants to help. Idea #2 of removing the Mark to Market rule is not good, because it allows for hiding the truth of actions. But amending it to a more reasonable timeframe should be acceptable.

Obama raised tax to people who made only $40,000 a year. Get real! Obama will tax Americans to fund his socialist and voting fraud organizations like ACRON.

America’s Political Future
“As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know.
We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say, we know there are some things we do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
- Donald Rumsfeld, Feb. 12, 2002,
Department of Defense News Briefing
And still these beltway bandits through their puppets think that we believe in and trust their ability to fix our financial future?

The $700 billion (ultimately $1 trillion or more) failed bailout plan was a bailout for mortgage-backed securities; not for mortgages and homeowners. Many of these securities are imaginary derivatives. These are ridiculously risky claims with little value for society. These are the majority of claims that have failed, or are near failure, and these do not have a bearing on the mortgage or housing crisis: They have bearing only on the holders of these securities themselves. Hedge funds are the primary holders of these derivatives. The bailout would have transferred wealth from the American taxpayer to financial institutions who chose to engage in reckless speculation.

Patty Elsen | Sep 30, 2008 11:08:05 AM — Check your friend’s math…
$85,000,000,000 divided by 200,000,000 = $425.00

ACORN “donation” may not have been taken out of the Bailout Bill, only the percentages. Here’s the comment:
“The set-aside for ACORN was NOT removed from the revised bill that was rejected. The name and % were removed, but the support was not:
Sec 103: (6) providing financial assistance to financial
21 institutions, including those serving low- and mod
22erate-income populations and other underserved
23 communities, and that have assets less than
24 $1,000,000,000, that were well or adequately cap25
italized as of June 30, 2008.”
Just like Prego “It’s In There”!!!

HP Boston | Sep 30, 2008 11:12:44 AM I will make sure my Congressman knows about this. He voted NO on the BAILOUT and I need to thank him; but the House website is having some problems!

>> The economic state of the country is
>> in a mess, even the top brains are
>> not sure how the bailout or other
>> alternatives will play out … and
>> Obama wants the tax paying folks to
>> trust him … Give me a break !!!
>>
>> This fellaw has zero experience in
>> economics
And McCain, the economic genius he is ‘suspended’ his campaign to (not really) rush to Washington to save us from the world ending and the sky falling.
>>
>> He has voted 94 times to raise taxes
>>
What I don’t get is how people continue on this ‘raise taxes’ crap, when they have no concept of what cutting taxes has done to the economy. Here’s a clue, the guy who coined ‘trickle down’ as a taxing policy was Hoover. It was one of the reasons for the great depression. Regan, with his famous ‘Reganomics’, managed to raise the federal deficit all by himself by more than all presidents before him combined, from just under $1 trillion to over $2.6 trillion. The numnuts in office is now pushing the deficit skyward at the rate of around $1.5 billion a DAY. Face it, we CANNOT continue spending and cut taxes at the same time. Sure, nobody wants higher taxes, but you can’t continue borrowing at this rate, period.
>>
>> He wants to raise the capital gain taxes
>>
Yeah, to less than what it was under Clinton, and all current exemptions will remain in place, so unless you are planning on making a HUGE profit on the sale of your home, it won’t make a bit of difference. I fail to understand why people cannot realize that.
>>
>> Above all he votes ‘PRESENT’ and
>> wants to be called when there is a crisis
>>
As McCain has already shown, their presence is neither required nor necessary. McCain is the one who has overreacted, went around spouting off about ‘plans’, wanting to fire people and ‘suspending’ his campaign. All the while, Obama has been calm and rational, realizing that the sky is not falling.. which to me shows much more leadership quality and reason. And as for the continuous references to his Illinois ‘present’ votes (130 times out of 4000 total votes while there), may I remind you that it is McCain who has missed more votes than any other Senator in the current congressional session, over 64% of them.. and in fact, during the 110th Congress, Obama has voted more than McCain.
>>
>> Obama is not trustworthy
>>
At this point in the game, if you are talking about economic crisis stunts, I’d say you are dead wrong. And if you stop and really look at the issues, the difference is amazing. Tax plans alone, Tax Policy Center estimates both candidates will raise debt, McCain by $4.2 trillion over 10 years, Obama by $2.9 trillion. Who do you think has a better chance cutting spending to try to balance things out?

–( Point being is now that Pres Obama is giving out this extra 700B with his Senate and House for this scam bail-out how is he going to justify giving out 842 B in spending programs and a mid-class tax cut?? The answer is he is not…So now what is his campaign based on…not foreign policy-he is clueless in that dept…maybe he can travel the country and give motivational speeches… )–
And please explain how McCain, who wants to drastically cut taxes MORE than Obama, with a projected deficit increase of $4.2 trillion over 10 years compared to Obamas $2.9 trillion is better? Are you people that clueless, or just too blinded to see.

–( Yet, they are pounding us with their usual FEAR tactics…DON’T BUY IT. There are experts across the country…such as economists from every major University (160 to be exact) who have petitioned the Congress to allow them to play a role in educating them and helping them construct the best Bill possible. )–
Exactly! The sky is not falling. There is no need to ‘suspend’ campaigns. The only people benefiting from the current ‘bailout’ are the ones who were irresponsible in the first place. Should the current plan go through, the ones getting HURT are the ones who had nothing to do with the mess in the first place.

*** not foreign policy-he is clueless in that dept…maybe he can travel the country and give motivational speeches… ***
You are aware that Obama specalized in international relations in college, sits on the Senate Foreign Relations committee, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committed, several International subcommittees, as well as subcommittees for European, East Asian, Pacific and African affairs. Now go check what experience McCain has in foreign relations and tell me which one has more.
PS: Indian affairs refers to native-americans, not the country :)

NO BAILOUT FOR WALL STREET. LEAVE THE ECONOMY ALONE. EXCEPT…..HELP HARDWORKING CITIZENS KEEP THEIR HOMES. THIS BAILOUT HELPS ONLY PAULSON’S BUDDIES. THEY NEED TO PAY FOR THEIR GREED. DON’T BALANCE THIS LOAD ON THE BACKS OF ORDINARY PEOPLE.

Vote No, to the $700 Billion bailout! Only person’s the bailout will help is the Rich, and the Republicans

Last I checked, the Bush has our deficit rising at the rate of around $500 billion a year. This insane bailout would more than double that. Are they crazy? How can Bush continue to cut taxes and spend like this? How can Americans let this continue to occur? We are digging a hole so deep that it will take generations for us to climb back out, if ever. I am truely ashamed at our current leadership. Bush took a balanced budget and federal surplus and gave it all away to his rich friends. The top 1% in this country controls over 40% of the wealth. McCain wants to expand that even more with insane tax cuts for the wealthy. We have the second largest wealth distribution inequality in the world (Switzerland is 1st). I say if they want a bailout, let the guys who benefited from the scam in the first place pay it off, keep McCain the he11 away from the white house and lets try to get our country back from China.

Someone wrote: “In John McCain, we see the character and leadership of a President”
You must be talking about someone other that the dill weed running for president then.. if anyone has tried to use this as a political ploy, it has been him. He has shown repeated poor judgement, overreaction and rapid flip-flops to the point where he could join the circus as an acrobat.

concerned….McCain sits on the following committees:(govtrack.us/congress)
Senate Committee on Armed Services, Subcommittee on Airland, sucommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, Subcommittee on Prsonnel, Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, Subcommitte on SeaPower, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Subcommittee of Aviation Operations, Safety and Security, Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Insurance, and Automotive Safety, Subcommittee on Interstate Commerce, Trade and Tourism, Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Innovation, Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security and finally, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs…Against Obama’s…..LOL BTW please site your research and cite the “several international committees” obama singed up for PRIOR TO HIS CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT as well as any military service he has and not military service he thought about…LOL

Has anyone really stopped to think about our so called “economic recession?” How long have we really had it harder financially in our country? Not eight years. No sir. Let’s try about a year and a half. That’s about how long food and gas prices have truly been on the rise. So how come so few people have been willing to discuss what is really behind these “hard economic times?” Isn’t it funny that for the same past two years, Democrats have controlled Congres? Does no one remember the bill Bush tried to push through Congress this past summer that would limit specualtion on oil, thus lowering gas parices. The Democratic Congress would not pass this wonderful bill that would have helped so many. They want their party to gain the credit for the bill. Democrats have sabotaged the Republican party there in turn sabotaging the nation for the past two years, letting bill after bill get stuck in Congress that would have taken relief off these difficult past few years. Why would they do that you might ask? So that the Republicans look worse and the Democrats look better. So in turn shouldn’t Obama’s real slogan be “Want More of the Same? Vote for ME!” instead of the “Change” they promise.

James Corsi:“NEW YORK – Campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made to Barack Obama may backfire if the Democratic presidential hopeful wages an aggressive campaign to cast blame on rival John McCain and the Republicans in Congress for the mortgage-related losses that forced the U.S. Treasury to take over the quasi-governmental mortgage giants.A review of Federal Election Commission records back to 1989 reveals Obama in his three complete years in the Senate is the second largest recipient of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae campaign contributions, behind only Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., the powerful chairman of the Senate banking committee. Dodd was first elected to the Senate in 1980.According to OpenSecrets.com, from 1989 to 2008, Dodd received $165,400 in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac campaign contributions, including contributions from PACs and individuals, followed by Obama, who received $126,349 in such contributions since being elected to the Senate in 2004.In contrast, McCain warned of the coming mortgage crisis as he pressed in 2005 for regulatory reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – known as government-sponsored entities or GSEs – and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market,” McCain said on the floor of the Senate in 2005, speaking in favor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005.McCain pointed out Fannie Mae’s regulator had stated the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were “illusions deliberately and systematically created” by the company’s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.The bill passed the House but was never brought up for a vote in the Senate, largely because of Democratic opposition to change in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac regulatory structure that remained in place until the Treasury takeover two weeks ago.As evidenced by the failure to pass the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, the Democrats in Congress have repeatedly fought back Republican Party efforts to reform the two mortgage banking giants.Instead, Democrats in Congress have sought to preserve the quasi-governmental status of the mortgage giants, seeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as places to locate former top Democratic Party operatives, where they have earned millions in compensation, despite a continuing series of financial scandals. Enron-like accounting manipulation, for example, boosted earnings to a level at which massive executive bonuses could be paid.In the aftermath of the U.S. government takeover, attention has focused on three Democrats with close ties to Obama who served as Fannie Mae executives: Franklin Raines, former Clinton administration budget director; James Johnson, former aide to Democratic Vice President Walter Mondale; and Jamie Gorelick, former Clinton administration deputy attorney general.All three Obama-related executives earned millions in compensation from Fannie Mae.Johnson earned $21 million in just his last year serving as Fannie Mae CEO from 1991 to 1998; Raines earned $90 million in his five years as Fannie Mae CEO, from 1999 to 2004; and Gorelick earned an estimated $26 million serving as vice chair of Fannie Mae from 1998 to 2003, according to author David Frum, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.All three have been involved in mortgage-related financial scandals.In 1998, according to the Washington Post, Gorelick, as Fannie Mae vice chairman, received a bonus of $779,625, despite a scandal in which employees falsified signatures on accounting transactions to manipulate books to meet 1998 earning targets. The moves, in turn, triggered multi-million-dollar bonuses for top executives.Gorelick was embroiled in another controversy over an alleged conflict of interest when a 1995 memo she authored as deputy attorney general surfaced while she was a member of the 9/11 commission.The memo, which became known as the “Gorelick Wall,” appeared to establish barriers that barred federal anti-terrorist criminal investigators from accessing various federal records and databases that may have assisted them in their criminal investigations.According to the Associated Press, Raines and several other Fannie Mae top executives were ordered in a civil lawsuit to pay nearly $31.4 million for manipulating Fannie Mae earnings over a period of six years to trigger their massive bonuses.Raines was also forced in the settlement to give up Fannie Mae stock options valued at $15.6 million.Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged Freddie Mac had engaged in accounting fraud from 2000 to 2002, imposing a $50 million fine on the company and on four executives fines for amounts ranging from $65,000 to $250,000.Raines currently advises Obama on housing policy.Johnson was appointed to head Obama’s vice presidential selection committee, until a controversy concerning an alleged $7 millions in questionable real estate loans he received on favorable terms from failed sub-prime mortgage lender Countrywide Financial surfaced and forced him to step down.WND previously reported a panel chaired by Elena Kagan, dean and professor of law at Harvard Law School, speculated at the June two-day meeting of the American Constitution Society that Gorelick was a possible attorney general cabinet appointment if Obama should be elected president.The decision by the U.S. Treasury to take over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae could end up costing the U.S. taxpayer as much as $100 billion, although the extent of losses at the two giant mortgage companies remains to be determined.According to the Wall Street Journal, Freddie and Fannie own or guarantee about $5.2 trillion worth of mortgages.The riskiest loans held by Freddie and Fannie are known as “Alt-A” and sub-prime mortgages, worth about $780 billion, or about 15 percent of the total portfolio.The federal government takeover of Freddie and Fannie passes to U.S. taxpayers the contingent liability for failures in the entire $5.2 trillion loan portfolio held by the two mortgage giants.Over the past four quarters, Freddie and Fannie have suffered losses of about $14 billion, as the mortgage market has been hit by a wave of defaults and foreclosures not seen in the U.S. since the 1930s.
Congressional democrats OPPOSED reform of Fannie and Freddy even back in 2003. When there was a big push for reform, here is a quote from the New York Times: ….”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

I’m not sure it matters in the long run if we pass this thing or not. The reality is that the culture of the US is not sustainable and how we do economics is a big piece of that. Did we really think we could consume forever without a stopping point? I think there were MANY people who participated in the lead up to this. Consumers, banks, regulators, congress, the white house and wall street all played a role, and none of those roles were being looked to too strongly in a culture of over-consumption. All of this happened in a culture of hubris (the same one that has a lot of the world not very happy with us right now).
A bailout only staves off the inevitable. Our economy isn’t viable long term. The sooner we can get honest about that, the less our grandchildren will shake their heads at us.
Can we stop the knee jerk reaction to “socialism” and actually look at the standard of living in countries with socialized programs? What are we so afraid of? Taking care of our brothers and sisters? We are afraid of a word and it makes it hard to have real dialogue.
Meanwhile if we do the bailout, what can we contribute to the bigger “bailout” needs: global warming is indeed rearing its ugly head. We’d be wiser to look toward sustainability at this point and start putting money into educating people about the natural limits we are butting up against rather than expending more energy on trying to isolate little lines of “blame”. You think Wall Street is out of control, try more hurricanes and flooding with our hands tied financially…

So much fear mongering and finger pointing – lets fix the problems.
First – not one penny toward Executive Officers’ salaries or other compensation packages. The Wall Street EOs of these failed institutions should be the first Americans to sacrifice – go after their ill-gotten assets if the crisis is that horrible.
Second – accountability that every penny goes toward the liquidity required by the markets in a much smaller amount until rational heads can determine long term fixes.
Many people were given credit and mortgages they could not afford. Some that could found their jobs going overseas after sighing on the bottom line. There are no guarantees in this life and while there can be hands up, no long term good ever came from hand outs.

Posted by: Mp | Sep 30, 2008 8:39:10 AM
“Yesterday, Barack Obama blew up the bailout meeting at the White House, causing members of Congress to leave in a shouting match without a deal in what amounted to a political ambush of John McCain and Republicans.
Of course, Democrats are blaming everything on McCain and House Republicans, but the truth is Obama ruined the meeting.
Now, the truth is coming out about the Bogus Bailout. More than 100 economists signed a letter to Congress opposing the Bogus Bailout. And new reports indicate that Democrats are trying to add tens of billions in pork for pet liberal projects to the bailout.”
Mp, you are the epitome of what’s wrong with the American electorate. I call for the immediate revocation of your voting right.

–( REMEMBER THE PRESIDENT HAS NO CONTROL OVER ANY OF THESE ISSUES, ONLY CONGRESS. )–
Not true. He has the ability to veto. As of May 2008, President Bush has vetoed only 10 bills since taking office in January 2001; only one occurred before Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007. Two of those bills would have had an immediate effect on the price of gas prices by closing the enron loophole.

How many rational humans here think that Mp needs some help with anger management?
I find it down right scary that there are people on either side that think that the entire picture would be fixed by a group of people that call themselves members of one party or another. Your world must be just perfect when everything is so black and white, such a clear line between good and evil.
The saddest part of all is that the same people that believe our current situation is a Republican/Democrat thing also lumps people into “good and bad” based on race or socioeconomic class. If things were just so simple that we could spot a “bad guy” by the way they looked. Albeit I would agree that most of the old men climbing into Bentley’s outside of the strip clubs in DC are fat, balding, old, white men… Mp… the good news is that your anger will consume your life, the stress will shorten what you have left of it, and there probably isn’t enough psychotropic medication in the world to calm down the irrational voices in your head.
Mp do you seriously believe the crap you spew? Have you gotten a good look at Obama’s daddy? That man was AFRICAN…no delution. Arabic people are not traditionally that dark, lol. Maybe you should rent Disney’s “Aladdin”. It should be at your intellect level, and help you with your colors :)

Barney Frank was telling congress that Fannie & Freddie were fine as recently as 2008. President Clinton and Bush both requested that congress address Freddie & Fannie, but the banking committees in the Senate and House were too busy being paid off by them to honestly evaluate their operations. Barney Frank and Chris Dodd should be jailed. Obama should repay the 126K he received from them in the 2 years he was a senator. Why would a jounior senator receive so much money from them. Pelosi made the most partisan speech ever given as if she didn’t wish for it to pass. From all of the democratic posturing I can see why they are doing so much finger pointing and spinning. They believe and I presume they are correct that people who vote for them are stupid and believe everything they hear. Bush went to them 17 times during his administration to have them look at placing additional regulations on Fannie & Freddie who was packaging, rating and selling the mortgages. The chicken was watching the hen house.

why isn’t pelosi being recalled as speaker of the house? she’s an ineffectual speaker and democratic leader. doesn’t the democratic house have any other leaders and speakers that can actual be bi-partisan and accomplish something?
what happened to that 100 day promise? more than 100 days have passed and theres nada.
she’s following the failed policies of the lame duck bush whom she continually rails against and she tried to drag the house with her!
what happened to that 100 days commitment? another failed pelosi sound bite.
recall her and put in a LEADER as speaker of the house

It scares me to think people are this stupid to blame the Republicans for this mess, I guess if you dont educate yourself on the facts you cast blame in the wrong place.
The people’s thinking should not scare you.
BUSH and CHINE HAVE DONE A VERY GOOD JOB.
EVEN IF THE STUPID PEOPLE VOTE OBAMA/BIDEN THIS TIME, PALIN IS YOUNG AND is NEW ENERGY SHE WILL BE BACK IN 2012. Sleep well!

“Turmoil”? This will cause a Global Depression.

CONS AND LIBS UNITED AGAINST ARROGANT GOVERNMENT, GUESS WHAT? AFTER WE SAID NO, CONGRESS IS POISED TO TRY AGAIN WEDNESDAY and vote to give the Executive Branch of government, and specifically the White House’s political appointees in the Treasury Department, the absolute right to take our money and give it to domestic and foreign banks and corporations without any oversight of elected officials, from the courts, or from the people.
The new legislation states: “Decisions by the Secretary [of the Treasury] pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, AND MAY NOT BE REVIEWED BY ANY COURT OF LAW OR ANY ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCY.” The Legislation allows the Treasury Department to appoint the same bankers who created the crisis to administer and dictate the use of trillions of our tax dollars.
The new system institutionalizes theft on a grand scale. Lehman Brothers bankers will receive $2.5 billion in bonuses after their company went bankrupt last week, but the new dictatorial authority under the White House and Treasury Department has ruled out any relief for the millions of working families who are being foreclosed.
We live in a $15 trillion annual economy. Instead of taking our tax dollars and giving it to the already rich and powerful, these funds should be used provide to decent paying jobs, affordable housing, health care and a good education for our children. There is another way!
Now is the time to hear the voice of the people. A spineless Congress authorized Bush’s illegal war in Iraq and rubber-stamped the Patriot Act. Now they are being herded like sheep again to give the White House and Wall Street dictatorial control over the people’s money.
SIGN THE PETITION AND IT WILL BE SENT TO YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES AT THE FOLLOWING LINK:____
https://secure2.convio.net/pepib/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr001=rwz849uu63.app7b&cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=123

Vote No for the $700 billion bailout! Only people the bail out is going to help is the Rich and the Republicans.

Too bad there isn’t any help for all the people who lost their homes and cars and jobs which resulted in ruining their credit. I got laid-off and could no longer afford to pay my car payments. I was forced to give back the cars voluntarily. Now my credit is ruined. It’s a viscious cycle because now getting a job is almost impossible due to my low credit score. And even if I do get another job, my credit is still ruined and I will not be able to get a decent car loan. I was forced to go to a buy-here, pay-here car dealer who rips people off by charging two or three times what the cars are worth. I am sure that people who have had their homes repossessed are in the same boat. Why can’t something be done about this? Credit scores are ruling our lives. I was never late on a car payment before I lost my job. It’s not fair.