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I cannot believe we’re in the situation we’re in and it’s all because the Republicans are too cowardly to place the blame where it belongs…on the DemocRats.

Republicans don’t have the balls and DemocRats don’t have the votes.

Worst Congress in HISTORY.

I don’t see what the big rush is to get this done.

It seems to me, these lifer politicians are creating a panic that is causing the markets to crash. The Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac issues have been around for years. And now suddenly it’s urgent?

They aren’t telling us that the bailout will work. They aren’t telling us it will be certain death if we don’t do it.
What is it they aren’t telling us that makes this bailout urgent?

I would bet most Americans would be willing to withstand a little pain for a little while so that a thoughtfull, workable plan could be carefully worked out. Take the time to do it right.
Throwing good money after bad never makes sense.

-T.C.

When the bill failed to pass after 60% of Democrats voted for it and 67% of Republicans voted against it, Minority Leader Boehner pointed to this speech as the reason many Republicans voted against the bill.

If they supported the bill, they should have voted for it. If they opposed the bill, they should have voted against it. Speaker Pelosi’s comments are irrelevant to that decision. Responsible legislators do not base their vote on spite and hurt feelings.

I go with stupid — They already had Hussein in the chair and were preparing to lift it to their shoulders, when the bill bombed. They were preparing something akin to a victorious tiger hunt parade, where all the slaves hoist The One and parade for the peasants. Old African tradition.

Blame Republicans for the meltdown mess, as Pelosi said. Things just went a little “Wellstone memorial” before they were ready.

The American people don’t want a bailout to Democrats on Wall Street — Simple as that.

I am constantly amazed at the childish bickering that goes on by my fellow Americans about a subject that will so completely affect all of our lives for many years to come. This financial crisis is destabilizing the security of our great country and all people want to do is point fingers at politicians. Politicians have one goal in mind and that is to get re-elected to another term. They really don’t care who they blame as long as it allows them to get their votes. Nancy Pelosi is despised by many people in the country for her political views and her recent speech, but let’s be serious, do you really think she was going to give any slack to anyone in the Bush administration only a month or so ahead of a presidential election? Her job is to keep her job and that is about it.

On the subject of something far more important, what exactly is going to happen to our country, our money, our savings and our country’s future if we don’t come together as Americans and figure out a real solution? We are going to be a bunch of whining individuals of a once strong powerhouse that let entitlement go to our heads while allowing the government, which supposedly answers to us, to create an internally rotting financial system that would cripple most other countries.

Americans, I implore you to stop your pointless complaining and get on the phones and tell your friends and neighbors to call everyone of their elected representatives and get them to solve this disaster now so we can get this problem solved. Get a plan together to fix the problem short term, and then re-install whatever legal measures required to prevent this from happening again. I am not even going to go into all of the criminal actions that should be taken against the vast array of politicians and financial “wizards” that created this nightmare, but those should be part of the fix once the problem is solved.

Lastly, maybe it would be a good idea to save some money and not spend it all on credit cards and houses that we cannot afford. The members of the greatest generation who fought for our freedoms overseas did not do it so that their descendants could spend us into financial oblivion. As a country, let’s take a little responsibility for our actions and hold each other accountable if we have the brass to do it.

@Dave Noble: oh, ok Dave. now, go back to Chicago Obama-land.

16 dems in danger of losing their seats were told they don’t have to vote for it
Almost the entire Congressional Black Caucus (which is in NO danger of losing any of their seats) didn’t vote for it
At least 5 committee chairs who got their jobs from Pelosi…didn’t vote for it
Several subcommittee chairs (including the one on the banking committee) didn’t vote for it

More Dems did NOT vote for this bailout than Republicans

If Pelosi wanted this to pass, she should have had every member of the Democratic Caucus vote for it, but it’s wildly unpopular, and they want to keep power, so instead of doing their jobs, they played election politics.

Dems hold the majority=Dems hold the responsibility/it happened on their watch/oversight or lack thereof (remember those words?)

Barney Frank “Distinguished Chairman with extraordinary leadership”… WTF? He wouldn’t know leadership if it slapped him across his clueless face!

This is the longest “1 Minute” I have ever seen.

The Democrats belief in the “free market” is that everything should be free for the underachievers. This BS has to come to and end… Wake up America (working America and retired from working in America) the lunatics are trying to take over the asylum. A good dose of tear gas and restraints is needed before we are all done in.

Silly times, no accountability, no leadership, no humility… The Democrats keep smoking the rope! We need an Honor system within our government. “Public officials will not lie, cheat, or steal nor tolerate those who do”. If they can’t abide by this rule then they are not fit for duty!

Just my .02 cents worth.

Scott:

*16 dems in danger of losing their seats were told they don’t have to vote for it

*Almost the entire Congressional Black Caucus (which is in NO danger of losing any of their seats) didn’t vote for it [note: ACORN provision was taken out]

*At least 5 committee chairs who got their jobs from Pelosi…didn’t vote for it
Several subcommittee chairs (including one on the banking committee) didn’t vote for it

This wasn’t just an unpopular bailout plan, it was a trap set for Republicans. Thank heavens many of them got wind of it (one of Pelosi’s henchmen on NPR said this was going to hang around the GOP’s necks in November) or maybe they listened to their constituents and vote, “No!”

I am a neophyte when it comes to economics but I have heard others describe the choices before us as an “L” or a “V”. As I understand it, the bailout would have been an “L”. It would have strapped us into slow or no growth for a very long time. Doing nothing, or very little would result in the “V”. A sharp downward trend but a faster upturn once the smoke clears. I have to admit if I understand the choices correctly, I would rather take my medicine now with the hope of full recovery rather than linger in malaise for years and years.

Yeah- I remember (some here) those who said lets let the Democraps win to punish Republicans, remember! Some of us said that we were committing political suicide, remember! My goodness who was right? This congress has brought this country to the edge, and now is asking us to jump. I can’t blame the stupid and treasonous Democraps for being stupid and treasonous, but I blame those of us who failed to see . Polosi is not only stupid, but she is hard headed stupid, and America it’s my way or the high way stupid. Please America this nothing compared to what an Obambi presidency has in store for us, wake up. Ther is depression and terrorist attacks in store, and that my friends is a given. Vote and Vote Republican it’s our only chance.

Scott, I’m afraid they will be putting the ACORN garbage back in the bill and will then have enough votes when they get back in session. Hopefully, that will lose more Republican votes and reasonable dems will jump ship and the scheme fails. That’s why the dem leadership is out spinning that it is all the fault of the Republicans, a distraction for that next step.

Maybe enough koolaid drinkers will begin to realize how much they lost this week, that they have been played by their leader, from what I see in here I have my doubts.

This morning Fox News reported that more than a dozen Dems on the committee voted no on this. These are the ones that wrote the thing, geez!!
Pelosi obviously just likes to hear herself yap!

Does anyone know where the figure of $700 billion originated? I read the bill, didn’t really study it, but can’t tell where that amount came from.

-T.C.

“Does anyone know where the figure of $700 billion originated?”

From Forbes.com, 9/23/08:

“In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.

‘It’s not based on any particular data point,’ a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. ‘We just wanted to choose a really large number.'”

Thin air?

“In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.

It’s not based on any particular data point,’ a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. ‘We just wanted to choose a really large number.’”

Can you say TORCHES & PITCHFORKS ?

It seems standard operating procedure to figure that no one can be “that stupid” and therefore something really, really clever must actually be at work. Pelosi couldn’t be dumb enough to have figured she had the votes and as it appears there was no reported arm twisting, losing the vote MUST have been part of a super double-secret plan which only a very few are capable of understanding. You know…the kind of thing Hawking punches out on his nifty little PC. Personally, I think Pelosi is indeed “that dumb.” But as McCain’s intellect runs a very close second (he is mum on the fact that dems are completely responsible for the entire mess) maybe the whole thing was planned. The vote fails, McCain sits with his thumb in his a** and dems blame it on him. Wouldn’t be a surprise.

damnifiknow said: “This is the longest “1 Minute” I have ever seen”

Yep. Dems keep time about as bad as they write legislation. And some people want them to run healthcare? Imagine if you are deperately ill and go to see the doctor. The nurse tells you “it will only be a minute.” You’ll be dead before the doctor sees you.

As for the Congressional Black Caucus: I bet they change their tune if that ACORN money gets back in.

It’s disgusting that Dems took the occasion of what is billed as a financial emergency requiring urgent legislation to try and reward their friends with millions of dollars of our money.

Imagine what would happen if Republicans tried that?

@Mike’s America: this is typical of the dems though. they are always taking advantage of the situations hat are before them and seeing how they can be turned for the better of their party, not the better of the people. pisses me off. a very long minute indeed. gosh i can’t stand pelosi, i can’t believe she still is in office. wait i forgot, she is rtrying to save the planet.

There were so many problems with this bill and how it was put together it’s not funny.

– Bush & Harry Reid suggest the candidates needed to be a part of it since it would be either of their administrations that would have to deal with the consequences. Then when McCain puts his campaign on hold to do this, Reid says oh nevermind we don’t need you here. Then Dems start with the claims that McCain is only doing it as a political stunt.
– At the White House meeting the Dems rush to work something out before McCain & Boehner’s arrical.
– Once they arrived, Pelosi & Reid shouted down the Rebublicans and refused to listen to their points of view which presented specific things that had to happen on the bill for house Republican buy in, such as using an insurance program rather than the mortgage buy-outs. What is not even mentioned, is this is not like other previous buy-outs. There is a slight Constitutionality problem with the government getting directly involved in the mortgage finance business as an investor. If the Supreme Court were not so liberally stacked, I’m sure that they would have struck the bill as presented bill down as unconstitutional.
– The Dems walked out declaring to the media that a tentative plan was worked out & that McCain not only was no help, but derailing the process by introducing recommendations that Paulson himself shot down. Republicans say there is no deal, but the media virtually ignores that salivating over being able to report that McCain was a problem, not a solution.
– McCain suggested that no pork be added, so the Dems added pork to the tune of $9 billion worth.
– The bill would have allowed Paulson to establish mortgage buyouts by the government, not at current fair market value, but presumably at whatever value the banks set them at and it would have allowed the finance companies to pick and choose which mortgages they retained and which would be handed over to the government.
– The primary reason for the failure is due to previous Democratically led legislation passed that pushed banks into lending to deadbeat potential home-owners who did not otherwise qualify for loans. Including some with no credit history, assets, or even jobs to prove they could make the payments. One of the agencies that forced many of these loans through was the housing assistance arm of Acorn.
– Dems then put language in the bill gifting the legally-challenged, neo-socialist Acorn, an organization that has frequently under investigation in alleged voter fraud on the behalf of the Democratic party & Obama’s campaign, with twenty percent of any profits from each individual property the government sells (If there is a loss, the government eats it). A big problem with this is there would be no stipulations as to how Acorn might spend that money.
– McCain bit the bullet, allowing that the bill, though distasteful, was necessary to protect consumer credit. Knowing that this might be the best bill that could be worked out under the circumstances. Failure of a bill to pass would have serious effect on Main Street American’s & small businesses ability to get credit & those businesses who use the same credit system for payroll.
– Pelosi & Reid tell 16 Democrats who’s re-elections would be hurt if they vote on this bill, they are told, that’s okay, you can vote against it.
– Just before the bill was to be voted on Pelosi does her usual soap box defamation of the Bush administration & Republicans in general. Allegedly 12 Republicans took umbridge over Pelosi’s remarks.
– When Congress fails to pass it due to up to 1000-to-1 complaints & protests by their voting constituients, suddenly it’s the Republican’s & McCain’s fault. Pelosi thanks numerous Democrats for their contributions, but offers no thanks to Bush or Republicans. Frank suggests to the media that maybe if he “talks nice” to those 12 allegedly disaffected Republican’s maybe they can get the bill to pass in a later attempt. My opinion is that if he wants to get a majority, he should turn to those 16 Democrats that may be the recipients of alleged illegal voting fraud instead.

Finally, the Socialist Dems blame it all on election politics by the Republicans. This is a ruse and part of a tactic they have been using for years, where they used rhetoric attacks to force the creation of socialist agencies set up to intentionally fail like the Housing Trust Fund, Fannie Mae, & Freddie Mac, then provide them with the means for economical failure, then go back on the attack against the Republicans when they do fail & stick them with the blame. It’s a ploy that goes back to the mid 1960’s (See: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6967 & http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_the_strategy.html

It does seem likely that the bailout in its current form was purposely killed by pelosi and her gang of thugs, probably since the ACORN payoff was not included. I would not be surprised that some form of the ACORN payoff will be inserted one way or another in revisions over the next days.

To me, one of the many elephants in the room that the financial press seems to lack any curiosity about at all, is who has been making all the money on the winning side of both:-

1/ the short positions on major financial stocks until the recent ban on such short selling. These positions should be mostly closed and settled by now thus should not represent a significant pending payment for the large players

2/ the winning side of the credit default swaps that are probably to a large extent still open positions and probably represent a significant and possibly fatal liability to those on the losing side, and a significant counter-party risk to the winning side.

If I was to speculate it would not be too much of a reach to imagine significant democrat and probably also republican donors on the winning side who would prefer to ensure that their winning position can be closed profitably by way of a taxpayer bailout of the losing side.

It might have some bearing on how the 700B figure was chosen since it seems to be incredible that it was just a scary figure pulled out of the hat.

Rocky B: Good synopsis. Only one point on which I would quibble: It didn’t appear that McCain was willing to bite the bullet and accept the ACORN provision. In the White House meeting he was pushing for the House GOP to be heard and that’s how we were able to eliminate that subsidy to the left wing whacko group.

More on the White House meeting and what led up to it:
http://mikesamerica.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-john-mccain-saved-bail-out-bill-and.html

I probably should change the title of the piece now but what the heck.

That shouldn’t surprise anyone. They never take any responsibility for their own actions

Typical Democracts and Mondays….

No argument here on that point Mike. I doubt that the distribution of any profits from government sales of the properties was even discussed in the White House meeting. It would naturally be presumed to have returned to the treasury to repay the $700 Billion bailout, not to line someone else’s pockets.

As for who profited originally, About every realter I know is a Democrat. As are I’m sure the vast majority of the types that come up with housing associations. Telling others how they think they should live is a Democrat type of thing. Most Republicans could care less.

That brainless Pelosi sure gets to me!

This buy out was going to pay off the banks. the ones that put us in this situation in the first place, not to say the politicians were not completely out of the picture, DEMS, and REP. Both parties are just as equal to blame no matter what you may think, both play the same game of politics. We were told the buy out was going to save the market and the the banks from fucking them selves. We as a peaple heard “The buy out will Save the world” and we forgot who was getting paid, the people who actually got us hear. No matter what laws there are, the heads of the banks were going to shave of there cut of 700 billion and walk away.Who is going to stop them you, me, or our wonderfull government official. I know for a fact that we cant do damn thing about it, and this is just a hunch niether will our FEARLESS LEADERS. My opinion is one sided yes. But maybe a buy out is not such a bad idea, but before you say yes,before you say buy out NOW, ask your self who should really get that 700 billion dollars.