You foolish man, you CAN'T let the stock market collapse! We need to RESCUE them!

[bigtree]

We need to IMMEDIATELY give the Bush White House authority to do WHATEVER they WANT with $700 billion in borrowed money. That'll do the trick!

Say, . . . how's that stock market looking? And homeowners, working-class . . . How are they doing? Any TRICKLING yet?

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. K&R!

[knowbody0]

2. that trickle anyone feels is them pissing on us peasants

the paper empire is dying, slowly and painfully with thousands of razor cuts. we need to put it out of its misery. The illusion is over.

[MichaelHarris]

3. I had another 1000

trickle out of my investment account today. This trickling is starting to hurt.

[Turbineguy]

4. The stock market has already collapsed.

Owners, many of them ordinary Americans hoping to retire some day have lost around $9 trillion this year. Homeowners, many of them ordinary Americans trying to build a nest egg, have seen their home values plummet. Unless you are poor now and always plan to stay poor, this bailout will be ultimately to your benefit. If you are poor now and plan to stay poor, or want to experience poverty, this bailout will cost you nothing.

A lot of this bailout money will go to the wrong people. That's how things work.

[kirby]

8. It has not hit bottom however...

I look at it this way. The Dow was down to 7200 a year of after 9/11 (impacts to the economy). The current financial crisis is much worse than 9/11.

[depakid]

5. As has been noted many, many times the rescue plans have little to do with the stock markets

but rather with global CREDIT MARKETS- and there have in fact been significant positive developments there since various nations throughout the world have acted.

[girl gone mad]

6. Unfortunately, it was sold to congress and the public as a necessary measure..

to prevent a stock market collapse.

You can argue otherwise, as you do time and time again, but members of congress were told that if TARP wasn't passed, the stock market would drop a thousand points and pensions and 401Ks would collapse. The media sold virtually the same bill of goods to the people.

[pa28]

7. The product was sold to the public that way.

Like a true pirate Paulson used fear to close the deal with no analysis, critical thought or accountability allowed. Congressional leaders were told the markets would collapse. Dodd was frightened, Pelosi was frightened and the public, in turn, was frightened.

Maybe we really did need government action but when you are handing out 700b of govt money you ALWAYS have time carefully weigh the facts and make sure you have a complete solution.

[depakid]

9. That's not how I ever understood it

nor was that what I read, though your point is taken.

The stock markets have, in fact, suffered from the credit crisis- as many position had to be unwound, or margins called- or people demanded redemptions form hedge and mutual funds, equities were sold without much concern for fundamental values or sustainabilty.

And those markets aren't going to improve until there's a return of confidence in the credit markets- but more importantly, until its percieved that general economic conditions have bottomed out and are about to improve. So, there are connections to be made.

Nice thing about that for Obama, is that in a year or two- we'll likely be looking toward a bull market, as there are a ton of "good" stocks in profitable companies (that pay dividends)- that have been substantially oversold.

Just in time for 2010 elections, by my guess.

[bigtree]

11. you SHOW me where there is ANYTHING in that giveaway

. . . that assures these lending companies and banks who are getting these billions in benefits will even be around to make loans in the future? There's certainly nothing in the bailout which directs them to make credit more available to anyone, or, more important to me, to make loans more available to lower income borrowers or provide ANY relief for struggling homeowners.

Now the Bush administration has taken back the one bone they threw into the pot to sell this boondoggle to the average American before the election where they claimed they were relieving pressure against mortgage lenders by taking charge of their delinquent loans.

Admit it. This is just another save the rich folks' bottom line with the public's money. Why isn't that same economic lifeline available to ME?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. The emphasis being on "WE" the taxpayers. aka suckers.

But, rest assured, the politicians are happy to tell us that it's for our own good.