WH caught off gurard again. Geech!!

[biopowertoday]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/sunday-roundup_b_177667.html

Arianna Huffington


Sunday Roundup



Barack Obama's Special Olympics line on Leno got all the headlines, but the night's real money quote was his saying that his administration plans to "set up a securitized market for student loans and auto loans outside of the banking system" in order to "get credit flowing again."


Excuse me, but isn't that what the $700 billion bank bailout was supposed to do? So what happened? Instead of lending the billions we gave them, Obama explained to Leno, the bailed out banks "are keeping it in the bank because their balance sheets had gotten so bad." Imagine that: zombie banks using taxpayer money to stay afloat. If the White House really didn't see that one coming, it's no wonder the ferocity of the public's reaction to the AIG bonuses caught them so off-guard.

[Occam Bandage]

1. Er, how is that the White House "caught off guard?"

That's more like, "Arianna Huffington disagrees with Obama's rationalization for setting up a government-run secondary loan market, or more to the point is using that rationalization to attack a bank bailout passed months ago that she dislikes."

[asphalt.jungle]

2. caught off guard? wtf are you talking about?

2 plus 2 does not equal 5.

[dkf]

3. Actually, the purpose of the money was to keep the banks afloat, not

for them to lend specifically.

At least that was my understanding at the time.

[Jennicut]

7. It was to keep them from failing. It was hoped that lending would start up again

but there was never a guarantee. This post from HP makes no sense.

[Occam Bandage]

9. Some of this criticism is just becoming deranged. nt

[biopowertoday]

13. but isn't that what she is saying. The big 700 B was to get credit

flowing again (start lending). Now Pres. Obama is setting up another mechanism with hopes of getting credit flowing.

[Occam Bandage]

15. How is taking a multifaceted approach to a problem a bad thing?

It's not like FDR passed the Emergency Banking Act, and then said, "well, that's it, either that'll recover the economy or it won't" and then sat on his ass until things got better.

[biopowertoday]

18. all and all it is probably a good thing in the long run. Yet, it

just seems we keep pouring money into a black hole.

[Occam Bandage]

21. This money is coming from the TARP funds that have already been authorized,

if my understanding is correct (and a quick Google suggests it is). I think backing small-business and education loans is a good use of it; it encourages lending, it drives the economy, it invests in the future, and it should all end up being repaid.

[Jennicut]

23. FDR experimented like crazy except we did not have such a corporate media

back then. Heck, half the stuff was kept secret from us. Woodrow Wilson had a debilitating stroke and his wife pretty much ran the show after that. Not sure if that was good either but the media certainly let FDR try new things.

[Occam Bandage]

24. I was thinking about that a few days ago. "Man, they'd have torn FDR to shreds for 'flailing'

around. He proposed all sorts of off-the-wall stuff, much of which didn't work or wasn't even legal. If he had today's instant-results-oriented media/internet pressure, he'd have been dead in the water by 1934."

[Jennicut]

26. Yup. But he was willing to try anything to get us out from under the Depression.

And he gave people confidence. No one questioned the confidence because if we did not have it we were screwed, it was all we had then.

[Thrill]

20. Um of course he is. What do you expect him to do? Say the hell with getting credit following again?

Its not his fault Paulson didn't do what he was suppose to do with the money

[MarjorieG]

4. Are we talking about last fall's bailout under Bush!

[zeemike]

5. i am not so sure it did catch them off guard.

Perhaps the outrage is helpful in convincing the culture on Wall Street to rethink their way of life.

[soccermomforobama]

6. Where the hell was Arianna Huffington when Obama made his

speech to the Joint Session of Congress in February? He made the same comment during that speech.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

8. Here's where I wish Obama was more like Bush...

...If money was promised to say -soldiers...Bush would be dictatorial and just take the money back. Why can't Obama do the right thing and go over these bailouts with a fine tooth comb?

Obama's not holding Bushco accountable...he's going to keep our soldiers in Iraq until the next election, I could scream!!!!!!!!

[MarjorieG]

10. They are monitoring, scrutinizing the bailouts

[jody]

11. OP subjects like yours are red flags for the apologists crew. n/t

[Occam Bandage]

12. Meaningless, hyperbolic, and unrelated to the petty criticism in the article?

[jody]

14. ROFL. n/t

[Occam Bandage]

16. I'll take that as a "yes."

Or, at least, an "I didn't read the article."

[BlooInBloo]

17. Another silly day in the ihateobama forum.

[NYC Liberal]

25. I've found that some people just have to be outraged.

:shrug:

[Thrill]

19. WTF? The title of your post makes no sense?

[elocs]

22. Student and auto loans aside, I think thousands of small businesses

need a weekly flow of money from banks just to keep operating.

[BzaDem]

27. Um, it is really quite simple.

700 B was needed to keep the banks from collapsing immediately. In order to avoid collapse, banks needed to keep the 700 B "in the bank" so as to have enough capital to survive. But it was not enough to get lending going again. That's where Obama's second program comes in.

[LiberalFighter]

28. Hey didn't the bailout start on Bush's watch?????