It helps a good bit when you understand that this is a financial problem not an economic one

[ThomWV]

Look, we still have plenty of resources, a able workforce, an adequate transportation system, and a public more than happy to consume. Those are things economic, and they remain the same no matter what the state of our finances. By contrast the problem being addressed by Congress today is purely financial. The difference is that financial matters, unlike economic matters, can indeed be repaired or changed completely by Government fiat. Simply put if the current rules do not work you make up a new set of rules that will work. So long as the basic economic strength of the nation has not decreased - and it hasn't - then its comforting to understand that all that is required to solve the current problem is able leadership.

[grannie4peace]

1. yes, & i believe that we can turn this arround with obama leading us

[dmallind]

2. Wise words

Sadly likely to be ignored in the usual TEOTWAWKI rush around here, but very true.

[wtmusic]

3. That's why I discount the talk about another depresssion.

Banks depend on credit to survive. Credit may get tight, it may get expensive, but it will never "freeze" - as paradoxically the tighter it gets the more opportunities are created.

[Extend a Hand]

4. I disagree

We are net energy importers and we have a saturated market for most residential housing, commercial space, and consumer goods and services. Do we really need anymore Taco Bell's, Home Depots, malls, or auto dealerships? The US has more retail space per capita than any other country on earth. Forty percent of the jobs created since 2000 were in housing related industries. As house (and then commercial) building grind to a halt what "industry" will jump start job creation?

[Neshanic]

7. You are correct. The OP is incorrect.

[hfojvt]

11. we don't have plenty of other resources either

at least not enough to sustain the American way of life. Even though we produce plenty of food, I read that we are net protein importers too. We import not only raw material - aluminium, copper, iron, etc., but also finished products from shoes to shirts to computers to televisions to automobiles. I am not sure what we export any more, other than hi-tech weaponry, cigarettes, Hollywood movies, and corn.

[Winterblues]

5. No this is a Debt Problem

You said we have "a public more than happy to consume." but the problem the very great majority are maxed out on their credit cards and/or home mortgage and second home mortgage. We are a nation swamped in debt beginning right at the very top, our Government, and going right down to the lowly college student. I read somewhere not long ago that the average consumer has an average of eight credit cards and most are maxed out.People can no longer afford to "consume". They miss one payment on the credit card and their interest rates jump to 30% and NO ONE can afford that..Usury Laws are urgently needed and should be a major part of this "bail out" package..

[wtmusic]

6. Correction: *some* people can no longer afford to consume

I have one credit card and I pay it off every month. I don't have a lot of toys, and I'll be damned if I'm going to subsidize my neighbor's jetski and his vacation and the addition on his house, now that he finds himself in a pinch. We need tighter regulation, no doubt, but we also need to kick some of these people out on their ass.

[Winterblues]

9. I said the "great majority" not all.

:shrug:

[marmar]

8. But therein lies the problem.....Larry Beinhart summed it up in his thesis.....

.... on why the bailout will fail:

Because it's addressing the wrong things.

The real problem is that we have moved from a production economy to a consumption economy. Even worse, a consumption economy that supports the production economy in other countries. When we start to consume more than we produce - which we have - we must borrow. That means we're selling off or mortgaging our assets. If we were to do that to create more production which would ultimately pay for the investment, that would be alright. But we're not, we're just consuming more.

You can't borrow your way out of too much debt. At least not without a plan to create more income.

You can't consume your way out of an over-consumption problem.

If we don't address the fundamentals now, we will have to do so later. At that time, they we will be worse. Both by themselves and with the addition of the new $700 billion debt.

The ultimate problem is remaking ourselves into a production economy.

[wtmusic]

10. If there is one thing Republicans are good at

it's pushing problems into the future, and that's what they're doing here.

Excellent post :thumbsup:

[tama]

12. It's both

This final fantacy financial bubble DEBT was created to support the US consumer on life support after the dot-com collapse.