It just occurred to me - isn't it odd that financial institutions are getting bridgeloans from gov't

[closeupready]

in order to get through this downturn while consumers on the edge who could make it through this downturn if they could get bridge loans just to help them through - are NOT? I mean, what else speaks to the priorities of our Congress than the fact that they put their constituents, as individuals, down the list instead of at POINT ONE. ??

[ixion]

1. providing bridge loans to consumers would actually be productive

so it will most certainly never happen.

[closeupready]

2. Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding!!!

Yep.

[Muttocracy]

3. a couple thousand dollars to most American families, esp. at the lower economic end

would seem to be really useful at many levels.

Last fall my immediate reaction was, hell no, no bailouts/easy loans. Then I sort of bought the "if the banks fail and/or credit freezes we all go down the tube" argument - but hundreds of billions of dollars later, things feel worse than they did last fall.

[closeupready]

4. Further, there are plenty of financially responsible Americans who

are being pinched by the current climate but who could be counted on to pay back any type of government loan. Yet, no such program is even being considered, as far as I know. So, it's off to bankruptcy and foreclosure instead. Yeah, makes a lot of sense. Thanks so much, Nancy and Harry.

[Muttocracy]

8. yep, I'm sure my credit is more trustworthy than the big banks' ! :)

[The Wielding Truth]

5. Wouldn't you consider unemployment insurance to be a bridge

grant?
Although more should be done, we must acknowledge that there is some help for some.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

7. do you know how much you get

from that after working all your FUCKING LIFE?

for me, about 220 a week

and they take taxes out of it


that is not a bridge... it is a ford, a chest-deep ford across a rushing mountain stream on a cold day, my friend.

[closeupready]

9. UI is just that - 'insurance', the premiums for which are paid for by workers.

So no, that's not quite the same thing. Those don't even have to be repaid because it's your money the government is holding in trust for the occasion if you lose your job.

[havocmom]

10. BINGO! Annoying that unemployment check would even be likened to bail outs/bridge loans to corps.

Poor corporations that ran themselves into the rocks through bad management and industry inspired deregulation..... :grr:

[Individualist]

6. Bridgeloans for financial institutions is nothing more than trickle down economics,

and the effect of trickle down economics is that the consumers get pissed on.