The $700 Billion Bailout Asks the Responsible to Suffer for the Irresponsbile

Today on KPCC's Larry Mantle show, Air Talk, an economist criticized the $700 Billion Bailout by saying that "imprudent" home buyers spent beyond their means and that responsible, prudent citizens are now being asked to pay their tax money to subsidize the indulges of the irresponsible. 

Amazingly, those who have spent their lives heartily defending the "virtues of the free market" are now asking for this gargantuan government-run tax subsidy.

Predictably, those on the right blame unworthy poor home buyers while those on the left blame greedy corporate hucksters. 

The truth is that both groups are to blame, but don't expect the partisan Kool-Aid drinkers to acknowledge this since they are committed to being selective about the facts that conveniently conform to their political "reality."

Comments

[jeffrey McMahon]

My radio buying has increased in direct proportion to the Wall Street meltdown. Emotional buying.

[Tom Welch]

Check this link out; http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49004C20081001

[Brian (Scooby214)]

Even if there were no other problems with the bailout plan... It still allowed corporate CEOs to have that "golden parachute," in the form of a sizeable severance package, for when they feel the need to bail. Aside from the question of whether we should have some sort of government intervention, it seems to me that some of the CEOs should be getting orange jumpsuits instead of golden parachutes.

[Mike W]

Like most people, the details of the proposed buyout are opaque to me, but we all have ample reason to be skeptical anytime this administration tries to rush us into anything on.

What is clear to me, however, is that we have long over-consumed and under-saved.

I'm surprised to see Peter Schiff's name mentioned here. He does one of the few programs on SW I still listen to. The more right he gets, the more he's ignored by the MSM types.

If you like Peter Schiff you'd like financialsense.com. I download their MP3's every weekend, pipe them over an FM transmitter, and play them on my conventional radios.

Jeff, I agree, this market crash has me spending more, including on radio-related items, because it makes saving seem futile. I work for the NY state government now and if there are layoffs, I'll need a few gadgets to kill time between jobs.

I'll be skeptical of anyone predicting that this recession will be short or mild.

[jeffrey McMahon]

Peter Schiff was on NPR today, trying to make sense of this chaos.

I too work for the government, as a city college teacher, but so far have heard no warnings.

My biggest scare was my bank account with WAMU. I hear the new bank Morgan Chase will charge more for basic services.

[Paul]

What NPR program was Peter Schiff on?

[Mike W]

Your account balance would have to be awfully big to exceed the FDIC limit, so I expect you're safe on that one.

Schiff on NPR? Maybe he'll be getting more airtime now.

I read that the fiscal situation is tough in California, but teaching postions are usually pretty secure. Good luck with that. I have my expenses pretty low and am prepared to ride this one out for a while if the axe falls.

Now let's see if I can post a comment for once without some extra preposition dangling there, making some whole sentence sound like gibberish...

[jeffrey McMahon]

Forgive me, the writer was Robert Schiller, author of Irrational Exuberance. I believe he was on Air Talk with Larry Mantle 89.3 KPCC.

[jeffrey McMahon]

My wife and I are both teachers and our jobs seem fairly safe.

My wife bailed on WAMU this week and joined her credit union.

Mike, how mobile are you? Would you leave New York?

[Paul]

Robert Schiller is a voice of reason as well. His latest book is sitting on my desk, waiting to be read:

http://www.econ.yale.edu/~shiller/

[Mike W]

Yes, I would leave NY, but not as a first resort.

I've been paring down my material possessions for a number of years now and have generally lived like someone expecting bad times.

In 2005 I left a tech job with the financial sector down in Manhattan in 2005 because I could sense that my career there was "sweet and pregnant with the presentiment of death" (now there's a herculogical turn of phrase for you).

New England would appeal to me most, I suppose. You know, I was only in your state once - I drove a really bad Pontiac all the way out there in 1991. Take my word for it, once you've stood on the Pacific Palisades and looked west at sunset, the Atlantic ocean never looks big again.

[Paul]

See also

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSPSiDX0Xnk

[jeffrey McMahon]

Mike, I've been spoiled. I'm 46 years old and I've never worked in private industry.

I've never been to the Pacific Palisades and I avoid Malibu. The bling bling there unnerves me. Las Vegas by the beach.

Let's hope your future presentiments have a sunnier narrative to them.

Even the smartest of us can fall victim of our self-fulfilling prophecies. That in fact has been a bad habit throughout my life.

[Angelo]

I'm astonished that the Republicans aren't on the attack this time. Sure, the conservative pundits are pointing out the craziness and playing tapes of Maxine Waters, Barney Frank and others telling us how stable Fannie Mae was and what great leadership it had...but the Republican politicians seem to be taking their foot off the throttle instead of plowing into this. McCain keeps telling us how he's going to "tell us their names." Well, it's time. If Rush Limbaugh's researchers can dig C-Span tapes out, the work is already done. Time to let everyone hear this nonsense from a few years back. Bill Clinton and Bush (twice) tried to put this in check, but Democratic representatives squashed those efforts. Sure, there's blame on both sides that is valid, but the smoking gun is with Dodd, Frank, Waters and the others on the take from Fannie Mae---and defending incompetence in their management.

[jeffrey McMahon]

There's plenty of blame on both sides. I won't defend any incompetence.