Posted: 12/1/2008 11:36:48 AM EDT
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I have a question. The companies that got bought out in the bailout had debt that people were reneging (sp?) on. I read that the sum given to those companies would have given literally tens of thousands of dollars to every legal american citizen.
SO here is my question. Why didnt they just give that money to the people? That way the people could have paid their bills and the economy would be stimulated? They gave everyone a pittance (couple hundred bucks) a while back. I think those thousands would have gone a long way. Many people could have resolved a large portion of their debt, thereby making any future payments alot smaller and easier to pay. SO then those companies would not have a large resivoir of toxic debt they are sitting on. If another round of bailouts are in the works, is there any way to legislate that teh funds are given to the people? When did companies get put infront of citizens? |
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$1 trillion is about $3,333 for every person in the US, assuming a population of 300 million.
That's a nice chunk of change, but it won't keep people in their homes, even if it was used perfectly. I tried a few times to summarize the real difficulties of the problem, but it's really too big for that. This wikipedia page is 16 pages long, and it's just a *start*: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_crisis |
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Mortages and the mortgage market (the buying and selling of mortgages as income producing assets) are the foundation of our financial economy. In theory, they are secure investments that have reliable and predictable outcomes. Every American has some degree of a stake in the market.
We are no longer on the gold standard, and confidence is everything in a paper based economy. Being a politican during a collapse of the financial market is not a desirable thing. The market can endure some degree of loss, but it cannot endure the consequences of people simply ceasing to buy paper. It's the old 'ounce of prevention' thing... The big thing that everyone should worry about is how .govs solution is to 'kickstart' the credit markets thereby restarting the very thing that created the real estate bubble in the first place. Of course, they think that they can do it in a controlled fashion... |