So how are things going with the $810 billion bailout bill that Hank Paulson just had to have? Paulson pushed it by explaining that if it didn't pass -- and soon -- "heaven help us all." No doubt this religious appeal worked wonders in the Oval Office. But in the real world, not so much.
How so? Since October 3, when the bill passed, the NYSE index has lost $3.8 trillion worth of value -- declining 27% from 7,088 to 5,196. Did heaven help us when Bush signed the bill? I have no idea, but I am sure that anyone who owned stock is much much poorer.
But the poverty is not just the kind that makes it harder to retire or pay your children's college tuition, it's also the poverty of lost confidence in our government. That's because not only was the $810 bailout bill not the right cure for what ails the economy and the markets, the actual use of the money is completely different than what Paulson demanded urgently of Congress.
Heaven knows.
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-27-2008 @ 6:10PM
william lindblad said...
In this given case there is one thing that is prevalent - being critical.
I do not think that there is one person on earth that has a solid game other than one NYC economist better known as Dr Doom.
10-27-2008 @ 8:30PM
BUDDY said...
3.5% Mortgage Rates will solve the problem.
Any High School economics teacher knows this...
3.5% Fixed Rate Home Mortgages....
10-28-2008 @ 2:06AM
BHarrison said...
"Instead of using the money to buy toxic waste (sic. the basis of the "bailout"), he is giving it to selected banks to do with as they please . . ."
While reportedly 80% or more of the American people opposed the bailout plan, Congress passed the bill . . . and even now it is not being used in the manner that they had claimed was so critical. When will this FRAUD against the American people end? . . . when they have impoverished all of us?
Paulson seems to be little better than Greenspan. Is he another "intellectual wanna-be "idiot"" like Greenspan? He is obviously too close to the "captains of the FIs"; and he hasn't taken actions against them . . . Hell, he is just pouring more money into THEIR COFFERS.
Even the German government had the good sense to put requirements and restrictions on those who received "bailout money"; Paulson hasn't done that. Meanwhile Paulson is reportedly worth $800 million, and is "in" with the corrupt CEOs . . . this is all totally amazing to me that the people will tolerate this sham of a "Bailout" plan.
10-28-2008 @ 2:31AM
BHarrrison said...
Granted, the economic problems are complex and difficult (PROVING the point that UNREGULATED Free market Economy/capitalsim is dangerous unto itself.) Basic, reasonable "regulation and oversight" is needed to ensure the integrity and stability of the economy.
What concerns me about the $850 BILLION bailout plan is that there doesn't appear to be any PUBLIC "acounting and FULL DISCLOSURE" of the location and value of the CDSs, the CDOs, and the CMOs . . . . it is as though the government wants people to invest in the market; but they will not disclose the underlying basis and specifics of the market conditions. I'm not going to invest any money in the market while THEY are hiding the financial facts about what is going on.
Why don't they identify and reveal the actual financial conditions of the FIs, how much "toxic waste" needs to be bailed out at the various FIs . . . then bail out the companies that are deemed to be salvageable; and let the market move on. (Or is it that the "toxic waste" far exceeds the $700 BILLION in bail out monies, which apparently is the case.)
One "solution" to the "toxic wste" would be to FREEZE all payments for the CDSs, CDOs, CMOs. Then set it up to "return" all of the "premiums" that were paid for those accounts; it would minimize the losses to those who made the "investments" in the "toxic waste"; and should somewhat settle out where the REAL MARKET DAMAGE is located.
It strikes me that for CDSs, CDOs, and CMOs that were packaged and repackaged and sold numerous times, the American people are being asked to PAY FOR REPEATED MULTIPLE LOSSES ON THE SAME MORTAGES as they were sold from FI to FI . . . . this is "multiple FRAUDS" using the SAME mortgages.
Neither Paulson, nor the government know how to deal with this. It shows the results of the lack of oversight and regualtion.
10-28-2008 @ 8:50AM
otrpu said...
"the beginning of the end". . .
Gramm gets ALL the credit, and he was Mccain's economic advisor,...also ran for president, and Ken Lay was his campaingn co-chair,btw)
"...In the early evening of Friday, December 15, 2000, with Christmas break only hours away, the U.S. Senate rushed to pass an essential, 11,000-page government reauthorization bill. In what one legal textbook would later call “a stunning departure from normal legislative practice,” the Senate tacked on a complex, 262-page amendment at the urging of Texas Sen. Phil Gramm.
There was little debate on the floor. According to the Congressional Record, Gramm promised that the amendment—also known as the Commodity Futures Modernization Act—along with other landmark legislation he had authored, would usher in a new era for the U.S. financial services industry.
“The work of this Congress will be seen as a watershed where we turned away from an outmoded Depression-era approach to financial regulation and adopted a framework that will position our financial services industry to be world leaders into the new century,” Gramm said.
Watershed indeed. With the U.S. economy now battered by a tsunami of mortgage foreclosures, the $30-billion Bear Stearns Companies bailout and spiking food and energy prices, many congressional leaders and Wall Street analysts are questioning the wisdom of the radical deregulation launched by Gramm’s legislative package. Financial wizard Warren Buffett has labeled the risky new investment instruments Gramm unleashed “financial weapons of mass destruction.” They have fed the subprime mortgage crisis like an accelerant. While his distracted peers probably finalized their Christmas gift lists, Gramm created what Wall Street analysts now refer to as the “shadow banking system,” an industry that operates outside any government oversight, but, as witnessed by the Bear Stearns debacle, requiring rescue by taxpayers to avert a national economic catastrophe...."
John McCain's Gramm Gamble
The GOP presidential nominee is relying on the ex-senator who helped bring you the mortgage crisis and Rick Perry.
Patricia Kilday Hart | May 30, 2008 |
10-28-2008 @ 9:05AM
NOBAILOUT said...
you have to wonder.............will these 5000 workers get a bailout too from their creditors & bill collectors too??? bet you, NOT!!!!!! so much for "JUMP STARTING THE ECONOMY"..................another failed plan..........for the taxpayer....but not to the RICH CEO'S CLUB.....bush and friend got another benefit package before he leaves office..........AMERICA GOT HOOD-WINKED AGAIN........THE WAR= haliburton contracts..........TAX CUTS = corporate welfare........INTEREST RATE CUT= 401K's, CD's get paid nothing but the banks can consider that credit to them.........MORTGAGE CRISIS = you are paying for a loan/house that is valued more than it is worth........OIL= if crude prices is down to the price it was in 2000, why isn't the price of gas the same? like $1.47 a gal. YUP!!! BUSH DID TO AMERICA WHAT HE DID TO HIS OWN COMPANIES........BANKRUPT THEM!!!!