mike wrote:
On Sep 23, 4:20 pm, "HeyBub" wrote:
mike wrote:
On Sep 23, 1:20 pm, "HeyBub" wrote:
wrote:

It's not a "bailout" in the traditional sense: it's an investment.

I hope you're being sarcastic. If it is such a great investment,
people would be tripping over themselves to buy up the bad
mortgages. Instead, we have government supremacists forcing the
taxpayer to take on debt at gunpoint, and letting the irresponsible
off the hook so they be irresponsible again, and again, and again.

I'm not being sarcastic. And it's not a good investment.

The ROI is terrible, but, in the end, the government will make a
profit.

It's not debt at gunpoint either, it's simply the best of several bad
alternatives. Even if the $700 billion goes down the toilet, that's
still better than several trillion in lost productivity due to a
collapse of the credit market.

When I say collapse of the credit market, I'm talking banks calling
due all loans (car, home, etc.), credit card companies stopping all
additional charges and demanding full payment for outstanding
balances, and other dire consequences.

If a business can't borrow to pay for its Christmas merchandise, it
won't have anything to sell in November and December. If it can't
make sales, it can't make a profit. That's no wages, rent, etc. You
may buy a gallon of milk for cash, but the market bought the milk on
credit. Cash transactions make up an insignificant part of the GDP.
The rest is credit.

No credit - or a damaged credit system - no GDP.

Not at gunpoint? Great, then I guess I can stop paying taxes and the
gov't won't do a thing. (chuckle)

The entities who caused the problem should fail.

That's what happened in 1929. The stockbrokers ALL went broke. So did the
farmers in the midwest who couldn't even SPELL "stockbroker." And everyone
else.

There are great similarities to the stocks of 1929 and the mortgages of
2008. Both were WAY over-valued. Both were used for collateral for loans.
When their underlying value was made known, the loans failed. When the loans
fail, everything depending on the loans fails.

That will keep the
problem from occuring again. I agree that PC legislation is behind
the mess. A real solution isn't a bailout that will just destroy
another sector of the economy (taxpayers).

Taxpayers are minimally involved. The government may even make a profit on
the deal, thereby lowering taxes. Remember, the government made a profit on
the Mexico, New York City, and Chrysler bailouts. By most accounting
practices, the federal government made a profit on the S&L rescue scheme.

A real solution is to
lower taxes for everyone (capital gains, etc) and slash non-essential
gov't spending. Taxes are 5 times too high, and non-essential gov't
spending should be zero.

We Republicans also believe tax cuts can cure cancer and alleviate
bee-bites.