We called. We e-mailed. In an unprecedented tidal wave of popular bipartisan opposition we urged our members of congress to reject to Wall Street Bailout called TARP. The Congress ignored us, and listened to the same "experts" who created the mess. Of course now we know that the TARP is just the tip of the iceberg.
This comes from the probing Blomberg article on the bailout:
U.S. Pledges Top $7.7 Trillion to Ease Frozen Credit
"It’s unprecedented," said Bob Eisenbeis, chief monetary economist at Vineland, New Jersey-based Cumberland Advisors Inc. and an economist for the Atlanta Fed for 10 years until January. "The backlash has begun already. Congress is taking a lot of hits from their constituents because they got snookered on the TARP big time. There’s a lot of supposedly smart people who look to be totally incompetent and it’s all going to fall on the taxpayer."
So far every single American is on the hook for $24,000 to rescue Wall Street's Bankers from the results of their own stupidity.
I feel like I came home and found the place had been cleaned out.
By someone with a key.
What do we have to show for all of that money? From the sound of things not much. Precious little equity, and some boilerplate promises.
Remember how Bush pretended to be a "fiscal conservative" when he vetoed a $35 Billion increase to the SCHIP children's health program (popular with Republicans as well as Democrats). This comes from the White House statement on the SCHIP veto.
Finally, Federal revenues relative to the size of the economy are already above their historic average level, and the use of tax increases to fund spending increases is undesirable and inadvisable. Yet that is exactly what H.R. 3162 does. Even worse, it does so by increasing a highly-regressive tax on tobacco, in addition to the tax on health insurance.
White House PDF file
But when George Bush's wealthy backers in Banking and Insurance need help they don't have to do without. Bush came to their rescue immediately without making any fuss. Bush's Wall Street Bailout now totals the hard to comprehend amount of 7.7 TRILLION, of our dollars (so far). That's compassionate conservatism for you. Unlimited compassion for wealthy Bankers in difficulty, not so much for sick children getting sicker.
I'm beginning to suspect all we taxpayers will have to show for our involuntary $24,000 investment in Wall Street is the financial equivalent of a burning sack of shit.