$700 B Bailout

One of my professors spoke about this in a business class the other night. He said that something like this happened in either Sweden or Finland years ago, and they tackled it the wrong way. Basically, in short, the gov't bailed the banks out, but in return they took PROFITABLE ASSETS until the banks could pay them back. It was hard on the banks, but fair, and their economy rebounded and just a lot of the industrialized world, their economy is crushing ours. Amazing how far you can fall in eight years.

(That comment wasn't meant as a Bush comment. But roughly eight years ago, the dollar was soaring, housing was soaring, the economy was absolutely rolling. For the last 2-4 years. Not so much. This is due to a lot of contributions, some from Clinton, some from Bush, all approved by Congress.

It's not bragging if you can back it up.

Schneed has a very keen grasp of the financial industry and explains it very well, from the personal to the corporate/national levels. His knowledge adds tremendous value to these parking lot threads, if you're willing to listen.

I gotta agree with this. I have a Master's in Finance, and he still teaches me a thing or two. He lives in this stuff, while the rest of us don't.

Honestly there are a lot of smart people who can't figure this out. I think if it was easy to figure out it wouldn't have happened.

Right now, in whatever form, the bailout has like a 50-50 shot at righting this stuff at best anways.

That is why it is taking so long. Neither side wants to ram a proposal down not because they want to be seen as working together but more importantly they want to CYA. They both want to be able to say the other side voted for this thing too if it doesn't work.

Rejected.


Bailout moves towards congressional approval - Sep. 29, 2008 (http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/29/news/economy/bailout/index.htm?cnn=yes)

C'moooon free market! Do your thang!

Honestly there are a lot of smart people who can't figure this out. I think if it was easy to figure out it wouldn't have happened.

Right now, in whatever form, the bailout has like a 50-50 shot at righting this stuff at best anways.

That is why it is taking so long. Neither side wants to ram a proposal down not because they want to be seen as working together but more importantly they want to CYA. They both want to be able to say the other side voted for this thing too if it doesn't work.
It not at hard to figure out. Too many people had loans which they should not have ever had and they could not afford them. When the housing market was doing so great people with mortgage issues or payments too high could just sell their home at a profit and walk away. Now when the sh&* hits the fan they cannot sell their home in a soft market and the trouble begins. Back before the mid 90's about the only way people lost their homes was do to a loss of a job. Now days people are just loosing their homes and still have the same income as they did when they purchased them. Now its going to get much tougher to buy a home and hopefully we do not repeat this again.

It not at hard to figure out. Too many people had loans which they should not have ever had and they could not afford them. When the housing market was doing so great people with mortgage issues or payments too high could just sell their home at a profit and walk away. Now when the sh&* hits the fan they cannot sell their home in a soft market and the trouble begins. Back before the mid 90's about the only way people lost their homes was do to a loss of a job. Now days people are just loosing their homes and still have the same income as they did when they purchased them. Now its going to get much tougher to buy a home and hopefully we do not repeat this again.

Exactly.

The pattern for decades has been you may a substantial down payment on a house (20% at least). Generations before us you waited to buy a house and you put a big chunk down. All of a sudden people get greedy, want more house than they can afford, and we end up with shit like 5/1 ARMs and interest-only mortgages. People somehow feel entitled to the house of their dreams at the age of 25 and figure, "Screw down payments, screw paying the principle and all that, this is the NEW generation! We're living the American dream!"

If people weren't so damned greedy and impatient (the lenders and the borrowers) we wouldn't be in this mess.

1) Don't buy more house than you can afford.
2) That means that you can afford the house now AND 5 years from now.

I meant how to fic it and prevent it recently. The underlying causation for this goes back to the late 70's. Right now cause doesn't mean much though.

It's hard for people not to get upset when they read something like this

FOXNews.com - WaMu Gives New CEO Mega Payout as Bank Fails - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,428641,00.html)

It's hard for people not to get upset when they read something like this

FOXNews.com - WaMu Gives New CEO Mega Payout as Bank Fails - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,428641,00.html)

It is certainly understandable why people would get upset with that story. It's really tragic that some are making millions while others are losing their jobs, watching the value of their pensions plummet, and losing their homes.

But, keep in mind that WaMu's new CEO had nothing to do with the bank's failure. Moreover, "golden parachutes" aren't as crazy as they sound. Suppose CEO X has a proven track record of turning around struggling businesses, makes $5,000,000 per year at his current job, and has great job security. He's probably a very hot commodity and will not leave his job unless he's paid handsomely and is given some job security (i.e., guaranteed money). That guaranteed money is typically payable if his employment is terminated for no fault of his own and is forfeited for certain bad conduct (e.g., fraud). It's a form of job security and isn't much different from an NFL signing bonus, except it's paid at the end of the employment instead of at the beginning.

Basically, it does suck, but it makes sense.