Bailout fallout continues on Hill

Seems like the left and right wings of each party had the same ideas about FDIC. While Paulson and his gang that couldn't shoot straight keeps trying to bail out their buddies, FDIC keeps taking care of business. Wonder why the Democratic leadership rejected it?

Raising the FDIC cap won't make any difference. Someone with more than $100K in cash could always put their money in more than one bank. As long as one had no more than $100K in any one bank FDIC would cover all of it. But the fact that the FDIC only has 45 billion in its insurance fund tells us that people might still loose a lot of money if there is a massive bank failure - unless the federal government injects a lot more money into that project.

Here is confirmation of Boehner's statement:
"On a more substantive note, GOP opposition to the plan coalesced around the rejection of a pair of policy proposals that had been cast aside over the weekend. Both involved downsizing the bailout — by loosening “mark-to-market” asset valuing rules, which has resulted in billions in bank write-downs, and by replenishing banks through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. instead of toxic asset purchases." http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/14108.html

Posted by: John W. | September 30, 2008 2:09 PM

Hey, let's follow the Republican ideal to it's logical conclusion: Kill the FDIC. Let the markets work. No bailout if you put your money in a bad bank. No more socializing losses. You lose too bad, go beg for food. Let's get the dead hand off Government off of our banks.

Posted by: Full Libertarian | September 30, 2008 5:15 PM

No, do not kill the FDIC. Depositors in FDIC-insured institutions did not assume the risk of losing their deposits. Institutions that made bad loans did assume that risk and should not be bailed out for the consequences of those bad loans. Neither should be any subsequent purchasers nor insurers of those bad loans.

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Posted by: Full Libertarian | September 30, 2008 5:15 PM
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If you are attempting to mock me, you have failed. I merely pointed out two facts:
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1. A person can always get FDIC insurance by making sure they have no more than $100K in any one bank. It's just true. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Deposit_Insurance_Corporation So, if I have $300K evenly divided between three banks, I am fully covered. So why is there a need to raise the cap? - for the convenience of those too ignorant to put their money in more than one bank? There is no practical need to raise the cap. One merely needs to learn how to make sure all of one's funds are insured. Isn't that nice?
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- and -
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2. The federal government might not be able to bail out everyone in a bad enough bank failure - regardless of how much FDIC insurance there is. If the federal government keeps bailing out everything in sight at a rate of 10s or 100s of billions at a time, they are either going to run out of money or crank up the printing press and make all the existing money substantially worthless. The money on deposit that is insured with inflated money will be as valuable as ashes. What good is that?
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In short, the federal government can easily get into this way over their head.

The Bailout and Us

Let’s say that I am of mixed feelings regarding this “bailout.” Wall Street wizards, overcompensated Chief Executive Officers created a problem that we, the taxpayers must resolve on our backs; passing the load unto our children.

We will be unable to solve our economic problems without job creation. A nation that does not manufacture goods is a “One Winged Bird”…..and I have yet to see one fly. Any bill coming out of Congress must contain a job creation feature. The Working Class must be put to work in high paying unionized jobs and the tax base of our nation must be expanded. Let’s not forget that it was the unions that created the American Middle Income group.

The Government should give away solar panels to all homeowners and tie them into the national grid. For the first three years, the homeowners will not see any remuneration until the cost of the panels and their installation have been paid back. The pay-back will be through free electricity received by the regional electric utilities. This would cut consumption of oil by thirty percent (30%) in five to ten years. This would also be coupled this with wind and hydroelectric power.

We could get hydroelectric plants built faster than nuclear reactors due to less legal maneuvering. We could demand that all vehicles built after 2015 be either hybrid or achieving no less than thirty miles per gallon in the city and forty on the highway. This would further reduce oil consumption by an additional twenty (20%) percent over the next seven years.

The “bailout” must also include protecting all homeowners facing foreclosure; ensuring that these homeowners do not lose their homes and stemming mass upheaval of working families. Any “bailout” that protects Wall Street must also protect working families who have been mandated to shoulder the cost burden.

Banks and other institutions that loan money to people that cannot afford to repay these loans must be held accountable for their actions. We cannot blame hard working families that tried to stretch their dollars for a better way of life. They were victims of the banking scam. It was intended to defraud them and they fell for it.

Funds should also be allocated to the re-building of housing stock in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region to ensure the ability of the internally displaced citizens to be repatriated to their homes.

These are few of the necessary fixes that Congress must add to this “bail-out”.

F. Christophe Silvera, Secretary – Treasurer, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local #808 22-43 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, NY 11101
Tel: 917-297-2241, blog: savukanow@blogspot.com

Silvera> I disagree. I've read how helpful unions have been to ACORN. I'm not saying you're one of them.....but I don't want to see any of your helpful big-money ideas anywhere on this bill. This is about a BAILOUT for finnancial issues gotten out of hand>not a free for all spending frenzy.

We, the people, of the United States of America, are issuing “pink slips” to Congress members who continue to ignore, the people’s will, to exact their own agendas and push forth the rescue bill. The bailout, sell out, whatever it is now called—re-packaged for idiot level American, public, consumption. Whoever steers off the people’s path, in renegade fashion, against, constituent will; are our first subjects. Our list, the House/Senate Watch List, of the vote, yea or nay… the House is already in “viral” circulation. In addition, all Congress members will have an expiration date; you, now, only get one term to misrepresent the people, before, we, the people, have to let you go.

It is clear to the American people that you, our government would rather vote to fund anything and everything else in this entire world; rather then invest in its own people. Surprisingly, including global banks.

You simply don’t, represent, our best interest anymore, so, therefore, we have launched a targeted and organized campaign, to get rid, of, as many of you, as we possibly can, this election cycle, and, stepping up the remaining dismissals on a routine and regular basis, each, election cycle, thereafter. We, the people, will simply re-shuffle the deck each election. We have no concern whether the candidate is republican or democratic; we are only concerned with qualification, integrity and the candidate’s ability to do an effective job.

In simple terms, for you...we are breaking up your power ranking, structured system and stopping our political parties from vying against each other for political gain, at our expense, with no real benefit to us. We are financially raped; your inability to do the people’s job has caused us great loss, and stress. This all affects our health and some Americans have no health insurance.

We, the people, now understand, with, our Congress members having less time to gain seniority… we, the people will insure our right, to the best quality of life, in the richest nation in the world. The country we helped to build, off the sweat of our backs, and are being denied full right to--constantly, made to feel bad, if, we, the people, have an expectation to share in her riches. Despite our continuous labor to keep her great. We, the people, tolerated our government’s failures and elected the wrong politicians for the wrong reasons. In addition to, we did not, constantly, monitor our politician’s behavior, providing them with—adult supervision. That day is gone.

Congress a lot of you can clear out your desk, before, November’s election because you won’t be coming back, self serving, at our expense. We, the people… wish you well.

AMERICA UNDERSTANDS & CAN SPEAK LOUD & CLEAR
DAILY AFFIRMATION WHILE IN OFFICE--YOU ONLY EXIST TO SERVE US
WE, THE PEOPLE…