Too often, the policies of the Bush administration and Republicans in general put us in a position where we have no good options to get us out of a crisis. First the surge, and now this economic crisis.
I like the bill from Monday more than the bill being signed today. I blame the Republican 12, and the Republican leadership for the continued stock market volatility during this week and the deepening of the crisis that is now forcing passage of a bill with even more items that will continue to negatively affect the economy into the future. Note: I do not blame the Democrats who voted no, because the Democratic leadership gave their 50% of the Democrats and the Republicans did not give theirs. In order for this to be a bipartisan effort they needed at least half of each half.
Additional tax credits beyond the 'tax extender' package and cosidering suspension of mark to market accounting rules for example. The bill on Monday, while not perfect, had fewer 'extras' which focused the bill on solving the actual economic problem. The extras in the current bill could cloud the issues. And, I might add, make for political blame and deflection
in elections down the road as well. That is boring.
The House must pass the bill, but I think it would have been better for the United States if they'd passed it on Monday.
I reserve the right to find out I'm mistaken about the details of the current bill, but I understand the 'bailout' portion of the bill hasn't changed all that much.
I understand why the Senate attached the 'bailout' bill to the tax extender bill (which I believe had previously passed easily in the House), so I exclude that from my critique of the current bill.
I don't think most Americans have a true understanding of what the bill is intended to do. Without actually taking time to find this stuff out, they have to rely on mainstream news media. And I'm going to write another post about the lack of news in mainstream broadcast media. Its hard to find objective information on television.
I don't appreciate the Republican leaders twisting the truth that they're the ones who stood up for regular Americans on Monday by forcing a better bill that supports the taxpayers. I think that's a lie and a joke. They thought they had the votes but they couldn't convince their members to buy into it. Before the vote John McCain swooped in and helped convince Republican House members to understand how important the bill was. But, after the vote didn't happen (and the Republican leaders blamed their hurt feelings over Nancy Pelosi's speech), John McCain's swooping in was characterized as John McCain standing up for the American taxpayer. Which is pretty clearly bullshit (since he voted for essentially the same bill in the Senate).
And even now, the Republicans are saying they've spoken up for the American people by the adjustments they've made to the bill.
But, I contend that there are hidden consequences to this bill that will reverberate for years to come. And, as I underand, there isn't even any bankruptcy adjustment.
I think this is salvageable if the House and Senate use this bill to forestall the current crisis, and then come back to actually solve the problems. I will accept that this bill buys us time to prepare a comprehensive and fundamental solution later. I still think they could have done that on Monday as well.
Again, the Bush administration and the Republican members of Congress have put us in an untenable situation. We're stuck. Pass the bill.
(As many Republicans are noting in their floor comments, this bill isn't all that much changed except that it adds 150 billion in tax credits)
P.S. I have increased respect for Barney Frank. He's been there all along. He seemed to want people to understand and come to agreement.
P.P. S. Nancy Pelosi seems to be detailing the positives in the bill. I've missed a bunch of that. Too bad.
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While they're voting, the stock market is waiting. Right when they started to vote, the market went up a bit, and now its moved down and its just waiting. Interesting. I wonder what the volume is right now?
Its both refreshing and disturbing that George Bush is so out of this, at least publically.
While I watched the debate on C-SPAN, I switched to CNN while the vote is going on. One commenter suggested John McCain will take credit for this when (if) it passes. How ludicrous is that?
I wish Barack Obama had included more educational information in his speeches over the last couple weeks. Maybe he has, but not where I've seen it. I would like him to have been more involved, but I realize there are pitfalls to that strategy.
For some of us who are not professionals or educated in economics, but who tried to figure out what's going on, we'll definitely remember the new terms we've learned mark-to-market accounting, LIBOR rate, credit default swaps, the credit market vs the equity market, capitalization, etc.
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Hmmm...the bill has passed, and yet the equity market is dropping. Before the vote the Dow was hovering around 254.15 to 270.72. Just after voting it increased up to 310.15, and now my last check was 194.66.
Why?
According to the CNN guy, its uncertainty that's causing the lower numbers...what's next - how fast can the bill get signed, when does money start funneling into the system. will credit loosen up?
Common understanding among traders: "Buy the rumor, sell the news"
There is also mixed news...
Job loss numbers came out today, for the year 750,000 jobs have been lost.
Wells Fargo offerred to buy all of Wachovia instead of Citigroup's offer to buy parts of Wachovia.
We might not have anything changing in the stock market until the end of the month.
Current DOW is 116.20.
This has been like watching a big soap opera in the last couple weeks. Always something happening. Cliffhangers.
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