White House, Congress Reaches Bail-Out Agreement

Definitely a bailout. Seems there are still some things to be worked out. And of course the bill still needs to be written. So who knows what we really are getting.

Kinda scary thought there, Ariel!
Love your dog :)

We're getting screwed.

This is not good....

It is not good but it doesn't sound as bad as it did at first. At least in this article it mentions that the finanical markets will have to pitch in after 5 years if the prices don't go back up.

I don't know if it's good or bad...if the gov't does nothing, then how many people will be out of jobs for a few bigwigs screw up? It looks to me like a no win situation...but I guess we'll see what congress does.

No, it is good. The headline on that piece reflects the prevailing mood out here in the world, but people simply misunderstand the importance of what the government is doing. It isn't going to solve the problem, but it is going to help restore confidence and -- you'd all better hope -- liquidity to the financial system. What I dislike about it is the bit about the government insuring against defaults. What that means is that we the taxpayers can look forward only to the downside with no chance whatever of participating in the upside. But better that than no deal.

Remember that the problem with these distressed assets is that no one knows what they're worth, so the market can't accurately price them. That's the pig in a poke the government is getting. There will be defaults to be sure, but some of these assets are fine. The good, the bad, and the ugly have been bundled together and sold to investors around the world. As this mess slowly gets cleared up, the government will eventually sell these assets and get a return on the "investment." Bill Gross of Pimco, who is one of the country's best bond guys, is on record saying that there is even a chance that the government will make some money on this deal. It all depends on what kind of a discount we'll pay for these assets. If you think it's such a bad deal, keep in mind that some of the big players -- J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America -- have snapped up failing companies with distressed assets, also at a deep discount. These people aren't in this game to lose money.

So, publicly and privately, we're doing what we can. We'd all better pray that it staves off disaster unless we all want to work until we die in harness, as our savings and investments would be gone!

I think we are screwed too!

We are screwed but it "screwed as usual." We aren't doomed to another Great Depression this time though it is still a real posibility. But the powers that be always screw those will less or little power. That's the nature of our money. This has been going on for thousands of years all over the world. Any big pile of money attracts the powerful to grab as much of it as they can. Of course the more they grab away from the middle classes and poor the worse the economy gets. But the rich and powerful are too dumb and too short sighted to understand that money lies to them too. The rich just can't believe that they will get more wealth from making the poor better off than they will from seizing their last penny.

I hope that this works, but ..I think we are getting the screws..

It's better than the first White House plan that was just a give away, alone. But still, who knows if it will work at all ...

Nothing was going to be "good". Anything and everything was going to be a difficult pill.

I am heartened that negotiations put in the safeguards and oversight that are reputed to be in this plan. The first White House offering was abysmally lacking in accountability (no offense to Scty Paulsen, who I think would have and still will do everything he can to help bring this to a palatable resolution.).

doesn't matter who becomes president either, we are screwed there too.

BOTH Fox and MSNBC are saying, "The legislation would place “reasonable” limits on severance packages for executives of companies that benefit from the rescue plan, said a senior administration official who was authorized to speak only on background."

Reasonable limits? These yayhoos should be prosecuted and their bank accounts cleaned out! Ohh geez, no golden parachutes, just silver ones...I'm ticked!

I think we're all angry about these severance packages CEOs get. Even if they have done wonders for a company -- think GE's Jack Welch -- the amount of money and perks they walk away with is really obscene. But when they fail and bail out with $15 million, as a shareholder, I find that totally unacceptable. I vote against executive goodies every chance I get -- not that I matter. The problem in thinking about our present crisis is that the media has played it in such a way that people have the impression that the government is going to hand out money to these people. And this is not true at all, as, finally some in the media are coming to realize. You have to do some independent poking around to get a fix on this.

We're getting screwed.

You're not whistling Dixie!

I'm just trying not to think about it, sadly.

Since they're using public funds, weren't all these meetings supposed to be made public? Personally, I'd like to see the actual proposal.

I know, Cori...it's depressing to think about it, but think about it we must. Think of bank lending to us, to businesses, to other banks, as the oil in the motor. If that oil dribbles away, the motor -- the economy -- will seize up. There is simply no choice for the government but to get involved, hopefully in a helpful way.

Meanwhile, here's a factoid that will depress you further: The U.S. debt now stands at 350% of our national GDP.

Tanya: here's the link you need: financialservices.house.gov I'd suggest you try to load it very late at night, because it's taking forever. I gave up on it just now. I imagine the server is getting overloaded.

Thanks Bill.

Well, better than the first option I suppose, not that that's saying much.

Evryone in the country should file to have their names changed to Ben Dover.

Just to throw this one out - has anyone thought of this? We've run out of options and it's time to pay for all the garbage that's been going on. Meaning, no bail-outs that probably won't work anyways, no hand-outs, nothing. Let the chips fall where they may and the rich become the working class, not that they'll have a clue what to do with that.
The lower classes and by that, I mean the poor and homeless as the income for middle-class to me looks like rich, will go along as they always have, invisible and overlooked.

I can't find that link, Bill. It's www.financialservices.house.gov? Comes up unknown for me. .... was going to make it a link and read it too. Shoot! :)

Any fool knows you can't borrow your way out of debt. A portion of the package is going to pay off CREDIT CARD DEBT. They're aren't talking about that are they?

Who's going to run the program? The same companies that got us in the mess.

The American People are being led by fear...AGAIN!

If these companies really wanted to get liquid assets all they have to do is ask the GOOD MORTGAGE HOLDERS to pay down their principle. If only 10 mullion people paid down their debt $5,000 (and got a 10% discount for their trouble) that would infuse 50 BILLION DOLARS into the banking system without having to borrow anything.

I can't believe the rich crooks are being allowed to do this to us.