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So, what do you guys think about the increasingly serious downswing in the economy? I'm hearing from the news that the total amount of bailouts that will be given could approach $1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) dollars.

If I'm recalling correctly, we've given hundreds of billions in tax cuts, spent trillions on two wars, and are now paying another trillion to bail out the typically-foolish MBAs. I am speechless.

(Posted here because I figure it falls under Politics.)

It's insane. The Fed loaned AIG $85 billion already. I've been keeping up with all this on the Consumerist.

The government is willing to give these huuuuuge companies trillions of dollars simply because they were mismanaged, but are they willing to pay off my student loans for me?

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo...

The government - always sticking it to the little guy.

Actually i heard on the news that they saved Aig and the stock market Suddenly got a huge new income riseout.They said the crisis is over..

Whats really gay is that they would spend trillions to billions of dollars on the market..But...They wont help the god damn buisness that would contribute more money then the stock market itself that are going bankrupt in the world..

Well part of the reason the government is willing to spend the billions on these companies is because they are tied into all kinds of things globally. If you let one of these companies fail it could have huge implications everywhere else. I don't think these companies should be rewarded for bad financial practices but we need not be sent back to the economic stone-age over it.

As for the country's over all financial plan we're doing horrible and that's putting it lightly. We keep relying on "future generations" to pay for stuff we have now, but future generations keep doing what we're doing. If we don't fix something we're going to hit the "reset" button in a way that letting one of these companies fail would be hitting the "reset" button, only much much worse.

It's what? It likes trillions of dollars of the same gender? If you meant stupid, please say stupid. I have to put up with this word being used like that everywhere in real life, so I'd like to kindly ask you don't use it in that way on my thread. Thank you.

Yes, it sucks that the government is bailing out moronic CEOs who got greedy and gave everyone breathing a mortgage loan even if they never should have qualified, and now we get stuck with the bill for their little "oopsie." Fantastic.

You know what's really annoying? The fact that the Fed consolidating Fannie/Freddie. Now we're footing their bills with taxpayer money. [censored].

*blink* Mothers, please don't shake your children. It leads to the above.

I'm waiting for the credit card market to collapse, in all honesty. So many people defaulting on bills, not paying them, filing for bankruptcy or foreclosing on homes so the government will pay the rest... I figure it's only a matter of time before that starts taking hits.

Edit: Looks like Kinuki beat me to Dude's post, XD

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's basically the same situation that caused the depression: widespread misuse of credit. Of course this time we have safeguards (like the FDIC). Which is why we're in a recession, not a depression. xP

*slaps head*
DAMN ME!

I somtimes go on a rant and dont give care what im saying at the time...

You're not wrong; the explosion in credit happened in the 20s, and as a result of people abusing it to the point of absurdity, and buying thousands of dollars in stocks on margin, it wiped out the banks who'd been giving all that credit and buying all those stocks. So, the underlying factor of overextended credit really is true.

Indeed, but a big part of the problem is shady rules on housing loans, the biggest problem is that mortgage brokers only get paid if they give out the loans, and if they default it's someone elses problem. So they use adjustable loans which are considered "higher risk" but allow people who have poor credit the ability to afford a home. So banks gave out more and more loans for money while increasing the number of people who couldn't necessarily afford it. Compounding the problem is wall street selling sub prime loans to investors thus increasing their demand which meant the banks got more money which increased the number of people who couldn't afford loans etc. etc.

People have a hard time saying no when it comes to things they want :(

Fortunately, I think we're already seeing the market adjust to the poor lending practices that led to our issues. I still hear a few things about variable-rate mortgages, but no reputable lenders are doing them anymore. I can't say I'm thrilled about the Freddie/Fannie buyout, though. Even if it wasn't more debt thrown on the taxpayer, the government has a very poor history in the fiscal responsibility department, and putting them in effective charge of some of the biggest lenders doesn't strike me as a particularly ideal situation.

Although apparently economic downturn is good for the industry that my company services, or so the boss says. Makes sense that salvage and repair'd pick up when people can't afford to buy new. After all, the motorcycle industry is loving these gas prices.

Well on the plus side, if you're a savvy investor you can make a pretty decent killing in the markets at the moment. (though the bargins are going so if you're going to invest do it now!) So while you the tax payer may have bought an insurance firm and some lenders it has the possibility to make you rich! Now if only I was a savvy investor and had money :(

Double post!!



That seems pretty crazy to me, the fact that if we did bail them out they'd be making a profit off of taxpayers... I supported the bailout as far as to prevent horrible economic fallout but now I'm not so sure. I don't think handing out a trillion dollars and then saying "we promise more bad stuff won't happen" doesn't seem like a fair trade, since it wasn't our fault to begin with.