Bye bye $2 trillion, hello $7.4 trillion!

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aDqw8_eMzrhU

Congressional approval? We don't need no stinkin' Congressional approval, we've got the printing press!

It would seem we're destined for hyperinflation after all. We can only hope the banks do the right thing and burn the truckloads of cash, or crash their computers before the EFT goes through.

I'd like to revise my estimate of where this will all stop. Old - $10 trillion. New - $50 trillion.

For fucks sake.............

I think it is fair to say that the taxpayers in this country are fucked. This is ridiculous and obviously the Congress and White House are only interested in using the long arm of the government to control greater and greater amounts of wealth in this country. Maybe we should replace the stars on the flag with 50 white hammer and sickles.

Why haven't we as a nation run out of town the likes of Barney Franks and etc.? They are the asses that got us into a lot of these problems. Yet we continue to allow them to screw things up even more.

We can't be broke, we still have checks left!!

That's basically what is being said. Only in the case of the government it simply prints more money.

I think it is astounding the percentage of the population that is opposed to the government bailing out these corporations, yet still stand aside and allow it to take place.

I think it was said before, but the initial bail out by the fed with the mortgage industry was a slippery slope. The Pandora's Box has now been opened. The question is how long will it remain open and how long before the citizens of this nation put their collective foot down and squash the government's expanding influence and interference in US businesses.

It is not the job of government to bailing out private businesses when they cannot compete or stay in the black. The government doesn't know how to manage or keep its own books in the black.

We've been told that we are too stupid to invest even small percentages of our own money that is in Social Security in the market, yet now the government arrogantly tells us it is going to invest our money in the market without our approval or consent?

It's not even Congress. Paulson and Bernanke should be hung. Slowly.

And it's not even taxpayers. It's everyone.

$24,000 per person. Multiplied by 12-ish, if the banks lend out fully. What do you think that will do to the price of, well, everything, for the people who don't actually get that $24,000/person? Utter impoverishment. Destitution of 99+% of the population. Destruction of savings on a scale not seen in this country ever before... and they don't even need to print quadrillion dollar bills since we all have ATM cards!

This bailout should never have happened in the first place.

And instead of Barney Frank sitting at the head of a committee getting angry about how the bailout money is being used, he should be sitting before an angry committee answering questions about why the credit crisis was allowed to escalate in the first place.

It is Congress in my opinion because they are the ones that created legislation giving Bernanke unfettered control over how this money is spent.

The taxpayers in the end are going to be the ones left holding the bag so to speak on this one.

I'd like to add in this instance because Bush has signed and in fact promoted what is taking place, this will be something that in my opinion negatively impacts the new Obama administration. He held a press conference today mentioning his "tax cuts" again. How long before he has to go back on that promise and commitment in order to find creative ways of funding these boondoggles created by the current Congress and White House?

I also believe this will prolong whatever "recession" we see currently that can potentially last the entire four years of Obama's administration. Who knows maybe that is why the Republicans are rubber stamping this crap. They are hoping it will piss off people enough to vote Republican in four years.

[batman]"Okay. Now I'm scared.[/batman]

As Diane Feinstein said, you just aren't smart enough to understand that this has to be done.

Not this Congress. Every member of Congress that let this happen is dead, most likely (FDR's 3rd Congress, IIRC). Most of this isn't bailout money, it's pure inflation.

More like the wheelbarrow full of money.

Any Republican doing that should be shot.

Whoops, turns out the addition wasn't taking into account the Citi bailout. So the number is up to 7.76 trillion. At this rate, we'll hit the entire GDP in no time!

USA! USA! USA!

*puts on tinfoil hat

the question has to be ask at some point. Are there those within our government who favor a more centrally/state planned economy than would otherwise be possible in the United States deliberately taking advantage of this "crisis" in order to achieve under the cover of emergency act that which they could never have achieved otherwise?

Are these people willing to see things get worse, if necessary to achive these ends?

and if so, how do we distinguish those with such an agenda from those so vain, self interested, or unprincipled (or just plain deluded) from those with deliberate intent?
And does it matter?


More to the point - is there the FAINEST chance that such a program can be prevented from happening? I despair that there is the will among a critical mass of Americans to provide an effective resistance.

Use buzz-words like socialism, or don't....I'll not quibble over what you call it. But it certainly seems to be inevitable.

Don't worry, we have Barry O. He'll fix everything.

Undoubtedly.

Without question.

Follow the money.

Not in the slightest.

It very well may be.

A trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon you're talking about real money!

What are you doing to stop it?

On my behalf, I wish they'd stop.

Ranting on the internet, of course.

The current share of the National Debt works out to (as I type this), just under $35K per person in the US. Add the $24K figure given for the bailout and we're at $59K per person. Wonder how many folks make that much money in the US?

Calling my local representatives office voicing my dislike of his support for such legislation, contacting both Boxer and Feinstein's offices doing the exact same thing, and simply not voting for these idiots.

Kind of like a gay limp wristed pussy who came on not to long ago crying like a 3 year old girl because his landlord had increased his rent?

^

Interestingly enough, the nearly $8 trillion:

I can't imagine that half the mortgages in the US are in danger of default (yet), so perhaps what we should, and I know this is going to sound crazy, but why don't we simply pay off half the mortgages in the US with the money? If half of Americans no longer had to pay their mortgages, they could afford to buy stuff like crazy! Given that many of them have monthly payments higher than your average car payment, they could now afford to go out and buy cars built by the Big Three (Say, here's a really crazy thought: The government says, "We'll pay off your mortgage, if you agree to buy at least one new car from the Big Three." Its win-win for everyone! Wall Street gets their money, because people are paying off their mortgages, thanks to government money, the car makers get their money, the tax payers get a new car and their mortgage paid off! What's not to love?)

Where do we draw the line on things like this Tuckerfan?

I wrote to Rep. Rahall, Sens. Byrd and Rockafeller demanding that they not vote for any bailout. They did.

I voted against Rep. Rahall and Sen. Rockafeller in the last election. They still got re-elected.

I wrote Rep. Rahall, Sens. Byrd and Rockafeller again thise evening demanding that they not vote for any additional bailouts. They most certainily will.

What more can I do?

I was thinking much the same thing. Given the tone of Bailey's question, I would hope that the guy has some suggestions.

No free tickets to the circus, ever!