Yes, the bill that just went down is much better than the absurd plan the President put forward a few weeks ago. But it isn't nearly good enough.
If the financial sector is the problem, then a tax on financial transactions (like a stock fee) is the way to pay for the solution, not from general revenues.
Let the investment banks fail. They can get their ten or twenty cents on the dollar on their bad loans. And if we need a lot of liquidity pumped into the credit market, then we can do that in lots of other ways instead of using general revenues to prop up stupid investment bankers' companies.
Take your time, Congress. Keep working on this. If it waits until next week or next month, so be it.
2 comments:
Well I am glad it failed too but I don't think a tax on investing helps any of us. Let's make sure that we foreclose on bad debt and that we allow the owners of the property (the banks) dispose of it without huge legal impediments.
The bill as it evolved was a treasure trove for community activism. Thank goodness it failed.
I have found it interesting that informed citizens on "both sides of the aisle" seem to have come to the same conclusion about this situation, even if it is for different reasons. Those on the left find the whole thing too reminiscent of Patriot Act and Iraq War scare tactics. Those on the right find it too reminiscent of, well, Communism (which it is, let's face it). As Dan says, this is (a) too big a problem and (b) far too much dough to simply go with our guts. Especially if the guts we're using belong to President Bush.
The bottom line is, people don't want a brash reactive response here. Take your time and do something smart for once, pols.
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