Congress is so clueless they don't ask the RIGHT questions . . . Just listen to the questions that are being asked. That tells the entire story.
Yep, that's a lot for an individual or for a single company but it seems not enough for intercepting this financial weapon of mass destruction. I have a gut feeling that the US government will have a lesson learned, "Don't fight the trend". Let the inevitable finishing its course.
But first we must fight to make sure not only those involved in the mortgage crisis are bailed out ... now we want to lump in those individuals who have a car loan and credit card debt they cannot pay back. This is disgusting ... can't anyone be held responsible for the poor decisions they make?
I have no interest in owning a subprime mortgage, period. Paulson and Bernanke say we need this solution to ensure credit does not dry up. Well how about being creative and founding a national bank to provide credit? Step into that breach so individuals and businesses can get the funds they need. You could sell shares on the open market. It would probably cost less than 700 billion and you wouldn't be taking on garbage mortgages. As the crisis subsides, you could eventually sell all of the assets off to banks that have survived and dissolve the entity. Too radical an idea, I guess.
Gnome, so far, I agree with almost every post you have made, that I have read anyway. Everytime the government screws around with the market, the next bottom will be that much harder, much like a parent who always bails the kid out of trouble. The kid never learns and winds up broke and in jail.
sucre, I agree with your assessment. I wonder why no senator has asked if it's possible for Treasury Dept to shore up the commercial paper market directly rather than through (bailing out) Wall street in the process. Also does anyone think there would be interest in the equity markets for a trust security that holds subprime mortgages? Essentially a subprime ETF? I feel that there's a limited/dwindling number of players in the MBS market and maybe by giving access to smaller individuals, that they would provide some bids, rather than the apparently zero bids out right now. This way, maybe you can shift the burden from all taxpayers to just those who choose to burden the risk.