They keep saying things like, "bailout needed to unlock credit markets and promote economic recovery"... Didn't they just tell us that GDP was still humming along at 3.3%, "in spite of it all"? What do we need to recover from, prosperity? (Or was the GDP number simply more lying rot?)
It's almost impossible to know what to believe anymore. Here is what I can gather from a consumer credit perspective. If the bailout does not pass: To get a 30 year fixed mortgage, you will have to have good credit and put down 20%. The horror. Jumbo loans will be hard to get. (of course, if housing prices are allowed to correct to where they should be, far fewer people will need them). Subprime loans will be almost impossible. (Yes, part of the reason we need the bbailout is to crank up the subprime market again). About car loans. You will need to have good credit. Someone actually said that if you have a bad credit history, you will be unable to receive zero down, low rate car loans unless this passes. The actual example was that someone with a credit default in their recent history would not be able to secure a loan to buy a car. WTF? The more I hear, the more I am convinced that, as far as the consumer lending market goes, this is just an attempt to restart the party that lead us into this mess. Now, the commerical credit markets may be a completely different story. And there seem to be things going on that people don't want to talk about for fear of igniting panic. I have no idea about those things. But this "consumer credit crisis" seems to be a scare tactic.
In my younger days, you had to DEMONSTRATE YOU WERE A GOOD CREDIT RISK TO GET CREDIT... I was even persuaded to take out a loan to buy a car for which I intended to pay cash... just to start building a good credit history. Now many undeserving and unqualified borrowers are granted excessive credit under "politico legislative decree"... yet the laws of economics (much like the laws of gravitational force) have not yet been repealed. My, how far we've fallen...
I've got 30-40 years of prime livin to do and all this bail out crap seems like it's going to make it arduous journey. I am severely disappointed in this country. JIM