Some good news on the bailout front (I hope)-

[enjoy the ride]

I read a story on the news this morning that the Treasury Secretary is planning to purchase parts of some banks so that they will hopefully use the purchase money to start lending. And, as banking is still regulated more than investment, the government does have a chance of recouping or even making money.

This seems to me to have a chance of improving the situation by making money available to the people who have a need to borrow for really useful purposes and avoids throwing it away down the maws of investment companies where it will just go to enrich a few already rich people.

I hope it's true...............

I alreay wrote my Congressman to hopefully encourage him to encourage the Secretary.............. Iknow, I know but I am ever the optomist.

 

[roosmom]

ETR, is this the "buy up homes at market value and allow people to continue making payments" plan, or something else?

 

[Wildsky]

What is annoying me, I keep hearing them on the TV saying things like they want to make loans and credit available to those businesses who need to make payroll or buy stuff - SHOULD these businesses even BE in business if they have to borrow to make payroll?

To me, thats just stupid business.

 

[enjoy the ride]

The way I understand is that the Feds will take a share in the ownership of some banks- the money they pay to do so will supposedly be made available to be loaned out to business and people making purchases.
I would much rather see a bank get some of this money rather than an investment firm because the bank culture is tradionally more conservative and regulated than investment business. To me, buying bad debt is about as stupid as it gets but using some of this money to get people making payroll and keeping their businesses open and even buying homes and cars stands a chance of achieving something. Would be better to encourage pay as you go rather than borrowing but that is not the world as it stands.
Buying brokers and investment bad debt is a get-out-of-jail card to the people whose never ending cleverness in their of self-interest got us into this mess along with Congress and the President.
You can see the poor judgement of moneymakers by that stupid,stupid,stupid meeting at a luxury resort for AIG. Talk about milking the cow til she dies..............

Of course there is no plan that Congress can screw up..........

 

[Woodland Woman]

There are some types of businesses that need short term loans.
For example: There is a construction company that bids on a job. They get it and some money down. The company buys materials and pays their employees but may come to a point where they need to borrow money to finish the job so they receive the final payment. This is simplistic but gives you the general idea.

 

[reinbeau]

I'm with Wildsky. I managed a business where cash flow could be an issue - yet we paid our bills within terms, paid our employees, and didn't borrow money to do it. It can be done. But it has to be built up, it isn't an immediate process, and in today's business climate, the impatience and short sightedness that permeates society is also driving companies to behave the same way. Just because everyone is doing it doesn't make it smart business practice.

I blame this whole mess on the same underlying principle, mixed with Fast Eddy accounting and unbridled greed. None of it leads to solid financial foundations, which is why this house of cards has finally started to fall. I sincerely wish they hadn't bailed anyone out and let it fall. The idiots at the top won't stop doing what they're doing because now they know they can cry for more money and the feds will cough it up. Government doesn't belong in business.

 

[MorelCabin]

Read this on a website I visited today, and it really spoke to me:>)


Quote:
"Every day I hear people complaining about what they don't like about our government and media, but not one of them are willing to put forth an effort to try and change it, especially when it comes to their personal lives. We are as much a slave on a personal level, as our government is to the international bankers. We keep right on using the tool they put out here to control us, credit cards, and we are imprisoned by it. We are no longer willing to save up to buy something, we have to have it right now, so the Government has made it easy to have what you want without the having to save for it, (CREDIT). Don't you think it funny that in a land with so much wealth, only 2 PERCENT of the people own their homes? (CREDIT). Do you know 60 PERCENT of Americans have at least 3 Credit cards used to it's maximum? (CREDIT). Do you know that only 1 PERCENT of the people have their car paid for? (CREDIT). To be free, you must throw away your credit cards, and NEVER buy anything that you cannot afford at the moment of purchase. We will never be a free people until we rid ourselves of the burden placed here to control us, and when we stop renting from the powers, the power will cease to exist."

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Well, happily I am a part of the 2 % that own their home, don't have credit cards, and my both of our vans are paid for. Granted, home is a 30+ something used singlewide, I haven't applied for a CC, and our vans are 20 years and 13 years old and we got them used, too.

 

[MorelCabin]

Well I am guilty...we still owe probably half what our house is worth...but my car is paid for ...and I paid off my credit card in full today! But I still have our boat to pay for...do you know they give you a mortgage for those? Like you can buy a $20,000 boat and have a 20 year mortgage on it. Yup...and I fell for it. ( well, not ME...dh has this thing about 'new things' well not so much anymore...Problem is...a new boat is just as old as an old boat once the novelty wears off and you still gotta pay for it....ugh!

 

[FarmerChick]

Every single person in the world should stop paying on their credit cards....could you imagine??? WOW the fallout would be wild!