Comments on Saving to Inve$t: Alternatives to the $700 billion financial bailout...

Here is my idea. Print a hole bunch of money, $5~...

2009-09-22T20:54:18.526-04:00

Here is my idea.

Print a hole bunch of money, $5~6T about $1T would be given to everyone $1,000 per month. The rest would be used to pay down personal debt.

i think we should have pursued the Swedish approac...

2009-03-04T08:58:00.000-05:00

i think we should have pursued the Swedish approach. it seems these banks got a lot of help with little or no sacrifice on their part. There should be repercussions to bad business practices. if we are unable to or not willing to hold these people responsible for their actions then we should take steps to ensure that no one company or person can have such a significant impact on our economy.

Beau

Here is the most optimistic outcome of the financi...

2008-11-12T19:59:00.000-05:00

Here is the most optimistic outcome of the financial crisis posted on the web today:

http://www.ingenesist.com/general-info/2008-financial-crisis-the-end-game.html

It's not impossible!

Enjoy

SB & Stephen - Thanks for your detailed reponses. ...

2008-10-02T09:33:00.000-04:00

SB & Stephen - Thanks for your detailed reponses. I agree that the suggestions here are extereme and like the bailout bill will have other adverse side effects. I was just throwing them out there for discussion. The bailout has been approved (or will be by the house) and so free markets as we know it are on hold. Also, the banking landscape has changed alot. We are just creating 3 too big to fail institutions that may land us in the same mess in 20 years again. I think what will happen is that one things stabalize the government will force these big banks to break up in order to reduce risk.

1 - Blocking new home construction seems very heav...

2008-10-01T14:04:00.000-04:00

1 - Blocking new home construction seems very heavy-handed of gov't, and won't unfreeze the credit markets.
2 - A tax cut is a terribly bad idea, repeated over and over. The US is in tremendous debt both personal and collectively: it used to be considered a conservative idea that balancing budgets was all-important, Clinton showed that it is a tremendous boost to the economy. The crisis is about poor regulation combined with too much demand for credit, including government demand for credit. A tax cut wouldn't help people in the most trouble, wouldn't make the crazy mortgage derivatives market suddenly make sense and have clear values: it would just cause us to buy more from China and deepen the pit we're in.
3+) The rest of the world, and the US before Bush, deal with major bankruptcies by having the gov't take over both the assets and debts of the bank/corporation. We could accelerate that process by having the government exchange cash for new equity in the corporations: investors whose company comes begging get a bad deal but don't lose it all, taxpayers get a good deal.
Free markets) Ideology has crashed into reality. Free markets are incredibly powerful, and often a force for good when there is free competition with complete or at least symmetric information... but the facts in front of us are an amazing melt-down that like the Great Depression can't be laid in the lap of government, unless you believe gov't should be regulating more.

1) Housing prices were already ARTIFICIALLY INFLAT...

2008-09-29T19:44:00.000-04:00

1) Housing prices were already ARTIFICIALLY INFLATED. We do not need to do anything to bring them back up to their former prices. In some parts of the country (the coasts) they need to come down more! I don't know who would have the power to freeze home building; the market is taking care of that already.

2)Never one to turn down tax cuts, however they would only further cheapen the dollar since they would most likely not be accompanied by spending cuts.

3)Sweden? Maybe. The last three banks standing will be Citi, Chase, and Bank of America. It'll be interesting.

4)Free loans would be a palliative, but they wouldn't help to fix any long term problems. People (some) are already deeply in debt.

5)Do nothing, well as of Monday night, that appears to be just what we're doing. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
People who own stocks should just hold tight. Oh, here's a reminder, your bank accounts are insured to $100,000, please don't make a run on your bank.

TML - Bargains are galore today. The question is a...

2008-09-29T16:33:00.000-04:00

TML - Bargains are galore today. The question is are the low prices really bargains or part of a vicious downward spiral.

Curt - Here is Ron's paul's video. He definetly is talking some sense : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBVB1Uc0nko
I just think doing nothing is going to make things worse. As much as we have a financial crisis, we have a crisis of confidence. Both need to be addressed. I think there is going to be a lot of pain ahead

Based on the fact that nobody in congress is willi...

2008-09-29T11:51:00.000-04:00

Based on the fact that nobody in congress is willing take credit for the bailout, I think it's not likely to work, yet it's thought to be the best option. That means the economy is likely to tank no matter what they do.

In the end, this is a complete failure of the government to plan the economy. Too much government involvement in any economy leads to a crash, history has repeated again.

Ron Paul was right all along - the Fed Reserve should never have been given the power that it was given.

Andy - For those who are savers, maybe a brief rec...

2008-09-29T08:51:00.000-04:00

Andy - For those who are savers, maybe a brief recession wouldn't be so bad. Think of the bargains we could pick up from the broke spenders with the cash we have to spend.