Wednesday, October 1, 2008

It Trickled-Down So Hard We Had To Bail That Sucker Out.


From the AP:

After one spectacular failure, the $700 billion financial industry bailout found a second life Wednesday, winning lopsided passage in the Senate and gaining ground in the House, where Republicans opposition softened.

Senators loaded the economic rescue bill with tax breaks and other sweeteners before passing it by a wide margin, 74-25, a month before the presidential and congressional elections.

In the House, leaders were working feverishly to convert enough opponents of the bill to push it through by Friday, just days after lawmakers there stunningly rejected an earlier version and sent markets plunging around the globe.

The measure didn't cause the same uproar in the Senate, where both parties' presidential candidates, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, made rare appearances to cast "aye" votes.

In the final vote, 40 Democrats, 33 Republicans and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut voted "yes." Nine Democrats, 15 Republicans and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont voted "no."

The rescue package lets the government spend billions of dollars to buy bad mortgage-related securities and other devalued assets held by troubled financial institutions. If successful, advocates say, that would allow frozen credit to begin flowing again and prevent a deep recession.

Even as the Senate voted, House leaders were hunting for the 12 votes they would need to turn around Monday's 228-205 defeat. They were especially targeting the 133 Republicans who voted "no."

So is that #$%@*!&? "Reagan Revolution" finally over?

allvoices

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe I'm simplifing this too much, or it's my optimism clouding my judgement, if we (Fed Govt.) purchase these bad loans, we would be paying pennies on the dollar for them. We either get paid back plus intrest, or we own the properties. Once things get back on track, what we own will appreciate in value. Am I wrong to think that we could either make money or at the least break even?

JohnnyRussia said...

That's the concept some of the supporters are--pardon the pun--banking on.