> [Good? Bad? Maybe, if...? There is a lengthy breakdown at the URL. In
> other news, Japan's stimulus package is apparently 200% of their GDP? -
> B.]
>
> http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=armOzfkwtCA4&refer=ho
> me#
> Financial Rescue Nears GDP as Pledges Top $12.8 Trillion (Update1)
> By Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry
Mostly bad. The $12 trillion is total guarantees, some of which hasn't been spent yet, but the trajectory of the initial $4 trillion is catastrophic. There's about $500 billion in actual infrastructure spending, compared to $3.5 trillion for the speculator class (GSEs, or real estate punters; FDIC, or bank punters; TALF, or commercial paper punters, etc.).
The rest of the Geithner-Bernanke plan comes down to this: exchange busted private bets for solid T-bills (public debt), with little oversight and almost no public ownership stakes. Hey presto, public debt zooms, but of course the economy goes nowhere, because the bubble machine is broken. This paves the way for a post-bailout public austerity package, written and overseen by... you guessed it... the same Wall Street insiders responsible for the disaster in the first place.
I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.
-- DRR