>> Sure, but I thought today was less about the long-term interests of
>> the US economy than about servicing Barry's base on Wall Street?
>
> Oh yeah, that it is. I'm just lamenting the awfulness of this.
To folks on this list who don't follow economics: this bailout issue may seem like a technicality, but it's a really, really big deal. As bad as things are right now, it's just the opening act -- the financial crash is turning into a real world economic downturn, which will hit financial markets again, which will hit the real economy, etc. -- the classic deflationary downwards spiral. Problem is, unless the banks are fixed, no amount of stimulus will help. That $800 billion in stimulus is mostly long-term projects and tax rebates, which won't kick in fast enough to counteract the loss of $500 billion in annual mortgage withdrawals and bubble mania.
Here's the sound-bite: the plane engines (credit system) powering the US economy have shut down, and the Boeing (America) is in a steep dive. Those engines need to be restarted (nationalized) NOW.
We don't have much time.
-- DRR