I am fully aware that the stock market did not completely “crash”, Tommy. But at the same time is it safe to claim that the stock market is running smoothly and efficiently today? No, the stock market is falling apart and on the road to disintegrating. I do think that there are other factors than the banking practices that contributed to our economic crisis, hence the reason I said “There are many factors that have contributed to this economic crisis.” Some factors include the loaning of mortgages that could not be reimbursed, and the decline of banks’ assets as a result of the worthless housing market. Tommy, I clearly know that Obama and McCain should focus on the economic crisis…the point to my rhetorical question at the end of my post was acknowledging the fact that Obama and McCain have NOT been focusing on the economic crisis, but rather, their campaigns. I, without a doubt, believe that they should have suspended their campaigns in order to compose a solution and to share with the public—my question was do you agree with their decision to continue prioritizing politics rather than the economy? Thank you for posting!
Revan, I do believe that the banks are primarily responsible for the economic crisis. Possessing much of the responsibilities regarding our country’s financial status, I deem the banks accountable for loaning money they did not possess and for lying to the American people. What other large factors do you think could have played a big role in the economic crisis? Thank you for posting!
Student—I love that your “name” is student. First of all, it was very thoughtful of you to recognize that Congress would most likely pass a very similar bill to the Bailout bill within the next week…because, Congress did just that this past Friday. I think that the main reason for why the public is very much against the Bailout bill is because of the idea that the government is giving one of the main contributors to the economic crisis (the banks) a huge sum of money ($700 billion) which happens to be our (the taxpayers) money. Thank you for posting!
Rinna, thank you for posting! I agree in the sense that it feels like the government is simply giving money back to the root of the problem. However, there is a time and place for government intervention with the economy and our free market system, and I believe that now, more than ever, the government needs to take immediate action because the economy is not going to fix itself for a very long time. Read my following post for further discussion on the final Bailout bill and then let me know if you are still opposed to the plan.
THE $700 BILLION BAILOUT BILL WAS ENACTED ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2008. What a landmark day for United States politics. The House approved the bill with a 263-171 vote http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/04/MN2113B16U.DTL. Also known as the Rescue bill (in order to gain more support), the Bailout bill is going to give the banks up to $700 billion of taxpayers’ money in order to restore lost assets due to insecure mortgages. Time is the key to solving any issue, and just like with the Bailout bill, economists are unsure how long it will take for banks to gain the confidence needed to loan money and revamp the economy. Christian Menegatti, lead analyst for economic research firm RGE Monitor, thinks that this bill is not going to completely relieve the banks of their deficits and fix the economy. Menegatti believes that after the bill is implemented the “problems are going to come back and the lack of confidence will come back” http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/04/news/economy/will_it_work/index.htm?postversion=2008100408.
Let’s take a look at the presidential candidates’ plans to jumpstart our economy.
Barack Obama voted for the passage of the Bailout bill. Obviously, Obama wants to create millions of jobs for unemployed Americans and in order to achieve this he is going to provide $25 billion in a Jobs and Growth Fund to “prevent cutbacks in road and bridge maintenance and fund school repair”—this will open up 1 million jobs for Americans. In order to protect Americans from health, education, housing and other cuts, Obama is providing $25 billion to the State Growth Fund http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/#jumpstart.
John McCain also voted for the passage of the Bailout bill. McCain also has a comprehensive economic plan that includes creating millions of jobs, energy security, and organizing the government’s budget. For more information regarding McCain’s economic plan you can visit his website at http://www.johnmccain.com/Issues/jobsforamerica/.
1 comment:
Merritt,
The Rescue Bill was likely justified, and Congress was definitely correct in its passage of the legislation. However, I have heard that the legislation also encompassed other issues. For example, the ban on offshore drilling has been recently lowered, as I mention in my blog. Because Democrats reluctantly supported this action, the initiative was likely intertwined into the Rescue Bill, and a "spending bill" is mentioned in my source, but the Rescue Bill is not specifically mentioned. Can you confirm if this is true? If so, were there any other hidden initiatives inside the bill? Finally, does the bill include any oversight?
On a side note, I do not think Obama and McCain should suspend their campaigns for similar crises. Suspending a campaign requires, as the name suggests, the suspension of all campaign activities, most of which do not require the candidate to function. Obama and McCain could have canceled all of their appearances, which would free their schedules just as thoroughly as campaign suspensions. For me, a campaign suspension to solve a crisis is a political gimmick.
Finally, you could consider embedding your links in the text to keep your blog posts well-polished. I have a blog post with twenty links now, and I could not imagine lengthening my post further with long website addresses.
Tommy
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