Comments on: Thank you, Rep. Bobby Scott, for voting NO on the bailout

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:56:11 +0000

The link below has a very articulate argument against the bailout and some alternative solutions, written by the CEO of BB&T…

http://media.gatewaync.com/wsj/pdfs/2008/09/allison.pdf

By: wsurfk

wsurfk — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:38:49 +0000

I am glad for a “no” vote, but not for any of the reasons listed. I just don’t think a “bailout” will do any good. There is so much ignorance surrounding this whole issue, and I have no faith that those voting know what is really going on, they are just playing politics.

I am in the industry, and don’t pretend to know what the real endgame is. All I know is that there are 12-14 trillion in outstanding mortgages, and another 20 trillion or so in “other” types of debt. If the default rate on just the mortgage piece reaches 10%, $700B won’t be enough. And 10% may be a really low estimate. Subprime default rates are already approaching 20% nationwide, and are regionally much higher, and “prime” default rates are growing rapidly. A better solution would be for the govt to just take that money and buy up all of the failed or failing loans, directly. At least then, they would own the homes if people can’t pay. Someone will do this (actually, some people already are) and make a lot of money, trust me on that one.

As for the “socialism” argument, we went down that road long ago with medicare and social security, and all of the other entitlements (Fannie and Freddie included), so I don’t really buy that one either. My guess is that bailout or no, the economy is going to be in a recession, credit is going to stay really tight (you will have to actually have a real job, earnings, track record, assets, etc. to get a loan) and growth will be anemic for a while. How long? No way to tell, but when banks stop failing and consolidation slows down or stops, that will be a good indicator that we are near a turnaround.

Just my 2 cents. Anyone else?

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:58:51 +0000

“Something” could be as simple as increasing regulation, or improving regulation so it’s effective yet unintrusive.

By: Marx

Marx — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:28:55 +0000

Something need to be done? You mean like Socialism? The idea of a free market is NOT to interfer. If the little banks go under then that’s the market working. And do not group them all together, some banks actually did good business and will be fine. What about wachovia? That’s not a little bank. Dumb vote? Try courageous. I will not suffer much because I didn’t over extend myself. If you suffer, well my friend that’s capitalism. Same goes for the banks.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:32:52 +0000

Something needs to be done, but clearly this terrible bill is not the answer. Most of America and Congress agrees.

As for the First Markets out there: If they’ve made good decisions and good loans, they’ll have plenty of capital to make it through this crisis just fine. If they haven’t made good loans, perhaps they should shut down.

By: Bud Tugly

Bud Tugly — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:26:19 +0000

Hope you don’tdoing your banking with First Market or Village or any of the other smaller banks locally because THEY are the one’s who will take the brunt of the hit taken by the financial sector not the Citi’s, Bank of America’s etc.

Understand something very basic: banks are not lending money to customers or other banks which means the smaller banks are shut out of a source of funding for local commercial operations and consumer loans.

Learn something about a dumb vote and its consequences before applauding it. And no I am neither a broker, banker or in any way affiliated with the institutions involved in getting us into this mess but I am one of those who could suffer because of Scott’s ignorance, just like you may.