[Sean]

Originally Posted by Sarcasmo

Ugh...NO. NO MONEY. BAD SEAN. VERY BAD!

Frankly, I know very little about this kind of stuff, so I'm going mostly from the gut and from what I've been able to understand on the news on this one. So understand that this is just one semi-ignorant man's opinion.

Originally Posted by Sarcasmo

These companies need to be dealt with on a case by case basis. Yeah, it might suck for a little while, but if you don't want to see 3/4 of a trillion of our hard earned money pissed away by executives looking to line their pockets, then you'll piss and moan to stop this bill from getting passed.

Which is why I say I think it has to be done smart - meaning in a way that doesn't allow them to line their pockets with the bailout money.

Originally Posted by Sarcasmo

Look, unemployment is at 7% right now. That means over 90% of Americans have jobs. That's right about average. It's not wonderful and sunny, but shit, it's not like it was in the real depression, where unemployment was at 40-50%. The median household income is just below record levels. Oil dropped $10 a barrel in one day. In the states, we could be buying gas for $2.25/gal again by this time next year. Now is the time to get into real estate and investments if you have the means. All this talk about how we're all going to lose our life savings because of this is just hysterics. Investors are jumpy and bad at adapting to short term unpleasantness.

This actually runs counter to some of what I've been hearing and seeing. For one, every time CNN had their money people come on to answer questions yesterday, the answer to the question "should I start investing in the stock market right now?" was a resounding "are you crazy? NO!" And while it would be good to get into real estate, it's kind of hard to when you can't get a loan, which is what some friends of mine who I know have good credit and incomes in the low six-figure range are finding right now. And that difficulty seems to me like it'll continue until the banks are in a position to safely lend, which won't happen without some kind of action being taken.

I guess I should say here that I have no idea if the $700 billion plan was the "right" plan or not, but SOMEthing has to be passed now to keep us from moving towards a situation that does more closely resemble the great depression. And that of course would mean some serious reforms in addition to any bailout plan.