No, you can't have a bailout - not yours

[illusionofjoy]

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK - The failure of the bailout package in Congress literally dropped jaws on Wall Street and triggered a historic selloff — including a terrifying decline of nearly 500 points in mere minutes as the vote took place, the closest thing to panic the stock market has seen in years.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 777 points Monday, its biggest single-day fall ever, easily beating the 684 points it lost on the first day of trading after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

As uncertainty gripped investors, the credit markets, which provide the day-to-day lending that powers business in the United States, froze up even further.

At the New York Stock Exchange, traders watched with faces tense and mouths agape as TV screens showed the House vote rejecting the Bush administration's $700 billion plan to buy up bad debt and shore up the financial industry.

I did a quick recap of the causes leading up to the Stockmarket crash of 1929, which was the lynchpin for the Great Depression in the United States. Among the main causes were the following: lack of regulation of the financial industry, predatory and risky lending and borrowing, a lack of faith in the American economy, and natural disasters such as a hurricane hitting Miami in 1927 and the Midwestern dustbowl crises straining economic resources. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? It's time to read the writing on the wall.

Comments

[stacycat69.livejournal.com]

And, both after September 11th, and the crash of 1929, stocks recovered within months.

If something needs to be done, buying bad loans from the banks and holding them until the housing recovers is not a good idea.