16
New provisions for Senate rescue bill
Senator Chris Dodd is trailed by reporters outside the Senate Chamber.
To view this content, Javascript must be enabled and Adobe Flash Player must be installed.
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Scott Jagow: The Senate has decided it will vote on a new financial rescue package tonight. It will include one provision we talked about yesterday:
Increasing the limits on FDIC insurance for bank deposits from a hundred thousand to a quarter of a million dollars. Our reporter in Washington Steve Henn joins us as Marketplace continues its coverage of the financial crisis. OK, Steve, what else is in this bill?
Steve Henn: There's another thing that Senate leadership has decided to wrap into this bill: tax credits for renewable energy. This is an issue that's pretty popular in both parties, but there's been a big fight about how to pay for it. There's some talk about also including relief for the Alternative Minimum Tax, although last night that probably wasn't in the Senate version.
Jagow: Renewable energy and the Alternative Minimum Tax. What does that have to do with this financial rescue package?
Henn: Nothing . . . but they're looking to pick up Republican votes in the House. The thing is, especially with these tax credits for renewable energy, fiscally conservative Democrats in the House were all for this, but they wanted to pay for it. And they fought hard to force the Senate to pay for it too, so by including this they may actually lose some of those votes on Thursday.
Jagow: OK . . . so they might gain Republican votes, and lose Democratic votes?
Henn: Yeah, that's right. And you know hopefully, they're betting they'll gain more than they lose. But they need to pick up at least a dozen. So we'll see.
Jagow: All right, Steve Henn in Washington. Thanks.
Henn: Thanks.
Jagow: These people are unbelievable.
Pages
Everyone on this blog is in agreement that the bailout legislation is a sham. President Bush, Treasury Secretary Paulson and the Congress have used fear-mongering to get this bill passed. The truth of the matter is that the economic crisis is limited to huge investment banks and their lack of responsibility and not the US banking industry in general. Take a look around at your local community banks and you will find that they have lots of credit available for small business owners. This is not a pandemic credit crisis as the politicians would have us believe. So I hope that everyone on this blog is contacting their respective district Congressmen in the US House of Representatives to encourage OUR elected representatives to vote NO to the current version of the bailout legislation. When contacting their offices make sure you remind them that you will no longer support their reelection campaigns if they vote in favor of the bailout. This is the time for all US citizens to voice their opinions to our elected officials. Time is of the essence because the US Congress is about to force it down our throats. Call you elected officials and let them know what you think. Otherwise this blog is in vain!! I was on the phone doing this yesterday after I read the pork-barrel spending that was added to the Senate version of the bill. Again, start calling!!
i enjoy the show and felt the urge to comment on the ongoing crisis,bailout,rescue, u mentioned today. first of all lets not forget that money is just paper and the only value it has is what man places on it. that being said i think that the stock crunch is mostly poor confidence brought on by the very oz like characters that set prices and worthness. i think the economy needs this confidence boost to prevent the majority of impulsive and short term americans from jumping from their high office windows. its just money, its more debt, so what, most were not worried about affording their mortgage so why all the sudden a sense of financial responsibility? u know who the real losers are, americans that pay there bills on time and do not borrow more than they can manage. i guess at least were not hypocrites.
i enjoy the show and felt the urge to comment on the ongoing crisis,bailout,rescue, u mentioned today. first of all lets not forget that money is just paper and the only value it has is what man places on it. that being said i think that the stock crunch is mostly poor confidence brought on by the very oz like characters that set prices and worthness. i think the economy needs this confidence boost to prevent the majority of impulsive and short term americans from jumping from their high office windows. its just money, its more debt, so what, most were not worried about affording their mortgage so why all the sudden a sense of financial responsibility? u know who the real losers are, americans that pay there bills on time and do not borrow more than they can manage. i guess at least were not hypocrites.
To the Blog site of MarketPlace (KPCC)
10.2.2008
Today Kai Risdall interviewed Rep. John Campbell of California's 48th Congressional District, about the bailout. Campbell insists that it is NOT a bailout. He contends that the taxpayer is NOT spending $700 billion, it's BUYING $700 billion worth of ASSETS. Well, I don't know, but I been told, you can't buy much without spending, and, my poor friend, it is not ASSETS we're being forced to buy, it is LIABILITIES. Kai, why didn't you clarify those points? Those were not slips of the tongue. Those were attempts to obscure the truth. Please.
Lets take away salaries for Congress (avg. of $150,000/year), President salary ($400,000/year), and VP ($250,000/year). Also, lets take away expense accounts for all of the government. If we have to do our part, then so must they. No raises, reduced healthcare, no secret service after presidency, no retirement funds after presidency, and no continued pay after presidency. Its ridiculous how the government covers their butts, and keep taking money from us taxpayers. Stop, stop, stop now!!!
Where are the PENALTIES for all this bad behavior?? I have no sympathies for any of these companies that engaged in what amounts to legalized gambling with mortgage securities. I have no sympathies for most of those millions of Americans that signed on the dotted line for mortgages they KNEW they couldn't afford. There are some victims of real mortgage fraud here, but the larger number of loan defaults are the result of SIMPLE GREED: legally responsible and accountable adults that FALSELY STATED THEIR INCOME to qualify for a loan they could never repay with the express purpose of cashing in on a short-term gain as housing prices skyrocketed. And then more greed: Many took out HELOC loans on top of that and spent it on new SUV's, Ipods and the latest HD TV. Why should I or any other fiscally responsible taxpayer have to pick up the tab for this? Why shouldn't people bear responsibility for bad choices? How else do they learn to make better ones?
This is something utterly foul in the moral fabric of America that has bred this era of "Entitlement", the expectation that no matter how big the mess, it's someone else's responsibility to clean it up. It's not just on Wall Street or in Washington, it's in the American family where our kids boomerang home well into their 40's with mountain of credit card debt expecting mom and dad to feed, house them and pay off their debts while they "find themselves" or their dream job finally knocks at the door. Where is the tough love? Do our children ever learn to manage money if we continually pay their bills and bail them out debt? NO.
Now I'm being asked to foot what I'm sure is just the first of MANY bailout bills laced with 400+ pages of earmarks and riders benefiting the same rich, greedy corporate tycoons that just gambled away my retirement portfolio. There are NO penalties for the deeds that have been done, NO reforms to prevent future abuses and no one wants to even talk blame. In short, no lessons learned. How can I be anything but cynical about the future of American society and government?
I no longer live the in U.S.A. I now live in the U.S.S.A. (United Socialist States of America). This is just another "fix". Give the drunk another drink. They will be back for another bailout in a couple of years. We cannot spend our way out of this.
I hear lots of news fluff about the man on the street. I expect "marketplace" to be the one place where I will get a succinct description of pending bills.
you can hit the road, but please cover the issues in a technical way that the average viewer is educatated, not entertained.
thanks,
DM
Pages
