Thursday, February 28, 2008

Hooray for Henry Paulson!

Every time I think the Bush administration is a pack of hopeless marshmallows, they go and do something like this. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson came out against most mortgage bailout proposals yesterday.

Thank goodness!
In an interview yesterday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson branded many of the aid proposals circulating in Washington as "bailouts" for reckless lenders, investors and speculators, rather than measures that would provide meaningful relief to deserving, but cash-strapped, mortgage borrowers.
...
"I don't think I've seen any scenario where the American taxpayer needs to be stepping in with more taxpayer dollars," Mr. Paulson told The Wall Street Journal.
...
Administration officials "have been willing to broker deals, but they haven't been willing to put taxpayer money on the line," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, a West Chester, Pa., consulting firm. "I think they're trying to stick to those principles, and now they're running out of ideas that are consistent with those principles."
Banks loaned money to people with no income documentation and bad credit. People with bad credit and little income bought houses they couldn't afford. Just why do we need to rescue either side?

What if they had been buying cars with stupid loans, instead?

I can't afford the loan on my Ferrari any more. How about if all the rest of you make my payments for me?

5 comments:

Kelly the little black dog said...

This conclusion about the bail-out seems pretty wide spread, but the politicians are too afraid to speak the truth. They (both the democrats and George) are throwing money at the problem to lift people's spirits hoping things will improve on their own.

I just can't see any of them stopping right now.

K T Cat said...

You got that right, Kelly. The stimulous package is more of the same.

ronupnorth said...

I had to laugh the other day I read an article about people not being able to keep up with their monthly payments anymore. They had a picture of a guy sitting in front of his BMW looking sad that he couldn't make the payments. Poor guy might have to sell his BMW. I hope I don't have to sell my 1995 chevy minivan.

Anonymous said...

It must be nice to be a lame duck president in times like this. I think the Bush/Paulson plan is on target but isn't going to be popular with many people who would love to get a little government compensation for their fiscal incompetence.

Ohioan@Heart said...

Why don't people get it? The government can't bail people out. It is broke.

All the elected officials of our government are planning to do is forgive the bad fiscal planning/decisions of certain risk takers, by increasing the debt that will have to be paid by our children and grandchildren.

That's a bad deal.