Just some more thoughts on the bailout:
I think I’m pretty much against the bailout, at least in its present form. It hasn’t really changed since the first version from congress other than to add things to “sweeten” the deal. Read: pork barrel spending and earmarks. Yay! Okay, perhaps that was because the bailout bill was attached to another bill for procedural reasons, but it still seems to look kinda bad.
To recap, the original version introduced by President Bush was three pages. Congress’s first revision became 110 pages. Then, the second version became over 450 pages! Okay, still the issue is with the bailout bill being attached to another bill. I still think its amusing. However, the bailout portion of the bill is essentially the same as before.
If we’re going to spend this kind of money, we should be taking ownership in these companies, not essentially giving a blank check to Paulson, et al. I believe they did something similiar in Sweden (Thanks, Seth, for the link).
I’m not convinced that a bailout would make a difference if we actually were on an imminent collapse of the economy as some are predicting. I think a bailout is neccessary, just not the one currently proposed.