Amazing that you all would have preferred to sit by and watch some of America’s banks collapse in a crisis which could have snowballed into something of horrorifc proportions.

Obama and the Democrats did a fairly good job of putting an end to the panic which was DOW 6,000, and while the economy isn’t great, fear is gone from the equation.

Ed, TARP didn’t do anything about this. Banks were poised to flourish by the time TARP was passed. Do yourself a favor and Google “yield curve”: you might learn something. Banks were going to recover without TARP — if TARP was so necessary, why do you think banks are doing everything within their powers to get out from under it?

Of course, you’ll credit Obama and the Democrats for the banking recovery, but who gets the blame for unemployment?

Shockingly, most Wall Street bankers feel that a Wall Street bailout is a good thing!

Thankfully we’ve got people, such as Arianna Huffington (though I often disagree with her), who are willing to challenge the Beltway Powerbrokers and their continued fearmongering… “do as we say or civilization will end as you know it!”

The whole thing reminds me of a little lie now known as the “Gulf of Tonkin incident.” Unfortunately for the mid-60s Beltway Powerbrokers… my dad’s never had a problem speaking truth to power:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oMdvngbFtw

They lie to get what they want… though it’s more often a lie of omission, than a lie of commission.

Sept 16, 2008 – AIG gets an $85 billion bailout from Paulson (number one beneficiary of the bailout was Paulson’s former company – Goldman Sachs… and that was kept secret until the pressure became so immense that Geithner could no longer stonewall it.)

Sept 20, 2008 – Obama is in Miami with his top economic advisors, including one of Paulson’s predecessors at both Goldman and Treasury)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/business/20politics.html

Scoop… do you just ignore all that? Btw, the number of bank failures continues to mount… and the bailouts continue mounting too.

HuffPo crossposted from the WSJ today about how the FDIC is offering guarantees to banks to buy collapsed banks for pennies on the dollar. So again… the bailouts continue.

Yet many liberals contest we need a public option or universal healthcare? Why not just tell the Senate Banking Chairman to stop the bailouts for likes of Goldman Sachs and get that money paid back? Why should I trust that these government officials had the best interests of America at heart? Do you think Geithner lives his life… always putting America first?

Obama and the Democrats did a fairly good job of putting an end to the panic which was DOW 6,000, and while the economy isn’t great, fear is gone from the equation.

And yes, much of what was done was all about the American consumer’s psyche.

That’s $4 billion on $700 billion. And if we assume that’s on a nine month loan, then… if my calculations are correct…

The government is currently getting paid interest at a an annualized rate of…

0.76% interest!

That’s right… we’re getting almost one per cent! Wowsers! And who really cares about the trillions of dollars that we’re still on the hook for…

But the TARP? That thing was horrendous. And it dealt more with monetary policy, than fiscal policy. And I clearly remember the response from the two major party candidates for POTUS:

Candidate #1 – I’m going to suspend my campaign and fly to Washington!

Candidate #2 – Let’s all just simmer down. We need to listen to the adults before we take any action.

Neither appeared to have any knowledge of monetary policy whatsoever.

Had Congress done nothing last fall and winter, where would we be now? Heading into the 2nd great Depression?

It’s not a “mushroom cloud” comment, but what exactly are you trying to do Scoop?

And Bernanke tells us that the US economy would face “significant harm,” if he reveals the names of the banks that benefited from his $10 trillion in fake money.

Is this deva vu, all over again?

Btw, I stand by what I said a year ago… pain now or pain later. Whether you’re a country or a household… when you run up your credit card… at some point you need to rein in your spending and pay down your debt.

Also, pay attention: Debicella didn’t say that he’d leave 6% of the population in the dust. Rather, he said that taxing 94% to help 6% isn’t the answer. Big difference — and he’s right. There are dozens of things we could do without raising taxes to make private health care available to those who need it — but that’s not enough for Obama or the Democrats, and the schism remains.

Interesting, his Candidate Committee address is P.O. Box 225 in Colonia, New Jersey.

Ronald Gravino is his Treasurer.

You can probably make the argument for TARP. But not for the stimulus package. That was a massive pork-fest, and most of the money still hasn’t been spent. Had congress not passed the stimulus, I doubt there’d be much difference in the economy today. Without TARP, it’s more of an unknown. Partly because of the perception (even if the bill didn’t do much, it had the look of doing something to shore up the banking system: if people fear a bank will have a run, that’ll be a self-fulfilling prophecy).

That’s playing politics with the American economy, and putting ideology in front of practicality.

Had Congress done nothing last fall and winter, where would we be now? Heading into the 2nd great Depression?

And where does Debicella stand on social issues like gay rights and a woman’s right to choose. Is he a neanderthal like Sam Caligiuri?

PS– I like the fact that Dan has no problem leaving 6% of America behind. That’s a great quote, and one which should play really well in Bridgeport.