Our eloquent president:
“If money isn’t loosened up, this sucker could go down,” President Bush declared Thursday as he watched the $700 billion bailout package fall apart before his eyes, according to one person in the room.
We’ll see how the market responds tomorrow. We had the largest bank failure in history tonight, as Washington Mutual ceased to exist and its shareholders were wiped out. A few extremists on both sides of the aisle don’t seem to care. People on the left just want to see bankers suffer, with no regard for the collateral damage. Ideologues on the right just want to avoid any semblance of socialism, or public ownership. These lunatics are in the driver’s seat right now, but I doubt they’ll still be there when the market drops by 800 points before lunch tomorrow.
Come tomorrow, ‘this sucker’ will go down, and it will go down hard. You can thank John McCain for that because he encouraged the House Republicans to kill any deal. Maybe McCain really wants to avoid the debate and he doesn’t care how many families lose their retirement or how many small businesses shutter their doors. I don’t know.
I do know that a bailout, however unpopular, is necessary to prevent a massive loss of wealth and jobs. I’d like to see criminal investigations and I’d like to see some progressive legislation. But right now, I’d just like to see a confidence-building infusion of liquidity into the credit markets. Ideally, we can recoup the costs. But if these idiots stand around sucking their thumbs while people make a run on the banks? We will all suffer…needlessly.
