Money Beat

This is sort of related to all this mess,
in this months working mother magazine on page 138 is one of their 100 Best Companies for women to work for in 2008.
What a laugh - Fannie Mae!! says the women top earners in the company is 39%, the execs - 648 in the company. There are still stories of poor woman and how they don't get as much pay as men., but the % of women in higher positions is much higher than it was just 20 years ago. I thought women would make it a better world, I have heard again and again where I work that women care more about people HUH! have women made it a better world?

Ron Paul predicted the fall of Fannie and Freddie in 2003. Surely the clairvoyant one should replace Bush right away.

I think that this bail out is wrong, the average American paying there taxes can be hard without a job. So raising the taxes to those who can't pay there taxes on time and the goverment penalizing them for not being able to pay there taxes is wrong.And once again we pay for it, just to bailout out a company. If my buisness need help nobody is helping me out. they need to penalize there self, after all there were awhere of this promblem these type of thing just don't pop up over night. its just not far for the American people to always taking the heat for the goverments mistakes, if we don't pay are billon time or if we print bad paper we go to jail, the goverment need to be helping out us first like all the victoms in the huracane area who pay there bill and taxes, also helping out the small buisness owners like myself.

Of the people blaming Bush, I wonder what percentage have ever borrowed money that they knew perfectly well they couldn't pay back. I'd wager at least 50%, thought it's probably closer to 75%. I'd also wager that 100% of those people don't have the integrity to accept responsibility for having even the tiniest role in all of this, since it's a lot easier to blame someone with a higher profile. Whatever helps you sleep at night, I suppose. Should Barack Obama manage to corner enough of the Flying Rainbow Unicorn vote to win in November, though, I think those people will be in for a very rude awakening.

Dave - I have not borrowed money that I couldn't pay back. Then again I support Ron paul....go figure. I agree Obama does not have a clue, and unfortunately he has a vested interest in this bailout since Goldman is a huge donor of his. Then again Goldman also contributes to McCain, and McCain doesn't mind more wars. Ron Paul doesn't accept special interest money, therefore Ron Paul can tell us the truth. How refreshing indeed!

I don't know if most people really understand the crisis or what caused it. I know it was many many factors and greed is certainly one of them. People are mostly uneducated about the economy. Most of us would rather be entertained and spend money than take time to study and consider our decisions more carefully. Do we really understand short-term decisions and their long term effects? Is it always the fault of a president? I am a college educated middle class struggling citizen. My husband and I lost our entire equity that we built up over 30 years to sell our home at less than we purchased it for...that was not in our plan. We noticed our last loan was sold over and over in less than 6 months. We paid interest on top of interest. The loan itself seemed complex and we eventually lost the battle and got out with only our shirts. I had school loans we are still paying on. We only used credit for emergencies and we had a couple. It seems even with all our efforts and though our incomes have increased our bills have as well. We are cutting back more and more. What is going to happen to our retirement in our 401Ks as a result of this crisis? If we are struggling this much ... what about people who have even less? We feel we are overburdened. Lots of people get free money and services; politicians waste so much money and regular working people are wondering what is happening to our economy. I am reading much about it and there are so many conflicting views it is hard to sort it out.

Ordinary Taxpayer, you may want to check your math. 1 million times 136 million is not 136 million, it's 136 TRILLION.

Business can't stay in business without customers for its products or services. When you maximize profits by cutting the purchase ability of your customer base, your business WILL fail.
You can inject a cash infusion at the top, but without a cash infusion at the bottom, you still have no customer base. And there is nothing to suggest that those at the top recognize this. So, who do you want to give a cash infusion? Those at the top or the customers at the bottom? Your answer likely depends upon whether you're an owner or a customer.

K - I love when Ron Paul in the debates talked of the inflationary tax. A hidden means of transfering wealth from the poor and middle class to the wealthy and well connected. Look at the CPI, M3, value of the dollar over time, and it will become very clear that inflation has been rampant over the last 3 decades due to policies of the Federal Reserve. Let's face it the corporate elite and bankers have made a ton since the breakdown of Bretton-Woods and it is coming to and end. We are broke beyond belief in both household debt and national debt.

Ordinary taxpayer said---According to the Tax Foundation, 135,660,228 tax returns were filed in 2006. So, if we pay $1 million to each person who filed a return, that's just under $136 million total---Please check your math. It would take just under $136 million total to give 135,660,228 taxpayers $1 each.

Bush is not the only person to blame here. samhiguchi is right on target. No matter if you are blue or red, we need to get together to save our economy. And no matter who wins the election, we will get some needed change. We can't continue on like we are.

laura harty- Are you seriously saying the government should lower people's interest rates, the very same people who took mortgages they KNEW they couldn't afford. They should lower their interest rate to a rate lower than most Americans who are paying their mortgages on time. We should give these people a break when they put themselves in that situation? I don't think so!!! I believe these mortgages should be rewritten, but they should be written at a rate that is within reason, like 7 or 8%.

Seems to me we need a massive contraction of the economy to liquidate debt and junk assets. Everything is way overpriced to boot. This bailout is a way to keep the inflated economy going a bit longer and keep prices elevated above where the free market would put them, but it only prolongs the inevitable. Huh, Ron Paul was correct in his assertions. Everything he said is bearing fruit so to speak.

I think that we are in desperate times that call for despwerate measures, so lets get congress together and do the right thing. lets quiet the nqysayers and pass the bail out, and while your at it confiscate the millions of dollars the execs took on the way out. How can they robus of our monies.Since when do you get paid for stealing from the company/

lEE tIKALSKY - The naysayers are the majority of this country.

To all those people who are still saying "don't use my tax money to bail out fatcat CEOs!!"..

...clearly, you didn't read the article. I don't like the idea either, but to say that this is a bailout of the "super-rich, money-and-power-hungry corporate CEOs" is INCREDIBLY short-sighted. This is a bailout of EVERYTHING and EVERYONE. To all those who say let them fail - do you realize that your retirement is invested in these companies, and the companies that they loan money to and do business with?? Duh!! Would you be willing to see your 401k, 403b, IRA reduced to NOTHING? People still really don't realize what's at stake...

Look, I think it stinks as much as the next guy - but, we are where we are and there's little point now talking about who's fault (dem or rep) it is. This is the problem we're in, and this is our best chance to solve it. For all those who want to "wait and see and let the market find it's own bottom", would you risk all your investments and retirement on that??

I don't like it either: My retirement is partially tied to them, and I still say let them fail.

If Congress had listened to John McCain three years ago when they were discussing regulation reform, we would not be in the situation we are today.

abcblogger - John McCain has no clue. The only one that does is Ron Paul who warned of all this even when Bernanke, Paulson and company said everything was great.

Ron Paul is a loooooser..... always has been.

If you don't understand why you're better off by paying $700 billion for bad investments, then according to Betsy Stark, it's because you're stupid. It's like the circulatory system or something. Look people, don't question this. Just fork over the money to the mafia and be quiet. Pay for the bank's bad investments and pay for the interest on the loan, and let the bank profit from the good investments. Vote for the same two parties again and again or you'll "waste your vote".

abcblogger
I believe you are a loser. Remember Ron Paul said we were headed for a crash when Bernanke and Paulson said everything was great. Essentially that mean Ron Paul = Clairvoyant, Bernanke and Paulson = Incompetent or Liers, Abcblogger = Loser.

People need to stop drinking the Obama kool-aid here. This is a bipartisan screw of average Americans.

In 2003, Barney Frank (DEMOCRAT) opposed increased regulation saying, "These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."

On July 11, 2008, Chris Dodd (DEMOCRAT) said, "This is not a time to be panicking about [Fannie May and Freddie Mac]. These are viable, strong institutions."

Guess what industries are their biggest campaign contributors?

I got a few friends, lawyers, doctors, who will be walking away from their homes because the value of their homes is now much less than what they paid eight years back.

They don't see any protection or government on their side. So they're walking away and letting the mortgage company and government eat it.

WE do understand we stupid taxpayers that the banks have spent billions lobbying congress to deregulate the industry. These regulations are the very one that could have prevented this situation. The leaders of these institutions misreported assets and gains to win lucrative remunerations further weakening the industry. The industry further preyed on the consumer with the philosophy of pay day lenders and the greed typical of their craft. The congressmen who were supposed to protect us were in the pocket of the industry, hurting instead of helping. Now when their greed and mismanagement have put them in an untenable position they was their prey to help them by asking for socialism on a scale unimagined by many socialistic and communist countries. No what we do not understand is how a legislative body asleep at the wheel now wants us to drive into the abyss.