Who's to blame for the $700 billion bailout?
I have been wondering who supported the bailout recently. Was it the Liberals who supported it? saving failing buisnesses & giving them another chance? giving them money to spend at the mall sounds Liberal.
Or was it the Conservatives? Bush signed the bailout. But did he do it because he was forced to or because he agreed with it?
Liberals
Side Score: 5
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Conservatives
Side Score: 6
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You dont read history much, do you? Deregulation, which allowed for the housing boom and derivatives trading (the two reasons for the depresson) was coined Reganomics and has been the rule for over 20 years - and mainly because of lobbying and ruilings of right wing Republican groups (the "liberals" are not innocent either, but they are surely a secondary player concerning this) It was George W Bush who held a speach urging poor people to take these ridicoulus loans "so that everyone could be a homeowner" But concerning who is to blame for the 700 billion bailout - then it is surely Ben Bernake and his clan - But we will never know if it was for the greater good or not (since history doesnt allow itself for parallel scientific testing) Side: Conservatives
I choose liberals but only because there are few real conservatives when it comes to the governments involvement in business and the economy. Democrats, Republicans, Liberal, Conservative (really Neo-Cons) they are all to fault. they all want to take our money and use if for their own profit, whether directly by bailing out private enterprise or to fund bloated, bureaucratic,and ineffective social programs that they can point to when election time come. Side: Both
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The fact is that when the bailout was first proposed by Secretary Paulson, which then was sent to Congress where it was rejected by Majority Senate and House Democratic Congress. Then, it was that very same majority who later passed the bill in the House and later Senate, in which President Bush was pressured by Congress, Paulson, and Bernanke to sign the bill. Side: Liberals
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Congressional Democrats stated in debate in the House that they were threatened in secret with Martial Law if they didn't sign the bailout bill. They were told that the stock market would drop 2-3000 points if they didn't. Henry Paulen was working at Goldman sachs before he was Treasury Sec. Goldman Sachs has subsequently recieved more of the bailout funds than most other banks. While I will not blame conservatives, the bush White House was at the helm of the first bailout bill. To be fair Geitner is NO better as he was a high up in the Federal reserve and has never once brought up an idea that involves breaking apart banks that are "too big to fail". Both parties are bought and paid for by very powerful banking interests. For proof of this simply look at their choices for the people who run our economy. Side: Banksters
I'm putting this under "Conservatives" only because the current winning position is "Liberals". They're both responsible. And I refuse to use the word "blame" to refer to taking steps that prevented a Depression. It is astounding to me how many people like to rant about how we shouldn't have rescued the financial sector without having the faintest freaking clue what the fallout would have been. 20% unemployment sound fun to anyone here? Does it? Do you know what happens when the credit market freezes? People are idiots. They like to rant and whine and scream about the bailout because it's easy to say the big bad bankers are the bad guys and Joe average American is the good guy therefore hurting the bankers is being on Joe American's side. But the bottom line is put ANY of those people in the position where they have to choose between bailing out the financial sector and watching it collapse, and EVERY economist on the planet is telling you what the catastrophic consequences of that collapse are going to be, and they're passing the bailout too. And I'm frankly sick of people pretending otherwise and acting all righteously angry over something that saved their backsides. Side: Conservatives
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