Kevin, Rushabh, and I were discussing the current financial crisis last night, and I was spitting out a bunch of crazy stuff that I've been reading on the Internet, that maybe, just maybe, this crisis isn't as urgent nor as dire as it is being made out to be. Kevin asked me to cite my sources, and rather than e-mail him a bunch of links, I thought I'd just share everything here:
- "There Is No Crisis--Summary": a short article that summarizes some of the major puzzlers with this situation.
- "Let's Play 'WALLSTREET BAILOUT'" (Youtube): A nice 5 minute speech, where Rep. Kapture breaks it down.
- "Ask tough questions about the bailout": a nice breakdown of some of the questions that we should all be asking.
- "Sen. Bernie Sanders, Robert Scheer and Dean Baker on the Proposed $700 Billion Bailout...": This is a (long!) transcript of an interview a senator, an economist, and a reporter. If you are super-interested in this stuff, it's worth reading the whole thing. The most interesting parts of this article deal with how we got into the current mess - it appears to mainly be due to deregulation, which started during the Clinton Administration. And if you want to point fingers, Phil Gramm looks like a good person to point at.
- "The Bush plan: 1. Propose $700B bailout with preposterous terms, demand immediate passage. 2. Concede on some terms. 3. Get $700B.": Could be a plausible explanation for what's going on.
- "A Real Answer Needed": Makes the argument that Paulson & co. are trying to ram this through now, in order to tie the hands of the next administration.
- "FAIL": sometimes, a picture says it all.
- "Your Urgent Help Needed": a funny take on this whole thing.
The bottom line: there doesn't seem to be a compelling case for congress to approve any sort of $700 billion plan this session. If (and I mean if) some form of immediate bailout is needed, something that addresses the needs of the market up through March should be approved now. Please drop any other links or comments using Disqus below.
-Andy.