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Willravel · 09-22-2008, 11:12 AM

Certainly no one in their right mind could say that the middle class has been attacked, the wealth is continuing to shift to the hands of the super wealthy few, and that the average man or woman are working in someone else's market. As of 2004, 62.3% of business assets were owned by the wealthiest 1% of the wealth distribution. The next wealthiest 4%? They owned an additional 22.4% of the total. And here's something ever scarier: 93.7% of all bonds are held by these people.
(citation link, in pdf format: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/f.../200613pap.pdf)

We've all been talking about the recent bailout as a part of a failure in oversight. I myself thought that too, at first. Still, the ultimate effect of this bailout will mean more tax dollars ending up in the hands of the super wealthy. The financial institutions that have collapsed and that are collapsing overstretched their capital. They ignored the amount of shareholder equity when they take on assets, which is insane.

So what should the government be doing? Sell the bank's assets and liabilities as a package, and get rid of the debt to bondholders. The current bailout will ultimately prove to be another failure in government decision making, and it will line the pockets of the unscrupulous and incompetent leaders of these industries.

Could this misstep by the government be intentional? Could they be bailing out the super wealthy intentionally, ignoring an obvious, more economically reasonable solution? I honestly can't say.

I'm left in the frustrated position I've found myself in ever since I became interested in politics: are they incompetent or corrupt?

So what do you think?

09-22-2008, 11:12 AM	#1 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	Baillout = Further Capitalist Oligarchy? Certainly no one in their right mind could say that the middle class has been attacked, the wealth is continuing to shift to the hands of the super wealthy few, and that the average man or woman are working in someone else's market. As of 2004, 62.3% of business assets were owned by the wealthiest 1% of the wealth distribution. The next wealthiest 4%? They owned an additional 22.4% of the total. And here's something ever scarier: 93.7% of all bonds are held by these people. (citation link, in pdf format: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/f.../200613pap.pdf) We've all been talking about the recent bailout as a part of a failure in oversight. I myself thought that too, at first. Still, the ultimate effect of this bailout will mean more tax dollars ending up in the hands of the super wealthy. The financial institutions that have collapsed and that are collapsing overstretched their capital. They ignored the amount of shareholder equity when they take on assets, which is insane. So what should the government be doing? Sell the bank's assets and liabilities as a package, and get rid of the debt to bondholders. The current bailout will ultimately prove to be another failure in government decision making, and it will line the pockets of the unscrupulous and incompetent leaders of these industries. Could this misstep by the government be intentional? Could they be bailing out the super wealthy intentionally, ignoring an obvious, more economically reasonable solution? I honestly can't say. I'm left in the frustrated position I've found myself in ever since I became interested in politics: are they incompetent or corrupt? So what do you think?