Idea for the bailout.

[grampster]

If the government has 85,000,000,000 to bail AIG and 700,000,000,000 to bail out Wall St., thats 785,000,000,000.  So, there is roughly 200,000,000 people in the US of A over the age of 18.

I suggest the government divide the 785 Billion by 200 million and each manjack over 18 gets what...$392,000.00 apiece.  We all pay, say, 35% income tax on that, so the government can keep 274 billion of the 785 Billion making the net payout only 511 Billion. Each person over 18 nets $254,000.00 with the caveat we must pay off every debt we have up to that amount.  Any money left over we could pay cash for whatever we want.

[280plus]

Worksd for me. When does the check arrive? 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I think your math is wrong. 

[vhinch]

Your math is very wrong.  785,000,000,000 divided by 200,000,000 is $3925, not $392,500.

[MicroBalrog]

A better idea: Why not just give a bunch of people a tax cut, like Newt suggested?

[AZRedhawk44]

Your math is very wrong.  785,000,000,000 divided by 200,000,000 is $3925, not $392,500.

Ditto.

Must be that darn "new" math they're teaching.

[280plus]

Oh whats a decimal point, when does the check get here? 

[Deer Hunter]

Or....

We could simply let these companies die, see them be bought out by larger companies with money, and have the new companies cycle out the admins of the old company and everything's peachy-keen.

Been happening like that for a long time.  People are getting worked up over this for no good reason.  Bush's plan is insanely stupid.  Sure, he may have had the US dodge a bullet when we invaded Iraq (oil to be based on the Euro instead of the dollar? I don't think so, go troops go!), but this plan will not work out the same for us.

[Nitrogen]

I'll take 3295.  thats' 80% of my remaining credit card debt from when I was jobless.

[Zed]

Or....

We could simply let these companies die, see them be bought out by larger companies with money, and have the new companies cycle out the admins of the old company and everything's peachy-keen.

Been happening like that for a long time.  People are getting worked up over this for no good reason.  Bush's plan is insanely stupid.  Sure, he may have had the US dodge a bullet when we invaded Iraq (oil to be based on the Euro instead of the dollar? I don't think so, go troops go!), but this plan will not work out the same for us.

+1

[grampster]

Hey, my math is as good as some of the jokers in congress

[Tallpine]

What's a few zeroes on the end ?

A zero is just nothing anyway 

[seeker_two]

Your math is very wrong.  785,000,000,000 divided by 200,000,000 is $3925, not $392,500.

Good math or not, it's a terrific idea....

Another great idea is to dust off the anti-trust & banking laws and start breaking up these mega-corporations that can hold our national economy hostage if the gov't doesn't bail them out every few decades...we saw this nearly destroy Japan, and we need to prevent it from happening here....

[Bigjake]

A better idea: Why not just give a bunch of people a tax cut, like Newt suggested?

quoted for truth, and that plan doesn't involve borrowing a friggin DIME from the Chi Commies.

[Archie]

Are all of you posting here unaware without credit the U. S. economy stops?  Not just me or you buying a house or car, but the business that pays our wages depend on short term credit for various things from buying the stuff to sell this week to making the payroll until those sales get collected.

The whole problem right now is not that certain companies will go out of business, but that no money will move.  It is called 'liquidity' and - like it or not, good idea or not - that's how the U. S. economy works.

And don't believe all that crap about this bailout simply lining the pockets of big corporate executives.  What is going to happen is a lot of possibly bad loans are going to be purchased by the government.  That allows the lending companies to start lending money again without the concern of being stuck with a pile of bad debt.

Most of those possibly bad loans will either be paid off eventually, or the houses on which those mortgages are based, will be foreclosed and available for sale at bargain prices.  However, without money available for loans, nothing will be purchased.  Including your house if you want to sell.

For those of you who think regulation is the solution of all this sort of thing, remember this:  All the bad - sub prime - loans that triggered the current financial mess and problem, were the direct result of the U. S. government regulations lowering the standards for giving loans from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and demanding private corporations to make more 'diverse' loans.  Yeah.  Regulation forced banks and lenders to loan money on what were known to be less than likely to repay borrowers.

When banks could decide good loans and bad loans on their own, we didn't have this problem.  It took government (I'll let you all figure out which faction in government pushed for 'diverse' loan policies) to screw up the loan business.

[MicroBalrog]

The whole problem right now is not that certain companies will go out of business, but that no money will move.  It is called 'liquidity' and - like it or not, good idea or not - that's how the U. S. economy works.

And you think the only solution to this is to throw bales of money at people?

[wideym]

My main complaint is the bailout of investment banking.  There are no guarrante you won't lose money in any investment and if someone tries to sell you a "can't lose" investment opportunity, run away quickly or maybe not if the .gov will pay for the loss. 

Maybe gamblers should presurre the .gov to pay for their gambling debts too.

[seeker_two]

Maybe gamblers should presurre the .gov to pay for their gambling debts too.

I have student loans that keep me from spending money on consumer goods & helping to stimulate the economy....can I get a bailout from the gov't for that, too?....