Shorter Failed Bailout Bill

Bring those people back in here!

Turn those machines back on!

Buy! Buy!


/Vermont Trader at The Big Picture.

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also:

"Everyone on CNN is complaining that over $1 trillion in market value was lost today. I didn't realize that it was my job, as a taxpayer, to prop up the stock market."

Lynne at global economic trend analysis

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Dean Baker at TPMCafe:

"This isn't about begging for a sliver of equity as a concession for a $700 billion bailout, this is about constructing a bank rescue the way that business people would do it. We have an interest in a well-operating financial system. There is zero public interest in giving away taxpayer dollars to the Wall Street banks and their executives.

"If Secretary Paulson constructed a package that was centered around buying direct equity stakes in the banks, he could quickly garner large majority support in both houses. Better yet, Congress could just construct its own package centered on buying equity stakes and send it to President Bush. If he balks, we can just threaten him with stories about the Great Depression."

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My humble observations:

Many Democrats support the bailout simply because prominent Democrats say they should (ie. appeal to authority). Other folks support it because the news media and other "trusted sources" tell them that if the bailout is not passed immediately that, "society will collapse and children will starve" and that no matter how bad this bill is, "the alternative is worse." These folks, IMO, fit the profile of people who are primarily motivated by fear, and when scared enough, instinctively disconnect their own judgmental faculties and blindly follow the lead of a trusted authority figure.