"Cash for Trash"

This whole $700 billion bailout thing has me riled. I do think there is a time and place for the government to step in, but I don’t believe this is it. These banks got greedy. End of story.

I heard a great Fresh Air interview with a NYT economy writer last night, and it really helped me understand a few things. The writer said that if indeed we do pursue a bailout of these irresponsible banks, a couple things should be set up in the agreement:

1. There should be a specific price for these "toxic" assets. Say, $0.25 to the dollar. No open-ended deals.
2. If, for some reason, the assets prove to be worth more than that, tax-payers should get ALL of the profit on their investment.

The administration is screaming for this to all get done immediately. I haven’t trusted these guys for a minute since they got into office, so I can’t imagine that there isn’t some kind of benefit to them or their cronies if we rush the job.

It also made me wonder if this isn’t a last run at massive corporate welfare for all of Bush’s buddies. Plus it has the advantage of seriously limiting the next administration’s ability to implement any new initiatives. Obama has already said as much.