You are here: Home / Archives for Government Bailout

$700 Billion Dollar Bailout: Take Two…

October 1, 2008 By Godfadr 6 Comments

It failed in the House on Monday so today the Senate plans to try and rescue the $700 billion dollar bailout. Why don’t you try and rescue Scott Baio’s career while you are at it – it just isn’t gonna happen. 

The bailout is getting messier by the minute. The Senate thinks by throwing in a few “sweeteners” the Republicans and Democrats who were against the plan will now throw all in. 

So what $@&! is getting thrown in? 

Increase the FDIC insurance cap from $100,000 to $250,000. Forgive me if I don’t bother scouring documents to verify this…but I am going to guess that most people don’t have $10,000 cash in the bank let alone over the current $100,000 FDIC insurance level. So who would that help…wait a minute…maybe some fat cat lobbyists or political officials worried about the economy?! 

Additionally in the “sweeteners” is relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax and Renewable Energy Incentives. 

Here is my favorite part… 

Also included? The “Mental Health Parity” provision, which would require health insurance companies to cover mental illness. Yea, I guess some high level executives are a little depressed right now. 

The vote won’t happen until “Sundown” in observance of Rash Hashanah – I have to say, I hope this is the second knockout of the week. It needs to be done right…and without all this other crud thrown in. 

Update: Well, it passed. Want to see it before it goes back to the House? And you have got to check out the “Pork Additives!” 

***Be a Part of the Conversation and ADD A COMMENT***

Filed Under Culture Tagged With Alternative Minimum Tax, Economic forecast, Economy, Economy Issue, Government Bailout, Government Spending, House bailout, Mental Health Parity, Politics, Senate Bailout, US Bailout Dangerous

Bailout Fails First Go Around…

September 30, 2008 By Godfadr 2 Comments

Despite President Bush’s requests and John McCain’s last-minute-cancel-the-debate-get-on-a-plane-save-the-world-speech, the bailout package was rejected yesterday (sending the stock market down 777 points). 

Was it close? Not really. The vote was 228-205 after marathon talks from the Bush administration. Matter of fact, only 65 Republicans followed Bush and McCain and voted for it (so much for influence). 

As they pour back to the drawing board today I expect the stock market to go up for awhile. Optimism always seems to follow these types of things. I think today is the Jewish New Year so don’t expect anything to happen for a couple days as the Congress and Senate pass this one back and forth like a hot potato. 

In the end I think the hold on approval is a good move. No matter what happens we are in uncharted territory and need to make some careful decisions here (ie: not decisions made latenight over the weekend whilst full of Mountain Dew and Pizza Rolls). 

***Be a Part of the Conversation and ADD A COMMENT***

Filed Under Culture Tagged With Bush Bailout plan, Economic forecast, Economy Issue, Government Bailout, McCain bailout plan, Politics, US Bailout Dangerous

Uncle Sam, Buy These Please…

September 29, 2008 By Godfadr 4 Comments

Taking inspiration from Renaissance Guy I decided to make my own list of things the government can buy from me. Obviously they are in a big spending mood lately [Read more...]

***Be a Part of the Conversation and ADD A COMMENT***

Filed Under Rants Tagged With Economic Crisis, Economic forecast, Financial Crisis, Government Bailout, Government Spending, Politics

Weekend Update: Bush Gets $634B…and It Is NOT Bailout Money…

September 28, 2008 By Godfadr 5 Comments

You may have missed it and that was probably intentional – it was buried in most newspapers on Sunday. Late Saturday the Senate passed (78-12) a $634 billion dollar measure to keep the government going through the next budget year (which begins on Wednesday). 

Everyone is so distracted by the $700 billion bailout proposal (expected to pass today) no one really noticed the government was out of money (so much in fact that we had to borrow $500 billion from China). So where does some of this newly printed (and approved) money go? 

$25 billion will go to automakers in taxpayer-subsidized loans. 

$488 billion will go to the department of defense (on top of the $70 billion already approved for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan). 

$23 billion in emergency aid for victims of recent hurricanes and floods. 

$6.6 billion for “pet projects” in numerous states. 

The White House spokesperson said this “puts the United States on step closer to ending our dependence on foreign sources of energy.” 

Excuse me? 

Yes the Senate is lifting a ban on offshore drilling and opening up a huge reserve of shale oil in the west, but that is not where any of the $634B goes. 

As if that was not enough…the big weekend did not end there…

The House also approved a pact that would allow the U.S. to provide nuclear materials to India.

I should never check the news on the weekend…

***Be a Part of the Conversation and ADD A COMMENT***

Filed Under Economy Tagged With Automakers to get taxpayer-subsidized loans, Bush gets $634 Billion, Economic forecast, Economy, Government Bailout, Government Spending, More government spending, Politics

What Economic Crisis? Just Print More Money!

September 25, 2008 By Godfadr 18 Comments

When I was six I thought I had the worlds financial situation figured out. If we were short on money; simply print more. Just hand out newly minted $100’s to the people and countries who need it. 

Of course as I got older I realized it was a really stupid plan. You can’t just print more money like a bad game of Monopoly. 

The problem is apparently my six-year-old inner child got a job in politics and he has lots of friends that share the “print more” mentality. Forget about the bad economy for a moment. Printing more money will never work. It is debt plain and simple and it is the taxpayers that will have to pay it back. 

Should we incur more debt by literally printing more money and handing it to the people that lost it in the fist place? Sure, why not?! Heck, lets go buy a recovering alcoholic a couple beers while we are at it. 

Bail out private companies and have the government take over? Sure, as long as you like Socialism. 

Oh, and since we are in such a gift giving mood with our newfound wealth…Fire the old board members but be sure to give them great severance packages in the process! Why not?! I mean if there company had gone under (which was the natural order of things) they wouldn’t have millions in their personal bank accounts [insert shallow tear here]. 

Perhaps I need to tap into my inner child for some other great ideas that will better mankind…apparently their time has come. Foot Long Pop Tarts. Check. Two-headed Cats. Check. Print a Trillion dollars of what will soon become play money. Check. 

Godfather Added: An actual up-to-date explanation about why we can’t print more money can be found here. 

***Be a Part of the Conversation and ADD A COMMENT***

Filed Under Culture, Humor Tagged With Government Bailout, Government Spending, Politics, Print More Money

Putting AIG (and the U.S.) Back Together Again…

September 17, 2008 By Godfadr 9 Comments

Until this week, it would have been unheard of for the government to bail out an insurance company. Oh, how times have changed…. 

The government is about to do just that. 

Regulators know with Bear Stearns and Lehman (who filed bankruptcy on Friday) going under the financial world does not end. If AIG was to go under? Well, the damages are far reaching and, in some ways, no one really wants to even crunch the numbers. 

The deal? The government will lend AIG $85 billion dollars and receive a 79.9% equity stake. 

The upside, if there is one, is the government finally has a chance to find alternative methods (other than direct taxing) to pay down the deficit. Once AIG turns the corner and starts making money, so will the government (much like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). The downside is that I highly suspect this will be nowhere near the amount of money that AIG ends up needing. 

In the meantime, I am going to see if I can start a company, get overwhelmed with greed, make millions, then have the government come bail me out! 

***Be a Part of the Conversation and ADD A COMMENT***

Filed Under Economy Tagged With AIG, Bear Stearns, Big change on Wall Street, Economy, Government Bailout, Government to bail out AIG, Insurance Company Buyout, Lehman, Money, Politics, Wall Street

Homeowner Rescue? I Think Not…

July 30, 2008 By Godfadr Leave a Comment

The mortgage industry is hurting, values are down, and relief is coming; but there is a catch. A big catch if no one is reading the fine print. 

First-time homeowners. 

The Rescue Part… 

You will get a tax credit of up to $7,500 – provided you have not owned a home in three years. That is a tax “credit” not to be confused with a tax “deduction.” 

The Catch… 

That money has to be repaid starting two years after you purchase the home. If you take the full $7,500 tax credit, your tax bill will increase $500 a year for fifteen years.  If you sell the home early, you will owe the government the balance.

 

Forgiveness for refinancing. 

The Rescue Part… 

In a nutshell if you wish to refinance the lender forgives all debt above 90% of the homes current value. You then get a new mortgage that is insured by the FHA. 

The Catch… 

First off you will need to pay a FHA insurance premium of approximately $2,700. Secondly, you will have to share your homes appreciation with the FHA. If you sell your home (or payoff the loan) less than a year after refinancing, the FHA gets all of the home appreciation. One to two years? FHA gets 90%. It then decreases at 10% per year but never lower than 50%.

 

I know this plan seemed great when it was being thrown around in the media and during political campaigns, I just hope people are reading the fine print. 

***Be a Part of the Conversation and ADD A COMMENT***

Filed Under Economy Tagged With FHA Loans, First time buyer tax credit, Government Bailout, Government Mortgage Bailout, Mortgage Forgiveness, Mortgage Relief, Mortgage Rescue
Newer Posts »