2008 Woodie Awards
IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES
With the Billion-Dollar Bailout Plan Passed, Americans Now Wait
MAURICIO MORENO, OBSERVER CONTRIBUTOR
Issue date: 10/7/08 Section: News
In the aftermath of the Wall Street Crisis, the White House put together a $700 billion bailout plan to buy faulty mortgages, hoping to stabilize the economy. On Sept. 30, the House of Representatives rejected the plan by a 228-205 vote. The $700 billion needed would be coming from the middle and working class' paychecks.
In an interview with CNBC, Warren Buffet said, "Last week we were at the brink of something that would have made anything that's happened in financial history look pale. We were very, very close to a system that was totally dysfunctional and would have not only gummed up the financial markets, but gummed up the economy in a way that would take us years and years to repair. We've got enough problems to deal with anyway . . . But it was absolutely, and is absolutely necessary, in my view, to really avoid going over the precipice."
Echoes of 9/11 stirred in Washington earlier last week, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted to almost 780 points, the largest decline since the market reopened right after the World Trade Center tragedy, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Something else brought back painful memories of Sept. 11: the way in which the powers that be responded to a national emergency. Similar to Sept. 2001, the White House took only a few days to come up with a quick-fix solution to a problem that took many years in the making. It isn't the first time this happened in history, either.
As Brett Arends from the Wall Street Journal wrote,"We are facing a massive implosion as a result of a huge debt bubble. Three times in modern history a major economy has faced this kind of situation. In America, 1929, and in Japan, 1989, the authorities failed to address the problem quickly and comprehensively. They tried to muddle through and get by using the old rules."
"The results?" he continued, "Japan has suffered 20 years of stagnation . . . Jobs and incomes suffered. Homes and shares are still down by maybe two-thirds. The U.S. economy in the 1930s fared even worse. Wall Street fell about 90%, from peak to trough, while the economy suffered a terrible depression lasting a decade."
Is history repeating itself? If mistakes are not learned from the past, are they doomed to be repeated? There's only one way to fix that: Stay awake in history class.
Recently, President Bush had to revise the plan to get it to pass the Senate. He did so by adding another $150 billion for individual and small business tax cuts; Senators John McCain and Barack Obama joined in the Senate's approval of the Bill.
As of Friday, Oct. 3, the House of Representatives accepted and passed the $700 billion bail out plan by a vote of 263-171.
In an interview with CNBC, Warren Buffet said, "Last week we were at the brink of something that would have made anything that's happened in financial history look pale. We were very, very close to a system that was totally dysfunctional and would have not only gummed up the financial markets, but gummed up the economy in a way that would take us years and years to repair. We've got enough problems to deal with anyway . . . But it was absolutely, and is absolutely necessary, in my view, to really avoid going over the precipice."
Echoes of 9/11 stirred in Washington earlier last week, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted to almost 780 points, the largest decline since the market reopened right after the World Trade Center tragedy, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Something else brought back painful memories of Sept. 11: the way in which the powers that be responded to a national emergency. Similar to Sept. 2001, the White House took only a few days to come up with a quick-fix solution to a problem that took many years in the making. It isn't the first time this happened in history, either.
As Brett Arends from the Wall Street Journal wrote,"We are facing a massive implosion as a result of a huge debt bubble. Three times in modern history a major economy has faced this kind of situation. In America, 1929, and in Japan, 1989, the authorities failed to address the problem quickly and comprehensively. They tried to muddle through and get by using the old rules."
"The results?" he continued, "Japan has suffered 20 years of stagnation . . . Jobs and incomes suffered. Homes and shares are still down by maybe two-thirds. The U.S. economy in the 1930s fared even worse. Wall Street fell about 90%, from peak to trough, while the economy suffered a terrible depression lasting a decade."
Is history repeating itself? If mistakes are not learned from the past, are they doomed to be repeated? There's only one way to fix that: Stay awake in history class.
Recently, President Bush had to revise the plan to get it to pass the Senate. He did so by adding another $150 billion for individual and small business tax cuts; Senators John McCain and Barack Obama joined in the Senate's approval of the Bill.
As of Friday, Oct. 3, the House of Representatives accepted and passed the $700 billion bail out plan by a vote of 263-171.
Be the first to comment on this story