This from former Clinton economist Robert Reich, perhaps the smartest guy in the country when it comes to things like this. Why Obama has not brought him onto the fold is curious.
But the easier and probably more correct argument is that American taxpayers wasted $350 billion. No one knows exactly where it went -- at least two recent reports reveal that the Treasury had no idea -- but we do know the money did not go to small businesses, struggling homeowners, students, or anyone else needing credit, which was the major public justification for the bailout. In all likelihood, on the basis of the skimpy evidence we now have, the money went instead to bank shareholders in the form of dividends; to bank executives, traders, and directors as compensation (directors of major Wall Street banks continued to pull down an average of $350K each in 2008 merely for sitting in on a handful of board meetings at which they obviously didn't oversee very much); to some holders of bank debt; and to platoons of lawyers, accountants, and other financiers who have advised the banks about other places to park the rest of the money in the meantime.
His solution is what the morons in congress should have done in the first place. The incredible thing is that they were still arguing about the merits of the original "non-plan", before punting the entire thing to the O team today. These "Representatives" are collectively dumber than a stump.
Also, proof http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28583580/ that banks would rather see homes foreclosed on, and taxpayer money given to the banks to cover the entire mortgage, than attempt to work with distressed borrowers, many victims of predatory lending practices, so they can stay in their homes because, gosh darn it, they want to keep home loan prices low for their beloved future customers, gosh darn it. Why, with the prime treasury rate at 0.25% would it be hard to offer great loan rates, and also re-finance the onerous mortgages of existing customers? Huh? Why?
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