$700bn rescue bid fails

The US House of Representatives shocked the nation by rejecting a revised draft of the $700bn Bush rescue plan, even allowing for the addition of safeguards to prevent fat-cat profiteering.
Stock markets plummeted at the news thus demonstrating the nature of the gamble that the Bush administration are proposing to take with the people's cash....
Nevertheless the feeling is that in some form or other the bill now has to be passed in a situation that will become a self-fulfilling prophecy if it fails. Failure to get this plan off the ground could easily lead to a catastrophic market collapse far worse than if no-one had ever suggested the plan in the first place - what a ridiculous paradox to be in... a real damned if you don't, damned if you do scenario created by self-serving politicians. We, the taxpayers of course will be the ones to foot the bill whichever way it goes - George Bush will be well out of the firing line by the time the pigeons come home to roost, having feathered his nest and undergoing lucrative lecture tours.
The irony is that any half-intelligent economist must recognise that trying to buy your way out of trouble is a huge gamble, and messing it up is unforgivable on a major scale - so who is it that is advising the Bush administration to go down this route? My guess is that we are looking at those who are politicians first and economists second (or maybe third, fourth.....), the market can smell fear and a bluff and right now the much mooted $700bn stinks more and more every day! Yet it must be dressed up to look attractive otherwise the whole smoke and mirrors plan will push us into a realm where no-one wants to go.

I never envisaged that this website was going to become a political soapbox, and personally despise party politics with a passion, but I am beginning to believe a new theory. I always have thought that religion and politics were incompatible, I have recently formed a new opinion about politics: ECONOMICS AND ECONOMICS SHOULD NEVER BE MIXED.

Popular Questions:
Will we all end up broke?
How long will the credit crunch last?
Sub-prime mortgages to blame?
Is this the new Great Depression?