Comments on: Paulson Warns Of "Fragile" Economy

Treasury Secretary Talks To Scott Pelley About The Controversial $700 Billion Bailout

[rm1813]

It''s 3 a.m., a few months into 2009, and the phone in the White House rings. Several big hedge funds are about to fail, Whom do you trust to take that call? The odds are that the next president will have to deal with some major financial emergencies. We''ve known that Mr. McCain doesn''t know much about economics- he''s said so himself. That wouldn''t matter too much if he had good taste in advisers -- but he doesn''t. Remember, his chief mentor on economics is Phil Gramm, the arch-deregulator, who took special care in his Senate days to prevent oversight of financial derivatives -- that sank Lehman and A.I.G., and brought the credit markets to the edge of collapse. Mr. Gramm is still considered a likely choice as Treasury secretary. And when the McCain campaign announced that the candidate had assembled %u201Can impressive collection of economists, professors, and prominent conservative policy leaders%u201D to advise him on economic policy, who was prominently featured? Kevin Hassett, the co-author of %u201CDow 36,000.%u201D Enough said. To a large extent the poor quality of Mr. McCain''s advisers reflects the tattered intellectual state of his party. Has there ever been a more pathetic economic proposal than that we try to solve the financial crisis by eliminating capital gains taxes? (Troubled financial institutions, by definition, don''t have capital gains to tax.). At this point, one has the suspicion that a McCain administration would have us longing for Bush-era competence.

[trillion1]

Fire the head of the Fed., SEC and Paulson has to go.

[darm58]

Wikipedia says there is over 9.5 millionaires and about a thousand billionaires with a combined worth of over 37 TRILLION DOLLARS!!! I think they are asking the wrong people to buy up this debt, don''t you?

[darm58]

Has any one noticed that the taxpayer protectection component of the $700 billion bailout does not require bail out entities to pay back any of the money for 5 years and that the president at that time will have to come up with a plan to recoup our money should they chose not to pay us back. Seems like an open ended check book to me for the next five years.

[droby5748]

Throwing stones is in our nature as humans, but the fed was the only willing organization big enough to absorb the problem. "The blame" runs everywhere, incl. excess use of credit cards, home owners putting too little down, over-investing in stocks & mutual funds ("cash is trash")--then the add''l greed of Wall Streeters trying for excess wealth while trying to protect everybody''s alleged God-given right to earn 10% in the market.

[hologram5]

Nice, and Mr. Paulson is at the heart of what is destroying our economy. These people manipulating the economy by artificially inflating or deflating the dollar is what is causing this. Now they want to print out more of this, "useless" paper that deflates the value. Lets put more value on a valueless asset.

[jab232]

This is a time in our history for courage, not grandstanding. Courage may involve voting to do something which is unpopular, something that even the legislators themselves find it hard to do, and yet something that needs to be done to save the country. The people who work quietly, without grandstanding, might lose elections, but they will be doing what is best for the country. I thank God for those who are really working to save this country, not to promote their own political advantage.

[sonial8]

To antonioof123

On blaming this on the Republicans please go do your homework and try to take a class on ECONOMICS. The current crisis can be traced back to the industrial revolution. It is CAPITALISM at the heart and Dems and Repubs are as much to blame. By the way, if you as an individual cannot control your own personal finances and then go to banks for outrageous loans, who is the MORON? Why should the govt bail the banks out at this point? Both the greedy consumer and the greedy bank is at fault, Let them fall and fail. Obama and the likes of course believe that govt ought to pay for everything they want to control you because they think that you are not bright enough to handle things on your own. This is another word for socialism.

[sonial8]

When glorifying Pelosi by giving her a spot on your show - (The bailout)
I would like to ask you whether you have checked Pelosi''s record on overspending. It has been stated that she has spent more then her predecessors. How can someone who is so cavalier with her budget i.e. makeup costs and floral deliveries make any statements on controlling spending. Loved her jab at the Repubs by the way. I don''t buy anything which comes out of her mouth and I am a Democrat!

[thevicar1]

Certainly, what adds to the fragility of our Economy is when the Treasury Secretary refers to it as a "Fragile" Economy.

Where is the ''****'' button on these guys?

[tbuckl]

Thomas Jefferson was so right when he said the following, I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by all future generations, under the name of funding, is but swindling the state of being yet to come on a large scale. Now the American banking system and its Barbaric CEOs have taken the American people to the clearers. Thomas Jefferson correctly used the word SWINDLING when writing his thoughts about banks and aristocratic tyrants that would infect our soceity. He knew these aristocratic tyrants would infest our soceity just like they did so many centuries ago. I wish he had been wrong, because I am starting to think something else he said may also be true. "The tree of liberty must from time to time be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

[observantx]

President Bush this morning called the legislation a bold bill "that will help keep the crisis in our financial system from spreading throughout our economy."

Stop right there! There is NO financial crisis in this country. Plenty of loans are being made. I still keep getting credit card offers in the mail. There IS an attempt to stampede the public and Congress.

The only %u201Ccrisis%u201D is that some of GW%u2019s buds and major contributors got various pieces of their anatomy in the wringer. What is worse is that they intentionally put them there, by throwing away all the rules and now want you and me and our children to remove their bits of anatomy and replace theirs with ours.


Whoever in Congress votes for this may just as well start packing up their little mementos and plaques on the wall and cleaning out their desks. They are SO voted out.

If this bailout passes it will prove that there are no Republicans and there are no Democrats. There are only Incumbents.

And they HAVE TO GO!

[garveysj]

Reporters and officials keep referring to buying these bad loans as buying these bad assets. In plain English, I think we are talking, for example, that the Gov''t (us) will pay the bank for a foreclosed loan, and in return, get the house. Then the Gov''t will wait until the market value of the house returns to the original mortgage amount (or higher) and then sell it to break even, or maybe even profit.

For example, let''s assume a home was purchased for $300,000 with 100% financing with one loan. Now because of the housing slump the house is only worth $200,000. I believe what the Gov''t plan will do is pay the lender $300,000 for that bad "asset" and get the house that is only worth $200,000. Then, the Gov''t will wait until the market value for that house reaches $300,000+, and then sell it.

If I am correct, this raises some questions:
- Will the Gov''t actually pay the entire original loan amount, or hopefully, some predetermined percentage at a discount?
- What will happen to all these homes until they sell years later?
- Will they flood the market with all these homes when the market returns?


Steve
Phoenix, Az.

[antoniof123]

Thank you Republicans for making such a mess.

Blood bath coming and you were warned.

[riddelup]

If the economy does not serve the good of the people it has no function. A economy geared to serve the good of a few without respect for the good of the many is not what America is about. This is nothing foreign it is democracy. Congress serving the few, the greedy, the inefficient is not democracy. I vote for democracy.

[jesusface]

"Paulson Warns Of "Fragile" Economy"

Why are we even talking to this guy! He was part of this financial mess when it began a few years back and now he is trying to inflate, with his golden money pump, debt ridden financial institutions to turn them into blue chips.

And every knows what happened to Humpty Dumpty%u2026

[cfin5]

Revelation 13:16-18.....And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six............The key phrase here is "he causeth all" in that these financial crises'' be articulately manufactured by design, not accidental consequences in folly.

[formrusmcsgt]

BUT NOT FOR THOSE THAT SAW THIS COMING.

Posted by benice6 at 07:29 AM : Sep 29, 2008

IF you have a degree, you should know that it''s "those WHO saw this coming", not "those that"....

[benice6]

HA,...... TODAY THE DEPRESSION STARTS!!

WHEN ALL OF YOU WERE WORRIED ABOUT YOUR 401K''''S, AND WERE NETWORKING(KISSING BUTT) TO GET A HIGHER PAYING JOB, AND WERE TRYING TO BUY A BIGGER HOUSE THAN YOUR FRIENDS,I WAS DOING OTHER THINGS...

-----MEANWHILE------------

I(ALSO HAVING A COLLEGE DEGREE),

WAS LEARNING HOW TO;

GROW MY OWN FOOD,
PRESERVE AND CAN MY OWN FOOD,
HUNT AND FISH,
AND PURCHASING SILVER AND GOLD COINS(BECAUSE YOUR CASH IS SOON TO BE WORTH NOTHING).

DOOM DOOM DOOM, FOR THOSE THAT DIDNT PLAN, THIS WINTER YOU WILL LIKELY BE DOWN AT YOUR LOCAL GROCERY STORE FIGHTING OVER THE LAST CAN OF BEANS LIKE DURING THE NEW ORLEANS HURRICANE kATRINA..BUT NOT FOR THOSE THAT SAW THIS COMING.

[georgew1956]

ITS NOT THE SYSTEM THATS OUT OF WACK YOU QUACK

ITS BUSH AND CHEANY THATS OUT OF WACK

YOU BUSH PUPIT