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No Bailout Means...

By RhiBowman, Monday, September 29, 2008, 9 comments

Bailout plan rejected (CNN)

First, I just realized I’ve never discussed my former life on this blog. Once upon a time I was a Risk Management and Insurance professional. I was an assistant to a financial planner, sold life and health insurance as well as Equity Indexed Annuities for companies like AIG, Allianz, Jefferson Pilot, Presidential, ING– you name it. I was a Risk Management and Insurance student at Georgia State University and I studied for my Series 6 and 63 securities licenses, and was even fingerprinted in preparation for the tests, but was laid off when my company closed my department before I could take them. At which point I fell into a personal depression and eventually emerged in a different state and reverted my goals back to those I aimed at as a youth: to be a writer. (For proof, here is an article I wrote about Equity Indexed Annuities several years ago. Note: the byline is my birth name, Kelly Rhiannon Burroughs.) Point is, I’m no expert– but I’m also not clueless about what’s going on in Washington right now. So:
Listen to me: things are about to change.

Forget easy money; it no longer exists. Financially speaking, everything is connected; our financial systems are completely incestuous.

Let go of the idea that you can live off of credit and buy every thing you want. Let go of the idea that you deserve to be pampered every day of the week and that eating at restaurants every night is a reasonable thing to do. Let go of the idea that every birthday needs to be like Christmas and every Christmas bigger than the last. Let go of the idea that little Johnny and little Jane need to have the newest and best of everything (what’s wrong with what they have?). Let go of the idea that you have to have a new car every couple of years, or that you should get a bigger, fancier car than you can actually afford. Let go of the idea that your house’s value will increase exponentially and that you’ll get an annual raise. Let go of the idea that you can vacation on your credit cards and pay everything off on time.

Things are about to change. We are all going to have to tighten our belts in America. Part of that change is accepting responsibility for our role in this crisis: We’ve been living far beyond our means for far too long… far too long.

What bothers me most about all of this is that the same Republicans who deregulated the financial industry are now blaming the other side of the isle for this problem. Let’s be very clear: this problem was created by greed and politicians in the pocket of big business. To come out and say, even though the majority of them voted against the bailout plan, this is the Democrat’s fault is blatantly false and completely partisan.

The reason this problem was allowed to swirl out of control is because the Republicans are trying to balance their bought-and-paid-for-solidarity with large corporations with their need to sway votes at the same time.

It's time for change, it's time for a different, Democratic, administration. It's time to relieve the Republicans from their duty and reistate the regulations they recklessly voided in their never ending quest for the mythical land of free markets.

It is time for leadership that is effective, leadership that cares about you and I-- the "little" people, the people who hire them.

Obama says 'stay calm'; McCain camp slams Democrats (CNN): "The bill failed by a vote of 205 to 228, with 140 Democrats and 65 Republicans voting in favor and 95 Democrats joining 133 Republicans against."

Nancy Pelosi’s Speach before the bailout vote where she explains her thoughts on how we got here; I don’t find it nearly as outrageous as the Republicans, who spoke immediately after the vote, did. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMLo7i38D58

The Republican response, and then Barney Frank’s response to their vitriol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMLo7i38D58

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RhiBowman
Skirtsetter
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9 Comments

Great Insights!

Great thoughts and I appreciate your industry insights thoroughly. The reality is, however, that Democrat or Repubican, rich or even poor, everyone has reeped the ill-deserved rewards that you described so eloquently in your post. We have all ridden high on the bubble of unpaid debts, credit cards and loans. And now that the bills are in collections, everyone is looking at who should shoulder the burden. We all share responsibility for this debt. BUT, the bailout does nothing to solve the problem, it merely delays the inevitable... Like finding a debt consilidation service for the obnoxiously rich. And whether we take our punishment now by, as you said, "tightening our belts" and not living lavish lifestyles that are grossly beyond our means, or we proceed with the bailout and pass on the debt to future generations, the fallout will surely come sometime. By going forward with the bailout, the government will, in essence, be rewarding corporate greed - paying off the corporations who you say the politicians are in bed with for running their businesses into the ground. There will be resignations and rediculously large severence packages, and once again, the rich get richer. Count on it... Any deal that is overseen by the same people who caused the problem in the first place is sure to benefit the overseers even more. This package stands as the first step in the socialization of the American economy. It will further shrink the middle class (without the tax exemptions that the wealthy in this country enjoy, they will be the ones to shoulder the burden once again)... so they got screwed in the consumer market, and now they look to be screwed in the investment market as well as banks continue to claim they cannot lend and interest rates plummet even further. As it stands today, the investment market is actually functioning rather normally. Yes, it tanked today. But not at an irrepairable level. This is certainly not the Crash of 1929. Personally, I say give the American middle-class the right to do what they do best: Stay resiliant, be creative and entreprenuerial in their spending, work hard and preserve the market themselves through continual investment made with legitimate funds rather than lies and stated-incomes. This is the only way to preserve the American middle-class and our way of life. We must suffer the consequences for the people to prevail. Cheryl Ellis ellis@venturacountystar.com

I agree and let me be clear

I agree with you, welcome to the socialized economy. (Which is ironic since Republicans have been screaming about socialized healthcare for years.) It is a sad shame the middle class repeatedly pays to repair problems created by Wall-shington.

The bottom line is that something has to, and will be, done.

Also, let me be clear, today I sent emails to Secretary Paulson, Representative Sue Myrick, Senator Robert Burr, Senator Elizabeth Dole and President Bush. This is the second time in two weeks I have contacted all of those people.

A week ago, I encouraged them all to take their time on this bailout proposal.

Today I wrote: "I oppose the proposed bailout plan because I believe it is the result of years and years of failed deregulation and greed that only encouraged American citizens to over-extend their own credit. I do not feel this administration should be trusted with this large amount of money and I do not believe it is in anyone's best interest to saddle the next administration with this burden. Also, why is it O.K. for the CEOs of
these failed companies to walk away with even $500,000? That amount of money could probably help five, or more, homeowners avoid forclosure.

Let the next administration solve this problem; stop the rushing, this is too big of a deal to force through Congress just because of a few votes."

If anyone reading this would like to contact their representatives and let them know what they think-- which is their absolute right as an American citizen-- you can find their contact information at www.congress.org by simply typing your zip code.

My comments in my original post about my disgust with Republicans are in reaction to their ridiculous blame game when, the fact is, it is their insistance on deregulation that has led us into this crisis.

To add to the stress here in Charlotte, Wachovia Bank, which is headquartered here, was sold at the strong urging of the FDIC today and our city is effectively out of gas-- literally. No gas at the pumps.

It's a bad news day, all the way around.

Rhi B.
http://rhibowman.wordpress.com

Thank you

Rhi, thank you again for putting a rhyme and reason to what I am feeling. My husband was in IT for a subprime lender and was laid off in the first downturn 3 years ago. We've been buckling down both out of necessity and a true desire to do so. I can't say we're unscathed, but I also know that we are totally to blame for it.

While I do not want to see unsuccesful businesses who pulled in high ranking CEO's to attempt to solidify their bottom line rewarded, I am afraid of what will happen to the economy if we don't do something.

Still, the finger pointing and blame isn't getting anyone anywhere. What's Obama to do? ;)
Renee- writer and WOMAN!

Dunno

It will be interesting to see what he does. So far he's calling for Congress to "step up to the plate; get it done."

There is no doubt that we need legislation, but why it's O.K. for the Bush Whitehouse to come to Congress and demand hundreds of billions of dollars, with shrugs and smart comments about how it will be spent (no kidding, Paulson said he didn't know how it will be spent)-- I don't know.

I mean, I spend months thinking about how I'll spend a few thousand dollars. Seven hundred billion dollars boggles my mind; that's hardly a real number in my world-- you know what I mean? It's so huge, it's crazy. $700,000,000,000. Why can't they take their time and figure out the best way to distribute that money? (Answer: because they have to get home to CYA with their voters.)

The markets were set up today. All accounts were that the bill would pass through both houses before the legislators went home for their break and to do their own campaigning; so the markets were caught off guard at the very last minute. It will also be very interesting to see how foreign markets react over night.

This is a very, very big deal; our representatives need to stop playing around and stop lobbying for votes and get to work on a bill that is in the best interest of our country-- on every level.

(I'm obviously tuned into this issue; I'll post more tomorrow as things come up... after Spanish class, of course. sigh)

~ Rhi B.
http://rhibowman.wordpress.com

BRAVO to your blog, Rhi!

BRAVO to your blog, Rhi! BRAVO! Or is it Brava? Hmmm. Oh well, either way - GREAT blog as well as the comments that followed. Hope you don't mind, but I've copied the link to this blog and sent it to everyone I know. Thanks!

Thanks.

You say Brava, I say Bravo... Tomatoe, Tomato. Yaya. Hoohoo. HaaHaa. Ho Ho.

Thannk you for the comment, Amy. I'm honored that you'd share this post with your friends.

Again, I'm not expert and very opinionated; but I do realize this is a big deal and have enough insight to get a conversation going. This isn't something to ignore, it's something to watch very closely.

~ Rhi B.
http://rhibowman.wordpress.com

You might not be an expert

You might not be an expert and not everyone I know may agree with your opinion. However, you have an *informed* opinion, and I appreciate that. It's more valuable than "Sarah Palin is a dumbass," or "McCain is a weenie." (giggle) There is valuable information in your posts and I like sharing it!

I am with you! My husband,

I am with you! My husband, by the way, DID work for AIG. Ironically he quite...mmmm what is it 6 weeks ago now. Clearly investors found out. So blame the economy on my husbands desire to start his own insurance agency....mmmm.

Wow. Good timing!

Good luck to you and your man, Ma'am!

I just watched the Senate cast their votes for the bailout. I'm holding my breath; my blood pressure is definitely high this week.

It will be interesting to see what the House does tomorrow or Friday. It will be interesting (? I think?) to see what happens over the next many months.

*biting my fingernails*

~ Rhi B.
http://rhibowman.wordpress.com

 
 
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