Comments on: Throwing Money at the Problem

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:56:29 +0000

"It's not inconceivable" is a poor argument.

The point is that nobody has any idea whether the first $350bn has done any good whatsoever. It may have even hurt, since everybody's stopped in their tracks waiting for government to act.

By: Barry

Barry — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:24:55 +0000

James: "But it’s not inconceivable that doing nothing — were that a politically viable option — would have been just as effective." It's not inconceivable that giving *me* and my friends and extended family each $1 billion woul have fixed the economy better than anything else. "It's not inconceivable" is a poor argument.

By: Bithead

Bithead — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:11:19 +0000

Just to be fair the bailout could have already had the obvious effect of preventing a financial collapse. Can't prove it one way or another but it should be considered in the discussion.

No question, Steve. But as I say in my other comment in this thread, if that's the case, the situation is far worse than we originally led to believe. At least, that would be the indication of our current situation, despite having all kinds of money already having been thrown at it.

By: Web Smith

Web Smith — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:48:30 +0000

The TARP Reform Bill that Barney Frank is trying to push through not only gives the banks the remaining $350 billion, it gives the banks access to more money through direct borrowing by the FDIC and Treasury without Congressional oversight.

http://ewebsmith.com/Gov/tarpreform.html

By: Steve Plunk

Steve Plunk — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:23:00 +0000

Just to be fair the bailout could have already had the obvious effect of preventing a financial collapse. Can't prove it one way or another but it should be considered in the discussion.

By: charles austin

charles austin — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:33:19 +0000

Or as others have said before, "Don't just do something, stand there!" But I'd disagree that there is no obvious effect. It just isn't the one intended. Watch what happens now as federal spending becomes utterly decoupled from reality.

By: Bithead

Bithead — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:51:11 +0000

The really frightening part is, if we assume any of this nonsense actually worked, the situation was far worse than we were led to understand.

One can imagine many reasons for such withholding of information... not least of which not wanting to cause a panic, and the more sinister and more likely in my view, being that they didn't want us to know who and what was responsible for the melt-down.