Today, Congress voted not to pass the $700 billion dollar Wall Street Bailout (by the way, that's a 7 with 11 zero's after it). There were many reasons, some good and some bad. A good one, House Republican, Ron Paul of Texas, voted against it because he felt it would devalue the U.S. dollar which would be even more detrimental to the world economy than the collapse of a few greedy banks. A bad one, several House Republican's are rumored to have voted "No" because they didn't like the tone (and negative remarks about Republicans) of Nancy Pelosi's closing speech. For whatever reason they voted no, they did, and that's that.
I, personally, don't think the U.S. government should give anything to any bank, domestic or international. Big banks have been lobbying hard for less government in their sector of the economy for years. So, they got their looser restrictions and regulations (if any at all) and dug this giant hole, then fell into it. As far as I'm concerned, let them climb out of it on their own. Second, these banks are just having problems with domestic credit, most of these CDSs and CDOs have a hefty amount of foreign money and assets tied up in them as well. So, if this banks are truly international, why not make this an international effort. Last, a large majority of home owners are having trouble with credit and loans. If the government wants to infuse money into the system, why not start with the people who need it the most, not the people who created the problem by issuing loans to high risk clients.
In the last couple of weeks, I've often wondered; if I go to Vegas, sit down at a roulette table, put down my entire life savings (plus a little I don't have), on 1 Red and lose, will the U.S. government bail me out of that situation? I don't think so. This is essentially what these mega-banks did with all of their money. I guess they've never heard the old saying, "the house always wins."
