Bongulator
Well-Known Member
Deregulation (less meddling in the market) is what got us into this mess. When nobody's watching the cash register, people steal from it. Who woulda thunk it.
The solution is working regulation, not letting the market crash and burn and wipe out jobs and savings for millions of people. If we were smart, we would've passed a bill two weeks ago. Had we done that, in five years we might have been sitting pretty like Sweden was after they dealt with a similar crisis: their government stepped in, bought a bunch of assets to keep their economy going, then sold them off as their economy improved. Their taxpayers made 6 dollars for every 1 they put into the bailout, because they acted QUICKLY. Sweden's economy is in excellent shape now because they got their bailout done quickly, before things spiralled out of control. (Might or might not be too late for that for us.)
Or, we can follow the Japan model. Let the markets crash, THEN the government steps in to try to apply a bandaid to a now-gaping wound. Japan was in a massive recession for the bulk of a decade, and they got very little return on their taxpayer dollars. It was pretty much a total loss, because they waited to act. And where is Japan now, 15 years later? They still haven't recovered.
I like Sweden's model best, since the taxpayer kicked ass financially under that scenario. But I suspect we've waited a week or two too long to reap the rewards of acting quickly. Still, every day we do wait to address the problem is going to cost the taxpayer even more.
The solution is working regulation, not letting the market crash and burn and wipe out jobs and savings for millions of people. If we were smart, we would've passed a bill two weeks ago. Had we done that, in five years we might have been sitting pretty like Sweden was after they dealt with a similar crisis: their government stepped in, bought a bunch of assets to keep their economy going, then sold them off as their economy improved. Their taxpayers made 6 dollars for every 1 they put into the bailout, because they acted QUICKLY. Sweden's economy is in excellent shape now because they got their bailout done quickly, before things spiralled out of control. (Might or might not be too late for that for us.)
Or, we can follow the Japan model. Let the markets crash, THEN the government steps in to try to apply a bandaid to a now-gaping wound. Japan was in a massive recession for the bulk of a decade, and they got very little return on their taxpayer dollars. It was pretty much a total loss, because they waited to act. And where is Japan now, 15 years later? They still haven't recovered.
I like Sweden's model best, since the taxpayer kicked ass financially under that scenario. But I suspect we've waited a week or two too long to reap the rewards of acting quickly. Still, every day we do wait to address the problem is going to cost the taxpayer even more.
