Are government bailouts the beginning of the end

If Spain had been thinking...they could have charged a language tax to all the other countries speaking their language...:p - Same with the Portuguese - it's not like Brazil hasn't got a few bucks to spare...:rolleyes:

Considering the amount of people who deluged congress with letters and phone calls NOT to bail companies - it primarily marked the end of constitutional law in this country. Beyond that, who cares what happens to a corporation that can't handle its funds. In a free market, if a company caves in, others will open to take up the slack and demand in that sector. The bail-out was merely a signature that congress no longer works for its people or according to constitutional law. If you consider the full implications behind that move -- it wasn't just a bad idea....it is one that would have never even have been considered in a democratic republic with a free market.

I was against the bailouts in the first place and felt they were illegal. They kept institutions alive that thrived on destroying peoples lives.
Its amazing that some of the companies that claimed this finacial event are now some of the richest in the world,yet are trying to steal the homes and wrecking the lives of families all over the country.
I would hope that your country would learn what a mistake it is to do this no matter where you are from.

(By the way, this is blatantly political,so don't be surprised if it does get closed or deleted quickly.)

Cover, and be responsible for your own ass first!

Joe Mobley

Don't be so cruel. after all...corporations are people too.

Yeah Joseph, it was a joke.... I got it,hence my comeback.

The real problem lies in allowing corporations becoming "too big to fail". If a corp gets that big that its failure will drag everything else down with it, it should be split up.

Sadly some of these corps not only risk their own employees livelihoods, they risk those that trade with them, such as component manufacturers going belly up when the big auto manufacturers hit the skids (no pun intended).

The ripple effect of mega-corps going under is a political nightmare, where pollies are left with no other option but to "help them".

This is the inherent flaw with capitalism. Sure, it works better than the alternatives, but it will eventually eat itself and everything else with it.

Walmart has destroyed local manufacturing industries in the US by stocking cheap imports from Asia. Along with that, local retail outlets which were part and parcel of the community, were put out of business as people flocked to Walmart's megastores.

The banking sector in particular needs more, not less regulation including the reinstating of the Glass-Stegall Act.

History does repeat itself.

In the 1920's the market boomed on the back of dodgy unregulated debt instruments (margin loans). When the market took a dip (as is natural and necessary from time to time), the banks started calling in the margin loans, which caused a lot of panic selling which snowballed into the 1929 Crash.

The 1980's bull market was fuelled by dodgy unregulated debt instruments in the form of junk bonds. That ended badly as well.

And of course there was the meltdown of 2007/8. Once again it was fuelled by dodgy unregulated debt instruments (sub-prime mortgages, CDO's and other derivatives).

For those who think that government intervention only makes the situation worse, take a look at the Australian economy.

By any reckoning Australia has one of the soundest economies in the world (despite what the Murdoch dominated press tries to tell everyone). We sailed through the Meltdown unscathed because the government stepped in early with stimulus spending to prevent the type of scenario that eneveloped the US and Europe from happening.

There are some that decry the amount of debt that Australia took on to prevent a recession occuring here, but total government debt stands at less than 10% of GDP which puts Australia way ahead of just about every other developed nation. That level of debt is easily servicable.

So, in summary, government intervention can help if it is targetted well, if not (such as bailing out the institutions that created the mess ie banks in the recent case) then it can just be a case of throwing good money after bad.

It seems to me that the US Supreme Court in deciding that corporations are people has done more damage to the US constitution and democracy than any politician could ever do. People in the US need to band together and repeal that aberration with an amendment to your constitution that specifically states that corporates are not people and therefore not entitled to any any of the rights and benefits afforded by the constitution. With that, corporates would no longer be able to pay for candidates campaigns. This would force candidates and elected representatives to serve the people and not their corporate masters.

I should add to the above that Australia's stimulus spending did not go direct to corporates. It went to the people who in turn spent the money back into the economy and kept the corporates afloat that way.

"It seems to me that the US Supreme Court in deciding that corporations are people has done more damage to the US constitution and democracy than any politician could ever do. People in the US need to band together and repeal that aberration with an amendment to your constitution that specifically states that corporates are not people and therefore not entitled to any any of the rights and benefits afforded by the constitution. With that, corporates would no longer be able to pay for candidates campaigns. This would force candidates and elected representatives to serve the people and not their corporate masters."

I agree and disagree.
I agree we need to do something,but I disagree we need more amendments.
We need to get rid of the corrupt members of all the legislative branches, get rid of all the unconstitutional laws that have been passed in the last 20 years and we need to get (which will never happen) term limits for every one.

I disagree with anything right now but kicking every one of them out of office -- NOW - not in Nov. Our freedom is going to the will of the IRS now. They will be able to control you without due process - gun control, travel "rights", etc.

Bill Gives The IRS Power To: Authorize The Removal Of The Right To Own A Firearm – | Congressman Tom Tancredo

Anyone who believes our constitution and their votes still mater is completely delusional. Nothing will matter until we do a complete change over of congress and the house.