For the record, I try to post a balanced view of the issues regarding the bailout plan, including articles by people who both want the bill passed and those who do not. My personal opinion is that it needs to get passed in some form, quickly, even though I disagree with many provisions in the various proposals. A possible solution is to pass temporary core components of the bill right now – subject to modification – and agree to resolve the remaining details after thoughtful consideration and debate within the next few weeks. Please send this to Congress. Thanks! – Ilene
‘Better Than Armageddon’: $700B Bailout Beats the Alternatives
By Aaron Task, at Tech/Ticker
Excerpt: "The Senate is slated to vote tonight on a slightly tweaked version of the $700 billion bailout plan rejected by the House on Monday that includes:
- Raising the FDIC’s deposit insurance cap to $250,000 from $100,000.
- AMT tax relief (which the Senate previously approved.)
- Tax breaks for business and alternative energy.
- Extension of jobless benefits.
Alterations aside, the core of the plan remains intact — a $700 billion fund to buy bad bank assets. The plan has been criticized by many but Whitney Tilson, founder and managing partner of T2 Partners and Tilson Mutual Funds, says the risks of doing nothing are far greater.
"I don’t like the bailout out at all but I’m terrified of what happens if we don’t do it," Tilson says. "I don’t want to see the U.S. go into the Great Depression. We have to hold our nose and support this."
While the stock market rallied sharply on Tuesday, the seizure in the credit markets actually worsened, Tilson notes. ‘If our credit markets seize up, that’s the whole financial system which is the lifeblood of any economy.’"
Continue here.
