I have been reading, with some bemusement, the articles about the Wall Street bailout.
I have to admit that I only generally understand them, so perhaps I am totally off base here. But what it sounds like is that the people who run those companies that collapsed or came damn close made bets that did not pan out, and that rather than having to pay the price, we're covering those bets for them. I can accept the idea that these guys were/are so big that they couldn't be allowed to collapse; I can accept that people honestly didn't think they would collapse. But here we are.
Since financial Armageddon has hit them, and we're on the hook (CNN: Bailout proposal sent to Congress seeks authorization to spend as much as $700 billion to buy troubled mortgage-related assets) , what are we going to get out of it? Like the Iraq war, which was of course not for oil, but hey, it'd be surprising if we didn't get cheap oil for five years as a result, what are we going to get for forking over this money?
My guess is, about a quarter back on the dollar. Then again, I'm in a cynical mood.
2 comments:
I think you're right.
If I was a crude guy, I'd say that in return for that forking over, we're going to get a forking over.
But I won't say that.
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