On Nov 22, 2011, at 12:22 PM, richardsan wrote: > > i still wonder if it would have been easier to bail out the homeowners, > rather than the mortgage companies.
The $700 billion allocated to TARP could have paid off nearly all the subprime mortgages, at which point the foreclosure rate wouldn't have depressed housing prices so badly, and provided a softer landing than the crash, the big banks wouldn't have fallen and the investors would have taken a haircut (because if a bond is paid off before maturity, the investors lose money) On the other hand that would have involved rewarding a whole lot more people who made bad decisions and shafted a whole lot more who made good ones. A lot of people would be batshit about it (remember even the mildest of help afforded these homeowners were the inspiration for the Teabaggers, never mind that the rich, privileged asshole complaining about bailing out homeowners was himself getting a huge bailout along with all his bankster friends On the gripping hand, a whole lot more of people good and bad would still have jobs, our national deficit would be a lot lower, and we might actually be seeing a real recovery, albeit one with more bad actors and their schemes still very much in the ascendancy. AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers would STILL be leveraged out the yingyang, the ticking time bombs that were the poorly rated CDS'es would still be ticking. As it was we staved off a Great Depression, when we could have staved off a Depression, period. -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "StrataList-OT" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/stratalist-ot?hl=en.
