by Deb Cupples | A New York Times editorial states: "Unemployment is rising. Foreclosures are surging. Lending is still constrained."
Duhhh! How could the scenario be otherwise? The $700 billion boondoggle (TARP) that George Bush and Henry Paulson sold to Congress (and us taxpayers) last year didn't require banks that took our tax dollars to actually unfreeze credit.
The TARP legislation didn't even require banks to spend the money wisely or in a way that benefited our nation's economy -- which resulted, in some cases, in our tax dollars funding huge personal pay packages for executives who spent the past few years casting doubt on their own competence.
The economic stimulus bill that passed earlier this year was too small to be effective: numerous economists -- including Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman -- publicly and repeatedly warned Congress and President Obama about that months ago (see examples here and here).
Why was it too small? In part, because congressional Republicans and so-called "Centrist" Democrats screamed about deficit spending and socialism -- even after having full-speed supported spending upwards of $2 trillion (adding to our deficit) in order to (socialistically) bail out some of the same people who personally made millions while driving our nation's financial system (and economy) into a ditch.
The NY Times editorial asks the question: "So, why exactly is the Obama Administration waiting to act?" Then, the author, goes on to give some answers that are worth reading.
Memeorandum has commentary.
Other Buck Naked Politics Posts:
* Cutting Executive Pay Would Save Jobs
* Execs Made Millions While Driving Companies into Ditch
* Are Bailout Funds Being Misused?
* Banks Might Give Back TARP $ if The Can't Keep Bonuses
* Shareholding Senator Helped Bank Get TARP Funds
.
Comments