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You're forgetting the 3 trillion the US government stole from its citizens and gave to the banks.
by jmpeax 13y ago
You're forgetting the 3 trillion the US government stole from its citizens and gave to the banks.
- baddox 13y agoWasn't that 9 trillion?
- nerfhammer 13y agoAnd then paid it back with interest
- pessimizer 13y agoBut not market rate interest, which was about infinity for the banks that accepted loans, because they were completely insolvent. And do we get to include the spread between the actual worth of all of those shit bonds we have been purchasing from them and the par prices we have been paying?
- djur 13y agoTARP was only about 250 billion and it's been repaid with interest. It was neither stolen nor given. If you're including various stabilization programs the Fed put into place, that money was neither stolen nor given either. It was created using sovereign authority that is granted to the Federal Reserve by law. The citizens of the US would be immensely poorer today if the world financial system had collapsed into a second Great Depression.
- hindsightbias 13y agoEconomics is supposed to be a morality play. Except when it comes to Bitcoin.
- frizzo 13y agoOooh, SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY GRANTED BY LAW. That definitely makes the rape of the middle class to bailout Goldman Sachs legit.
- pessimizer 13y ago>The citizens of the US would be immensely poorer today if the world financial system had collapsed into a second Great Depression. If the only alternative to bailing out the banks was sitting on our hands, then yes. That's like arguing that if the fire department hadn't put the house fire out with Gatorade, the entire block would have burned. >If you're including various stabilization programs the Fed put into place, that money was neither stolen nor given either. Loans with below market-rate interest are giveaways. If you don't believe me, just loan me two trillion at 1% for five years. Or rather, just buy two trillion worth of treasuries for me, and send me the interest in excess of 1%.
- djur 13y agoI agree there were better options than TARP and its related programs to deal with the financial crisis. I just don't think it's accurate to characterize the bailouts as theft (or "rape", as has another commenter), and I don't think inaction (and the subsequent collapse of the financial system) was an acceptable option considering the massive pain and privation it would have caused.