Comments on: Bankruptcy, not bailout, is the right answer (Miron)

By: Matt Carlson

Matt Carlson — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:52:33 +0000

Bankruptcy will leave the shareholders holding the bag. Anyone with a pension plan, IRA, 401x, or 457 plan is a shareholder – meaning almost every person who is employed and earning over $30K per year.

Bailout will leave the taxpayers holding the bag – the ones who pay the most taxes, meaning every person who is employed and earning over $30K per year.

Either way, the same people will pay for this.

The real decision is whether we filter the funds through the government, or private capital markets.

By: Josh Sowin

Josh Sowin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:20:39 +0000

I wish I knew what was the right thing to do. It’s too complex — I can’t see far enough ahead to know what will happen whether there is a bailout or not. And it seems neither do the experts, because they’re all over the map about what will happen or won’t happen.

By: Jeff McFadden

Jeff McFadden — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:16:06 +0000

I can agree that there were many who “knowingly engaged in risky subprime lending.”

But when the government had an implicit guarantee behind those securities, it wasn’t nearly as irrational nor greedy as it appears at first glance.

I can certainly agree with the idea that “any response should eliminate the conditions that created this situation in the first place, not attempt to fix bad government with more government.” I think that should include a time-based goal to sell off all of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s assets and shut them down for good.