Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Read it and Weep

According to Politico, the Bush administration & Congress have given us a Christmas package that consists of 
$8.7 trillion dollars’ worth of potential taxpayer commitments for loans, guarantees and other bailout goodies for businesses and distressed homeowners.

One analyst, James Bianco, points out that in adjusted dollars the current bailouts make the Marshall Plan and even the New Deal look like tiny expenditures. When asked how much money we are really talking about with regard to these bailouts and the planned "stimulus" package, Bianco said to "just use the number infinity." As he pointed out, no one understands the scope of these numbers, including the people pushing the bailouts.

If Senate Republicans don't apply a brake -- as they did temporarily in the case of the auto bailout -- who will? Part of the Senate Republican minority, along with a couple of fiscally conservative Democrats, form the last line of defense against endless bailouts.

No comments:

Post a Comment