NOTE: Image below is $15,000 Cash . . . pretty nice, huh?
If someone came into your home and held you at gunpoint and forced you to fork over $15 thousand dollars in cash (provided, of course, you kept such a large amount at home), you’d call the cops as soon as you could, wouldn’t you? In fact, if you had a gun at home, you might even try and shoot the bastards before they could get away with your money.
But what happens when it is the U.S. government that is about to break into your house and make off with that much money? Whom do you call? Batman?
And yet, that is exactly how much money, thus far, the current round of government bailouts of big financial institutions is costing American households.
When you add up the $700 billion dollars of taxpayers’ money the government wants to spend to buy up all that bad debt out there, with the money already pledged to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, AIG and to help broker the Bear Stearns/JPMorgan Chase deal, “A $700 billion fund would push the total pledged to combat the crisis to $1.8 trillion, or $15,000 per U.S. household, says a Reuters analysis.
No Help For The Rest Of Us
While the big boys will apparently get their burdens lifted, so far, there is nothing in the proposed plan for those who are about to foreclose on their home, or can’t find a job, or can’t afford health insurance or can’t afford gas for the car or heat for the home or food for the table.
In fact, this past Friday, even after the bailout was announced to a stunned world, the average rate on a 30 year, fixed rate mortgage actually went up to 6.11 percent from 6.07 just the day before, says the Associated Press. We are clearly not out of the woods yet!
Would the alternative be worse? Maybe. Maybe not. But I can tell you this: This entire bailout is happening so fast , in such a crisis atmosphere, red lights should be blinking and alarm bells sounding from sea to shining sea.
Photo Credit: Neville’s Financial Blog
Related posts:
- The Sad Saga of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: BAILOUT! Conventional Wisdom Failed
- UFO’s And The Great American Mortgage Disaster
- Finding real estate bargains with government foreclosed properties
- When Lenders Mess Up, Everyone Suffers!
- How the Housing Crisis is Affecting Lenders and the Economy as a Whole
Article Author: Charles FeldmanCharles has written 179 articles for us.
Visit Charles's Website: http://www.thefeldmanblog.com
Charles is currently reporting for KNX Radio in Los Angeles, is the co-author of the book No Time To Think, and can be found commenting about the news on his blog, The Feldman Blog, as well as on The Huffington Post.
Joshua Dorkin
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Its not stealing! We are letting them do it. There is no gun, just talk. The people who are supposed to be watching that something like this doesn’t happen weren’t asleep, they just turned their heads. Again the people will pay for it, while the government (ALL OF THEM) will posture and point to the other side.
This makes me think of going to the Mattress with my little bit of money. I am sure others are thinking the same. I wonder if the number of home safes has picked up?
I think we definitely need Batman in this situation. The government is fast becoming an enemy to the average household in America and everyone knows that when the government needs money they will get it.
Write and call your congressman and Senators!
Write and call your congressman and Senators!
Write and call your congressman and Senators!
When the Fed Gov acquires $800 billion in non-performing notes, how will they dispose of the foreclosed properties?
I don’t know the answer but I sure smell a deal for real estate investors.
And then to make things even worse, these wonderful people in Congress want to add on more bail-out/hand-out/pork to special interests as part of the deal. The Glen Beck program last night (and other nights!) is filled with doom – but when you hear that Washington wants to add in credit card relief and everything else, maybe he’s right.
There are always the select few how make money from every crisis, they are usually connected in some way to the people who have caused it.
Would you all prefer to allow the banks to go under and see what happens then?
yes…would prefer to see the banks go under. nothing will happen. the fdic has been backing accounts for 75 years and no one has ever lost a penny on an insured account and never will. even if the fdic goes broke, the government will do what it does best–print more money–to cover it.
so, yes, let the bad banks go under. let the crooked businesspeople go to prison. the world will still be turning the day after and the day after that….and taxpayers will be $700 billion dollars richer!
Withdraw all your money from the bank, including IRA’s, 401K’s, CD’s, etc. Sell your homes under market value, but make sure you can still profit and buy yourself a condo. Better yet, move to Canada until this crisis is over.