$700 billion bailout raises concerns for candidates
As the economy takes another turn for the worst, American’s turn to the presidential candidates for answers.
After President Bush announced his proposal for the $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, both presidential candidates began seeking answers from top consultants.
According to an article by washingtonpost.com, both John McCain and Barack Obama began meeting Sunday to gain bipartisan consideration of the Bush administration’s proposal for bailout of the financial industry.
Although there is great pressure for congress to pass the bailout quickly, McCain and Obama agree that there are serious issues which need to be addressed first.
McCain and Obama have both expressed concerns regarding the authority that the bailout will provide to Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., or to his successor.
McCain’s press secretary told reporters, “Senator McCain has great respect for Secretary Paulson, but he’s greatly concerned that the plan gives a single individual the unprecedented power to spend $1 trillion on the basis of not much more than ‘trust me.’” McCain has suggested that he would like to see a “high-level oversight board” established in order to set criterion for spending.
Obama stated, “As of now, the Bush administration has only offered a concept with a staggering price tag, not a plan.” Obama, like McCain, believes that there should be direct accountability and oversight of the Treasury Department in order to protect taxpayer’s dollars. He believes that taxpayers “should be protected and should be able to recoup some of this investment.”
Both candidates have also revealed apprehension in reference to the amount of taxpayer money that would possibly go to big executive paychecks. McCain released a memo of principles which said “We cannot have taxpayers footing the bill for bloated golden parachutes, like we see in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, where the top executives are looking at $2.5 billion in bonuses after they ran the company into the ground.”
If the Bush Administration’s proposal to bail out financial institutions does pass, than both candidates will have their work cut out for them. Moreover, whichever candidate inherits the oval office will also inherit the burden of a huge debt and an economy in crisis.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/21/AR2008092102356.html
Filed under: National Elections 2008, Special Contributions
And now the auto industry. It’s pretty capitalist for me to say this, and I wouldn’t normally take this stance on something but: Big businesses should be allowed to fail. That’s the nature of the market. People should keep in mind that every time they deal with a major business there is some kind of risk to losing money involved. A “bailout” plan should start somewhere else like infrastructure projects…or creating more jobs…..so people can make more money…..to spend more money….and slowly fix the economy rather than a billion dollar band-aid that doesn’t really seem beneficial in the long run.
Well written. I agree, the next President has inherited a huge problem to take over, but I think that Obama and his diverse administration will find a logical solution to the problem, if there is one. I don’t know what my stance on the whole bailout thing is, should we bail them out even though they put themselves in this predicament, or should we not bail them out, and then what if that causes our whole economy to dwindle even more? It’s a tough situation, but I’m sure Obama and his administration will figure out something. Good story.