I'm a little confused: Did the bailouts actually accomplish anything?

I keep hearing about how the stimulus is starting to reveal itself as a successful program. But I haven't heard much about the effectiveness of the bailout program.


Did it work? Or did it just help a bunch of rich assholes make off with more money?

In an alternate universe there was no bailout and the economy totally collapsed. The world economy collapsed. Seven wars started. The United States government collapsed. Fifty million lost their jobs. There was a pandemic and violence in the street......37 million died. So yeah, I think it succeeded pretty well.

didn't totally collapse because the federal government instead handed everyone a check for $67,000, which will be the cost to each and every one of us of bailing-out AIG, Goldman, Citi, Wells Fargo, etc, etc. Those institutions were nationalized, mortage foreclosures were halted, and a single-payer health system was passed in early Spring. The directors of 27 of the largest hedge funds and global banks who precipitated the crisis are awaiting trial. George W. Bush and Richard Cheney have been indicted and are being held without bail in Alexandria, VA.

That injection of personal income, and a massive federal jobs, education and green investments program led to a lasting rebound in middle-class incomes. The only violence was a significant uptick in suicides among Right-wing talk radio commentators. So, no, I don't think bailing out Wall Street was worth it.

I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you. lol.

ground about this time. Last Fall it was "we'll be losing a million jobs a month forever!!!11". The Banks are collapsing!!!!11. We're all gonna die!!!!111 Well, so far it hasn't happened. Was the solution chosen the best solution? No. Did it avert complete disaster? Probably. These type threads suck because nobody knows what woulda, shoulda, coulda happened. Waste of time. IMO.

it works well on our spineless leaders in Washington.

and the big global banks to continue collecting interest on the Debt.

Bush would be proud.

Can we be mad at the Obama administration?

that had no bailout!!!!!!!

Sure, wall street bankers and their ideologically aligned economists say the handouts did a lot of good!

By the way, these are the same people who caused the crash in the first place, and also didn't have a clue it was coming. The idea that these people have any credibility is laughable.

How in the world did the bailouts do us any good when no one even knows what happened to the money? According to the head of the oversight panel, Elizabeth Warren?

paid us back with a small profit.

Take a deep breath before the next big wave crashes in.

... and we're already fully saturated with Dollar Stores and the like. What next? There's lot's of empty retail space, big boxes and small.

I'm thinking about opening a chain of "indoor camping" places. Two bucks a night, or fifty bucks a month for a spot on the floor, kids stay free! Bring your own sleeping bag, and please keep the bathrooms clean.

C-Span explain that it is working. Yes, Bush started with
money to Banks. Obama Team put in more money tostabalize the
Financial System. Economists say the Financial System is
stabalized and some of the money is being paid back.

Part 2 of the stimulus: Money was sent to states. Because
there were states in such crisis they were firing or laying
off Teachers, Firefighters and Policemen. Here in Columbus
the Mayor had already announced the Police Class in Training
would not be hired. The GOP has a talking point to damage
the Administration. The stimulus did not work. We need to
get the message that Stimulus is working. Also there Infrastructure
projects. More Money goes out and there is still more.

V-President Biden gave a speech this week explaining how
the stimulus is working. His remarks were discussed briefly
for one news cycle. The GOP is not going to let Obama get
credit for anything if they can stop him. This message
needs more than one news cycle.

The money was handed out, but we do not know the assets that these banks pledged as collateral in order to receive the loan money.

The Federal Reserve has resisted any efforts to find out what the collateral these banks provided. It could easily be that many of these banks pledged no collateral whatsoever. We just do not know.

and all it did was to make matters worse in the long run, for most of us.

that's about it.

I'd say so. The auto industry and the housing market have also responded to intervention.

As for the bailouts, you can see their success in the fact that we still have a currency.