An Idea I like
By Arkie69
@Arkie69 (2156)
United States
September 27, 2008 3:31pm CST
I received this email that spelled out a real good solution to this bail out thing. I'll sort of skip over it but you will get the idea. It involved instead of giving that $85,000,000,000 to AIG you give it to the public. Give equal shares to every man and woman in the US over 18 years old. The figure was something like 200,000,000 people would receive it. The figures shocked me. It would come out to be over $250,000 per person. They would pay the government a 30% income tax on it. That would leave about $175,000 pocket money. This would go into local banks. This would get 30% of the 85B right back to the government where it came from.
If they gave me that kind of money the first thing I would do is put it in a local bank. Then I would buy a better house and pay cash for it. I would buy a repo from a bank to get the best deal. I would then buy me a new small pickup. I would pay off my other bills and leave the rest of it in the bank for a rainy day. Can you spell ECONOMY BOOST?
The money would go into circulation and create jobs and ease a lot of the pressure on the banking system. This may sound silly to you but think about it real hard. Just $85B would completely eliminate the entire problem we have with the economy. There would be no need to spend that $700B. Our economy depends on the dollars that you and I can spend. If you and I don't buy then our economy withers on the vine no matter how must money is invested at the high level. Our money trickling up to the higher level is doing it's job all the way up. This is what supports our economy. This stuff of injecting the money at the high level and hoping it will trickle down to the consumer will not work.
Look at the depression we had in the 30's and 40's. The government started work programs that injected money in at the lowest level. There was the WPA, the CC Camps and several others. They simply invented jobs that working people could make a living at. This is what brought us out of the depression. Our government knew then exactly where to put the tax dollars to do the most good. The very same thing would work just as good right now.
1 person likes this
5 responses
@theproperator (2429)
• United States
28 Sep 08
Well, other than the fact that the math is wrong ($85 billion divided by 200 million is only $425 per person), the bail out is being done so that the company can pay for all the bad mortgages it insured since people are being forclosed on because of bad lending practices. If AIG fails, the banks and lenders that made those mortgages insured by them also fail and a domino effect ensues, dragging down the whole economy. If the government can head off the failure of the mortgage insurers, then we will not get deeper into trouble. Giving the money directly to citizens would not help stop this as effeciently. It would cost far more money because everything given out would not necessarly go right to where it was needed to fix the economy.
@theproperator (2429)
• United States
28 Sep 08
Except that your version of a "sound idea" with $250,000 to each adult in the US would cost the government $50,000,000,000,000. That's 50 TRILLION dollars or about 580 times more money than the current plan calls for (the current US national debt is "only" $9 trillion).
While I love a good stimulus check as much as the next person, I really don't think that completely bankrupting the country is really the way to do it. If we could let these companies fail without crashing the stock market, I'd be all for it, too. The fact that so many lenders made loans to individuals who couldn't afford them (they should have some responsibility in this, too BTW)and that AIG and other then insured them was really dumb on thier part and they should suffer for it. Unfortunately, if the largest of these companies goes under, they take countless other companies with them too, which crashes the stock market, leading to lots of others businesses failing, along with many individuals losing their investments, retirement savings, and actual jobs, etc. THAT is when we begin our repetition of the Great Depression. We are not at that point yet, and the hope is that by bailing out the companies that are underpinning the economic structure, we can actually prevent a big crash from happening at all. Maybe the method is not perfect, but it is certainly more feasible then the idea you heard.
@Arkie69 (2156)
• United States
28 Sep 08
Well the math is no doubt incorrect but the idea is still solid. It worked to bring us out of the last depression and it will work just as well today. Even if people like Fanny Mae and and AIG do fall it will not crash our economy. The local banks are still in business and are not about to close. This will keep the supply of money to the working people that are supporting our economy in the first place. Most local banks do not operate on credit. They operate on the money that is deposited by the local working people and the local small businesses.
All this crap that is coming out of DC is just smoke to keep the public from seeing the real truth. People like AIG should have never been allowed to operate in the US in the first place. Our government simply sit on their hands and allowed the large lending companies to pull a bunch of crooked stuff that brought all this stuff on us. It is high time there was a large cleaning done in DC and a bunch of people need to go to prison with the other crooks where they belong.
I'll put it this way. If the people in this country are stupid enough to sit and do nothing and let the government reward the crooks that have cause all this then the people deserve what ever they get. It's time to take some names and Kick some bu**s. We need to fire a bunch of our employees in Washington and put a bunch of them in jail where they belong.
@theproperator (2429)
• United States
28 Sep 08
Oh, I also meant to add this link to the FDIC website showing how many "local" banks ARE failing because of this crises. Who do you think made all those bad mortage loans? Banks had just a much a hand in this.
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/bank/index.html
@singout (980)
• United States
28 Sep 08
I truly love this idea. Too bad it's only a "pipe" dream.
There is no way the government is going to give us anything back. It's not in their DNA.
There is no way the government is going to give us anything back. It's not in their DNA.@Arkie69 (2156)
• United States
28 Sep 08
I have got to come up with a way to double check that math. Someone said it wasn't correct. The only way I can do it is mark off 6 -0's off the 85,000,000,000 which leaves 85,000. Then mark the 6 - 0's off the 200,000,000 and you have 200. Then divide the $85,000 by 200 and you get $425. That isn't the end of it though. To get the correct answer you have to add the 6 - 0's back to the 85B and the 200M. Then add 3 - 0's to the 425 which makes it $425,000. If there is anyone out there that can double check this please do and then post your answer. Thanks.
@theproperator (2429)
• United States
28 Sep 08
No, the other poster is right, it is only $425 per person. There is probably a calculator feature on your computer that you can use to check it.
@Arkie69 (2156)
• United States
28 Sep 08
PS; I double checked that math and $425,000 per person is correct. A easy way to figure it. Take the last 3 0's off the 85B and the 200M. Then divide the 85M by the 200K and you will get $425. Then add the 3 0's back to the 85M and the 200K. Then add 3 0's to the $425 to make it $425,000. $85,000,000,000 divided by 200,000,000 people equals $425,000 per person.
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
29 Sep 08
These are some good thoughts, but in reality, you and I both know that there will be many people who would swander the $$ for other things instead of putting it to good use, and then we would continue to be in the same boat we are in in the first place. I know for me, the extra $$ could come in handy for housing, etc. as well, but how many people really see it this way? Also if they did it this way would it completely help solve the Financial Crisis? We really never know. It just is we need something out there to help us before things get even worse.
@Arkie69 (2156)
• United States
29 Sep 08
I agree. Some people would waste the money and some would just quit their jobs and sit back. Either one would hurt us instead of help us. I did come up with a copy of the bill they are putting together on this bail out. They are calling it the, "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008". It is now at 110 pages and is probably still growing. You can find a copy of it on CNNMoney.com. I am going to start on it tomorrow and see if I can figure out what they are getting us into.
@moinuddin14 (652)
• India
27 Sep 08
Great brains behind this thought. But my concern is like this solution is more towards US citizens then what about other places where AIG is having? How can they be benefited if only US citizens are giving stake in the AIG? Correct me if i have understood in a wrong way.
@Arkie69 (2156)
• United States
27 Sep 08
I agree with your concerns and you are not wrong in any way but I think it is about time we start taking care of our own and let the other countries do the same. I say let AIG fall. Let the other countries have AIG and split it up and get what they can out of it. They can always do the same as we are and help their people. I just believe a lot less than that $700B would get our economy back on track if it was put in the right place. Thanks for the post.
@travelinjon (49)
• United States
28 Sep 08
There is another reason this wont work. If, in theory you gave every person in the states one million dollars. Prices would adjust accordingly. Look at the trillion dollr bills Zimbabwe is printing and those will by you a can of peaches.
Take the same soncept only dont make it about money make it property give every one a home.
@Arkie69 (2156)
• United States
29 Sep 08
That would work. It would help a lot of people to have their homes paid off or be able to buy a home and stop paying high rent. There are a lot of things that could be done without rewarding the crooks that cause all this. Our tax dollars don't need to be used that way.
