I am 55 years old. The industry in which I toiled since age 21 tanked years ago, due specifically to corporate consolidation and attendant greed, short-sightedness, and incompetence. I am in a forced semi-retirement. The best I can do is apply my old skills and wisdom in service to an unpaid hobby. I have, since 1990, predicted this situation and done my best to accomodate my retirement. I have watched with undying horror the gluttonous con that this economy has become based on, since roughly the Reagan years.
The crime of the undifferentiated businessman. The emergence of global warming. The demise of the middle class. The demonization of education. The uneven distribution of wealth. The legacy of unchecked "growth". The net loss of quality of life, acccompanied by an orgy of consumer spending on worthless, soul-stealing crap. The consensus for the 'Supply Side" lie.
I would rather see my life savings dwindle, than to live another 20 years in a bankrupt culture like this.
A majority of commenters and diarists on this site seem to fear the economic consequences if this bailout doesn't work, or doesn't pass. I believe the consequences are worth it. I believe nature and the laws of physics trump the opinions of Adam Smith. This correction is natural. This correction is fair. It is the ONLY cure for what is wrong with our economy. It is the only cure for what is wrong with our country. A slap in the face to a child having a monumental shit-fit. All the hopes of our liberal ideologies will be far more achievable when we have a chance (with an Obama presidency) of re-building an economy based on production, manufacturing, real value. For instance: for every person who bought an artificially-inflated house, and now stands to lose whatever paper value that house gained, (or lose the house outright) there are ten waiting in line for house prices to come back to reality, to reflect the real market. What's so bad about affordable housing? Believe me, I stand to lose a lot of paper value. I stand to lose my cash savings due to inflation. (I never did stocks) But I hope to live within an economy with roots. An economy based on reality, not this bubble of debt and misery.
Or, take this example: We fear losing money in a meltdown. We fear tight credit. How many people on this site have condescendingly explained to me that people won't be able to buy cars! Those cars were bought on the backs of the people of Iraq! You wanna see hardship? Go check out a destroyed country. Hundreds of thousands dead, wounded, infrastructure gone, government in shambles. We think we will suffer without that wide-sceen TV? Our suffering will no more than equal our complicity in this moral wreck of a government. A government working of, by, and for business.
People, This is the End of Reaganomics! Celebrate!
Take the long view: let this crisis fall into the legacy of G.W. Bush. Endure 5 months of tight credit, falling stocks, and loss of paper value. 5 months of rising unemployment. The virus in our system will weaken. Sen. Obama as president believes in a bottom up economy. He will act accordingly. Maybe re-instate Glass-Steagall. Invest in infrastructure. Education. A new WPA? Educate the returning soldiers. This is economic counter-revolution. Why muddle the future history of who fixed this thing? It's broken from the top down. Let it fall. Rebuild from the bottom up.