OK, I'll gladly grant that this bill isn't the best thing in the world, but what could continue to happen in the overall economy is far worse. Anyone who gets joy from Wall Street taking a bath should have another nip at that wood alcohol jug today, as the equity markets (which may include substantial parts of your union or state worker or company's pension plan, 401 (k), or IRA) lost a multiple of $700 billion today alone--the MSCI Global Index showed a loss of $1.7 TRILLION worldwide today.
The failure of the bill today could have far-ranging impacts that have nothing to do with Wall Street. I've spoken with several people in the credit markets today, and they all say the same thing: There are no credit markets. When credit markets seize up, as they have, banks don't loan to other banks. They don't loan to large businesses. They don't loan to mid-sized businesses. They don't loan to small businesses. They sure as hell don't loan to people.
You want a car loan? A mortgage? A credit card? Borrow a little money to fix up your gas station? Nah.
In the early 1930s, after FDR saved the banking industry, banks were still afraid to loan money, significantly extending the Great Depression.
Yes, Wall Street fat cats have got appallingly rich off of mortgage-backed securities, and that should not have been allowed to happen. Some of them, like the Senior Managing Directors at Bear Stearns, who received most of their compensation in stock, whether they were in the mortgage area or not, have also lost a huge amount of their net worth. If you think you have the luxury of caring about that today, you're wrong. Neither of those facts, the up or the down, matters right now, because what's going on here goes way beyond Wall Street people. This is not the time or place for spite or jealousy because people made money when in a better world, a better system, they wouldn't have been allowed to.
Oh, and short hedge funds made a fortune on their short positions today, which probably doesn't make people here terribly happy.
Right now, though, it just doesn't matter. If a few people make a ton of money, but hundreds of thousands or millions benefit from the passage of a recovery plan that gets the credit markets that touch every person in America running again, I'm prepared to let it slide. Anyone who would sacrifice the well being of millions to make sure a few hundred don't prosper immorally should examine their values. It's something that should be dealt with, but let's fix the immediate problem immediately.
Just because you don't think any of this has affected you yet, doesn't mean it won't. Or that you're right. Credit markets (and even equity markets) aren't just about Wall Street. They're not about some abstract Main Street. They're about YOUR Street.