Commenteria: Obama's Big Plans

From the LA Times:

Since Obama wants to send federal dollars to people who took out unwise mortgages, can't he send a few bucks to my family members who made unwise decisions with their credit cards?
Perhaps he could just explain the difference in unwise borrowing in each case.


Clearly none of the kneejerk commentors above has actually read or heard the speech. It's on the NYT website here
The brief story by Baltz doesn't do the speech justice-- the richness and specificity of the speech doesn't translate well into soundbites. So if you want to have in informed opinion of Obama's view of the free market tempered by government oversight, read the speech.


I consider myself a strong Obama supporter, but I disagree with his $30 Billion rescue (but agree with need for more regulation). This is following what Hillary proposed while he is on vacation, which politically is wise to insure she doesn't gain a policy position advantage she can exploit. But, bailing people out seems extreme to me (so did the Bears-Stern buy out).
This smells a lot like offering to buy votes in hard-hit states (especially PA). I thought this was an ugly move by Hillary, and I'm disappointed in Barack following her here.


By the time he gets into office, a stimulus plan will probably be too late, by which I mean unnecessary.
Nobody should bail out anything or anybody who engaged in speculation or fraud (for which read lenders AND borrowers of money under false pretenses) whose failure would not bring down the whole economy.
Financial institutions need enough regulation to make speculative bubbles a once in a lifetime (or less frequent) occurrence rather than a yearly one.


As an Obama supporter and a loan officer, I don't believe in a $30 billion rescue. I think there should be some help. NOT a bail-out. There has to be some responsibilty. There does need to be extentions of unemployment benefits to get. There are other ways to save both homeowners and companies. Major govenment intervention is not a help.