I just honestly don’t know how anybody can be okay w/this.[/quote]
Do a little research into “hedging” and you might be less concerned. Not all those $75T are bet in the same direction, nor on the same thing. If it even is $75T. The speaker cited no sources whatsoever.
“The TARP program originally authorized expenditures of $700 billion and was expected to cost the U.S. taxpayers as much as $300 billion. By March 3, 2011, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated that total disbursements would be $432 billion and estimated the total cost would be $19 billion.”
$19 billion is flysh*t. It’s roughly $60 from each of us. Compare that to the cost of say the prescription drug benefit.[/quote]
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We’ve already seen what counterparty risk can do to derivatives. Do we really need more of that? These types of derivatives are used to mask the real price of assets, and greatly increase risk in the process.
As far as “bailouts” are concerned, TARP is only the tip of the iceburg.
How much is being taken from elderly people (and others on fixed income) every single month — for years now — via the Fed’s manipulation of interest rates?
How much will taxpayers lose on bad mortgages that were refi’d from private lenders to govt-backed lenders?
How much will taxpayers end up paying through the FDIC (we are nowhere near done with bank failures, IMHO).
How much purchasing power have wage earners lost as the Fed/Treasury pumped more money into the system to prop up asset owners at the expense of those who earn wages or live on fixed income?
How much have taxpayers paid via extended unemployment and other benefits — which was caused by the boom-bust cycle of the Fed and the “capital gains” crew?
How much have taxpayers lost because of backdoor deals between govt choosen private parties who have been given assets for 17 cents on the dollar (worth about 40-60 cents)?
The list goes on and on… TARP is being used as a distraction from the real damage that has been done by the financial elite. Time to rein them in.
