My letter to my senator, who happens to be part of the legislation:
Dear Senator Dodd,
Twelve days ago Secretary Paulson and President Bush informed us the Economy would crash if emergency legislation wasn’t passed immediately. Twelve days ago!!! Seems to me the Markets (USA & World Wide) are getting through this difficult time without legislation. My small business and my customers have been struggling for a year now and – surprise – we’ve had a good twelve days.
As time passes and the economy doesn’t implode; I can only conclude Paulson and Bush are wrong. Proving this IS a bailout and NOT a rescue. Please do not pass the Bill before you to save an economy that is still working.

Bing,

People ARE angry. I believe that they have a right to be angry and to ask, What will change the behavior of those involved if we simply give Paulson $700 billion ? He’s from that culture, and will probably return to it when he’s done at Treasury. Scare tactics usually don’t work with angry people. What people are not being told, is what exactly will change on Wall Street. If the answer is “nothing”, how can people buy into it? Look at the exit packages that the CEO’s got last month. Or their pay for the last 5 years. How many homeowners could have been rescued for what these seemingly “bad” executives have earned ? And now, we’re being told “get behind this rescue plan or else you’ll all suffer.” Again, threatening an angry man is almost never a good idea. It would be advisable to throw a bone to the American public to make this more palatable, and stop the threats.

At a church I once attended regularly, one of the women’s leaders gave a sermon. She quoted at length from a then-famous TV prophet, and told the congregation that this guy had the end time formula solved; and that Jesus was definitely coming back within 4 and 12 years from that point.

A friend of mine walked up to her afterward and said, “If that doesn’t happen, will your theology change?” Great quote. Reminds me of your blog today.

I’m pretty conservative, and believe more or less in free markets. But they only work if the participants are all more or less honest and under control in how far they are willing to reach to make a buck. The recent market turmoil is more than enough evidence for me, that those conditions have not been met for some time. But some will never, ever see it that way . . . .

Very thoughtful Bing. I think the scope of this crisis is so far reaching that it goes over the heads of laymen and experts alike. I think everyone pretty much has a good point no matter what their point is. The real point that we can all agree on is that this crisis sucks!!!!

In a couple of months, we can all wake up and see upon what beach this wave of ire has delivered us, and see how many innocent have been washed away with the guilty

Possibly not a bad idea. When we do come to we can take care of those who were wrongly harmed and move on. The country is pretty good at tending to those who truly deserve help. Usually erring on the side of overdoing it.

In the final analysis, it seems a better solution than enacting massive legislation that has been exempted from analysis and the usual checks and balances built into the system.

There might be nothing wrong with taking a deep breath, standing back and asking if there might be an alternative way to work out of the problem. After all, life on the planet survived the first no vote.

Well done, Bing! Right on target once again!

One point that might help you look beyond the anger expressed in these comments is to remember that the American spirit of independence is based on a deeply rooted sence of self-reliance.

The point Steve was making is perhaps not that it won’t be tough on everyone, but that he (and many others) don’t believe that the Wall Street executricksters will really be able to survive the downturn, while real people who actually work for a living making things of value will.

Sorry, Bing, but guys who work at glossy magazines writing about Wall Street are really just as expendable as the Wall Street and Washington leaders.

Just be glad this isn’t as bad as the French Revolution – yet. But keep up the “let ‘em eat cake” stuff, and we’ll get there before too long…remember, there’s a lot more poor people out there than rich people, and that’s the ultimate failure of the capitalism the US has been practicing…

I added a comment on a previous Bing article indicating my anger. It was censored and deleted by this website.

Then this Bing article comes out about ‘anger”. What a hypocrite.

let’s see how long this post lasts before it gets deleted….

I figure each individual who took out a loan should have known their own financial future. If some douche-bag broker convinced them otherwise that only shows the borrower to be naive and stupid.

I am high school drop out and in 2003 (peak time of the housing “boom”) read every page on my mortgage agreement and have a 5.75% 30 yr fixed with no pre-payment penalty. So I expect the same due diligence from ALL of my fellow American citizens

America has a long history of snake-oil salesman and it’s the individuals resposibility to sniff them out.

Congress can’t legislate stupidity out of people

Mr. Bing,

My grandfather was a tenant farmer (sharecropper) on a piece of land near Lake Dallas during the last Great Depression. I won’t fill your comment space with all the stories I have heard about those times—hunger, privation, death. There is plenty of literature to be had at the public library on those times. That history lives for me, though, through the stories of my father and others who lived those times. The thing I remember most from those tales is the character of the people.

My grandfather did not have much schooling and had no political power, but he had the respect of many people in that area of Denton County. The respect came because of his character—he was sober, a man of few words, a man who made few promises but kept the ones that he made. When you came to his porch, you behaved respectfully.

One day, a strange dog came onto the land he farmed and killed some chickens. My grandfather, with great dispassion, grabbed the dog by the scruff and killed him in turn. There was no anger, there were no words. He was calm and the dog died very quickly. It was a merciful dispatch.

A few days later, my father told me how a man arrived by the farm in a shiny vehicle inquiring about his dog that was missing. Without a word, my grandfather took the dog’s collar down off of a hook and handed it to the man. The man did not remonstrate or otherwise seek to disrupt the calm of my grandfather. Obviously, he already knew about the behavior of his dog and understood why the collar was now empty. He took it and left quietly. And that was the end of that little story.

My grandfather had plenty to be afraid of and yet I have never heard a story told of him being afraid. He probably had plenty to be angry about, too. Yet almost every story I’ve heard speaks to his calmness and of being a man of few words. He accepted each day as it came and worked the best that he could to feed his family.

For the past twenty years or so, I’ve wondered if I would be fated to live through my own Great Depression. I am not as reticent as my grandfather was, but neither am I much given to ranting or raving. I feel much contempt for those who use positions of power to feather their own beds at the expense of others, but I don’t feel hate. Hate is acid in your heart.

I would probably look with great dispassion upon politicians and financiers being strung by their necks from every lamppost along Pennsylvania Avenue and Wall Street. They mean nothing to me, to my life, nor to my children and grandchildren. I care nothing for the established parties or the third-stringers waiting in the wings, either. No hate, no love, nothing more than I would feel for a leech stuck to my arm—repulsion, if anything.

If there ever was a Great American Dream—which I highly doubt—it is long, long gone by now. We the people allowed it to happen by not killing the dogs and hanging their collars on hooks a long time ago—figuratively speaking, of course. I have enough to get through each of my own days without having the FBI or Secret Service coming to pay me a visit.

The Dream was lost because we allowed our government and its institutions to corral us with two things—our own greed… and fear.

Well, Mr. Bing, let the whole thing come crashing down now. I am not afraid. I will get by and so will those closest to me. And I think that is the basic message that you are hearing from the hinterlands. Perhaps there is anger in the words you hear, but it is probably because people are tired of being braced with a new fear every other day. They are saying “Enough!”

Nature eventually levels out its own imbalances. There is a good argument to be made that humans are outside of nature, but I’ll save that commentary for some other time… someone else’s blog. Yet even in our unnatural human condition, accounts eventually have to be balanced.

Or as my grandfather might have said, “The chickens always come home to roost.”

Hey, Rich from NY, I think you can note from the amount of comments on this site — many of whom disagree with me and some of whom tell me, “your a moron” — that I publish just about every comment that’s not completely profane. I also stay away from stuff that insults individuals ad hominem, or threatens non-cartoon violence to anybody who isn’t completely fictional. I don’t remember your original comment. But if I deleted it, it was probably because it was even more egregiously hostile than the one I published today. I’ll leave it up, just to show you I’m not a completely hypocrite.

Action is what made this country. Patriotism requires action. To hesitate and wait on the beach, that’s not you, Bing, and it’s not what made America. it ain’t gonna’ come out exactly the way any of us want it to be; let’s get it done with the best minds in the country driving it – the Paulsons, Dimons, Welchs -, move forward and keep commerce moving. We all have BIG shoulders.

I’m not angry. I guess I’m just really skeptical. I live within my means and my mortgage is about the only debt I have. I’m fairly young, so I’m not too concerned about my 401(k). Even if my husband and I lost our jobs, we have significant savings and cushion. So, I’m not scared about the markets crashing or credit freezing.

Without the slightest bit of anger I say, bless those Wall streeters hearts. What they need is a good kick in the pants.

Bing:
Back in the days when you first started writing for Fortune Magazine, I did no liked your “stuff”. Now I do, you are getting better as time goes by, great article, keep’em coming. Great analysis. Thank you.

Look, I’m too busy walking my own tightrope. Getting angry won’t pay my bills and even I fell getting angry won’t help me to get back on my feet one more time. I know it’s tough, it’s unfair, it’s even repulsive everything around us but no matter what the future holds for all of us one thing is for sure: The end of the world is not coming…at least for now. Lol!

Bing,

Great point on how events tend to reinforce our views. In defense of the stubborn, I’d have to say we’ve seen this happen before. We’ve seen credit bubbles burst. Financial sectors have blown up in this and other countries. Thank goodness for cable news, we’d probably still fighting over Grok’s fabulous flint tool bubble of -’08. It’s not surprising that when one side starts spreading emotion, fear, it’s met by the other side spreading anger.

I personally don’t think another 700 billion is going to do much but prolong the inevitable. The problems we are facing in the credit crisis aren’t new or even unexpected. 24 years ago, when I was eating beans and dressed my children at the Goodwill store to get through college, an aquaintance ran her charge cards up to the tipping point. So she did the sane thing to do. She took several great trips, bought all new furniture, and a new wardrobe for both her and her daughter. Then she filed for bankruptcy. Suprise Suprise, she kept her house, car, had her charge cards back in 6 months and was able to start the process all over again. This story should end with a great moral lesson on how my wisdom and thrift paid off, however, now I’m expected to pick up the tab for all of these idiots. Maybe I was the true sucker. At least she could live the life for a while.

Bing,
Bob from Deer Park is exactly right. What is going to change if this bill passes? Nothing. And where is this $700B coming from? A printing press? Like Congress just has it sitting around collecting dust?

How is it that someone gets elected to Washington and they end up being a millionaire? How does that happen on their salaries? Washington is a joke. Both parties need axed. They have no clue about middle America and they don’t care. Sen. Dodd was the biggest winner in the Freddie Mac debacle. Is he coming out saying he is wrong? Of course not. They never admit they are wrong. We are tired of the lies, the greed, the scandals and the outright inability to get our finances in order in Washington. They want to blame each other and then court us as if we are stupid.

We are through with them on Capitol Hill. Wall Street will pay because they have to in the end. But those in office who are supposed to take with them morals and a hold their offices and what they do for a living in high esteem need a dose of voter backlash. I can’t wait for the Libertarian, Green and Constitution parties to start to take over Washington.

Sure I’m angry! I realize that the financial bailout is needed, but my anger overides my common sense.

Why? Because I’m fed up with the lack of ethics of those in the financial and governmental systems that put us here. It’s been building up for the longest time. Remember Junk Bonds? Remember the Savings & Loan Crisis? Remember Enron? Worldcomm?

We were told that deregulation was good for the economy. Perhaps, but only if those in charge had the ethical grounding so that they self-regulated themselves. Instead, they took massive liberties that have placed us in this financial crisis.

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address said, “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Sadly, it appears that it has, because those in government postions listen more to the corporations and special interest groups than their own constituents, so that it is now a “government of the corporation, by the corporation, for the corporation”.

You said that, “we can all wake up and see upon what beach this wave of ire has delivered us, see how many innocent have been washed away with the guilty.”. Are any of us truly innocent? Aren’t we guilty because we let the control of the government be taken away so that we are now ruled from Wall St. and Washington? Because we allowed ourselves to be lulled by promises of safety and luxury, instead of safeguarding our rights and liberties?

I can only hope that your “wave of ire” will cause some fundamental changes at the highest levels.

But I seriously doubt it.

‘I’m mad as Hell and I’m not going to take it any more!”

Sounds like a great line for a movie.

It seems like every 10-20+ years there is an economic/financial shake up. I hope this all leads to a better firmer future for us. AHH, who am I trying to fool… this is America. We will be right back to this kind of crisis in 10-20 years from now.

Your emotions and assumptions about other people have really filtered your view. Since you have opinions that stem from emotion, you shouldnt assume that others emotions and reactions are not stemming from rationally formed opinions. True not everyone thinks LIKE you. Also true is not everyone bases their emotional replies the same way you do. Your assumptions of how others think is a mirror to you. I am very angry at the government, but my emotion drives 0% of the rational thought that resulted in it.

One of the reasons I like reading your blog is that sometimes I happen upon a kindred spirit. I think I’ve found a couple of kindred spirits in Robert from Seattle and Eric from Portland.

I’m not so much angry as I am resigned to the fact that American capitalism has been hopelessly messed up by people who would, if they had any honor, find a way to open those sealed windows and practice their high dives. I’m resigned to the fact that, because of this massive FUBAR, times are going to be pretty tough for most people for potentially a very long time. It’s going to happen because we have allowed the system to become one built on mountains of debt and thin air, rather than quality products of some use to society.

I’m going to do okay during the coming downtime, and I’ll do everything I can to help those I care about survive, too. We’re not in a violent revolution, yet; but we’re in a bit of a war. A war for the soul of this nation, democracy, and capitalism in general. There is going to be some collateral damage in this war, just like any war. There will be some innocents wash up on the beach, and that will be very sad.

On the other hand, there will be heroes emerge. People who have some integrity and a sense of right and wrong and aren’t out just to screw the other guy. People like Robert’s grandfather. Most heroes like that emerge and are appreciated only when the need arises to stand up to the bullies who try to run our lives. We’re here to tell those bullies that they cannot, will not, and do not run our lives.

Societal collapse? Well . . . when the society becomes a cancer, it needs to collapse. The ruined society has to collapse before a better one can rise up. I don’t fear the collapse of a corrupt society, I look forward to it.

My thoughts echo many others. You’re right I am fuming mad. I have lived within my means and educated myself so I would make good fiscal decisions. Now we bail out those who chose not to.

I say let those companies fail and send those folks to the street. There are enough smaller players to pick up the pieces. Good riddance to the people who rub each others backs for millions of bucks. The good ‘ole boy network is alive and well – if they are sent to the streets in shame perhaps it would permanently break up their little club.

I am angry too. To think that my hard earned money is going to be used to bail out companies with no remorse for their reckless behavior.

I don’t believe we have the option of doing nothing. But it would make me feel a lot better if there were criminal investigations of some of these guys. The ones who knew exactly what could happen. Someone (many someone’s) need to go to jail for their part in this mess. If we have to bail them out and no one goes to jail, what lesson has been learned. They will just do it again. I would like to think that some of them are ashamed of what they have done and all that has fallene because of it. But I am not naive enough to believe that they do. Again if we have to pay for their mistakes, so should they. Jail!

Angry? Wait and see when the next catastrophe (CDS) comes to a “theatre near you”. Not even The National Guard will stop the unrest out of the anger that it’ll generate this crash.

Amazing seems to be a better word than anger for this $700 billion give away.

Congress made Philip Morris and Big Oil testify in Congressional hearings.

To date the NYSE, NASQD, CBOT, etc. has not been called upon for Congressional hearings. Their silence is deafening.

Are Bernanke and Paulson representing the whole financial system? No critics allowed?

McCain said he would fire Cox, Chairman SEC.

Obama charges special interests for for the financial collapse.

Michael Douglas, in Wall Street, said greed is good.

Are the the fundemental principles that Capitalists through out the World live by–burn the Rain Forests of “LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL”?

Totally amazing! Duh?

Bing, I just want to say thanks man, I have been an avid fan of your writing for a while as you may have noticed. I have been angered by you before, but I am constantly floored by your coolness and wit, and many full bellied laughs that lightens the load of my day as i read your blog. And I wouldn’t worry about Rich, the dork can’t even type his own name. Or maybe his parents didn’t give him the benefit of having a vowel in his name.

Very thoughtful and reflective. Keep up the good work.

Here is an interesting thought. Instead of giving the 700Billion to the executives (who will probably give themselves another huge bonus), how about we divide it up among the 200 Million adults in this country. That would be 3,500 each. Now that would pay a few mortgages for a few months. If it is a married couple that is 7,000. I tell you, I could sure use it. Forget the little drab $600 they gave us. That won’t even cover a mortgage payment. Forget Trickle down economics. How about trickle up economics. Oh yeah, I forgot….our great and wonderful godlike politicians don’t give a rat’s a__ about us. Well, November is coming. Say goodbye Countrywide DODD and goodbye Personal Jet Pilosi…..

Great post from Robert in Seattle. My parents and grandparents came from the same generation… the greatest generation who lived through The Great Depression and World War II. Thank-you for putting it all in perspective.

Well, the House just passed the bill. For all of our sakes, I hope this is the nut.

Between the time the bill is signed into law and the spigots are opened to Main St, there are going to be a lot of new jobs created managing that money in DC. I intend to take one of them.

From your lips to God’s ears, Ivan. Good luck.

Anger is for losers.

Get smart and take action. Being angry is not motivation for anything other than playing blame games and making excuses.

I am laughing my head off at all of the gloom-and-doom talk I hear. There is mad money to be had if only people would take action. This bailout is not going to solve any problems. It is not intended to do anything. But the money handed out can be converted from cash into other valuable assets.

If you are angry, you will suffer. If you are smart, you will succeed.

My neighbor plans to walk away from his mortgage because he’s getting a divorce and is under water on the loan. Or, he might wait for the government to reprice his house and adjust the mortgage to the new value. This is a guy who has all the latests toys, boats, on and on. I always thought his family made less than our family. Something didn’t make sense.

I’m the guy who has a lot of equity in my house. I save a lot into retirement accounts (because just the 401K isn’t enough), don’t have a flashy car, boat or other toys. With the drop in the markets and housing I have less equity, less retirement funds and still no fancy stuff. I’d like the government to reprice my house and pay me the equity I’ve lost. Yeah, right!

Looks like he had it right. When society goes soooo far to help those who over extended themselves, it creates a lot of anger for those who “did it the right way”. Effectively, the people who overspent took money from those of us who didn’t.

This whole thing just doesn’t make sense – if you abuse the system you get more than you deserve, but if you play by the rules you lose and you’re a sucker.

Yeah, I’m angry.

Why does Stanley Bing say that Republicans have controlled all three branches of government for most of the past 30 years? They controlled the executive branch occasionally, but rarely Congress. Was it a typo or did I incorrectly read the statement?