bailout

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Unfortunately, our Glorious Leader decided to get rid of alot of the regulation surrounding the economy... safeguards against collapse that FDR put in during the Great Depression that served us fine until they were removed...

No I'm not. The point of that post was to highlight that the system is not pure unadulterated capitalism. Some arguments, here, seem to be based on the premise it is, and that the government is not already actively involved in manipulating things. Clearly that premise is flawed.

You are right, the government is already manipulating things, and I would argue that the manipulation is part of the problem and lessening it would make for a better long-run solution.

Sure. Okay. That's fair that more people shouldn't lose their retirement.

I would back this bail out if there was some contingency for accountability here as well. Where has this gone wrong exactly? Who is accountable? The people standing on top of these corporate pyramids... these men and women in charge of making these decisions that caused this mess, seem to be walking out of this with a proverbial Get Out of Jail Free card. Where are the consequences for them?

Stick and carrot. Human behavior. Nothing will be fixed long term if no one pays for what has happened. That, and psychologically the American populace is crying for blood on this. People are watching everything they worked for disappear. They... We... are angry and looking for someone to blame. The problem with this is that most people want their pound of flesh right now, and won't be willing to wait for this tangled mess to get sorted out to figure out who really messed this up. And even less willing to accept that a large portion of this accountability will fall squarely on the shoulders on the millions of individualistically minded, greedy members of the currently aggrieved middle class that were just trying to 'play the game' and 'get ahead.' In so doing they engaged in behavior themselves that was risky and immoral because that is the way that the game is played, and has been for as long as most of us can remember.

I would also require that there is some promise of a long term overhaul of our economy as well.

The fear (for me anyway) is that this 'bail-out' is just a band-aid solution that is going to cost the average person even more money, while the government in the end does nothing at all to fix the long term problems.

So, we fork over alot of cash on a solution that isn't going to work anyway because in the end it is just a salve put in place to ease the public fear temporarily while the big dogs walk away scott free. The government doesn't follow up, or through with any long term solutions and the already financially staggering 'average citizen' crumbles under an additional tax burden while they try to survive in a broken financial system.

Who comes out on top of that mess I wonder?

Is your retirement all in AIG stock?? Or in a diversified retirement plan that AIG manages? If it is only in stock, you are right to worry. But if it is a 401k plan that AIG ran, you still own the stocks and bonds in that portfolio - you have no protection if the stock prices go up or down, but there is some legal protection to prevent AIG from selling what is yours.

It is a tax-defered annunity invested in mutual funds.

The US Senate just passed a $634 Billion spending bill
for President Bush to sign.

I don't know if this is related to the bailout, but let's hope not.

"WASHINGTON - Automakers gained $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans and oil companies won elimination of a long-standing ban on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as the Senate passed a sprawling spending bill Saturday.

"The 78-12 vote sent the $634 billion measure to President Bush, who was expected to sign it even though it spends more money and contains more pet projects than he would have liked.

"The measure is needed to keep the government operating beyond the current budget year, which ends Tuesday. As a result, the legislation is one of the few bills this election year that simply must pass. Bush's signature would mean Congress could avoid a lame-duck session after the Nov. 4 election."

Meanwhile...

"WASHINGTON - Congressional leaders said Saturday they hoped to reach an agreement on a multibillion-dollar bailout plan for the financial sector before the markets open Monday, even if House and Senate votes would come later.

"'The goal is to come up with a final agreement by tomorrow,' Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said during an unusual weekend session of Congress. 'We may not be able to do that, but we're trying very hard.'

"He said he hoped for an announcement by 6 p.m. EDT Sunday, just hours before the Asian markets open again. 'Everybody is waiting for this thing to tip a little bit too far,' he said, so 'we may not have another day.'"