Um. Okay. No bailout for now.

[xiphias]

So, the House Republicans -- as well as a pretty good number of House Democrats -- have rejected the bailout plan.

I have absolutely no idea if this is a good thing or a bad thing. None whatsoever.

In general, though, if this means that they have to go back and put together a new plan that actually has THOUGHT behind it, one that they can EXPLAIN to people, I suspect that would be a good thing. I was uncomfortable with the "AAAGHHH! PASS THIS BILL NOW SKY FALLING EMERGENCY DANGER WILL ROBINSON GIVE US MONEY THIS SECOND" thing.

I could very well be wrong. Maybe I ought to be buying a shotgun and rifle and stocking up on canned goods -- I have no idea.

. . . I kinda want a .22 bolt action rifle, anyway . . .

Comments

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

Um, 10% of my retirement savings gone in the last year? And that's with a fairly conservative investment strategy.

However, I tend to be a "bite the bullet" kind of person. Sooner or later we're going to have to deal with our national credit addiction, and it's not going to be pretty no matter when we do it.

I guess it comes down to whether you prefer boom today or boom tomorrow. Because, sooner or later, boom.[1]

[1] For values of "boom" approximating the Great Depression.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

Gone? Or gone on paper? I don't retire for 20 years or more. I stuck 75% of my retirement money in low risk stuff a while ago to minize the bust. It'll even out in the recovery. Before the crash, I didn't have the money for 20 years, I still don't have the money for 20 years. If I were retiring soon, I'd be a lot more worried.



Is the scale of "boom" a constant? In my experience, it's not. When boom becomes inevitable, it gets bigger over time. Does putting it off make it go away, or does it just make it happen later and worse?

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

Gone as in gone. Can I make enough profit on my remaining investments to end up as well off at retirement as I would have been without the loss? Unlikely at best.

I tend to agree with you re the scale of boom.