Comments on: Why the 700B bail out failed http://www.datarave.net/zfh/2008/10/06/why-the-700b-bail-out-failed/ An open notebook Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:59:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ScottM http://www.datarave.net/zfh/2008/10/06/why-the-700b-bail-out-failed/comment-page-1/#comment-196 ScottM Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:54:18 +0000 http://www.datarave.net/zfh/?p=618#comment-196 I think you're right; I know I'm not an economist, but watching their disputes over the form the bailout has taken has been instructive. It sounds like there were a number of better/more effective plans that could have been selected if the goal was just to unfreeze the credit markets and capitalize banks. The worst part is that despite spending weeks and months propping up failing banks and arranging sweetheart deals, no one ever said, "Hey, this problem is big... maybe we should start drawing up legislation." Instead, everyone waited until the collapse was complete, then decided to solve the problem. Not exactly forward looking... I think you’re right; I know I’m not an economist, but watching their disputes over the form the bailout has taken has been instructive. It sounds like there were a number of better/more effective plans that could have been selected if the goal was just to unfreeze the credit markets and capitalize banks.

The worst part is that despite spending weeks and months propping up failing banks and arranging sweetheart deals, no one ever said, “Hey, this problem is big… maybe we should start drawing up legislation.” Instead, everyone waited until the collapse was complete, then decided to solve the problem. Not exactly forward looking…

]]>