Joe Eifrid

Bailout: Reaching a Deal

We need this plan and we need it now. To think we don't is being very short sighted. The little guy is the one that benefits most from this bill. Oh, you think it is the mega-rich? Who do you think will be picking up these assets for pennies on the dollar after many of the little people have lost their homes and their jobs. Without this bill we risk any form of wealth in this country being redistributed to a wealthy collection of mostly foreign investors.

Maybe the assets of our banks will end up in the hands of those with links to Russian Oligarchs bought for a few pennies on the dollar? Look around you and look where the money is. So, what did we accomplish? We screwed the middle class, we expanded the lower class, and we upped the ante to join in the upper class.

You that think this bailout is un-American?...maybe unneeded in a free market? - you really need to look at the problem with more of an open mind.

Write your Congressman? I would bet that most here on theses boards saw the excesses and potential issues 2-3 years ago. I know I was writing about them in 2002. Why no calls complain about how things were too good - too good to be true before this mess blew up?

Greenspan said this in September of 2002;

"An example more immediate to current regulatory concerns is the issue of regulation and disclosure in the over-the-counter derivatives market. By design, this market, presumed to involve dealings among sophisticated professionals, has been largely exempt from government regulation. In part, this exemption reflects the view that professionals do not require the investor protections commonly afforded to markets in which retail investors participate. But regulation is not only unnecessary in these markets, it is potentially damaging, because regulation presupposes disclosure and forced disclosure of proprietary information can undercut innovations in financial markets just as it would in real estate markets.

All participants in competitive markets seek innovations that yield above-normal returns. In generally efficient markets, few find such profits. But those that do exploit such discoveries earn an abnormal return for doing so. In the process, they improve market efficiency by providing services not previously available.

He also said this in the same speech;
"No one can deny that fully informed market participants will generate the most efficient pricing of resources and the most efficient allocation of capital. Moreover, it could be argued that, if all information held by individual buyers or sellers became available to all participants, the pricing structure would more closely reflect the underlying balance of supply and demand. Thus full information would appear to be the unambiguous objective. But should it be?"

He argues against a well informed market and regulations that would make it more informed. Where was the outrage then?

I pray this bailout gets passed. It will save jobs, keep many in their homes, and especially guard against even more foreign financial influence in our great Country. We screwed up and must fix it now before we see even more harm to our economy and financial well being.

Joe Eifrid