Rudd: Extreme Capitalism needs balance

[mrstickball]

donathos said:

Rath said:

mrstickball said:
We don't need more laws. We need smarter laws that are enforced properly.

Wall street screwed up. Guess what? They should be out the most money. Banks screwed up. They shouldn't of got a 'get out of jail free' card from Uncle Sam.

Where's my bailout when I decide that I bought too much Taco Bell and didn't have enough gas money to get home from work?

Thats a very stupid analogy. You not getting home from work isn't going to cause the entire financial system to collapse.

Er... if his not getting home from work would cause the entire financial system to collapse, then it wouldn't be an analogy at all.  It would be the thing itself.

An analogy is a comparison of unlike things; that's, in fact, the very point to comparison.  And while personal financial decisions (like Taco Bell) might not cause the country's markets to fall... they could destroy a family's budget.  And, in that way, be analogous.

His point is that, when people make bad decisions, they ought to be the ones to suffer for it.  And you might disagree with that.  But I think his analogy was fine.

The only way to get out of the crisis is for the banks to start lending normally again, thats not going to happen if all the banks are bankrupted because of the crisis.

I'm honestly not sure how to get out of the crisis.  Actually... I suspect that no one really knows.

However, I'm not sure what "lending normally again" means here.  Frankly, I'm a little ignorant of this whole affair... but wasn't part of the problem too much easy credit?

Thank you, donathos. That was the point I was attempting to make.

My analogy is this: If I make a dumb decision (buy something I may not need) and suffer for it (run out of gas) I do not get bailed out for it. You may argue that my dumb decision wouldn't bankrupt the system, but no single action in this whole mess ever bankrupted the system, either.

In fact, the system is in the mess it is not because of one decision, but tens of thousands (if not millions) of homebuyers & credit card holders making dumb decisions - putting meaningless things (Taco Bell) before serious things (gas for work), and defaulted, causing the banks to hold toxic assets that won't be paid back. Because the banks hold such assets, they are being devalued since they....Aren't actually worth any value (too much liability by paying on things they've funded, with little income coming in from their investments).

And forgive me if I live by the idea that if debt got us into this mess, that more debt cannot get us out. We are only trading private debt for public debt. And both are still debt - We're just moving the burden from the irresponsible that caused the mess, onto the responsible that have funds still intact. I don't think that's a wise trade.

And I don't understand, Rath, if the banks went bankrupt because they were stupid....Why shouldn't they get hurt? Is our official motto being changed from 'Land of the free, home of the brave' to 'Get a handout, especially if your a retarded CEO'?