If you think this bailout is expensive, just wait until you see the next one.
The $700 billion rescue plan approved by the U.S. Senate won’t fix the core problem with the nation’s ailing financial institutions. And it almost guarantees that you and I will have to pony up for an even costlier bailout someday….
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has correctly identified the quandary: Lots of shaky banks and insurance companies are showing strangely high values for assets that aren’t worth squat in the market. Many need more capital and can’t raise it. And he’s right in saying the outlook is grim if we don’t get this fixed.
What’s stunning is how little the taxpayers would get in return for their money under Paulson’s package, and how illusory much of the banks’ newly minted capital would be.
[i]If you think this bailout is expensive, just wait until you see the next one.[/i]
That reminds me of a poster I saw recently:
Government:
If you think the problems we create are bad
Just wait until you see our solutions!
[i](courtesy of despair {dot} com)[/i]