But back to Mr. Obama and his plan to bail people out of mortgages that many had no business taking on in the first place: He’s making a lot of us who bought homes we could afford — rather than homes that put us on the financial edge — look like complete chumps, has-beens and idiots.

His plan would take billions of taxpayer dollars and give them to banks and investors so they could lower borrowers’ interest rates and make other changes to the terms of their home loans. This is exactly the sort of thing that I worried about when Obama talked to us about being our “brother’s keeper” in his convention acceptance speech. His plan will teach people to be even more irresponsible with money; to acquire more and more and more because the threat of failure is getting lower and lower.

Complete CHUMPS!

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the companies had made business decisions “over the years that have led to this situation, but we have gone as far as we can with the authority Congress has given in order to help industries.”

While companies like Toyota and Honda were spending money on R&D for efficient, hybrid cars, Detroit was spending money on Hummers and gas guzzling trucks.

Now they want help because they made some stupid choices over the years. And to top it off, the freakin Dems are pushing for this bailout. This, on top of the news that the Wallstreet companies that received bailout money continue to spend on huge bonuses. In fact, news came out that AIG, which recently asked for more bailout money, spent $343,000 for a two day “sales meeting” at luxury resort in Arizona:

The company had already been under criticism for spending $440,000 for a weeklong retreat in California for top-performing insurance agents, just days after the U.S. government stepped in to save the company with a $85 billion taxpayer-funded loan.

But on Monday, ABC News reported on an AIG sales meeting at a luxury resort in Phoenix last week that cost $343,000.

“AIG made significant efforts to disguise the conference, making sure there were no AIG logos or signs anywhere on the property.

“An AIG spokesperson said there were no AIG markers in order to minimize signage costs and to lower the company’s profile.

“A hotel employee told (ABC), ‘We can’t even say the word (AIG).’”

Write to your representive in Congress and tell them NO MORE TAXPAYER FUNDED BAILOUTS!

We’ve reached a situation of sheer panic

hundreds of hedge funds are going to go bust

We’re seeing the beginning of a run on a big chunk of the hedge funds

don’t be surprised if policy makers need to close down markets for a week or two in coming days

This is the worst financial crisis in the U.S., Europe and now emerging markets that we’ve seen in a long time

Things will get much worse before they get better. I fear the worst is ahead of us.

Read more from the RGE Monitor.

Some Chicago economists are leading an opposition movement to get lawmakers to consider other options.

Two economists lead the opposition movement, one from the University of Chicago, the other from Northwestern University. And Thursday their concerns were brought into the White House meeting.

Senator Richard Shelby went to the White House armed with a letter. The letter is signed by 200 economists, including three Nobel Prize winners, and warns Congress not to back the bailout.

Why:

Its ambiguity: Very short on specifics and oversight, they say.

Its fairness: Because taxpayer’s will be subsidizing the risk investors “chose” to take.

And it’s long-term effects: The economists say paying for it will take a generation

“Ben Bernanke likes to say there are no atheists in fox holes, well General Bernanke just called in from the fox hole and said we want a nuclear strike. It’s that radical and we’re going ‘is it really that bad?’” said John Cochrane, finance professor, University of Chicago

The Democrats should be right along with this as well. I understand something must be done to keep credit flowing within the banking system. But people should also be held accountable for their mistakes. Why should we as taxpayers, who pay their mortgages, bills, and taxes on time be forced to bail out folks who gambled?

And they just built a WaMu location a block away from me, set to open next month.

Under Paulson’s draft plan, Congress and the courts would have been barred from reviewing or challenging his moves to stabilize financial markets — effectively making him the nation’s economic czar. That’s not just a dangerous power grab for economic and politic reasons. It’s unconstitutional.

So basically, this man is looking for $700 Billion in taxpayer money, to do whatever he thinks is right, without anyone having the ability to review or question his plan and whatever else he does with the money. ARE YOU FREAKIN” NUTS?!? This is just as bad as giving the President the blank check for the Iraq War! They’re looking for another blank check. I hope and pray this proposal does not go through and sensible minds prevail in Congress. Don’t get pushed and bullied into approving this plan.

And yet the folks that caused this mess, the CEOs and managers and those that made the loans, all go away scott free with their golden parachutes. Anybody who knowingly made loans to people who they knew wouldn’t be able to afford them, should be going to jail. Period.

Why were all these people able to do what the did? The answer is Deregulation. If you have some time, here’s a good writeup on the history of this mess.

Here’s a good retrospective analysis on how we got here.

Stop the housing bailout!!

Bear Stearns is too important to allow to fail, but millions of homeowners can end up on the street when home prices plummet sharply. The Wall Street holders of overvalued mortgage pools are too important to fail, but homeowners drowning in debt are told to keep paying not matter what.

And Gretchen Morgenson, in the NYTimes, opines on how the Fed bailout of Bear Stearns, “Crosses a Line”.

And as Paul Krugman writes in the NYtimes:

Bear, in other words, deserved to be allowed to fail — both on the merits and to teach Wall Street not to expect someone else to clean up its messes.