digg

Spend. Spend. Spend.

Bush. Hillary. McCain. Obama. All the same in this direction.

By bailing out homeowners, you are bailing out people who overextended themselves and indirectly banks who should have known better.

it’s so nice to hear flatulent options from the inexperienced and uninformed. How nice of you to vow to give back what was mine in the first place. My savior.

Look, I'm probably going to vote for Obama, but for the love of God, more regulation and more "stimulus" packages is not what we need. I think Senator Obama is, at times, very good on the issue of foreign policy. I think he sometimes sees the U.S. military as a world police force, but on the whole, he doesn't support aggressive wars of conquest and he's for the civil liberties afforded to us in the Constitution, so that gets my vote for now.

The stimulus package that he's talking about does NOT create more wealth! In fact, all it does is speed up inflation, which is the systematic destruction of wealth, especially that of the middle and lower classes. Please, my liberal friends, focus on this issue. It can't be overstated enough. Printing money destroys everyone but the upper class because the inflation caused by an increase in the money supply sucks the wealth out of the hands of people holding cash and into the hands of those who invest to beat inflation or those who are given the money (in this case the government).

Inflation is the most "regressive" tax in existence.

"Sometimes the phone rings at 3 a.m. in the White House and it's an economic crisis"

I am so tired of hearing about a phone at 3 a.m. Everyone knows crisis' are afraid of the dark.

sounds good to me, print more money to fix the economy...

I need more stimulus

It was government intervention (via the Fed) that caused the dot com boom and bust, and government intervention that caused the housing boom and bust, now the government is CREATING money to bail out the rich banks that made bad investment decisions as the expense of us all (inflation).
Why does Obama think more government intervention in the economy will help when history tells us the opposite is true? Does he really think he can get it right when so many have failed before him? Government is the wrong tool when it comes to solving problems like this, but it is really good at causing them. People need to learn their lesson, if you can't pay it back, don't borrow it. Same with banks - if the borrower cannot pay it back, do not lend it buy the risk.
History tells us that the economy is like the eco system, it is best LEFT ALONE

He's a good speechmaker, but the government shouldn't be bailing out homeowners or lenders. They signed contracts knowing full well what they were getting into. There is no reason why we should carry out any bailout in the face of an economic downturn, budget deficit, and looming national debt. The "rebate" checks sent out a few weeks ago were just repayment of interest-free loans to the government to back a whole host of bad ideas: the Iraq war, unrestrained entitlement spending, etc. I'm not sure why he chose to attack McCain, the only candidate in the race (aside from Ron Paul) who has attacked government spending and taxation as the cause of most of our problems, rather than the solution. I will not vote for McCain, but if Obama is looking for ways to fix our economy our broken tax system and perverse incentives to keep borrowing money abroad should be near the top of the priority list.

Hurry, let's praise king Obama for promising to spend more of our money on people that shouldn't have bought homes!

We almost made it a day without an "OMG Obama talked" article!

More open dollars with 0 value. Gotta love government bail/hand outs. Way to go barry

Its the God Damn Economy! Amen...

I'm HIV positive that legal reform to prevent the sort of shady business practices that allow one to get into this mess in the first place are the way to go.

Not only is Obama adressing the current problem, but he is pointing to the future to prevent this sort of bubble based economic crisis. It shows an understanding of economic principle that none of the other candidates have shown us yet.

Relief for homeowners???? An additional $30 billion stimulus package?? Welcome to the U.S.S.A!

Congrats, this is the first Obama article I've seen where all the comments praising him are in the negatives. It looks like the economy doom and gloomers may have surpassed the Obama folks in dedication.

“Sometimes the phone rings at 3 a.m. in the White House and it’s an economic crisis,” - Hillary
Does it ever ring during the day? Are all these crisis' saved until 3am?

Why is Hilary still mentioning 3AM *****? It's 3AM and John McCain doesn't know ***** about the economy, etc etc?

It just amazes me the morons in this country are still buying it.

Wow, regulate wall street. Sure that will work and knowing that Goldman Sachs is a main contributor, it will be enough regulation that investors will make zero and they will make plenty (by pushing fees from regulation to customers/investors--look at Sarbanes-Oxley). +1 for sachs. And a $30billion stimulus will go as fast to corporations with little impact to us. What happened to JFK-like sweeping policies?

As for HRC's plan--At least she's addressing WORKER REFORM/RETRAINING and education--people "themselves" are the "raw materials" of this economy and I'd rather invest in people.

Obama wants to bail out all the morons.

He's buying votes just like Thaksin did in Thailand by promising property and money to the poor.

You signed the mortgage papers? You're responsible, nuff said.

I know everyone on Digg is an economic "expert" as soon as they enter the comments, but some of you need to realize that there is a difference between theory and reality. In theory everyone is good and always honest, markets function properly and there's no need for the Federal Reserve. Banks don't make bad loans with mal-intent, and all borrowers act completely rationally and in-step with economic theory. Those who overextend themselves should sink, and under no circumstance should we ever bail out either them or a large corporate entity like a bank, least of all with tax payer coin.

One problem. ***IN THEORY***

The reality is we are faced with a very different kind of reality. Theory is helpful, but creating policy as a result of theory is a poor decision. When so much of the economy dependent on human emotion and irrational behavior, things like consumer and investor confidence can make more of a difference in determining overall economic well-being than theory ever could. Bailing out institutions like Bear Sterns is vital—absolutely vital—to everyone's well being. Granted, some benefit more than others, and so that's an issue of equity, but letting them fail would have been bad for everyone.

It's the same thing with homeowners. It doesn't much matter anymore how people go into these loans—whether it was through shading lending practices or their own willful ignorance. If it had only been a few, it wouldn't be an issue and we could go ahead and blame whoever we wanted and move on without paying them any attention. But it wasn't. Millions of people are affected by this, and making sure we try to ride this out as best as possible is vital. Ignoring it completely isn't going to help the value of the dollar in the magical ways that some of you think it will.

Ironically Yours,
Ralph

Yes, another $600 stimulus credit is really gonna help on regaining $50,000 loss in home value...

The banks should not have been giving out loans to people that cannot afford them and people should not have been buying houses they cannot afford. We should not have to pay for their mistakes through higher taxes so let them reap the consequences of their actions.

Let the hard working honest Americans keep the money in their paycheck rather than bail out these clowns.

The complete ignorance of all things economic on Digg astounds me. Every comment on this page makes this economic student lapse further into depression.

Bush is the right-wing, lift taxes, cut social programs president. Clinton and FDR are the crazy liberal "communist", social programs presidents. Notice how our economy revives and thrives under certain types of policies, and withers and dies under yours.

Quick! Let's bailout a big investment bank and teach the market a big lesson: Take on as much risk as possible... if it turns sour, Uncle Sam'll bail you out!

I wish I was less responsible so the government would pay for my house. I think the banks should take it in the ass, you don't give a door greeter at Wall-mart a $600k home loan... I saw this crap coming as did allot of educated people. If you are looking for a house now is the time to buy. I just refinanced from 6.5% fixed to 5.4%. Do it before the rate goes up to pay for said door greeters house.

That was an interesting speech, but it shows that the man is fundamentally incompetent to make economic policy. He doesn't know much about actual American history much less the actual effects of past government policies on the economy.

What he describes as "the free market guided by a higher principle" is the very essence of fascism. It's not a "brand" of Capitalism at all. It's the same old Progressive revisionist schtick.

Minoritarian socialism with a friendly face.

the only reason he's liked is because he is able to deliver emotionally charged speeches

Back in the old days we used to call this, "Buying Votes."

"Don't worry that you bought houses you couldn't afford with loans you didn't understand! Your neighbors don't mind paying for your bad decisions! Sure, the bankers who made the loans weren't as uneducated and ignorant as you, but do they really deserve to suffer, either? Let's just go ahead and cut everyone a check..."

“I’m from the government and I’m here to help."

That's essentially the message OHB and HRC are sending & I'm sure a few people here will recognize where that quote originated.

I just can't believe this thread. Bloody morons. Yes, people should not get mortgages which they can't afford. But, in all honesty, there are a lot of people that are uneducated that were talked into getting their mortgage. Who's fault is that? Of course, they have responsibility to what they can afford. But you all know what kind of pressure is placed on people by these salesmen. It is immense. It is immoral. It is wrong. People should not be victimized by this. Put mis-selling should be a crime with a proper punishment. Not only the incividual but primaraly the company they represent.
/rant
I have a subprime mortgage myself - and I knowingly went into it. I know the risks, I know I have to pay half my salary to my mortgage. It is my choice, and I fully aware of the consequences. I like that choice.
I am also convinced some families were being lured into a false security - 'house prices will increase' 'think of what you will be earning in 5 years time' etc. And I even can't condemn salespeople all that much as they have to tread the company line. So waht to do? In an ideal world, everything would be in the open without prejudice.
Wake up, it is not an ideal world. Wrong decisions will be made. But it is a crime if you seduce someone willingly into a financial commitment you KNOW they cannot maintain.
I blame the company policies for this and the lack of monitoring of their behaviour.

i would to take this opportunity to be delighted beyond words to here the internet reaching out and saying obama's bailout plan is a load of bull