Why the Bailout is so Unpopular

npts2020 · October 2, 2008

In nearly 40 years of following politics I have never seen a populace more opposed to anything the government was doing than the current financial institution bailout plan (not Viet Nam, Iraq, Watergate, or even Guantanamo Bay). My personal opinion is that the American public realizes they are not being dealt with in an honest manner, even if they dont understand the intricacies of the problem. Economists can't come to a consensus about what to do,either. You have well respected and knowledgable economists weighing in at every point from total bailout and control by the gov to doing nothing at all. Without knowing anything else, you have two "experts" telling opposite things, one says cough up large amounts of your money to help "the system" out, the other says save your own money "the system" is a black hole that needs fundamental changing before investing in it. Add to that the people arguing for the first option claim it really isn't a bailout but what else do you call giving money to someone in financial trouble who has exhausted all other means of paying off their debts? Who are you going to listen to? The problem for the politicos is that dipping into peoples pockets is one of the few things that government does that gets the attention of a large segment of the electorate. If the house goes along with the senate bill before the election, look to see as many as 100 or more new representatives come January, unfortunately they will still be mostly democrats and republicans.

**ecoli** · October 2, 2008

the bailout is unpopular because it doesn't solve the fundamental problems that caused the financial crises in the first place.

It's like putting a really expensive, high quality band aid on a tumor. The politicians can make it look like their doing something, while not actually solving anything (and maybe making the situation worse in the long run).

This is done by creating more inflation and debt which contributed to the original problem.