The Bailout Hurry-Up

By Jill Kuraitis, 9-30-08

CNN pundits have just explained how some in Congress think the bailout plan should be “sold properly” so the American people will better understand, and suck it up when some version of the proposal passes.

Go slap yourselves – not us - in the face, you condescending cretins.

While it’s true that many find the economics of the bailout either mysterious or impenetrable, and failure to pass some sort of rescue may have shocking results for Americans, people are not buying the hurry-upness of what sounds like excuses for the excesses of the very rich.

Hmm.  Do you remember being rushed down a dark, deep path before?  The one that started out lined with patriotic pillars of strength which fell when they turned out to be made of crumbling Iraqi sand?

The Silicon Valley newspaper The Mercury News editorialized,

“In their haste to appease foreign markets and Wall Street, the Bush administration and congressional leaders on Sunday cobbled together a 110-page proposal and then demanded that the House approve it Monday, virtually sight unseen. That left no time to gauge the reaction of the American people. No time to sell reluctant House Democrats and Republicans on the virtues of the plan. And no time to adequately consider alternatives — small or large.”

“That’s no way to sell a mammoth bailout that may cost the equivalent of total expenditures on the Iraq war to date. It’s no wonder the American people are furious with Washington.”

One more time:  it’s not the selling; it’s the “time to adequately consider alternatives.”

Ordinary people know that decisions made in haste are often blunders. We learn from the simplest decisions, like impulsively buying a sweater on sale only to find it’s too itchy to wear.  When we’re hit with overdraft charges, we quickly figure out we flushed money down the loo. We learn to manage our family money after too much impulsive credit card use turns out to be a money pit. If we don’t, we know we should – and we know why.

The thing is, some of us don’t think Wall Street even knew they should.  Or if they did, they fraudulently went on doing it anyway. 

Mr. President, Congress:  Keep your pants on.  You’ve rushed us before and we got tragedy. We’ve given you blank checks and you’ve squandered them.  We’ve supported you and you voted with the lobbyists anyway. There have been crises before and you went on another vacation.

Some of us support some kind of bailout, and some of us don’t.  But - tell us again why we should agree to hurry up?