Capital Commerce

Is Nationalization Better Than a Bailout?

By James Pethokoukis

Posted: September 30, 2008

When economists come up with their own rescue plans, they often model what happened in Sweden and Japan. The governments there bought into the banking system, as happened here with AIG. If the Paulson plan doesn't pass, we may get a lot more of that here. So if you are an economic conservative, you have to ask yourself: Which is the lesser of two evils?

JUST ADDING TO THAT MATH, AND THE 'EFFECT'.

A household/single = $2,295, and that's probably the equivalent of one month's expenses (with maybe $300 left over to 'spend' outside of their regular payments.

A household/married - just shy of $4600. This means if their one month's expenses are $2600, they've got $2,000 and will probably go out and buy a new HD-television; make a household purchase such as a new dining set or sofa. They might also use the money for the holiday season, or take a trip to get away for a few days.

While this would be a nice little 'boost', it's not going to RESCUE a single person from any financial mess they might be in.

Heck, they out to set up a 'Poor-Folks Wall-Street' - take all the bad assets; the questionable ones as well, and let every American BUY stock so they have equity in the 'crappy stuff' that the wealthy class want no part of. It's nothing more than 'penny stock' - don't require a broker; have no one be the middle-man, just 'buy direct' (using the I-net to make purchases would be a great feature and make it efficient as well).

I know I'd make a purchase, and I'm on fixed income/66 years of age. They might very well be pleasantly surprised to see that we old farts would cash in a couple CD's and treat this like a garage sale.

Way too many people are left out of the opportunity to make a stock purchase on Wall Street because too many don't understand all that much about how to get involved; few trust any broker, and hate paying brokerage fees. The nomenclature is confusing, but if we know we're already buy 'garbage', and believe we can turn it into something that makes a few dollars (none of us would be trying to become millionaires in short order), then I bet thousands/millions would venture out.

Diane of NV @ Sep 30, 2008 16:40:39 PM

Ironic Isn't It???

Strangely enough America seems to be in great conflict concerning our approach to life in general. We outsource our jobs but nationalize our financial markets, we contract our military activites yet insist upon a huge government bureaucracy with the Department of Homeland security. We cenounce brutal terrorists yet engage in torure. Now we are attemting to bailout our free-market economy with tax payer money which sort of negates the "FREE" in Free-Market. Whenever America wonders why the world is against us perhaps we can ponder our own contradictions as they are confusing at best!!!

Ray Fisher of NM @ Sep 30, 2008 12:59:03 PM

Better check the math...

"That sum ($750K-$1M each) in the hands of would actually cause an immediate spending frenzy."

Actually,

$700,000M/305M = $2,295 per person...

Tom of CA @ Sep 30, 2008 12:38:42 PM

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Capital Commerce

Capital Commerce

U.S. News business reporter Matthew Bandyk examines the issues, people, and debates that shape the nexus of political and economic life in the nation's capital.

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