donderdag 25 september 2008

Maarten Schinkel van de NRC 11

Net als economisch commentator van de NRC Maarten Schinkel probeert de Bush bende via het bespelen van de angst en ten koste van een volwassen democratische controle de speculanten te redden.

'A Frightened President Tries to Scare American Public on Bailout
Huffington Post, The Nation.com.



Bush seeks photo opportunities with Obama and McCain; McCain's bait and switch falls flat; Letterman mocks McCain's cancellation. A composite of a day and night of fast-breaking news from the Huffington Post's Jennifer Loven, The Nation's John Nichols and David Letterman.

The Speech -- Jennifer Loven

President Bush said Wednesday that lawmakers risk a cascade of wiped-out retirement savings, rising home foreclosures, lost jobs and closed businesses if they fail to act on a massive financial rescue plan. "Our entire economy is in danger," he said. "Without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic, and a distressing scenario would unfold," Bush said in a 12-minute prime-time address delivered from the White House East Room that he hoped would help rescue his tough-sell bailout package. "Ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession."
Said Bush: "We must not let this happen."
The unprecedented $700 billion bailout, which the Bush administration asked Congress last weekend to approve before it adjourns, is meeting with deep skepticism, especially from conservatives in Bush's own Republican Party who are revolting at the high price tag and massive private-sector intervention by government. Though there is general agreement that something must be done to address the spiraling economic problems, Bush has been forced to accept changes almost daily, based on demands from the Right and Left.
Seeking to explain himself to conservatives, Bush stressed that he was reluctant to put taxpayer money on the line to help businesses that had made bad decisions and that the rescue is not aimed at saving individual companies. He tried to address some of the major complaints from Democrats by promising that CEOs of failed companies won't be rewarded, while warning he would draw the line at regulations he determined would hamper economic growth.
"With the situation becoming more precarious by the day, I faced a choice: to step in with dramatic government action or to stand back and allow the irresponsible actions by some to undermine the financial security of all," Bush said.
The president tried to turn himself into an economics professor for much of the address, tracing the origins of the problem back a decade.
But while generally acknowledging risky and poorly thought-out financial decisions at many levels of society, Bush never assigned blame to any specific entity, such as his administration, the quasi-independent mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or the Wall Street firms that built rising profits on increasingly speculative mortgage-backed securities. Instead, he spoke in terms of investment banks that "found themselves saddled with" the toxic assets the government is now proposing to buy and banks that "found themselves" with questionable balance sheets.'


1 opmerking:

yelamdenu zei

Joh, dat soort dingen overkomen je gewoon. Zo heb je een gezond bedrijf, en zo zit je voor miljarden in de schulden. :-P
Je zou bijna denken dat Boesj het over een bijstandsmoeder met een gehandicapte zoon, een kapotte wasmachine en een huurachterstand heeft.

herman_m

Peter Flik en Chuck Berry-Promised Land

mijn unieke collega Peter Flik, die de vrijzinnig protestantse radio omroep de VPRO maakte is niet meer. ik koester duizenden herinneringen ...