The Bailout's Moon Behind a Cloud

Gun-shy politicians have us on the edge of the unthinkable. This is quite a gamble these rich, out-of-touch plutocrats are taking.

I agree with Kucinich on some of his points, and his anger at a negligence and greed that has gone on for too long in the private and public sectors. But ultimately, investment banking and private industry are the economic drivers in this and all nations - following bulls or dancing with bears is not a matter of choice. Rather, it is the implicit reality of the modern world economy. The tax base, our retirements, and the value of the dollars we eye warily in the bank are inextricably tied to the performance of multinational corporations and banking conglomerates; we are a long, long, long way from yeoman farmers scratching a living from the dirt.

It's not wrong to oppose the bailout in its current form, or to take exception to the idea of "trusting Wall Street" once again in purchasing their assets from them. You could express legitimate concerns at such a move about the degree of Federal oversight, the absence of regulatory reform, etc. But transitioning so rapidly from a debt-based economy will be hard, and requires more than simple opposition. It requires an alternative plan to be in place, and quickly. The worst thing that could happen is for this deal to die with no hope in sight - the potential run on the bank as wealthy depositors panic, if it becomes a reality, would bring about the fall of our nation's economy.

Every day of inaction will be very costly. The FDIC is a 54-billion-dollar backstop for a multi-trillion-dollar depository banking system, and even then it provides minimal insurance for the truly rich that have been watching these proceedings with interest. The safety net is a spiderweb in the path of a falling anvil - MGIC, MBIA, Ambac, and AIG all learned the same lesson over the last year. The wealthy will be at the teller windows tomorrow. Everyday Americans will be the ones with deposits in these banks when they collapse. The suffering will be immense, and experienced primarily by the lower rungs of society.

I hope these "populists" have a realistic understanding of the risk they are taking here.