Perino Defends Administration’s Intervention For Wall Street Instead Of Main Street
Perino Defends Administration’s Intervention For Wall Street Instead Of Main Street
This weekend, the Federal Reserve extended a $30 billion credit line to finance the takeover of near-bankrupt Bear Stearns by fellow Wall Street firm JPMorgan Chase.
During today’s news briefing, reporters questioned White House Press Secretary Dana Perino on the Fed’s actions, noting that the White House has repeatedly refused to extend similar assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure. Perino replied that help to homeowners — a “boost of liquidity” — would come “in the form of a stimulus package and a tax rebate.” Watch it:
The average rebate check will amount to about $600 for single people and $1,670 for middle income families. Compare this figure to the nationwide median mortgage payment, which stood at $1,566 in September. Or to the average increase in subprime mortgage payments in early 2007, which was $320 per month.
These checks obviously won’t help Americans stave off foreclosure — a frightening reality facing an increasing number of people. Foreclosure rates skyrocketed 60 percent last month from February 2007, and Americans own less equity in their homes than they have since World War II.
Incredibly, the White House argues with a straight face that the Bear Stearns bailout was a necessity, but that addressing the needs of millions of homeowners would be an “overcorrection,” as Bush put it on Friday. Just yesterday, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson defended the Wall Street bailout while insisting that “all” the proposals on the housing crisis he had seen “raise more problems and do more harm than they would do good.”
In a new op-ed, the Center for American Progress’s David Abromowitz decries the White House’s hypocritical, pro-business-at-all-costs approach:
[C]onsider that big oil company tax breaks are too integral to our energy plan, but relief for millions of drivers squeezed by rising gasoline prices would be bad economic policy. Or that eliminating the estate tax is promoted as tax fairness, but vetoing the expansion of health care to millions of children through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program as too expensive is prudent budgetary management. The list goes on and on.
There are many good reasons, of course, to act to avert a Bear Stearns bankruptcy when one considers the ultimate impact on millions of Americans and around the world of a Wall Street collapse. But the reasons are no less compelling when the devastation hits individual Americans directly—home by home, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood.
Transcript:
QUESTION: But people who are facing, say, foreclosures, individuals, the little guys who are facing their foreclosure, looking at the big guys getting government, if not brokered, certainly, they’re overseeing deals that are engineered to, sort of, keep the big-picture financial community afloat. And they’re saying, Well, where’s my boost of liquidity?
PERINO: They’re going to get that boost of liquidity in the form of a stimulus package and a tax rebate that’s coming to them the second week of May.
QUESTION: But that’s not going to save their houses.
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If we get 4 more years of a gooper administration America will look like a ghost town, which will be quite fitting, since our (p)Resident will look like Casper The Ghost.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:26 pmGG will defend it too. Socialism for billionaires.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:29 pmJPMorgan takes no risk and buys out Bear for 2 dollars a share while Americans take the risk associated with the purchase?
If the taxpayers are going to ride to the rescue (again) and assume all the risk, then *we* should have purchased Bear Stearns for the American people.
Socialize it.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:32 pmAs long as people vote charisma and not enlightened self-interest xorrupt politicians will continue to milk the cash cows.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:34 pmI get so confused. When is it that we are suppose to let market forces work and when is it that we need to bail out private business? Is this like that freedom fighter versus terrorist thing?
March 17th, 2008 at 6:34 pmTiming, as they say, is everything. By that measure, John McCain is having a very bad day. First, just one day after his own visit to Baghdad, Vice President Dick Cheney showed up in Iraq to remind Americans that McCain is inextricably linked to President Bush. Then just as the Federal Reserve rushed into to bail out faltering Wall Street investment banks and avert a financial panic, its former chairman Alan Greenspan disavowed any responsibility for it. Sadly, as we learned in December, everything John McCain knows about the economy, he learned from Alan Greenspan:
“The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should. I’ve got Greenspan’s book.”
For the details, see:
March 17th, 2008 at 6:34 pm“McCain: Everything I Know About the Economy, I Learned from Alan Greenspan.”
See how much the taxpayers saved??
snark
March 17th, 2008 at 6:38 pmAh, the corporate ruling class busy bailing out the greedy, short-sighted financial institutions on Wall Street that packaged up subprime mortgage paper into new abstractions which were then sold off to other investors. This pyramid scheme worked fine as long as housing prices kept rapidly rising, but when the real estate market finally leveled off, and then started sagging, all bloody hell broke loose.
Many of the new home “owners” who managed to “buy” a house with zero money as a downpayment, just started walking away as their intro low mortgage rates started rising and their home value and supposed “equity” dropped into the negative realm.
If the Bush regime really wanted to help Mr. and Mrs. Average American, they could simply order that banks cut their credit card rates on unpaid balances in half (50% off). That would probably do more to help the average American than these stupid one-time handouts/tax rebates coming in the mail in May…
Of course, the real problem is our continuing to pour three billion dollars down the Bush occupation ratholes of Afghanistan and Iraq. Stupidity and greed never end with the Bush gangster regime and their corporate allies…
March 17th, 2008 at 6:41 pmThis is all about covering big business’ ass.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:42 pmWell their asses are in the fire.
My question is, why do we have to cover their asses?
They created this mess. Why cover their asses?
Let them collapse and let the honest banks do their work.
The banks screwed up. Let them suffer and not use our money to support their screw-ups.
All I can think of is that Dana Perino must go home from work with a pounding headache every single day because of all the BS she shovels…I know I would, but then again, I have a CONSCIENCE…
March 17th, 2008 at 6:42 pm.
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Dana, bend over, so I can put my rebate check somewhere where it will block your foul stench from polluting the planet.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:45 pmI’m sure all the homeless families evicted from their residences will enjoy reading and be elated that Bear Stearns was saved when they read about it before they pull those newspapers over themselves at night ……………………
March 17th, 2008 at 6:45 pmThey literally gave money away by the truck load in Iraq. How about doing that here? Give the economy steroids. $600? $6,000! We should have a money-back guarantee in which case it should all be coming back.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:47 pmIf you want some background on the whole Bear Stearns fiasco (as well as the imploding banks in America story) look here please:
The Bear Stearns story, Predatory Lending and Housing Bubble
March 17th, 2008 at 6:47 pmWhere are all the GOP/Chimpy leg humping tools on this one ?
Explain how 360 tons , that’s right , 360 TONS of CASH is allowed to be shipped over to Iraq and disappear , and the free economy is supposed to sort itself out with only the strong surviving ; how do you excuse-make for this type of Chimpy government interference , you imbecilic suckholes ?
March 17th, 2008 at 6:54 pmLook, losers, you do not make the political contributions or provide the safe sinecure of a paid lobbyist position for these representatives, senators and administration officials. You do not count.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:55 pmIn other words, let them eat cake
March 17th, 2008 at 7:00 pmLet us not forget that this so called press secretary doesn’t even know the difference between a destroyer and an aircraft carrier. And yet some people expect her to know how to spell economy? Bernanke stammers and Bush paints rosey pictures. These people are just too kewl for school.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:00 pmPlease make that three billion dollars ($3,000,000,000.00) per week being poured down the Bush ratholes of Afghanistan and Iraq…
March 17th, 2008 at 7:11 pmSince the Bush regime came to power, a new species of loan became the norm, the ‘sub-prime’ mortgage and its variants including loans with teeny “introductory” interest rates.
They also promoted the “Ninja” mortgage..No INcome, Job ,or Assets required for the loan.
These were all bundled, and sold on Wall Street with a AAA Rating. AAA!!!
As long as house prices soared, all was well….but when the bubble popped, it was Govt. Bailout time.
George H.W. Bush was president, during the Savings and Loan Crisis…costing the taxpayer Millions. Peanuts compared to what his son has gotten us into Now.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:13 pmSo just how is this stimulus package going to help those on the verge of losing their homes or those who have already lost their homes? If you have no residence, you have nowhere for your mail to be delivered. Therefore, the money that’s supposed to be helping people will never get to them. Maybe that’s the plan. If the checks are returned undeliverable, the government will get to keep it and bail out another bank.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:15 pmWhat’s that fundamental sound I hear?
“BOOM!”
March 17th, 2008 at 7:16 pmI thought the right side wanted the ‘free markets’ to take care of themselves…Hmmmm, sounds like a lot of right siders would have lost their shirts so what do they do? They bail themselves out and let you and I to drown in trillions of bad debt. Is we learning yet? Have we had enough yet? Democrats, are you listening???????
This entire country has been highjacked by the bush criminal enterprise. Absolutely everything they touch, turns to shit.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:16 pmRoket Says:
March 17th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Let us not forget that this so called press secretary doesn’t even know the difference between a destroyer and an aircraft carrier.
She is an idiot…She has to be an idiot to keep her job. She lies for a living – on our payroll. She lies to you and I – and we pay for it! I would rather save the money we pay little eva braun and just hear crickets at the press conferences. The crickets probably know more than Purina does.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:19 pmShould TP arrange for Grover Norquist to be the guest writer of post titled, “Keep the Government’s Head Underwater, Denounce Aid to B. Stearns”?
You should make your opinion known, Grover.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:23 pmWhy oh why does anybody listen to this ditz?
March 17th, 2008 at 7:24 pmDip$hit Pariah has no clue what stimulus or any other economic term is. She’s a typical stepford bushbot and an embarrassment to women everywhere.
Lying. Sack. Of. Crap.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:35 pmCan someone PLEASE explain this time line to me:
Jan – Bear Stearns closes at $92 a share
Issues upper management hundreds of millions in “bonuses, incentives, etc.”
Feb. – The “sell off” begins (upper mgt. maybe??)
Mar. 14- Closes at $30 a share
Mar. 15-16 The FED wakes up and writes a bail out check for BS and friends that we the taxpayer get to eventually cover for them.
Mar. 17 – JP Morgan acquires BS for $2 a share.
DOES ANY OF THIS MAKE ANY SENSE TO ANYONE?
March 17th, 2008 at 7:40 pmIs it not the responsibility of the SEC and the Dept. of Treasury to scrutinize the merger of all “publicly” held entities??? we’re talking less than 48 hrs and it’s approved by the FED what in the hell is going on here??
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I’m a Barbie girl in the Bushie world…
Charge on plastic, debts fantastic!
You can question me, I’ll just drink my tea…
Imagination, lies are my creation.
Cutting a check that covers one month in groceries means NOTHING to a homeowner that’s just been thrown out on the streets.
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March 17th, 2008 at 7:45 pm#29 stormkrow Says:
March 17th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
So Enronesq… NO?
March 17th, 2008 at 7:48 pmwhat in the hell is going on here??
Greg Palast et al have a pretty convincing explanation:
http://www.gregpalast.com/elliot-spitzer-gets-nailed/#more-1979
March 17th, 2008 at 7:51 pmThis week, Bernanke’s Fed, for the first time in its history, loaned a selected coterie of banks one-fifth of a trillion dollars to guarantee these banks’ mortgage-backed junk bonds. The deluge of public loot was an eye-popping windfall to the very banking predators who have brought two million families to the brink of foreclosure.
George Bush doesn’t care about black people. Or working people. Or middle class people. Or soldier people. Or children-type people. Or Iraqi people. Or American people.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:51 pmThis country continues to put Republicans in charge. I feel sorry for no one. We have gotten everything we have deserved . . . and we will get what we deserve. The fact that any Republican anywhere is even competitive in any election is staggering.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:52 pmGreg Palast does some wicked awesome work.
Check out his film on stealing the 2008 election. I watched it last night on Free Speech TV.
The whole Clinton/Obama thing is but one hurdle to the dems taking the WH. The party of family values is planning on stealing again.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:55 pmMy point being. The FED, the SEC, Dept. of Treasury, etc. etc. all managed to correctly work together in a 48 Hour time span to merge two LARGE publicly held investment banking firms. Let me say that again for the people in the back.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:55 pmI mean the breadth and the width of such a statement is so beyond overwhelmingly ridiculous that you would have to almost take a few breaths just to fully interpret it. A large number of questions need to fully be resolved on that statement alone.
The Neo-Cons and rethugs prove yet again that all they have ever or will ever care about is the further enrichment of their friends. They don’t care one single iota whether we bleed to death on the desert sands of a far off place or whether we bleed slow here at home one mortgage late, $4 gas, $3 tomatoes, $4 milk. The prices keep going up but the paycheck doesn’t.
Just remember it took them only 48 hours to come riding in guns a blazin to help their good ole buddies over at Bear Stearns. Think they done JP Morgan just fine too.
Maybe it’s just a mere coincidence that the Sheriff of Wall Street had such a huge fall in the days leading up to such an event taking place.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:01 pmThe FBI Wiretappers knew about client #9 for months, but made it public a week before the $200,000,000,000 bailout of the Nations Investment Banks. Coincidence??? I don’t think so.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:06 pmAnd they wrapped it all up on a Sunday, to boot!
Those free-marketeers sure are hard workers.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:20 pmWhen will the Bush tax cuts REALLY help America and not just GOP contributors?
March 17th, 2008 at 8:38 pmThere are many good reasons, of course, to act to avert a Bear Stearns bankruptcy when one considers the ultimate impact on millions of Americans and around the world of a Wall Street collapse.
This has to be challenged. Why are Progressives repeating this nonsense? If Bear Stearns were allowed to collapse another firm would undoubtedly move in and fill the vacuum. It might not happen immediately. There might be pain in the interim. But there’s going to be plenty of pain anyway.
If the Bear Stearns employees who particpated in the sub-prime crime were investigated, prosecuted and imprisoned you can bet the other investment banks would get the message.
As it is we’re bailing out the criminals who perpetrated the crime. You can guarantee that these criminals will be back in another few years to steal billions more. It’s in their DNA.
The government and fed should be finding a way to help the two million victims of this crime, those about to lose their house. Helping the victims is the surest way to minimize the impact to the economy. Ensuring that two million homes don’t end up on the market, thereby bringing down the value of all real estate is so much more critical than keeping Bear Stearns afloat.
Republicans believe in top down, Democrats/Progressives believe in bottom up. It’s sad to see a Progressive commentator subscribing to far-right ideology.
Helping PEOPLE will always produce better, faster and surer results than helping corporations.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:45 pmMs_Joanne Says:
March 17th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Greg Palast does some wicked awesome work.
——
Go to YouTube and check out Greg Palast’s videos. Then e-mail the links to all your friends. We’ve got to be our own media.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:48 pmMalibu Barbie Perino’s translation: Bush is throwing a bone to the American people. The stimulus package is small dent to the amount of debt that people are in.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:57 pmThis is nothing but theft of American’s money.
March 17th, 2008 at 9:03 pmAnd to think poor Ms Perino could command $4,300/hr.
Guess not everyone can be a “winner” in the Tom Friedman future of today.
March 17th, 2008 at 9:07 pmstormkrow Says:
March 17th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Can someone PLEASE explain this time line to me:
[...]
DOES ANY OF THIS MAKE ANY SENSE TO ANYONE?
It makes plenty of sense. We’re getting screwed again.
March 17th, 2008 at 9:38 pm#29 stormkrow
Of course it doesn’t make any sense. There has been nothing in 7 1/2 years that has made any sense.
Be smart, look to what you can pantry now. In 6 months it will be worse. Much worse. Prepare now for the dry season. Flour and corn are skyrocketing. Learn to make bread. Stash some non perishables. Heed my warning. You will be better off for it.
#34 You statement that any republican is competitive anywhere is staggering is very asute. But then take a walk through any Wally’s World. Check out your local Ross. Go to the Goodwill. We have turned a corner in this country that provides a direct link to “god will provide”. And the republicans have beat the drum that they are the moral saviors.
The intellegensia are clueless. We are overrun with stupidity and ecclesiastical dominionists and they are winning. If they weren’t you wouldn’t see this bailout of Bear Stearns. No one questions them anymore.
Be wise. Pantry and hunker down.
Short of revolution the worst is yet to come.
March 17th, 2008 at 9:41 pmI have my marshmallows all ready, and waiting for the Wall St meltdown. I can’t wait, it will be glorious.
March 17th, 2008 at 9:49 pmI want Carlyle group to blow up.
http://www.reuters.com/article/innovationNews/idUSN1651831320080317
March 17th, 2008 at 9:52 pm99Luf Balloons Says:
March 17th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I want Carlyle group to blow up.
A.M.E.N.!!!
March 17th, 2008 at 9:55 pmMsJoanne: I’m a huge Palast fan and his recent article regarding why Spitzer was so sought after by Bush is eye-popping. Evidently, he was in Washington with full intentions of outing the Bush Cabal and their high stakes in this governmental intervention on Wall St. It will all be made public now since Spitzer is so “high profile”. The fallout of this entire economic debacle will rest fully on Bush’s shoulders once again.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:33 pmAnd that infamous appendage of the Bush Crime Empire called the Carlyle Group is involved knee deep in this economic crisis. They were the rich Saudis which Pappa Bush helped to leave the country following 911. Hell, they’re probably tied into it all in some sinister way.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:34 pmThe neo-con (mis)governing style: Welfare for the rich, “tough love” for the poor.
All their rhetoric about “personal responsibility” vanishes into thin air when it comes to their cronies, and/or the rich and powerful.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:31 pmBUSHCO, Greed, contradiction and cronyism! If only the GOV`T could come the the AID of America and it`s people that fast.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:02 amRepublican free market capitalism. Or Fascism for the novice.
I am still hearing republicans around town disparaged over their Guns, Taxes and abortions.
Its all them liberal’s fault for letting Bush get elected.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:28 amThey can’t stop the Rush Limp-paw mind control………
Dana Perineum gives dumb blondes a bad name.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:12 amYou know, I don’t get mad at the administration when they say idiotic things like this. I’m mad at everyone within ear-shot of those idiotic things when they accept what they’re told without demanding a better explanation.
March 18th, 2008 at 10:48 amI’m a huge Palast fan and his recent article regarding why Spitzer was so sought after by Bush is eye-popping. Evidently, he was in Washington with full intentions of outing the Bush Cabal and their high stakes in this governmental intervention on Wall St. It will all be made public now since Spitzer is so “high profile”. The fallout of this entire compaq armada 110 battery,compaq armada 110s battery economic debacle will rest fully on Bush’s shoulders once again.
October 15th, 2008 at 4:36 am