The US government managed to push through its $700 billion banking industry bailout plan on the second attempt but if anybody thought this was going to be the quick fix needed to nudge the global economy back on track, it looks like they wore sorely mistaken. The Guardian reports that Wall Street’s big banks are already throwing their toys out of the pram because of the extra conditions which were attached to the plan in order to win the support needed to pass it through government.
Hang on just a minute - two weeks ago these people were screaming for the goverment to throw big fat wads of taxpayer’s cash at them in order to prevent the economy from collapsing in on itself, but now they’re saying they probably don’t need the money after all? We desperately, desperately need a bailout from the taxpayer, but only if it’s completely unconditional and we can carry on behaving with criminal recklesness and unchecked greed, otherwise we’re not interested.
Do these obscene, self-serving bastards really expect anybody to have any respect for them ever again?
Meanwhile, Associated Press reports that the companies participating in the credit markets are already complaining that $700 billion just isn’t enough to fix things. Our favourite quote from the article:
”Nobody knows how it’s going to succeed,” said Howard Simons, strategist with Bianco Research in Chicago. “It seems the American public had better sense than Wall Street and Washington — the American public said, don’t throw good money after bad.”
It’s starting to look like US taxpayers are suddenly $700 billion out of pocket with very little to show for it.
