This Week We Build the "Missile"

I like the fact you mention in saying "We" when speaking of who is building the missile. But I do have a problem with the fact that while disscusing the "buyout" too many of the guests and hosts refer to "investors and non-investors. I would prefer that you make mention that when it comes to using tax payers money to preform a stock market move that all Americans become investors. Thanks, Tim Grose

Brian. As my wife says, doesn't the acronym, TARP, suggest a cover up? Herb

It's kind of like watching CNBC Brian...negative comments without any thoughtful discription/explanation of what's going on....Let's be honest and state that we don't know some or many of the specific's of what's going on...but let's also be honest and try to put into context what we do know. The government has encouraged accountants to dream up rules like FASB 157, and then the big banks/investment banks follow those rules and mark down the mortgages...which are "hits" to the banks' capital...not the public in general, but the firm's capital gets hit... Then the new RTC buys the "assets" at a huge discount....assets which many point out are worth more than the likely RTC purchase price...meaning that if held the assets will return more than the RTC's purchase price....what has gone on is a freezing of the market and the inability to sell the assets near par...so the value has dropped more than they would in a "normal" market.... So why call it a bailout? Instead Brian Sullivan yells and screams that this is terrible....yes it is terrible that it happened...and Wall Street is certainly to blame to some extent....but so is Congress and the regulators who dreamed up FASB 157.... Let's suspend FASB 157 for several months to let the market stabilize and then let the new RTC buy the assets at a fair price....not deep discounts.... Sorry Brian, but you're sounding way too much like CNBC and not enough like a person who would like to explain the bigger picture...get a grip Richard Marshall Retired Bank Executive

Isn't the Federal government simply privatizing? Now that we own the largest insurance company, doesn't that leave room for us to profit? I seem to recall a large push by the Bush administration to privatize Social Security. Haven't we just skipped a step or two here? I am not convinced on any level that Greenspan and others did not know what they were doing when they artifically held down interest rates for so long, creating the Real Estate Bubble that has now caused what we have today. What do you think?

printing money has never been the solution, and that's the only thing Congress, the Treasury, and the Fed are offering. The collapse of the dollar or a severe depression will come regardless. Either way, we're screwed and I'm betting on government printing presses to pick up and our streets being littered with worthless paper.

Brian: I would like to second the above comments of Richard Marshall. Brian, you (and everybody else!) needs to calm down. You sound too much like your competition instead of the rational FBN I have come to expect. Less emotion and more information, please. Why don't you try to have "expert" guests on the air with a somewhat more optimistic attitude; I'm sure that they exist. In my opinion, the major problem with the proposed "TARP" plan is that the free-spending Congress will use this as an excuse to load up the bill with all kinds of spending programs. Didn't we recently pass a $300 Billion mortgage rescue plan? What's this talk from Dems to include mortgage rescue in "TARP"? Please comment.

This is the biggest joke of a government. No longer do I have the right to NOT invest in the stock market. My government takes my money and does what it pleases. Free markets are no longer free, and with this bailout free choice has taken a back seat.One by one I see my liberties compromised.The missile analogy is moronic. To portray the gvt. as saving mankind from catastrophy.Please! it's saving the big companies who made stupid decisions.Whatever the choice is'nt mine.

I would like to take issue with this sentence from above: "Wall Street, the Administration and Congress (hence forth referred to as "they") failed in designing an effective early warning system" Really? An early warning system... as if "they" didn't that our economy was a house of cards? Three reasons why "they" should have known this was coming. 1- 103% mortgage loans were made hand over fist to borrowers who had no earthly way to pay it back. 2- Variable rate mortgages were pushed off on folks who’s budgets would implode at the onset of a 1% or 2% increase in their mortgage interest rate. 3- Housing values were caused to increase in parts of the country due to these ridiculous teaser rate loans. People had falsely low payments due to the teaser interest rates and were made to believe that the home they were purchasing was "affordable" This adversely affected the affordability index. This in turn caused some folks to run out and purchase a house that they couldn't really afford thinking that the housing market was going to continue up and up ad infinitim. There are some very old, very true rules that were outright ignored, here are two straight from the real estate 101 text book: 1- A home borrower's back end ratio, or total monthly income that goes toward servicing debt, should not exceed 39% of their monthly income. 2- Qualifying for a loan should require proof of income, assets and a good credit history. 2 years prior tax returns were at one point in the past required as proof of income. In the first part of this decade "they" decided that these rules were no longer important. Stated income and asset loans were made by the hundreds of thousands. People with credit scores below 500 were allowed to borrow money for a house. Back end ratios were approved that were well in excess of 50%. Early warning system??? All "they" had to open their eyes and unplug there ears and notice the systems that were already in place. Now “we” all get to pay the price for "their" criminal stupidity. Of what use is money in the hands of a fool, since he("they")has (have) no desire to get wisdom? Proverbs 17:16 An early warning device that has been around for thousands of years.

Did I hear you state today on Fox News that Paulson is asking for us to include credit card debt, auto loans, and the auto industry in this bailout? Add to that, his statement that we should bailout some international institutions as well. Say it isn't so. It is a green light for Americans to continue incurring debt. Unfair is not a strong enough word.