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Whither the bailout?

September 25, 2008

The Intrade Futures Market on the prospects for a timely bailout package took a big leap overnight, with bettors saying that the odds of a deal being sealed by September 30 are now 90%. That's up from last night's 75% going rate.

The silver lining

Having so much tied up in the bailout is going to hamstring the tax plans of whoever wins the presidency in November. As Tax Vox puts it:

Barack Obama and John McCain are slowly beginning to get it: For the next President, this week’s financial market meltdown has changed everything.

Suddenly, their grandiose promises of new tax cuts and ambitious spending are sounding more hollow than ever. An $11.3 trillion national debt will do that to you every time.

$11.3 trillion is the new cap on the public debt requested by the Bush Administration in the wake of its proposed financial market bailout. That assumes we will end up spending $700 billion of taxpayer’s money hauling these piles of financial garbage off to the dump.

If it keeps the government from doing even more dumb things, there will be a silver lining to this dark cloud.

The lunatic is in the hall Senate

If you want to restore your faith in the ability of our elected representatives to deal with the nation's fiscal crisis, avert your eyes. Otherwise, check out Senator Grassley's strange tour through pop culture history as he argues for the extenders bill on the Senate floor. Whatever Pink Floyd had in mind, it surely wasn't this.

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