Over the weekend, hours after being approved by Congress and signed by the president, the $810 billion financial bailout/rescue received the same treatment as Sarah Palin before a debate or interview. The bar for success was substantially lowered.
No one should be surprised. Because the bailout is not going to save the economy. It may even hurt it.
Politicians and pundits almost immediately began warning the taxpayers who shelled out $700 billion for the bailout and another $110 billion for pork that the bailout package will take time to work, if it works at all.
"The benefits of this package will not all be felt immediately," President Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address. He promised a "careful and deliberate pace" in spending the money. Experts said it may take a year or longer to determine its impact.
Wall Street's reaction to the bailout bill's passage Friday was to turn a day's gain in the markets into a 157-point drop. That's because it became more and more evident that the problems on Main Street were continuing to worsen as lawmakers debated how to help out Wall Street.
The public overwhelmingly opposed the bailout, and for a brief period the U.S. House of Representatives represented their constituents instead of moneyed special interests. All it took to overturn that, apparently, were $110 billion of add-on "sweeteners" that included tax breaks for rum producers and wooden arrow makers. Seriously.
It's more likely that the additional debt created by the bailout, and its effect on inflation, will have a greater impact on the economy in the long term. Its cost is likely to impede the efforts the presidential candidates espouse on health care, alternative energy and infrastructure.
The immediate lowering of expectations should be yet another indicator that the bailout package was a bad and rushed decision based on economic fear-mongering.
No one should be surprised. Because the bailout is not going to save the economy. It may even hurt it.
Politicians and pundits almost immediately began warning the taxpayers who shelled out $700 billion for the bailout and another $110 billion for pork that the bailout package will take time to work, if it works at all.
"The benefits of this package will not all be felt immediately," President Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address. He promised a "careful and deliberate pace" in spending the money. Experts said it may take a year or longer to determine its impact.
Wall Street's reaction to the bailout bill's passage Friday was to turn a day's gain in the markets into a 157-point drop. That's because it became more and more evident that the problems on Main Street were continuing to worsen as lawmakers debated how to help out Wall Street.
The public overwhelmingly opposed the bailout, and for a brief period the U.S. House of Representatives represented their constituents instead of moneyed special interests. All it took to overturn that, apparently, were $110 billion of add-on "sweeteners" that included tax breaks for rum producers and wooden arrow makers. Seriously.
It's more likely that the additional debt created by the bailout, and its effect on inflation, will have a greater impact on the economy in the long term. Its cost is likely to impede the efforts the presidential candidates espouse on health care, alternative energy and infrastructure.
The immediate lowering of expectations should be yet another indicator that the bailout package was a bad and rushed decision based on economic fear-mongering.
