09-16-2009, 12:43 PM
You know, I had a feeling I should have added a comment to the OP. The issue I was raising was not whether or not the bailout was a good idea (I think it was necessary to bail them out to avoid a severe world wide economic depression - but the way it was done let the bad actors off without meaningful consequences); the issue I meant to raise was that Bush evidently didn't have a clue what he was agreeing to when he signed off on the program. I mean, the guy had been president for almost 8 years and approved a program for $700 billion and didn't know what he was approving. That inept thinking showed itself over and over again - Iraq, Katrina, Justice Department scandal, etc. etc. This forum is pretty much a free-for-all so if you all want to use this thread to hash over the merits of the bailout, that is, of course, fine, but I just want to clarify that that wasn't the issue I intended to raise.