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Looks like the bailout bill will pass the House today. I don't think anyone feels great about this, but a lot of folks -- myself included -- think it important, or are at least too risk averse to gamble on being right that it isn't important. Robert Reich sums up the zeitgeist, saying, "If the choice is between a lousy bailout bill and economic Armageddon, I'd vote for the lousy bailout bill. " He continues:
while the bailout bill may avoid economic Armageddon, it won't avoid a severe deterioration of the American economy in the months ahead. The bailout will help keep credit markets functioning. But ask yourself: what's the point of keeping credit markets functioning if most Americans can't afford to go deeper into debt anyway? And why does anyone suppose that businesses will continue to borrow from credit markets when their customers have stopped buying?Wall Street and its creditors are not at the core of the American economy. Main Street and consumers are at the core. So even if the bailout bill keeps Wall Street going and prevents the sort of massive defaults that would freeze global credit markets, it does virtually nothing to help the vast majority of American consumers who are already at the end of their ropes -- who right now need extended unemployment insurance, affordable health coverage, and assistance in meeting their mortgage payments and fuel bills. And as long as Americans remain at the end of their ropes, the American economy will continue to decline.So the real choice isn't between a lousy bailout bill or economic Armageddon. It's between taking prompt action to help average Americans or watching the nation fall into a deeper and deeper recession.It's cruel irony that Wall Street's elites hollowed out our financial sector in their ceaseless hunt for profit and opportunity, and now their collapse so threatens mainstream America that bailing out the rich had to come before helping the silent majority whose struggle is quieter. But the fact that quick action was needed to recapitalize the banks does not obviate the necessity of real action to stimulate the economy. The test for Democrats in the coming weeks and months is whether they can maintain both rhetorical and legislative focus on that project.
