Bailouts are HORRIBLE. They kill free market. I basically just had $5k stolen from me by the government because I owned a few short contracts. Not a good feeling. Explain to me how it's legal? I purchase a contract that is out there then the govt steps in and says "Hey we'll allow you to dump all your bad assets onto an imaginary bank then we'll purchase up to 700 billion worth then we'll ban short selling so the market CANT go down"! This neglects the actual value of a stock. This is nothing more that market manipulation which is costing people billions. They aren't losing billions because they made a bad choice. They're losing it because the gov't basically just walked in and took it.
It's like going to a roulette wheel and placing a bet on black and red and then the casino says "Sorry folks no more red" and just takes your chips. My options expired in OCT 19th so now that they've banned them till the 3rd they'll have lost half their value regardless simply because of the time left.
They're talking about market manipulation as if the shorts, who only held about 4.2%, were the ones doing it. Shorts are required to keep the market honest. This isn't the great depression where they ran upwards of 20+%. 4% is not out of the norm. The reason the financials suck is because they ran themselves into the ground. They're worried about people not having confidence in our market yet somehow believe walking in and regulating it is going to do the job.
How many people in the government own stock and were directly affected by it's actions? How many people own shares in the companies that just jumped about 800 points? Insider trading that's slapping the country across the face.
The only way our market can be successful is if it's allowed to fail. Fannie and Freddie were part gov't and takeover was ok. AIG should be forced into BK along with anyone else. BAC, Citigroup, Barclays, HSBC, etc can easily pick up the tabs on their debts and emerge as very successful companies.
Read my signature for the rest and explain to me how it's legal. I'm not paying for someone elses mistakes when they don't give a damn about any I make on my own. Now the Dems want to include where the 700bil bailout will help keep people in their homes. What BS!!! If they can't afford it then they shouldn't have bought it. I'm not here to help people who bought homes as investment properties or all the sudden realize they can't afford their bills. You make your bed you sleep in it. Now I'm picking up the tab because I tightened my belt and made good decisions.
This is just the beginning. Mark my words. There are billions being left on the table by this ban. The value of my shorts went from $3.15 per share to $1.05 per share currently. There will be lawsuits out the wazoo on this. When it comes to markets the worst thing the govt can do is intervene.
They are idiots. The US currently pays about $400 billion a year in interest ALONE, roughly $1300 per person and thats IF they all paid taxes, on the debt it already has and now it wants to up that another $700 billion and that's before the $100+ billion stimulus pkg the Dems want to push though (shortly after downing Bush for making the first one which is pure irony) and other things they are wanting to do.
They're establishing a double sided financial system where only the small are held accountable and there couldn't be a more wrong way to go. I know I didn't get a PHD in economics but considering the fact all we do is go arse backwards in debt makes me question those that did.
Another note. When the ban is lifted on short selling expect the market to fall like no other as the financial institutions will have been propped up by govn't movements that have nothing to do with their real value.