WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush and the two men fighting to succeed him joined forces Thursday at a historic White House meeting on a multibillion-dollar Wall Street bailout plan, aiming to stave off a national economic disaster. Key members of Congress said they had struck a deal earlier in the day, but its future was unclear.
The tentative accord would give the Bush administration just a fraction of the $700 billion it had requested up front, with half that total subject to a congressional veto, Capitol Hill aides said. But nothing appeared final. Amid several signs that conservatives were balking, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, emerged from the White House and said the announced agreement "is, obviously, no agreement."
Both of Congress' Republican leaders, Rep. John Boehner and Sen. Mitch McConnell, issued statements saying there was not yet an agreement.
Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, who have both sought to distance themselves from the unpopular Bush, sat down with the president at the White House for an hourlong afternoon session that was striking in this brutally partisan season and apparently without precedent. By also including Congress' Democratic and Republican leaders, the meeting gathered nearly all Washington's political power structure at one long table in a small West Wing room.
Am I supposed to be comforted?
We are merely armchair political observers here at CF, certainly not economic experts, but we are skeptical that Big Gov and massive amounts of taxpayer money are the cure.
In fact, maybe we don't need a cure?
Oh boy, I've gone and said it now.
The perfect beauty of Capitalism is that it is far from perfect. There is risk, there is danger, there is prosperity, there is crushing loss. That's the price we pay. When things turn south we don't abandon free markets and turn to Socialism overnight. We take small, measured steps to restore order and let those who made poor decisions live with the consequences.
Cruel, I know. But that's Capitalism, more to the point, that's Conservatism: Not everyone's going to make it. We don't like that, we wish it were different, but it's reality. Not everyone is going to succeed. We do what we can to help those we can, but those who make bad choices again and again cannot be saved. There is no such thing as Utopia - not on Main Street and not on Wall Street. Prosperity for as many as possible is worth the risk that a few will fail, including financial titans like AIG.
Socialism, on the other hand, removes that risk so everyone is equal -- and equally miserable. Nationalizing major financial institutions in not the answer.
If you want to punish 'greedy' CEO's then by all means, get out the tar and feathers and send them up the river; certainly if illegalities are found. But remember that 'greed' is a powerful motivator, and risk is one ingredient in the fuel of freedom. Without it, where would this country be today? There are no guarantees.
So consider these things as you hear the Prophets of Doom on television telling you that Big Gov's bailout is the only way to prevent another Depression. Free markets will work these things out without the need for expanded government, more oversight and unnecessary regulations that do more harm than good in the long term.
Oh, and to the European press, the rumors of Capitalism's death are greatly exaggerated.
The sun will come up tomorrow people, and we're a long way from bread lines. No matter what NBC News tells you, remember that.
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