Posted on 05/11/2010 5:42:14 PM PDT by opentalk
House Republicans are drafting a bill that would force Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to vote against IMF loans to European countries.
The legislation is a response to the European Union and International Monetary Fund’s bailout of Greece, and possible future aid to other debt-ridden European countries.
The IMF and EU have agreed to create a nearly $1 trillion fund that would offer loan guarantees to any country that needs the help. The idea is to prevent turbulence in financial markets and currencies given the wariness with which traders are viewing Europe.
The U.S. has not offered any direct assistance to Europe, but House Republicans say the U.S. should stand against IMF assistance as well. The U.S. has a nearly 17 percent voting share in the IMF based on its annual contributions.
Republicans question whether the bailout will work, and stress that U.S. tax dollars should not be wasted.
President Barack Obama’s administration has supported the EU-IMF effort, and over the weekend Obama made it clear that a larger support program was necessary to ensure the Greek crisis didn’t cause more severe global economic problems.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
about time they got on the right side of the bailout issue.
About time someone turned the faucet down if not off...see my tag line
What could be wrong with American families paying the salaries of bureaucrats in failed socialist governments? </sarc off>
The GOP looks good when the Dems are in power, but GW Bush would have bailed out Greece without thinking twice.
Not only GWB but almost any of the current Republicans would do it if they were seen politically as responsible for the economy. Bailouts are about delaying the eventual pain and consequences of prior mistakes making them even worse in the future. In the case of TARP and other bailouts, saving the banks helped the stock market temporarily as this Greece bailout is doing, which helps Obama in the short run. Being in political office is about delaying consequences(for the current elections) , unless you are seen as out of power like republicans are now.
Each crisis promotes a selloff and the next bailout which creates a buy-back but it is solving nothing.
You can see many here are still defending Bush for TARP.
One analogy I heard was that the plane was still going to crash, but the delay would allow the thieves on board time to parachute out with their loot.
Agreed. But we can punish the party in power and responsible for the current bailout. After enough punishment, maybe it might sink in.
also note that the fearless GOP is not promoting defunding the IMF altogether, Oh no...
Make sure their parachute is small enough and the loot is heavy enough. They will hit the ground but never live to enjoy it.:-)
“One analogy I heard was that the plane was still going to crash, but the delay would allow the thieves on board time to parachute out with their loot. “
A good analogy!
This is exactly the way I see the GWB bailouts and stimulus 2007-2008. The sub-prime market started taking down the stock market in September 2007 but we heard an endless set of claims that reductions in interest rates, bailouts and stimulus would all keep the stock market from crashing. We even saw a suckers rally summer of 2008. That run-up of public debt allowed those that knew it was a scam to get out before the final crash which was Fall 2008-Spring 2009.
Worse yet, by using the "To avoid another Great Depression" terminology to pass TARP, Bush gave Obama the talking points he is using now to run up endless debts. Obama will be using it in 2012 ("I avoided another Great Bush Depression"), mark my words.
Problem solved.
I hope I am not being hypocritical, because I was one of those who bailed out of the market before it crashed in 2008. But I was not one of the insiders; I just got paranoid observing what the markets were doing.
We know you are an insider, probably worked for Paulson himself :)
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