Tuesday, September 30, 2008

who's the fucking nihilist here!?! what are you, a bunch of fucking crybabies?!?!

david brooks' column is a perfect example of why i think the bailout debate is so ridiculous. first there's the name calling, labeling opponents to the bill "nihilists" does nothing to address the concerns of the people who voted against the measure (though it does provide a nice opportunity for a lebowski quote). then there's the brinkmanship:
The only thing now is to try again — to rescue the rescue. There’s no time to find a brand-new package, so the Congressional plan should go up for another vote on Thursday, this time with additions that would change its political prospects.
that sentence is patently absurd. why is there "no time to find a new package"? the last package was written over the weekend. isn't that about the same amount of time we have between now and thursday?

i simply don't get why so much working is going into shutting down any discussion of an alternative to the $700 billion bailout plan. maybe that is the best alternative, but let's see it compared with other ideas, especially considering that the $700 billion figure that everyone is so wedded to was simply pulled out of paulson's ass. as i said before, i'm not sure that the bailout plan is wrong, i just don't think that anyone's made a convincing case that it's better than the alternatives. indeed, there hasn't been any discussion of any of the alternatives. the fact that so many proponents seemed determined to stop anyone from even consideringother ideas makes me all the more suspicious of it.