Norman Solomon on Bailout

“It’s mid-October, and the Wall Street bailout that was supposed to save the economy from collapse is a flop... Senate passage came on Thursday, Oct. 2...President Bush signed the $700 billion Wall Street bailout into law... Despite all the media hype about how the bailout measure would quickly steady the stock market, it fell and kept falling. Over the next week, ending Oct. 10, the Dow made history as stocks plunged by 18 percent in five trading days. And what about the ostensible main reason for the humongous bailout in the first place — unfreezing the credit markets? Well, in spite of the enormous media outcry for the bailout to get credit flowing, it didn’t. And the key economic factor in the recession — housing — remained just as stuck as before.”

“As the Institute for Policy Studies pointed out on Oct. 1, "A real 'bailout' would target the troubled households of working American families. A $200 billion ‘Main Street Stimulus Package' could bolster the real economy and those left vulnerable by the subprime mortgage meltdown." Components of such a stimulus package could include "a $130 billion annual investment in renewable energy to stimulate good jobs anchored in local economies and reduce our dependency on oil" — and "a $50 billion outlay to help keep people in foreclosed homes through refinancing and creating new homeownership and housing opportunities” — and "a $20 billion aid package to states to address the squeeze on state and local government services that declining tax revenues are now forcing." But that kind of discourse for grassroots economic stimulus hasn’t gotten into the media storyline...”