Our grand parents were all about getting OUT of a depression. I haven't heard of anyone who enjoyed that time. I already did what they did, I worked, saved a little and was able to retire. Going back to work isn't something I am physically up to but it may be the case that I'll have to try, if there is work to be had. This isn't a case of watching some big wigs taking a beating, they already have their savings locked up. This is about watching the economy, jobs, taxes and everything else spiral down out of control. We are all under the bucket that's tipping over and we will all get splashed. Problem is, many won't have any way to get cleaned up again because it's more fun to cheer the tipping of the bucket instead of stopping it.
It's not that I'm cheering the scum taking their beating, it's that I refuse to just open the collective wallet and say "take what you want", and not solve the problems that got us here in the first place. We're already in debt in a massive way, we cannot borrow our way out, and that is what they intend.
I have no desire to see you forced to come out of retirement. The thing is, if they just voted to pony up the $700 billion, and didn't do something about what got us here, I'm convinced your prospects would be even worse.
Yes, a short term credit crisis will hurt the economy and be very painful. But allowing THIS Congress to pass the "bail out", and then recess, removes all the incentive for the NEXT Congress to solve the problem. The crisis, AND the election, will have passed. The public will be calm, due to their extremely short attention span and memory, and the NEXT Congress will just let it slide, doing little, if anything. Then the next crisis will come sooner, and be worse. And none of the $700 billion will have been paid back. It'll just be gone, another huge debt left for someone else to pay.
