The NY Times is reporting a new plan from the Obama administration: sell bailout bonds under the rubric of patriotism.
It theoretically could have legs, if only US households actually had savings to invest with.
See also: Just Print the Necessary Funds
Via Clusterstock
{ 11 comments }
This idea is as wretchedly stupid as anything Bush could have come up with. In other words, it has potential for great amusement.
Can anybody explain to me why anyone with sense will buy any US government debt at this point?
No. I’m sorry, Mr. Cortez. Nobody can.
Remove the “with sense” part of the above question and you might get some amusing answers.
Brilliant! Bankrupt government wants to sell bonds so that it can give the money to other hopelessly bankrupt institutions, LOL. Buying “bailout bonds” will be right behind *Create bonfire in backyard with life savings* on my list of things to do with my money.
And when the funds begin to lose money, the government will allow the manager of the fund to suspend redemptions from the fund as the asset value become realized. That, my friends, is a boondoggle.
Hopefully they’ll make a Toxic Asset ETF so that I can short it or buy the puts!
Without sense, I suppose:
* nationalism
* fear, cuz its safer than the market and its backed by the gov’t
* greed, cuz you gotta get in early
* guilt that you’re not doing your duty
lol, the answers are pretty amusing…
This has the makings of a Shays’ Rebellion type of bond speculation by politically connected moneyed interests who end up using central governments’ uniquely persuasive methods to extract the revenue “owed” the bondholders.
A boondoggle as American as apple pie awaiting “worthy patriots”…
Great!
A “tax” only on people who actually trust the gov’t…
“Can anybody explain to me why anyone with sense will buy any US government debt at this point?”
We don’t have to worry about that: those without sense far exceed those with. If that situation should change, we’ll just have to find ways to “persuade” those with sense.
J Cortez said:
Can anybody explain to me why anyone with sense will buy any US government debt at this point?
Marc said:
We don’t have to worry about that: those without sense far exceed those with. If that situation should change, we’ll just have to find ways to “persuade” those with sense.
Me:
To pesuade those non-bond buyers, we’ll pass a tax act, called the “Bailout Bond Refusers Tax for the Unpatriotic”, it’ll start with an additional tax on incomes over $250,000….oh wait, we’ve already got that one…uh how about an additional tax on incomes over $150,000 MFJ ($75,000 single), but we’ll let you take a deduction for each Bailout Bond you buy (but you’ll have to include it in income when you sell it or it matures).
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