McCain Seemingly Backtracks on No New Taxes

[ajmccarrell]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Well, I am unsure if a market based correction is necessary in that the complete misery it would cause (thousands of people likely would starve and die - colleges would empty -- etc. ) likely would outweigh the outcome, which IMO would take a decade or more. I also think the Bush administration will bail the banks out because it is way cheaper than living up to the FDIC guarantees.

N0 one would starve and die, if any, then very few. The people who were foreclosed on wouldn't suddenly become unemployed because they were foreclosed on. They would still work, but end up in rentals and have to curb their spending in iPods, video games and the like. The people wouldn't be in much worse financial shape than they are in already. They'd probably be slightly better off as far as cash on hand, since they'd be renting, but they'd be unable to obtain credit for about 7 years if they filed bankruptcy right away. Plus, as prices fell, you'd have new buyers in lower income brackets buying the houses that they previously couldn't afford, so the impact on the industry would be crippling, but not the far reaching destruction you are mentioning. As far as colleges go, that might not be a bad thing. College is way too expensive. If they emptied, they'd have to bring down their prices and cut useless crap out, like ice skating. A friend of mine actually majored in ice skating. Pathetic!