Mish vs. The Bailout

Open Letter To Congress On The $700 Billion Paulson Bailout Plan. This letter that sums up a lot of his writing over the past year. Some choice quotes:

If printing money was the solution to all problems, Zimbabwe would be the most prosperous country in the world.

...taxpayers who pay their mortgages on time should not be subsidizing those who don't!

It should not be the role of Congress to promote housing vs. renting. The very act of doing so creates an artificial demand for housing.

And, his prediction is coming true:

The government/quasi-government body most responsible for creating this mess (the Fed), will attempt a big power grab, purportedly to fix whatever problems it creates. The bigger the mess it creates, the more power it will attempt to grab.

But it's not just warnings and I-told-you-so, he presents alternative ideas.

Reduce the capital gains tax by 50% for any investor willing to cash out stocks and invest in 5 year bank CDs. Eliminate the difference between long term and short term capital gains. Eliminate taxable interest on savings accounts, CDs, and US treasuries.

It is no secret that infrastructure in the US is decaying and needs to be fixed. A collapsing bridge in Minnesota is one key example. And what out our aging energy grid? Instead of giving $700 billion to banks that deserve to go under, I would rather give half that for jobs programs.