I've been sitting on this post for a few days. Last week, the Bailout Bill was all anyone could seem to talk about, and I was one of millions watching and waiting to see what the government was going to do.
And they threw me a curve. I didn't expect them to vote it down. I fully expected that they'd get together, vote, then slap each other on the back and head out to vacation. They took some more time, voted for it and THEN headed out for vacation. You can read the latest iteration here.
We shouldn't be in this mess to begin with.
I'm hesitant to play armchair economist here, because truth be told I can't seem to comprehend the scope of a
$700 billion bill that deals with a situation that's not been seen during my lifetime. How did we get here? I understand the real estate portion of this mess – banks invested in bad mortgage loans, and now they don't know when they're getting their money back. That's why it's called a bailout.
There's lots of blame to go around, and a thousand thoughts on what it all means. (Updated 10/6 11:50am – The Wall Street Journal says Washington's to blame) I'm certainly not qualified to know who's got it right, and who's just blowing smoke, and the cynic in me thinks that most just like to hear themselves talk. I'm not going to stare at the heavens, drop to my knees and scream, nor am I going to post anything other than this post. What I'm going to do is focus on what I can control – providing the absolute best service I can to my real estate clients. It's what I have, it's what I can do best, and I'll keep moving towards Go to collect my $200.
(Updated 10/6 11:50am – Just started through my feed reader from the weekend and read this post by Jim Duncan. I like the end … "Figuring out how we will all be impacted – in as calm, rational and non-panicing manner – is crucial."