Dr. Wallstreet or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Recession

Today, I was glad to hear that Congress voted against the bailout bill. Even with the additions of oversight and the restriction of the "golden parachutes", the bailout bill was not what was needed. But what is needed? What times loom ahead of us? The buyout, though disturbingly broad, would have bought the troubled assets of the companies that had recklessly loaned money it didn't have. This would have hopefully stabilized our market in the next coming years.

But the problem with the plan was that the Treasury would have taken controlling interest of those companies. This is socialism. Many are against it on that principle. What would have been more disturbing is if Paulson got his way, the Treasury would have had complete immunity and no oversight in the controlling of the companies. That is not what we need, and the bailout was, thankfully, doomed from the start.

But what can we expect out of the market in the next coming months, even the next coming years? Will it stabilize itself? Of course, that's how the business cycle works. But how long will that take? Politicians cannot wait for the business cycle to correct itself, it goes against their wish to be reelected. But even if they did let the cycle run its course, how long would these bank failures and mergers and buyouts go on? What would happen to all these businesses who are buying up its weaker competitors? Will this current market downfall lead us to monopolies? Slate is already weary of Bank of America's large presence on the market.

As a bit of disclosure, my bank, Washington Mutual, has already gone under and was recently bought by JP Morgan. Fortunately I only had about 4 bucks in my account so I had no real incentive to mad dash and take out my money. Though, it is interesting since my branch was right across the street from a Chase bank, which WaMu will now become. What's going to happen now?

First it was the Airline companies laying off empolyees, then it was car companies. Now it's finally hit the white collar workers in banks and real estate. Where is our economy going? We must remember that this current crisis is almost exactly the same circumstances that precipitated the Great Depression. Instead of buying stocks on credit and then defaulting on them, this time we were buying homes. In the Great Depression, we were bailed out. But what will happen this time?

My purpose for this post is not to scare anyone. I do not want to be a demagogue and tell everyone that the sky is falling. I simply would like to think about the reprecussions of not passing the bailout plan. Although I was, and still am, I simply wonder how the market is going to play out in the upcoming months maybe years. The Great Depression was eventually fought off by World War II, but that was a different time. Today's America is populated by different people. What will bring us out of this slump?