As you no doubt are aware by now, the U.S. House of Representatives voted down H.R. 3997 — the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (bailout bill) today by a vote of 205 for and 228 against, with 1 not voting.
If you are curious as to how your Representative voted, there is a complete bailout bill roll call here. It lists yes and no votes by last name.
If you don’t know your Representatives last name, you can find it at the House of Representatives web site (whose servers appears to be completely overwhelmed as the page load times stretch to several minutes) or at Congress.org (significantly faster response, and a very cool site for those with an interest in politics).
The stock market took a pounding on news of the vote, with the Dow dropping 777 points. At least is wasn’t 666 points…
This was the largest point drop in the history of the Dow Jones index, beating the 684 point drop on September 17, 2001 — the first day the markets were open after the 9/11 attacks. On a percentage basis, the 6.98% drop was the 18th worst on record. on “Black Monday”, October 19, 1987 the Dow Jones indexed dropped by 22.61 percent.
Approximately $1,200,000,000,000 (that’s 1.2 trillion dollars) in market value was erased.
The Los Angeles Times had this to say in an editorial run on October 20, 1987. Sage advice then worth repeating now:
Panic is a dangerous element of economics. By definition, it lacks a rational base. The hysteria can feed itself. That was evident in what transpired on Friday and again on Monday. The result can be damaging beyond the market itself. But the damage can be controlled and limited. The stock market remains an effective tool for those seriously concerned with buying shares of on-going, profitable enterprises. It remains a dangerous place, more dangerous than most realized until Monday, for those playing for short-term gains and goals only marginally related to the ownership of successful enterprises.
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Thank you for this post. I was wondering how and where to get that information, as I want to see how my representatives voted!
It appears stocks are starting to rally back, which is a good sign. I don’t know how many people know, but close to $600 BILLION DOLLARS was still spent yesterday even though this bill never passed.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aP5hzUWla7Jg&refer=home
Like I had said earlier, that request for 700 billion won’t be the first and only amount spent. If we give a thumbs up to more spending, we’ll see TRILLIONS UPON TRILLIONS of dollars spent before this is over.
*Edges last blog post..Ron Paul Speaks Out Against The 2008 Bush Administration’s Federal Bailout Plan – Why It Will Not Work And How It Will Hurt You Even If You Have No Money Invested In The Market
I’m sure you already know, but none of the Arizona legislators voted for the bill. I’m trying not to look at how much wealth I personally lost yesterday…but it was a pretty big number.
*Steve Belts last blog post..Worst Real Estate Photo Contest
Jay, your link to find out how our reps voted isn’t working..
*Jim Gatoss last blog post..Forgive them "Dubya", for they know NOT what they do…
I think the bailout plan needs some big work. The government is in need of some big help so they are frantically moving around with their heads cut off. I really do not think anything is going to be moving fast as most people think they are. This is going to take some while until the government gets back into the black and not be in debt.
Let’s just hope that they can tweak it and get it to past in the next couple of days! Even though I don’t agree we should be bailing out Wallstreet, I think we have no choice with many millions of American’s retirements on the line!
I agree with Tony, tweak it, get it passed, get the credit markets working well again, then go after the crooks that caused this, be they in retirment enjoying their golden parachutes, still in the corporate offices, on wall street, or in the US congress.
Thank you for the great links in your article. I found out how my rep voted.
@Jim Gatos – which link isn’t working? I just checked them all and they seem fine (well, except the one to the House is still numbingly slow).
Whew – the market gained some of it back today but I wouldn’t count on it sticking around if people panic or loose faith in the system. I’m not sure about the “bailout” (or however they’re marketing it now) plan – not quite sure its going to help the right people or do enough – but I do know that regardless of what happens, panicking will make it worse.
Jay – what do you think about the plan?
Well when they defeated the bill I was sorry but now I am not so sure. I think there may be some alternatives we haven’t thought of ! Anyway, the people pushing this bill are the same liars who told us there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq! Fool us twice shame on us!
*Dan Connolly – Atlanta Real Estate Guides last blog post..Bailout alternatives that have $0 cost to the taxpayers.
Edge’s link to the Bloomberg article is an astute observation into the back dealings of this government. All of this can be explained by the catch phrase “follow the dollar.” Look where the money is flowing to for an explanation as to what will happen next.
(MSNBC?) Kramer had a fantastic show on the impending bailout and why it is a necessary evil. His solution–basically pass the hat to all thriving economies–was very well thought out. Unfortunately, that isn’t going to be the road we take.
It looks like they just passed version 2 tonight. I would guess the stock market should be up tomorrow? I am a little worried that after the bailout the banks will stil not let the money flow.
I know that Christopher Smith voted against the bill last week. I don’t really care about my senators, they being “far left” dems probably voted for this bill.
I know that the pressure is on. But it from a prospective of a home owner, can any one tell me why my wife I should continue making my payments (and we never missed one), when some one who bought a house they could not afford will be bailed out???
This country is turning communists. Exception is that even communist on occasion would send crooks to Gulag.
One of the way communists kept their grip on the people back in my country was to keep us constantly in fear- this is exactly what is taking place today in US.
i want that money
i want that money