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Bailout fails, somehow I don't think that's a good thing...

12:06 H | Topics: Economy

So I've been following the economic crisis issue for a while now, and I'm sorry to say I have no more idea what's going on now than when I started following it. Apparently I'm not the only one who is confused:

The government’s failure to reach a compromise on a hotly contested federal bailout package is adding to the frustration and confusion surrounding the country’s current financial crisis. It’s also worrying economists who say that politicians’ failure to adequately explain to Americans what is at stake, and to find a palatable solution, could lead to a much more serious economic downturn.

“The risk we run now is we will have a much deeper and more protracted recession than what we had before,” said Mark Gertler, an economics professor at New York University.

He faults politicians and government officials for not doing enough to help Americans understand why the crisis on Wall Street could start to hit home on Main Street. He also thinks no one bothered to spend enough time explaining to Americans how the proposal would work, leading many Americans to see it as simply a handout for Wall Street fat cats.

I would be to disagree with the author. I think there was plenty of time spent explaining how this crisis will affect us all (no credit, no student loans, no pay checks, etc), but nobody really explained how we got to where we are. And I think *that* is the real problem here. We all know we're supposed to be terrified out of our damn minds about the impending collapse of all that we know that is normal--but we all also want to know how we got to where we are right now. And being told that we'll figure that all out after we save the world, well, it's just not working for a lot of people right now.

Frankly, with the state of frenzy the government (both Democrats and Republicans) have whipped us all up into, I wonder if the government really *can* explain any of this in an adequate way and have any of us believe it anymore?

Can anybody but Gandalf the Grey save us now?

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