"The tax credit saved the economy."
Received a random email from someone who apparently somehow stumbled upon the site:
Quote:
The tax credit saved the economy. If they didn’t pass the tax credit we would have entered the great depression 2. Sure markets would have corrected but it would have been at a big cost a lot worse than what we went through last year. Plus, the tax credit encouraged new players into the market which was very important.
Did a bit of googling of their email address and happened to find their resume. What do you know, they've been employed at Merrill Lynch in NYC since 2007. My response:
The Tim wrote:
You're certainly entitled to that opinion. Can't say I'm surprised to hear a pro-government intervention argument from someone who has worked at Merrill Lynch in NYC for the past two years, a firm that the
US government basically forced BofA to acquire for nearly 40% over book value.
Personally I think all that the tax credit and other bailouts and stimulus measures have done is to set us up for either a bigger crash down the road or an unnecessarily long (i.e. decades) drawn-out slow decline, much like Japan.
Time will tell which of us is correct.
Their reply:
Quote:
I dont like government but last year's crisis required government intervention. You would understand if you studied the great depression. The real estate crash is what caused the great depression. Now, the housing market has stabilized. Most government programs are bad but the tax credit was a great idea. It just should have been more broad based for more people and a larger amount. Time has already shown that the credit worked because the housing market has stopped falling. Maybe it starts falling again when the tax credit expires but hopefully they will extend it again. I love the Bank of America merger because I got paid. BAC definately over paid but thats their problem. Ken Lewis always wanted Merrill. He always overpays for mergers. I could care less about that. Bailouts for AIG etc are bad but that is a totally different program than the housing credit.
Right. Government intervention is bad, except when it is required to save
my job I mean the economy.
