L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll: Only 31% favor bailout

News item from Bloomberg News tonight:

Americans oppose government rescues of ailing financial companies by a decisive margin, and blame Wall Street and President George. W. Bush for the credit crisis.            

By a margin of 55 percent to 31 percent, Americans say it's not the government's responsibility to bail out private companies with taxpayer dollars, even if their collapse could damage the economy, according to the latest Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll.

Here's how the Los Angeles Times reports the same findings:

Most Americans don't believe the government has responsibility for bailing out financial firms with taxpayer money, a core part of the rescue plan Congress is considering to halt the near-meltdown of the nation's financial markets, a Times/Bloomberg poll has found.

Reluctance to use public money to rescue private firms runs across the population, the poll found: Democrats and Republicans, high-income and low-income families alike.

Two cents: The poll was conducted from Friday through Monday.  Most Americans probably didn't learn until Sunday, or Monday, that Treasury was demanding $700 billion without meaningful Congressional oversight. My sense is that the bailout is becoming less popular each day, and that a poll taken this week would show even deeper opposition to the original Paulson plan.

Does it make the bailout more acceptable if you add on aid to homeowners and limits on executive pay? That's certainly the way Congressional leadership thinks, but I'm not sure most Americans go along.

— Peter Viles

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to Peter Viles

Comments

[eternal summer]

some people I know don't trust blogs and internet news, but i say that it is the only place we will find out what is REALLY going on...

I look at CNN, MSNBC, FOX, and local news and think, these people are soooooo out of touch with reality. i've even heard some of them mention on air that they are really lucky to have the high paying jobs that they have and that some of this stuff doesn't affect them.....!!!!!

anyway, this blog may have an agenda, but it definitely speaks to me and has connected all the dots to this housing debacle from the financial crisis to the election to ed mcmahon-it's all related!

[Eric, Norwalk, CT]

"The financial rescue is the economic equivalent of a war vote, with unknown consequences that promise to persist far into the future. Yet despite a profound lack of trust in the administration, Democratic leaders and many Republicans nonetheless seemed inclined to go along with a rescue, albeit with many conditions."

Forget about the "unknown consequences" I keep reading about. Here are the consequense of voting for the bailout:

I swear on the bible and on the united states constitution that I will vote against any politician that supports this bailout at every election until they are voted out of office, EVEN IF IT MAGICALLY WORKS AND PREVENTS A RECESSION.

ALSO

I will vote for anyone who stands up against this bailout, EVEN IF THE ECONOMY FALLS APART AS A RESULT.

I do NOT want wall street to get my money. My PATIENCE with the REPEATED Wall Street bailouts is OVER (Bear Stearns, Freddie/Fannie, AIG, etc...). I want this bailout DEAD. PERIOD.

[smrr]

What can we do to stop the bailout? I've been calling the speaker, my reps, sens, banking committee chairs, everybody. How do we stop this thing? Why is th LA Times the only paper that seems to be highlighting the public outrage against the bailout. Why isn't our governement listening? Wnen are we marching on DC, Peter? It is amazing to me that most media talk about the bailout like it is a done deal and the only question is the terms of the bailout. I'm sure there are 25-50m people that agree with me that we need to stop this thing cold. Enough. I don't trust Paulson or Bernake to solve this and I don't wish to fund their soltuions.

[Laker]

Back at my place of work, 98% are against the bailout. And i think there are 30% democrats and 70% republicans.
At my wife's work place, 100% are against the bailout. And she said more than 50% are democrats the rest republicans and undecided.
The only people I know/met that are in favor are real estate agents, and two RE commercial investors...

Basically, all middle class is against it.
btw: many of these against the bailout are homeowners themselves...not renters...

[Arti]

What I don't understand is why the media wants us to want this horrible bailout catastrophe. I've been watching cable news all night and almost every major show including Anderson Cooper 360, Hardball, etc. is touting a different poll where supposedly 57% of Americans favored the bailout. The message the media seems to want us to want is that we should be angry about it, but that we should do it. Well not this guy, I am MAD AS HELL and I want the media pundits to grow some xxxx and stop peddling it.

[Giacomo]

These proposed amendments are meant to soothe the outrage at the bailout, of course, but their effect would be trivial to bailout itself. We should be insulted by this cynical attempt to placate us.

And special aid for distressed homeowners? Every poll I've ever seen shows that the majority of Americans (the ones who contracted for a rent or a mortgage they can AFFORD) don't want bail out their greedy /irresponsible/ gullible neighbors.

[puckhead]

Lets face it, as a society we've all become fat and lazy. We want our problems to be taken care of but we don't want to do the heavy lifting. The same people that scream for no bailout will be screaming bloody murder if this bill is not passed and the economy tanks, more banks start to fail, the market gets sliced in half and businesses can't get loans to expand and hire people. We'll all be screaming why the hell didn't someone do something!!!!!!! Can anyone see I'm getting hurt!!!!!!

[Mucker]

No, limiting CEO pay and help to homeowners does make the plan more attractive. Less so on homeowner help. Overextended is overextended. Suffer the consequences. Paulson has not been forthcoming. His Bazooka that would remain unused is now a Nuke. It will only make a cloud. Taxpayers will be left with the bill, especially with his request for "market value at recovery" demand. Housing must correct and sadly the greed fed Derivatives and mortgage market must collapse. My son defined the recovery path today. When houses in Carlsbad CA can be picked up for $400,000 to $5000,000 there will be a stampede to get in. Until then everything is down and the plan is smoke and mirrors.

[LA-renter]

Every day that passes without cataclysm... Every morning that starts without gunfire on the streets and martial music on the radio...

Chip, chip, chips away at any residual support. Fact is the evident beneficiaries are a minuscule constituency.

Paulson and Bernanke have painted themselves into a corner. One of two outcomes must happen by Friday:

(i) The bailout passes, and we're left to melt our pennies for their precious content.
OR
(ii) The bailout is rejected, and we're left sitting in the dark staring at each other by candlelight.

If neither occurs what's the rationale to ever go along with the bailout?

[Uncle Billy Is Shocked]

If you're in New York, can get to New York by 4:00 PM Thursday, or know people who can, pack up your troubles in the old kit bag and report to Bowling Green park. All the best looking, coolest and most intelligent people have already confirmed their attendance -- from rockstars to dot com billionaires. It's the happening of the century.

http://tinyurl.com/MarchOnWallStreet-II

[tarbubble]

there is a 10 am protest Wednesday Set 24 at the CNN building in Hollywood. Not sure how much attention this will get, but if you feel like getting communally angry then go.

I am so relieved to see how unpopular this bailout is. I hope Congress will wake up and start paying attention to us, instead of (pleeeease forgive me) lipsticking yet another pig.

[Joe]

No Bailouts period .

[NoMoreMortgagePayments]

In protest, I think October 1st should be National Don't Pay Your Mortgage day. I intend to NOT pay my mortgage on October 1st. If all mortgage holders in America did this, do you think we might send a message to King Paulson?

[Maggie Knowles]

I want REGULATION BEFORE TAXATION! NO HANDOUTS! I don't care if Warren Buffett says it's a good idea, I don't trust him anymore either. I share my morning call list in case anyone else has time to make a few calls:

Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs
202-224-7391

Members:

Senator Christopher J. 'Chris' Dodd (D-CT)
202-224-2823

Senator Jon Tester - (D-MT)
202-224-2644

Senator Richard C. Shelby (R-AL)
202-224-5744

Senator Charles E. 'Chuck' Schumer (D-NY)
202-224-6542

Senator John Francis 'Jack' Reed (D-RI)
202-224-4642

Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
202-224-4744

Senator Melquiades Rafael 'Mel' Martinez (FL)
202-224-3041

Senator Tim P. Johnson (D-SD)
202-224-8279

Senator Charles T. 'Chuck' Hagel (R-NE)
202-224-4224

Senator Michael B. 'Mike' Enzi (R-WY)
202-224-3453

Senator Elizabeth H. Dole (R-NC)
202-224-6342

Senator Michael D. 'Mike' Crapo (R-ID)
202-224-6142

Senator Bob Corker (R-TN)
202-224-3344

Senator Robert P. 'Bob' Casey Jr. (D-PA)
202-224-6324

Senator Thomas Richard 'Tom' Carper (D-DE)
202-224-2441

Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY)
202-224-4343

Senator Sherrod C. Brown (D-OH)
202-224-2315

Senator Robert F. 'Bob' Bennett (R-UT)
202-224-5444

Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN)
202-224-5623

Senator Wayne A. Allard (R-CO)
202-224-5941

Senator Daniel Kahikina Akaka Sr. (D-HI)
202-224-6361

[Michael Snyder]

A penny change: No! Instead of restricting executive compensation for the firms lining up to fleece the taxpayer, I'd go for prison time and the forfeiture of personal assets.
No bailout required.

[El Guapo]

I not in favor of this either. But if it was to go through, make it painful for the finance industry. If we give " a loan" (should read gift) to these clowns, then we get an ownership stake (possibly complete) in the company. We can IPO these guys later on down the road. CEO's that get fired should get escorted from their desk by a goon and get two weeks severance. This should quell the desire of every other industry in trouble that will want to line up at the taxpayer trough after this.

[Larry]

This is not the first time. It is the repeat of 1980’s savings and loan crises. Why? Are those high intelligent, Harvard graduate stupid? Or the professors taught them wrong ? Of course not. They have taught us the theory of risk aversion and diversification. They must know the business.

I think they are actually smart. Look at the money they have been making during these days. In this system, making money is not every thing; it’s the only thing! They are smart; making money when they can, when crises come, they highjack the taxpayers and the Government will bail them out.

[Mondo]

UNITED STATES CENTRAL BANK IS A CORPORATION WITH PRIVATE INTERESTS

To begin understanding why the Federal Reserve being set up as the United States central bank was such a fraud brought on the American people, you must understand that it’s not a government agency.

The Federal Reserve is privately owned. The ownership looks like this:

* Rothschild Banks of London and Berlin (see Rothschild and World Economy)
* Lazard Brothers Bank of Paris
* Israel Moses Sieff Banks of Italy
* Warburg Bank of Hamburg, Germany and Amsterdam
* Kuhn Loeb Bank of New York
* Lehman Brothers Bank of New York
* Goldman Sachs Bank of New York
* Chase Manhattan Bank of New York (Controlled By Rockefeller Family Tree)

The House of Rothschild and world economy go together.
This is because the Rothschilds’ power and wealth is immense. Their power is so vast that it’s beyond the comprehension of most people.

Fritz Springmeier has this to say regarding the media and how it relates to Rothschild and world economy:

“… the Rothschilds have control of all three U.S. Networks, plus other aspects of the recording and mass media industry… Perhaps nothing dominates the life of some Americans as does the television. Americans sit themselves before the television set and simply absorb what it projects to them. Day to day the biggest way the Rothschilds have touched the lives of Americans has been the three major networks.”

Go to this site and do some reading:
http://www.fdrs.org/index.html

[Cal]

Seen on an overpass driving the freeway this morning.

"WHERE'S OUR BAILOUT?" hand painted banner.

[Silverfern]

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, 9th District, Toledo on C-SPAN on the bailout.

She says it all so well. Worth watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27yitK32ds&feature=bz302

[Simon]

Most of us British with a modocom of intelligence think that the Paulson plan is financial suicide. If this goes through Congress we will probably be next....god help us. Time to take to the streets and show the world that tax payers have had enough of foolish, careless and greedy bankers and politicians

[Silverfern]

I love this woman.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur
D-Ohio 9th District
Toledo

Speaking on the bailouts: "THEY WANT MAMA TO MAKE IT ALL BETTER".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbD62gNi9WE&feature=related

[Silverfern]

The Transcript of Kaptur's speech to the House on the "Bailout Game" is available at:

http://www.kaptur.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=289&Itemid=1

[Jackie Romulo]

"Bailout" has a universally negative connotation. You bailout people that are in jail, it's a very self-fulfilling thing that only helps one person. Same thing with thie economic bailout. NEGATIVE. It's self-fulfilling that won't do any good for the general public. NO BAILOUT. Let those financially irresponsible face the consequences so that this kind of thing doesn't happen again. Although it probably will no matter what.

[David Rawlings]

I watched Messrs Paulson and Bernanke at the senate committee and I can't say that I was very impressed with either their performances or their arguments. "Should Wall Street apologise to the American people " was a straight forward enough question but they both avoided an answer. I kept thinking that one of them would soon come up with a winning unopposable argument as to why their plan was necessary, why it would work, and why there were no other alternatives, but they used only generalisations . Why didn't any of the questioners ask Mr Paulson to what extent his own personal interests still lay within Goldman Sachs, what were his intentions after Jan 2009, how much more would he personally benefit from the rescue than the average Citizen? In other words, can American people be sure that he is independent enough to be in control of this situation? I thought they both had a too easy ride before the Senators. The senators gave me the impression that they wanted to impress their voters but not upset their two powerful and influential interviewees. Thus it achieved less than it might have.