by Mark Silva
As pollsters start attempting to gauge public sentiment about the mortgage debt bailout that the Bush administration is proposing, the $700-billion question is the big one.
A new survey from CNN and Opinion Research doesn't quite get there, but it does ask if the federal government "should step in and try to address'' the problems facing financial institutions or "should the federal government stay out and let the financial markets and the economy try to recover on their own?''
And 62 percent in the survey taken Friday through Sunday said the government should step in - while 37 percent said stay out. Most surveyed say they expect that any action taken by Congress will help the economy, yet nearly two-thirds predict that American taxpayers will be treated "unfairly'' in the bargain. (Treasury had not rolled out its $700-billion price tag until after this survey was in the field.)
Asked if the nation's economy is "fundamentally sound,'' only 32 percent said it is - two thirds said no.
"Would you say the problems currently facing financial institutions and the stock market make you feel scared, or do you feel concerned, but not scared, or are you not concerned by those events?''
Two thirds say they are concerned but not scared - just 22 percent scared.
Asked who is more responsible for the financial problems, Republicans or Democrats, 47 percent blamed the Republicans, 24 percent the Democrats and 20 percent both equally.
"As you may know, the federal government has already provided millions of dollars in assistance to several large financial institutions that were likely to collapse without the government's action. Do you favor or oppose that action?'' people were asked in the survey of 1,020 people, with a possible margin of error of 3 percent.
Fifty-five percent said they favor it and 44 percent oppose it.
And here's a kicker: "Congress and the Bush administration are talking about taking additional steps to address the country's financial problems. Just your best guess -- if Congress and the Bush agree on some new programs, do you think those programs would treat U.S. taxpayers fairly or unfairly?
Nearly two thirds - 65 percent - said unfairly. And just 34 percent said fairly.
Yet 55 percent said they believe those new problems will help the economy.
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Comments
"Yet 55 percent said they believe those new problems will help the economy."
The economy has ENOUGH problems, enough programs, and enough bureaucrats.
How about figuring out a way to get the companies to fix their OWN problem rather than making the good ctizens pay for the mistakes of the bad citizens?
Posted by: No More Bailouts | September 22, 2008 5:37 PM
Everyday the democrats and republicans hold up this bailout package causes a "run" on the market.
The psychological barrage of a failing economy is panicking the American public.
Stop fiddling, foolish politicians, before every American in this country pulls their money out of banks and the markets.
The markets will be down more tomorrow. Every single day, it will plummet lower and lower until this bill is passed.
Stop the madness, silly people.
Posted by: Gorny | September 22, 2008 6:54 PM
What a mess for a new president to walk into. Bush will probably break his neck running to get out of that office.
He know gets the distinction of being the worse president ever. Not saying this was his fault but it was on "his watch" as he loves to say.
Posted by: CarolO | September 22, 2008 7:11 PM
A new survey from CNN and Opinion Research doesn't quite get there huh, is that code for a NO ON THE BAILOUT ha!?
NO ONE WANTS IDIOTS GOING IN THERE AND ADDING EVEN MORE TO A DEBT WE ARE HEARING COULD GO AS HIGH AS 1 TRILLION BUCKS.
I think a big start would be for MEDIA and POLITICIANS to start telling the public the TRUTH about how all this came about....the banks being forced to give bad loans to people with zero credit or ablitly to pay it back, and the power Acorn was given by Dems in congress thru their changing CRA. Give people "open govt" conversation and you would be surprised what they will ask next> LIKE OPENNESS SO WE CAN SEE IF ANYONE IS TRYING TO ADD ON TO THIS BAILOUT AND OF COURSE MCCAIN'S IDEA OF HAVING OVERSITE WITH PAULSON so he's not working alone.
We are all doing a lot of blogging, internet searching and TALK TALK TALKING with everyone we know and the story has gotten out there, so we are waiting for YOU TO COME CLEAN WITH US< WE KNOW THE STORY ha!
Posted by: NO TRUST YOU AREN'T OPENING ANOTHER SPENDING DOOR | September 22, 2008 7:48 PM
Based on the track record of this administration, any American has
got to be skeptical of a plan that contains the following:
"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."
In addition it authorizes the raising of the public debt limit to $11,315,000,000,000. That's TRILLIONS folks.
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport☮ | September 22, 2008 8:55 PM
No one forced banks to do anything, morons. Banks always act in what they think is their own best interest. They got greedy, they overreached. Lack of regulation led to this, the Republican mantra of let corporations operate sans federal regulations caused this debacle. Some Dems were too big of cowards to push back, but this was the Republican plan and it failed miserably. Play the blame game all you want, but you can't run and you can't hide. Republican ideals of Laissez Faire Capitalism have their signature all over this nightmare.
Posted by: dt | September 22, 2008 9:41 PM
"Yet 55 percent said they believe those new problems will help the economy."
The economy has ENOUGH problems, enough programs, and enough bureaucrats.
How about figuring out a way to get the companies to fix their OWN problem rather than making the good ctizens pay for the mistakes of the bad citizens?
Posted by: No More Bailouts | September 22, 2008 5:37 PM
I agree with your sentiment, but it's not that simple. The people who created this mess, can't fix it. They got too "cute" for their own good, and ours. If no one acts the economy will seize up. Your 401's will collapse. Hyper-inflation will set in. Banks and corporations will fail. There isn't enough money in the national coffers for government to make good on insured investments. Yeah, the market will "correct" itself, but there will be huge collateral damage, not just in the U.S., but the world. The so-called titans of industry have really screwed the pooch this time.
Posted by: dt | September 22, 2008 11:08 PM