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Norm Coleman: The Bailout is Awesome!
By Jeff Fecke | September 23, 2008
Norm Coleman has an…er…novel take on the trillion dollar giveaway. It’s like the lottery — we could win big, America!
Yeah, it seems insane, but in a town hall meeting in North Mankato, Coleman said that the U.S. government could make up to $14 trillion on the deal.
“The government could make 10 or 20 times what it pays on this, possibly,” said Coleman, according to the Mankato Free Press.
Of course, he did admit that he does “worry a little bit” about giving a trillion dollars away. And I suppose it is worth worrying about a bit, but Al Franken’s angry, so it doesn’t matter, right?
Seriously, it’s hard to overstate how out to lunch this valuation of possible return on investment is. I mean, first off, if there was $14 trillion in profits outstanding, the foreign banks that still have money would be lining up to throw money into the market — we wouldn’t need taxpayer rescue. But of course, $14 trillion isn’t going to be made; $14 trillion is more than the entire U.S. gross domestic product. It’s not just ludicrous to suggest that the U.S. could earn a whole year’s GDP back on this horrible, horrible bet — it’s completely disconnected from reality. It’s not only not in the ballpark, it’s not only not in the universe, it’s not in the multiverse of possible outcomes from this debacle.
Of course, Norm, like most Republicans, has been a big fan of deregulating everything that moves over the years, and an even bigger record of throwing taxpayer money at corporations (after all, how did he bring hockey back? That’s right, he built an arena with taxpayer funding). So basically, if he’s going to run on his record, he’s screwed. So instead, he’ll pretend that putting all our money on double-zero could turn up big, big winnings for America. Oh, and Al Franken’s angry. Victory!
Topics: Norm Coleman | 1 Comment »
September 23rd, 2008 at 1:01 pm
[...] Coleman thinks we could strike it rich from the mortgage crisis bailout: “The government could make 10 or 20 times what it pays on this, possibly,” Coleman said during a campaign stop at Christy’s Cafe in North Mankato Saturday morning. (Mankato Free Press, via Blog of the Moderate Left) [...]