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Laura Rowley Money & Happiness

Laura Rowley, Money & Happiness

Fed's 'Consumer Bailout' Encourages More Bad Behavior

by Laura Rowley

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Posted on Wednesday, November 26, 2008, 12:00AM

If there's a small silver lining in the nation's financial crisis, it's that households were finally getting a grip on their bloated balance sheets, reducing credit card use, and increasing savings. Consumer spending fell 1 percent in October, the biggest drop in 7 years.

But Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson doesn't want Americans to stop spending, because that will slow the economy. So he's using taxpayer dollars to make it easier for consumers to dig themselves more deeply into debt.

More of What Ails Us

The Treasury announced Tuesday that it will buy $600 billion in mortgages and mortgage securities backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and provide $200 billion in non-recourse loans to investors holding investment-grade (BBB or better) securities backed by newly or recently originated consumer loans. That includes credit cards, auto loans, and student loans, as well as small-business loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration. The $200 billion will come from the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

"Millions of Americans cannot find affordable financing for their basic credit needs. And credit card rates are climbing, making it more expensive for families to finance everyday purchases," Paulson said Tuesday. "This lack of affordable consumer credit undermines consumer spending; as a result, it weakens our economy."

It's an ironic solution to a crisis perpetuated in part by consumers signing on for more debt than they could ever hope to pay off. But it's not a surprising development amid the scattershot rescue strategy that has the government prepared to pledge $7.76 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers — $24,000 for each man, woman, and child, and enough to pay off half the nation's mortgages — according to a Bloomberg analysis.

Taxpayer Stuck with the Tab

Paulson called the $200 billion in the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) "a starting point." In other words, at a time when record numbers of consumers have spent themselves into insolvency, and millions of others face increasing job insecurity, the government is hoping to balloon their borrowing — propping up spending in the short-term but potentially setting the stage for another debacle in the future.

"You have to ask a simple question: Why is this necessary?" says Adam Lerrick, an economist with Carnegie Mellon University and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "Why don't the markets do this themselves? The obvious answer is they don't believe in the Triple-A rating [on the asset-backed securities]. Why should the Treasury have more confidence about the rating agencies than the market? What it's doing is shifting the credit risk of the bonds from investors to the taxpayers."

A Backdoor Bank Bailout

Lawrence J. White, economics professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, says the new strategy is a result of TARP's failure to provide liquidity after the Treasury shifted from purchasing toxic assets to buying equity stakes in financial institutions. "We didn't get a lot of liquidity out of the initial uses of the TARP program because it basically went into the banks' net worth," he says. "They weren't that much more inclined to lend. In some sense, this is a backdoor TARP."

Lerrick argues that the financial system doesn't have a liquidity problem — it has a transparency problem. "There's plenty of liquidity — lenders have more cash than borrowers need," he says. "But we have an information crisis. Let's assume there are 100 major financial institutions in world, and 20 are in bad shape. If you don't know which 20 of those 100 are bad, you don't lend to anyone. The solution is to provide the markets with information so they can identify and go back to lending to the 80 sound borrowers, and quarantine the 20 bad borrowers. That's why massive injections of liquidity have done nothing to unfreeze the credit markets."

Consume No More

But even if a gusher of credit is forthcoming, the era of consumer-driven economic growth is over, argues Robert Manning, professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and author of "Credit Card Nation: The Consequences of America's Addiction to Credit." "It's astounding how much consumer debt has increased since 2001, and government official] realize how little flexibility they have today versus other recessions," Manning says.

"For most Americans in denial, this is going to be a real wakeup call; you're going to hear more often about sacrifice and learning to live within a budget, whether it's at the household or government level," Manning adds.

White agrees that pumping up consumer lending "is not a sustainable approach. There's got to be a transition to where the consumer is saving more and spending less, and the spending is coming from either the industrial/business sector or government sector — using those consumer savings to build capital, whether it's a private-sector plant and equipment or social sector infrastructure. The change from a consumer-driven to more of an investment-driven economy has to be the long-run pattern for our economy."

The Unending Bailout

In the meantime, the current approach to the financial crisis lacks both predictability and credibility, two things the markets crave. The Citigroup windfall earlier this week demonstrated that the goal is not only to protect the system, but to prop up favored institutions. And the longer Treasury waits to formulate a coherent strategy, the longer the line of supplicants grows at its door.

"It started out with commercial banks, then insurance companies, then money market funds, then automakers," says Lerrick. "Why not state and local governments? Why not homeowners? Where do you draw the line?"

Until a line is drawn, we won't have any idea how much risk the government is willing to take, and what the bailout will cost. And according to research firm Demos, another $250 billion in adjustable-rate mortgages are poised to reset to higher monthly payments by the year's end.

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  • Laura - Wednesday, December 3, 2008, 2:18PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 4/5

    If the government is so obsessed with saving the auto manufacturers of America, then why not buy every American a car, tax free? That's right, every taxpaying American gets a car, bought and paid for by Uncle Sam. What would that cost? Less than $34 billion??? What's the problem? The line workers would definitely be put to work, which would pump their salaries into the broader economy for the rest of us. Who knows, the auto workers might be inspired to start buying houses with their newfound overtime riches; houses are pretty cheap right now! Those of us who have been lured away by Honda and Toyota over the years just might be inspired to return to one of the Big Three if the vehicles we got were impressive enough. It could create a nice secondary car market for those people who need a little extra cash and not their new car. Those in need of yet an additional car could get one relatively cheap since there would be most likely a lot of competition amongst those people looking to sell their cars to pay bills. Everyone, at least initially, would have a reliable car to drive, most helpful in driving to work, running errands, etc. We could all take one of those Volt cars, or some sort of hybrid car; this would force the newer technologies into mass production at the Big Three and not just be fringe technologies for those with money to burn and want to look cool. President Obama, I'll take a navy blue Chevrolet Volt, please.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, December 3, 2008, 1:38PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    This article is Right On !! We can't a nation and economy on consumption, debt and asset inflation. We need well paying jobs, learn to live within our means, avoid debt like a plague, build up savings and invest in 'tangible' (factories, manufacturing, renewable and alternative energy, environment, infrastructure, education, technology, R&D, etc.). Govt's response to bailout lacks coherency, transperency and accountability, the issues that got us into this trouble to begin with.

  • PeterJ - Wednesday, December 3, 2008, 12:00PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    For those of us who saved for retirement, lived well within our means, and didn't spend borrowed money like drunken sailors, it feels at times as though we're being punished for avoiding crass consumerism like the rest of the country. With interest rates plummeting, I feel like I'M being punished for NOT spending my money. On the other hand, I'm licking my chops, waiting for the housing market to get close to the bottom so I can go out and scoop a great deal on a repossessed home. Sounds terrible? Not to me. After all, with my 403(b) accounts shrinking, and my interest income getting smaller every month, it's about time I benefited from years of responsible living. As for the rest of you who question why we should do ANYTHING to help the situation, just think about this: If we do nothing to help those spendthrifts, then the whole economy collapses, and with it, OUR money, too. As irritating as it is to think about, it's in OUR best interests, along with many other innocents in this mess, that we help the country out of this hole. And before you think the $8.5 trillion bailouts so far is big, just think about the twin trainwrecks just now coming into view...the trillions in unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare. I say buy some precious metals funds and wait for the dramatic drop in the U.S. dollar, which will result in a huge increase in commodities, particularly gold and oil. Assuming anyone out there has any money with which to invest.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 6:47PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    To the people that have dragged this country down into a financial crisis, you are as much to blame as the banks! It is a privledge to buy a house/car and have a credit line, you are NOT entitled to it. I didn't get into financial trouble, but my home value and 401k have suffered because of the irrresponsible people who knew they couldn't afford the house, car or things they were buying on credit! Why should we bail them out? Will I get a check for $24K for not defaulting and paying my bills on time? With the exception of those families that had a major illness or death in the family, I don't have any sympathy for the rest and I don't think we should bail out the greedy irresponsible people, it doesn't matter if they are poor middle class or rich, you should be held responsible for your actions. If you want something work, save then buy, why do you think your entitled to buy anything you want whether you can afford it or not! Why don't people except responsibility for their actions and suffern the consequences, maybe then their kids will learn the lessons their parents didn't.

  • what? - Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 6:47PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 1/5

    Stop whining, already. And start using realistic figures: "$24,000 for every man, woman, and child" assumes that every house in the country will fetch a fair-market selling price of less than one dollar, and that nobody will even be employed by next week. Listing figures in that way would be akin to saying that a life insurance company will be on the hook for trillions of dollars by this time tomorrow, because all of their policy holders will obviously die overnight! Besides, in the end, this government intervention will not only save capitalism in America, but will probably even make the taxpayer some money in the long-run (not to mention protect billions of dollars of tax revenues in the short-run).

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 5:15PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    To "Kelly" and any others. College students don't always NEED loans, many WANT loans (that is part of the "credit addiction" mindset problem). You can choose to spend what you do not have, or you can choose to spend what you have. I worked to pay for my college, took 5 years to do it, and chose to go to a state university to save money. My wife went to a community college for 2 years, lived at home, worked, and finished her bachelors degree at a state university. I studied hard on weekends while my peers blew their money at the bars -- I valued the education, and I focused effort on the best grades that I was capable of (it was a privilege to me, not a right). When selecting an employer (after working through school AND making grades, I had multiple interviews/ offers), I chose one who would sponsor me for an MBA while working full-time (that was rough too, and very little fun). After 8 years of hard work, I had no school debt, 2 great degrees, and a great resume. Choices -- we have choices. Our choices have consequences, the good, the bad, and the unintended. The leaders of this country have no idea what unintended consequences are being unleashed with the many recent decisions and upcoming decisions.

  • Jean-Marc - Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 5:01PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    In short let them all fail. This needs to hurt the consumer until they downsize spending and live within their means. Propping consumer spending and debt with building up government debt is just making this recession more protracted and delays recovery. The main problem is that there is no strategy to this bailout. First it was making sure your buddies at G.S. are financially safe while exonerating all of guilt. Then, it's whoever begs the best for handouts. The whole thing wrapped in zero-transparency deals. Treasury cannot disclose who it lent how much to. Talk about setting the example for market transparency. It reeks of corruption, mismanagement, and incompetence. Let the free markets handle it, let the illiquid fail and the liquid pick up the dirt cheap scraps. Foreclose people who've overspent for years, let states who cannot manage their budgets cut drastically their spending, etc. This is a long overdue reckoning for mass irresponsibility. Let it run its course so future generations learn and so that we restart on clean bases.

  • Kelly Leak, LF - Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 3:34PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 1/5

    yet another article written by a 40 something, writing on a topic which has primary concern to a 20-something. College students need student loans and credit, and that is what this covers.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 3:07PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Socializing losses and privatizing gains - not good. It wouldn't surprise me if consumer spending stayed flat or fell for few years as the baby boomers start understanding the reality of what it takes to actually retire. I think we're all trying to slow down the car wreck that was kicked off by the lack of oversight on credit default swaps and big businesses who own our financial markets. Nothing multiplies the bad choices of consumers like the big businesses who make even worse decisions when packaging consumer debt into securities and then insuring that debt with nothing but leverage. It's an economy killer. I hope we can get through it with little damage and that everyone (consumers, business, and the goverment) have learned something about debt, oversight, and transparency.

  • Harley - Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 1:56PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    TARP = Taxpayer A*s Reaming Program

  • Dan - Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 1:44PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 1/5

    RE: Rick Cain: Thank you. I had been saying the SAME THINGS all last year, and was derided and ridiculed by Laura's followers. Laura only knows what is going on in her Beltway, and what must be a gated community. There will be middle-class relief coming. Just wait and see. It has to happen, because if we are going to be out this recession (and I still haven't heard Laura ever say the dreaded R-word yet...I've been waiting for a year...), that there has to be some Middle-Class relief. Without which, this consumer economy (74% of the total economy in this country) will collapse for certain.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 12:22PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Thank you Laura for your honest look at the whole bail-out (read - pick the pocket of American taxpayers). What the poster who called this bullhockey doesn't understand is: mortgages have been bundled and sold at a profit for a considerable amount of time. What caused all the "toxic" SDOs etc. to lose value is his "hard working" mortgage holders DEFAULTED on their payments! Banks and other lenders are partly to blame if they engaged in predatory lending - but for the most part buyers simply threw common sense and caution to the wind and took more mortgage than they could afford. Yes products like "alt-a liar loans" offered by lenders made it easier - but the fact is people over spent. And thanks to "get rich quick" OPM real estate schemers like RK thought they could all flip houses and make a bundle. Well - some did but most did not. And now they want to be "victims" instead of entrepreneurs. The entitlement mentality that was encouraged by the liberal administrations has made people believe they have a "right" to own a home. Now that's bullhockey - what they do have is the right to the OPPORTUNITY (through disciplined management of their lives and money) to own a home.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 11:47AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 1/5

    What a load of bullhockey. Its interesting that the government comes riding in on a white horse with a shining sword to quickly rescue the wealthy, but the moment there is talk of a rescue for the middle class and the poor, all of a sudden the purse strings snap shut and now its time to levy judgment for "bad behavior". There was no bad behavior on the part of the working class, they paid their mortgages, they paid their credit card bills. What happened was they foolishly trusted the wealthy with those mortgages, who took them, sold them off as securities then lost on the market. They it was time to soak the mortgage owner for lost money. $700 billion is wasted bailing out the bad behavior of the rich, and its sickening to see the same government suddenly get very thrift-minded when it comes time to bail out the person making $50k a year. Pathetic article.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, December 2, 2008, 10:25AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Well done. The article is clearly stated and both complete and coherent in thought. The issues mentioned are relevant and important. The point is also clear, people no longer live within their means and they need too. Far to many people have become comfortable saying "I dont' live within my means".

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, December 1, 2008, 6:39PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    I'm working on wiping out my debts; staying current on credit cards, almost finished with auto loan, etc. I don't buy anything anymore unless i have CASH. Also went on a diet so smaller, older clothes will fit. That should reduce medical bills and food bills also. JOIN ME

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, December 1, 2008, 5:30PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 2/5

    The people who were warning us about this problem years ago were laughed at as if they were nuts. Who is really insane here? The govt and big banks that put us in this hole by their own greed, or we, the people who elected them? All fiat economies eventually collapse and now we have a front row seat to watch this one crash and take the world with it.

  • felix - Monday, December 1, 2008, 4:53PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Superb story. The obvious is quite simple and if our elected officials had been on the job and looking out for us instead of their business buddies, they would have stopped all of this bail out nonsense.

  • Michael - Monday, December 1, 2008, 4:27PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Great story! The bailout is ridiculous and would be better spent by giving every consumer $20,000 to do with as they please. That'll kick-start the economy. I know how I'd spendmine!

  • JOHN - Monday, December 1, 2008, 4:01PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Excellent points made. Yes there has to be a lot of cash out there waiting to be made available to those institutions that are "worthy" and "stable" to warrent it. All the finanacial instatutions should not be freed from the financial positions they got their greedy selves into so easily. They should be held to the same standards as regular people, go bacnkrupt and have the black mark follow you for the next several years to show your previous poor judgement...

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, December 1, 2008, 3:22PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    thanks very much for that great rarity in financial thinking: common sense. maybe it's time for Americans to think about the things that matter--like their kids' college educations and retirement, instead of granite countertops for the kitchen. unfortunately, with the banks running the bailout (Paulson is like the fox guarding the chicken coop), we aren't likely to see anything but cronyism as usual. Americans, STAND UP AND PROTEST--write to your congressmen (though they got elected on banks' campaign contributuions).

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, December 1, 2008, 3:05PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    This is an excellent article... The real question is what we do about it? Not as democrats or republicans, but as Americans who are uniformly being sold to debt slavery while a corrupt government and wall st loot and pillage the country... How do we kick off a mass movement to fix things? The new president said "yes, we can", and that brought hope to the country.. he them proceeded to appoint a treasury secretary who participated in the current crime and will likely continue this perverted "rob the poor to pay the rich" process to "fix" things.. Yes we can, but can we can find the courage to do the right thing..

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, December 1, 2008, 1:31PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 1/5

    As usual, the point is missed. If you are going to nationalize the banking system, just do it. I would rather prop up my neighbor than Wall Street. The Federal Government should have purchased the mortgages at market and then re-priced them to the homeowner's at that amount. The taxpayers would be even and a large number of the homeowners would be able to keep their houses. The only losers would be the investors, which is as it should be; they took the risk. As far as the "credit freeze" goes, why not have the government extend credit to individuals and administrate the loans? That way if the banks don't want to extend credit, who cares. This entire situation exposes "American Free Market Capitalism" for the fraud that it is. If you really want to see something funny, check out Larry Kudlow and his "Show Of Pigs". It is absolutely hilarious to see all the red meat "free market capitalists" back-pedal as the government stuffs their pockets with our money. It seems the American Empire is at an end, finally.

  • Roy - Monday, December 1, 2008, 1:09PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 4/5

    Why do you think Credit Card rates remain high: Because of the campaign contributions of the credit card companies. Same as teachers unions' control the local politicians but at least with credit cards, personal responsibility can be a mitigating factor. If the credit card rates were reasonable (3-5% depending upon individual scores) then the 50% of users who are "over-balanced" would have a fighting chance for debt relief.

  • Irving - Monday, December 1, 2008, 1:07PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Thank you. As others have said, it is wonderful to hear someone in the finance media saying the truth. I am a conservative, but have had problems with the "trickle down" theory for years. It seems that the word 'conservative' doesn't apply, when it comes to debt. I hope everyone cuts back on their spending, big time, and forces a massive flush out in this debt-addicted economy we have. It's got to happen. People know, from their own experience, that something is terribly wrong with an economy and government that encourages spending and debt. Paulson? He's part of the problem. How can we expect an ex-Goldman executive to think and act for the good of average citizens? Oy.

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, December 1, 2008, 12:49PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Finally someone writes a story about the REAL cause of the problem and why our inept and corrupt government's current solution is just more of the same. The Fed is lending 150 billion a day in "emergency loans" to banks and other financial institutions, and refusing to tell anyone who they are lending it to or what they are getting in collateral. They are effectively making money out of thin air, hoping to get interest from it, and whatever is not repayed will then be passed on to the taxpayer. CRIMINAL! All our government leaders haven't said anything for almost a month as trillions have been loaned with no congressional oversight or approval. They should all be tried for treason. It is a very sad state of affairs, and I'm glad that someone has finally had the guts to publish a story that exposes debt and spending as a problem rather than a magical fix for what ails us. Thank you Laura!

  • Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, December 1, 2008, 12:22PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Great article Laura. I have been reading a lot of the comments and it's good to see that there are americans out there who understand this crisis. This video was a real eye opener and worth your time if you really want to see how the fed works. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-594683847743189197

  • cowboy47201 - Monday, December 1, 2008, 12:18PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 4/5

    This is such a paradox. If we cut spending and save and reduce personal debt the economy suffers and more jobs are lost which will cause more debt for some people and the government with unemployment and welfare. If we keep over spending, then the debt gets pushed to future generations. So we are trading off current pain for future pain. I see the root cause is that economic systems and social systems are not very compatible in some ways. The normal fluctuations of an economic system do not match the constant growth of social systems. It is like the deer population in the forrest. In droughts, sometimes half of the population will die off. That is their equivalent of a economic downturn. So are willing to let significant populations just "die off" in the downturn, which would fix our problem fairly quickly. Or do all the dying (outof work) people just decide it is time to overthrow the system and take what they can not earn because of a lack of jobs. I think this is what FDR was concerned about when 25-30 million people were out of work in the depression. Thank goodness for WWII where we killed off about 50 million people and created demand. So the bottom line is do we value money more than we value human life?

  • ShendiL - Monday, December 1, 2008, 12:06PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    I agree with you.

  • DAVID - Monday, December 1, 2008, 12:05PM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Yes, this is all about irresponsibiity and bad behavior.

  • Scott - Monday, December 1, 2008, 11:35AM ET  Report Abuse

    • Overall: 5/5

    Laura you have finally posted a postion I can fall in line with you on.

Showing comments 6-35 of 420<< PreviousNext >>
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