Comments on: The Bailout In Comparison To Other Historical Events

By: libtree09

libtree09 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:46:08 +0000

I’m sorry but what is the point of this? It is just apples and oranges…we survived all that spending…the problem is how to get out of this current mess. Do nothing, spend but only on your friends and lose track of the money out there like Bush. The debate is going nowhere fast with lots of smart people arguing in the real world and others about putting our kids in hock…HEY that already happened before any stimulus. Let’s talk about now please.

By: iskid2astop

iskid2astop — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:54:26 +0000

I think it is an interesting graphic, but miserably fails to convey the scope of money. Those blocks are amazingly expensive. Let’s see that graph, but with amount of bread that could buy, or such similar comparison. It is so hard to wrap one’s head around this amount.

By: Chris Thomas

Chris Thomas — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:22:29 +0000

Mr Ritholtz,

I made some changes to the article after receiving an email from you. I welcome your reposting it as a comment but should note that some of those changes appear to render some of your critiques superfalous. I point this out only so that readers will understand that it is I, not you, who was in error in this regard (most specifically my failure to properly source the graphic).

I’m not sure what is meant by my omission of the blog-post; I believe that I linked to two of your blog-posts directly.

As to the book, it is not the intention of this article to suggest that you are in any way apologizing for the actions of President Bush or the GOP. That said, Bailout Nation will certainly be in my next order from Amazon. If I end up posting a review of it I hope I can count on you to comment.

By: ritholtz

ritholtz — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:15:06 +0000

Hey Chris,

I (apparently) did not communicate my point well.

First off, note that you omitted the 2nd paragraph, which stated “the total costs to the taxpayer of all the monies spent, lent, consumed, borrowed, printed, guaranteed, assumed or otherwise committed.” I did not mean to imply that this will cost $14 trillion. As I have stated ad nauseum elsewhere, we are likely to see 90% of these monies come back to the Treasury.

Second, this was not my artwork — I explicitly wrote: “I once again went to Jess Bachman at Wallstats. I gave him my list of expenditures (inflation adjusted of course!) and he went to work.” Its one artist’s attempt to convey visually what I spent 322 pages explaining in the book, and I tihnk he did a fine job.

The graphic — which is not in Bailout Nation — is supposed to be a rough visualization — It was never meant to be a precise blueprint (I will ask Jess to add WW2 into the next gen of this).

Third, I will note the omission on the blogpost.

Last, you obviously haven’t seen the book, because it sure as hell does not exonerate George W. Bush or the GOP !