Congress calls Wall Street’s bluff, and we lose
Commentary: How rejecting a $700 billion plan cost us $1 trillion
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Congress called Wall Street’s bluff Monday, and investors, savers, retirees and employees around the world lost their shirts.
While groups of politicians bickered like schoolchildren over the failure of the House of Representatives to pass Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s $700 billion bailout plan, the S&P 500 Index plunged to its worst day since the week of the 1987 stock-market crash, wiping out more than $700 billion in the index’s market value. See Market Snapshot.
In other words, we all just spent that $700 billion today — and still didn’t get a rescue plan.
You’re doing a heckuva job, Congress.