The Bailout

As a progressive, I guess I am supposed to be against giving Obama the second half of the bailout money. That is certainly the message being pushed by the lights of the progressive blogosphere.

Here's David Sirota lauding the House for a symbolic vote against giving Obama the money. And here's Nate Silver calling Tom Coburn a "closet progressive" for voting against the funds.

But I don't know. While certainly the Bush administration provided absolutely no oversight of the first $350 billion, that's no guarantee that an Obama administration won't be more responsible. Also, I don't really want the economy to collaspe. I really feel that we are on the verge of total breakdown. Will the second half of the bailout make a big difference? I don't know. Maybe not. But I do feel that doing nothing, or maybe even worse, posturing and doing nothing, will not lead to anything positive.