The book is an analysis of the controversial Emergency Economic Stabilization Act and explains in easy to understand language what the bailout bill means for individuals. $700 Billion Bailout answers questions such as:
- What does the bill say, exactly?
- Who is making decisions about how the $700 billion will be spent, and what does it mean now that the government is investing directly in our banks?
- Who’s footing the bill?
- What is the impact on homeowners, businesses, retirement, and taxes?
- Where do I put my money in the meantime?
Veteran reporter Paul Muolo shows both the challenges and opportunities of the credit crisis and proposed bailout, including its impact on:
- Mortgages: While rates may be lower, there will be more fees imposed on mortgages. Lenders will be far more cautious in lending, and people who cannot meet their mortgages are likely to lose these homes. This may create a “contrarian” plays in foreclosures and vacation homes..
- Stocks and Other Investments: Is now the time to get into the stock market or is it safer to stick with CDs, bonds, and gold?
- Taxes: With the tax breaks, there will be less tax revenue leading to a huge shortfall to the government over the next few years.
He will offer insight into these areas and many others, including how the structure of the bailout bill allows for unprecedented authority that has altered the financial landscape, perhaps permanently. Will the plan work, and how we can prevent this from happening again remains to be seen, but with $700 Billion Bailout Paul Muolo gives us a critical tool for deciphering perhaps the most sweeping piece of legislation since the Patriot Act.
Author's Note The $700 Billion Bailout Bill: What Is This Monster?
Introduction Original Sin: The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008: The Patriot Act Meets the World of Finance.
Chapter 1: The Big Hoist: Will the $700 Billion Bailout of the Mortgage and Credit Markets Work? (It Had Better).
How the $700 Billion Bailout Machine Will Work and Who Will Enforce It.
How TARP Will Work.
Will the Taxpayers Ever Get Their $700 Billion Back?
Should Fannie and Freddie Be Eliminated?
Chapter 2: The Three Most Important Things You Need to Know Now—Mortgages, Rates, and Housing.
The Bailout Bill: First, the Good News.
Call Up Your Lender and Shout, “I Want to Restructure My Mortgage!”
The Bad News: Getting a Mortgage Is Going to Be Much Tougher.
A Word about Interest Rates.
Falling Home Values.
The Wealthy Will Not Escape Unscathed.
The Silver Lining: Falling Home Prices Mean Bargains for Some.
How Will We Know When Home Prices Have Stopped Falling?
Chapter 3: Where to Put Your Money Now (Hint: Not in a Vacation Home).
The Day the Flipping Stopped.
The Contrarian Play in Vacation Homes.
Investing in Foreclosures.
Stocks: Is Now the Time to Get In?
Once You Decide to Jump In . . .
Safe Havens: Ginnie Mae and Treasury Bond.
Mutual Funds.
A Word about Gold.
The Safest Haven of All: CDs and Savings Accounts in Federally Insured Banks, S&Ls, and Credit Unions.
Chapter 4: Taxes and Politics: EESA Digs a Deeper Money Hole for All of Us.
What Tax “Bennies” Were Actually Given Away?
What Do All These Tax Breaks Mean for the Consumer?
The Last Word: Politics.
Epilogue The Last Word: If I Ran the Regulatory Zoo.
Excerpts from the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.
Glossary of Terms and Agencies.
About the Author.
Paul Muolo is Executive Editor of National Mortgage News and coauthor of the eye-opening Chain of Blame, which has received very strong coverage in both print and online. His freelance work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Barron's. Muolo has been a guest financial expert on numerous media outlets, including CNN, CNBC, ABC, and Fox Business Network.
Praise for Muolo's Chain of Blame:
"There's no time like the present to read this one. Talk about a whopping tale—and it happens to be true."
–USA Today
"Chain of Blame offer[s] instant history on what may turn out to be the worst economic disaster of our time."
–Wall Street Journal
"For the federal investigators now piecing together the history of who knew what when, Chain of Blame's storehouse of stories provides a good place to start."
–BusinessWeek
Is America a sinking ship? With the economy in the midst of crisis, the United States government has approved an unprecedented $700 billion bailout of the battered financial industry.
$700 Billion Bailout is an analysis of the controversial Emergency Economic Stabilization Act and explains in easy to understand language what the bailout bill means for individuals. The bill, described as the $700 billion bailout . . . and $110 billion in tax breaks, will include tax breaks shielding millions of taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax this year, increase FDIC insurance for bank deposits from $100,000 to $250,000, and provide support for Wall Street's floundering financial institutions. But what does this truly mean for people on Main Street?
The book provides understandable analysis of the bill's provisions and offers "to do" and "not to do" steps on how the bailout bill impacts individuals. Whether the plan will work, and how we can prevent this from happening again remains to be seen, but with $700 Billion Bailout Paul Muolo gives us a critical tool for deciphering perhaps the most sweeping piece of legislation since the Patriot Act.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Distributor: John Wiley & Sons
Publication Date: 12-10-2008
Pages: 188
Measurements: 231.0mm X 151.5mm X 14.299mm X 8.896oz
