The bailout is like giving a pill to your cat

[AnnieBW]

I was talking to a co-worker today, and we both agreed that this bailout can be compared to giving a pill to a sick cat. It has to be done in order to make things better, but it's going to be accomplished with a lot of fighting, hissing, and bloodshed.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. But one has to make sure that the pill is the right pill for what is ailing your cat.

You cannot just blindly open a jar, grab a pill, shove it down the cat's throat and then sit back and wait for the cat to get better.

[Tallison]

10. That's why you evaluate the credentials of your doctors

No substitute for educating yourself to think critically about your sources.

[BrklynLiberal]

23. Absolutely.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/business/hancock/blog/2008/09/hopkins_economists_against_the.html

http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/john.cochrane/research/Papers/mortgage_protest.htm

http://www.housingchronicles.com/2008/09/200-economists-sign-petition-against.html

To the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate:

As economists, we want to express to Congress our great concern for the plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson to deal with the financial crisis. We are well aware of the difficulty of the current financial situation and we agree with the need for bold action to ensure that the financial system continues to function. We see three fatal pitfalls in the currently proposed plan:

1) Its fairness. The plan is a subsidy to investors at taxpayers’ expense. Investors who took risks to earn profits must also bear the losses. Not every business failure carries systemic risk. The government can ensure a well-functioning financial industry, able to make new loans to creditworthy borrowers, without bailing out particular investors and institutions whose choices proved unwise.

2) Its ambiguity. Neither the mission of the new agency nor its oversight are clear. If taxpayers are to buy illiquid and opaque assets from troubled sellers, the terms, occasions, and methods of such purchases must be crystal clear ahead of time and carefully monitored afterwards.

3) Its long-term effects. If the plan is enacted, its effects will be with us for a generation. For all their recent troubles, America's dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity. Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted.

For these reasons we ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider the right course of action, and to wisely determine the future of the financial industry and the U.S. economy for years to come.

[avaistheone1]

2. There has to be a plan for the economy, but not necessarily for these banks.

There are too many expert opinions that a bailout will only make matters worse.

We can't offer to throw good money after bad.

[Tallison]

5. Links, please? nt

[avaistheone1]

16. Bailout Could Deepen Crisis, CBO Chief Says

Asset Sales May Lead to Write-Downs, Insolvencies, Orszag Tells Congress

The director of the Congressional Budget Office said yesterday that the proposed Wall Street bailout could actually worsen the current financial crisis.

CONTINUED AT-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/24/AR2008092402799.html

[Tallison]

19. "If we did nothing, there is a significant risk of another collapse of...

...confidence in the financial market." Hardly a clear referendum against legislative action.

[uppityperson]

3. Then the cat spits it out and dies anyway.

[Tallison]

4. Mine's getting his teeth cleaned tomorrow...

We're giving him a chemical nap first.

:hi:

ETA: My cat's too stupid to get why we need to do this, but I love him anyway.

[liberal N proud]

6. It is like euthanizing your cat

[Extend a Hand]

7. sometimes the pilling of the cat is just to traumatizing for the cat and her people

so your better off going with a form of meds.

[gulliver]

8. Easy way to pill a cat.

Put the pill in the end of a straw and set it next to where you are going to pill the cat. Spread out a towel and put the cat on it. Wrap the cat up like a burrito in the towel so that only its head is showing (claws and paws, front and back securely in the towel).

Put the palm of your left hand on top of the cat's head. Reach your thumb and fore finger around to the base of the cat's jaw on either side. Tip the cat's head back toward the ceiling and work your finger and thumb at the base of their jaw until the cat's mouth opens. It will stay open if you keep your finger and thumb in the right spot.

Get the straw (with a pill in the end). Pinch the pill inside the straw so that it stays in the straw. Put the end of the straw back pretty far into the cat's mouth, aiming the end of the straw at the back of the throat. Let go of the pill. It will slide down the straw right to the back of the cat's throat.

Close the cat's mouth and hold it closed. Massage the cat's throat a little and touch its nose a little to get it to swallow. Give it about ten seconds. Presto.

Pet the cat while they are in the burrito. The cat will think it is just a petting session that started out badly.

[RoccoR5955]

11. BINGO! that's how I do it... sans straw. n/t

[Tallison]

12. Oooh - I'd be afraid of them aspirating the thing

Although I'm into the Cat Burrito. Just clipped his claws earlier. I'm curious if anyone has any experience with the Peticure gizmo?

[Berry Cool]

15. I would love to know how anyone makes a cat burrito.

You make it sound as if getting all those paws and claws into a place where they can be safely enclosed and wrapped inside the blanket is so easy. For me, all of a sudden the cat would develop 32 legs and they would all be scrabbling at once not to be folded into a blanket.

Also, even if it worked once, after that single experience, the cat would become terrified at the very sight of me spreading out a towel, and would head for beneath a bed or inside a closet the second it saw the towel come out.

[Tallison]

24. My mom calls them "auxiliary" legs

Two words: Brute Force. As soon as you're done, you coo and give them a deep cat massage, which confuses them.

Thank goodness felines have the memory span of a Cheerio.

[lonestarnot]

17. A technique that is for a one pill in a lifetime cat.

:D

[bevoette]

22. i don't know about the rest of this thread...but this post has me LMAO out loud...so thanks for that

[Liberal_in_LA]

27. My cats run when I get the towel out. lol.

[RoccoR5955]

9. I never had a problem giving a pill to a cat.

I guess you just have to know how to do it.

[dweller]

14. cheese

they are suckers for cheese. Put the pill in a chip of cheese.

shove it down it's maw. Done.
dp

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. Maybe the bailout bill could be wrapped in cheese.

[dweller]

20. brie for wallstreet, you may have a plan there. n/t

dp

[PerfectSage]

13. LOL remembering the last time I tried to give my cat a pill.

Got the pill inside her lip, but accidentally pushed too hard on the syringe of water. :rofl:

[Roon]

21. I am an expert at giving cats pills

I can give any cat, any pill, at any time. :-)

[Tallison]

25. I had a roommate like that once

It was magical. I miss her craft. It should be a competitive sport.

[Roon]

28. A vet tech taught me the technique....

I don't know why they just don't teach all cat owners the same thing.

[Tallison]

29. It's the confidence thing

and fear you're going to hurt them, and I, for one, am a bigger p***** than my cat. (BTW, I'm an RN, and I still can't give them pills).

[mhatrw]

26. A $700 billion pill that you bought from a homeless vet. n/t