Where's MY Bailout???

"Bailout". That's been the big term used over the past 9 months. Of course they called it as it was when they labeled it a bailout, but now they've changed the names to be more P.C. So the Big Three got a bailout, we've handed out over $700 Billion to the banks for their bailout, where is the bailout for the American Taxpayer?

The Census Bureau says that we have 307,042,500 total American Citizens in this country as of today. A recent article in CNNMoney.com answered the question of "If we just gave all the bailout money to taxpayers, how much would we each get? I've seen $25K, $300K, 1Mil- what's the real answer?" CNN took the total of the bank bailout, $700 Billion, and added that to the $787 Billion estimated cost of the stimulus bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. That totals $1.487 Trillion. If you divide that number by the 156.3 Million Tax Payers, you would come up with $9513.76 per U.S. Taxpayer. First I was shocked to realize that almost HALF of our "citizens" aren't paying taxes. Second, I thought of exactly how much $9500 was.

It seems that everyone is aiming the "Average American Mortgage Payment" between $900 and $1400 a month. So let's use the higher figure for good measure. If the average American is 4 months behind on their mortgage right now (average time it takes in delinquent payments for a lender to begin foreclosure proceedings, this varies by state), that would mean they would need to come up with $5600-$6000 in order to get their mortgage right. On the extreme, that would leave them with $3500. Let's say they spent $1000 of that to catch up on/payoff their credit cards, $1500 either catching up on their car payments or using it as a down payment to get a new one (either one helps banks), and they blew another $1000 on whatever they wanted. If you notice, the majority of their money would have went right back into banks in some shape, form or fashion.

Let's compare to see what would work better for EVERYONE.
Giving Money To The Banks Directly:
1) Majority of the money was kept at the top, CEO's were rewarded well and lavish lifestyles were kept up.
2) Numerous smaller lenders went out of business and were purchased by larger banks.
3) Numerous banks had HUGE layoffs in the majority of their departments.
4) Foreclosures continue to rise
5) Defaulted Payments continue to rise
6) Job Losses continue to rise due to weakened economy
7) Government gets reports that banks are unable to keep up with modification requests
8) Banks get all the money and you're still at square One.
Giving Money To the Taxpayers Directly:
1)Majority of the money goes right back to various lenders.
2) Smaller lenders are able to stay in business as they now have paying customers again.
3) Banks can warrant additional staff as they are cash flow positive again.
4) Foreclosures would be drastically cut as mortgage payments would be current.
5) Economy would be strengthened through raw purchasing, thus making businesses cash flow positive, and able to warrant current or additional staff.
6) Auto Industry would have survived just fine. If people are NOT losing their homes, then they do buy cars. If we took the money we gave to the big three, and just incentivized the purchase of domestic vehicles, they would have had the money they needed on their own to make the factory changes they needed to. All three already had their plans laid out for more fuel efficient vehicles (GM- Chevy Volt, Ford- Numerous Hybrids, Chrysler- ENVI series, and GEM cars), they just needed to move some metal in the meantime.
7) Banks end up getting all the money anyways, but the average American is in a much better spot.

Now, I'm no mathematician, but I'm pretty decent in the common sense department. Option B seems to be the far superior option. "Well all the money's gone, what do we do now?" Unlike most business transactions, we can't just "get a refund" on that bailout money. Funny how that works.....Unfortunately about the only way that you can get YOUR "bailout" is by doing a loan modification. If you're behind on payments and have a good reason for it, chances are that PMC can assist you in getting those past due payments deferred, and the future payments reduced to be more in line with something you can actually afford. I know everyone to include myself would much rather just have the $9500 and call it good, but we're at least pleased to give good Americans a viable alternative. They got their bailout, why shouldn't YOU get some assistance?