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In an exclusive interview with Gambling911.com's own Jenny Woo, former Republican House Majority Leader, Dick Armey, said he was completely against any bailout for Wall Street, the banks, the auto industry or anyone else for that matter.
Mr. Armey sat down with Jenny Woo to discuss his position related to Internet freedoms (see FreedomWorks.org - it's a fun website) and the rights of those to gamble online. Ms. Woo also asked the million dollar question.
What are the alternatives to the government bailout?
"Other alternatives exist," the former House Majority Leader said. "If you engage in bad business practices, the market will punish you. It's called ‘creative destruction'. The fact is that the myth behind all this bailout nonsense is that if a large bank cannot fulfill its obligations and has to claim bankruptcy that there's going to be a big hole.
"Basically, there'll be a big share in the market that will now be available to responsible bankers who will engage in good banking practices. So the fact is that the bailout will infuse the market's ability to clean up a mess that's caused by irresponsible banking practices. And I'll put it this way - I don't gamble for two reasons, it's very risky and I'm not good at it. But I guarantee you, if the government's going to cover my butt then I'll bet the house on a pair of deuces. So when they do the bill, what they're saying to people is "go ahead and be careless and irresponsible in your business practices and when you can't handle your obligations we'll bail you out." If you gave that lesson to your kids, you'd have a bunch of irresponsible children."
Republican Congressman and former US Presidential candidate Ron Paul of Texas told Gambling911.com last month that the best thing to do during an economic crisis is ""just getting out of the way and allowing the market to work".
Armey agreed: "The market would clean this mess up in short order. The government will drag it out. Now instead of me having to live with the mess for two or three months, my children probably get to live with the mess and my grandchildren will probably get to pay for it. Look, six months ago, a year ago, maybe two years ago we had the big dot-come shakedown, everybody got into the easy money business in the dot-com markets, it had to get shaken up."
Detroit may be getting its bailout.
A proposed $15 billion bailout for the ailing U.S. auto industry would have terms similar to the $700 billion rescue package approved by the Congress in October for Wall Street, but with tougher oversight, according to sources close to the negotiations.
Payton O'Brien, Gambling911.com Senior Editor
