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The $700 billion financial bailout package failed because most Americans wanted it to fail. Before the vote, members of Congress were getting calls 100 to 1 against the bill. The question is: why? It's easy to see why bailing out rich bankers doesn't feel super, but why, despite all the efforts of all of the country's leaders to fill them with fear of an economic apocalypse, did Americans not see a failure to act as a serious threat to their livelihoods? ADVERTISEMENT Traditionally, human beings are not great at assessing this kind of risk - a peril that has not yet arrived and that is, in any case, hard to viscerally imagine. Witness people's reluctance to evacuate before hurricanes, and weather forecasts portend a danger far easier to comprehend than failing investment banks.
But there are methods of communicating risk in a way that stills the heart, with words that inject dread into the populace. And Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr., Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and President George W. Bush used none of them. "The case wasn't made as to why the little guy needs this," says Paul Slovic, author of The Perception of Risk and a psychology professor at the University of Oregon. "The numbers and vague warnings are too abstract." The most effective warnings are like the most effective TV ads: easily understood, specific, frequently repeated, personal, accurate, and targeted. Paulson and his grim reapers managed only to repeat themselves frequently. They were not easily understood, partly because the problem is so complex. They did not personalize or target their warnings. And, as they themselves admitted, they did not know if their warnings were necessarily accurate, due to the novelty and unpredictability of the crisis.
Originally posted by Anonymous Avatar
"The case wasn't made as to why the little guy needs this," says Paul Slovic, author of The Perception of Risk and a psychology professor at the University of Oregon. "The numbers and vague warnings are too abstract." The most effective warnings are like the most effective TV ads: easily understood, specific, frequently repeated, personal, accurate, and targeted.
Originally posted by Gateway
reply to post by Anonymous Avatar
Time magazine is the epitome of the power elite, it does nothing but its bidding. They are starting to realize that the propaganda machine is not working as well.
That's what this whole article is about...
Are you f*n kidding me? You might as well have said, you the people are too stupid to understand economics.
'We' aren't buying it because this is a blatant power grab by the owners of the Federal Reserve and their middle management in the White House.
Maybe you should do some reading and homework before telling us to blindly follow our 'leaders'.
This bank failure is inevitable when you do Fractional Reserve Banking and the only underlying currency with the Federal Reserve is DEBT. The longer you put it off the more painful it is going to be. Did you know there was no such thing as a recession when our currency was backed by gold? Do you know why?
I have to assume one of two things, either you are less informed than the "people" you write about in your article or you are on the payroll of the people attempting to sell this illegal 'bailout' and you are attempt selling out the constitution for what is no doubt a small amount of money.
Either way I hope people read your article just to better inform themselves how to watch our for the spin that they use to try and manipulate the public.
Originally posted by Gateway
reply to post by Anonymous Avatar
One more thing about TIME magazine. It made the CASE FOR THE IRAQ WAR. Certainly this type of media is only worth using to line the bottom of a bird cage...
Find a Face Human beings are not moved by numbers or vague predictions of certain doom. They are moved by stories. "It's simple," says Mileti. "You get one family in America. You go to their house. And you paint a picture of what their life is like one year from now. You describe a kid who can't go to college, the house that can't be sold, the inability of anyone to use a credit card. They need to get a camera crew and go to Omaha and find a family."
Rebrand the Bill The word bailout is a deal killer. "People feel the breaks are being given to financial institutions and not to the consumer," says Slovic. He recommends calling it a Consumer Protection Act. It may be too late for this change to have much impact, but any change in language that acknowledges real people would be an improvement.
Shoot the Messenger If you want people to support the radical idea of rescuing rich investment bankers, don't send a rich, former investment banker (Henry Paulson) to convince them. And don't send a discredited, lame-duck President, either. As in normal life, people are more likely to believe the advice of someone they trust. There aren't many well-known experts in this field who aren't rich, but even Warren Buffet would have brought less baggage to the process than Bush.
Be Specific People need to know what will happen if they do nothing - or if they do something.