Noel Brodsky thinks U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson wants $700 billion to play with.

“He is part of the problem,” said Brodsky, an economics professor. “It looks like he is asking for money for his (Wall Street) friends.”

On Wednesday, the economics and political science departments sponsored a panel discussion on the $700 billion economic bailout plan in Lumpkin Hall. The panel consisted of Brodsky, economics professor James Bruehler, and political science professors David Carwell and Andrew McNitt.

President George W. Bush approved the plan to help save struggling credit and lender companies last Friday.

Brodsky said he does not want to give his money away to Paulson, a person who worked for Wall Street and has no plan.

“I’m like ‘no you can’t have it,'” he said. “Is he going to give it out to his friends?”

Brodsky said the government should think plans out before they decide to act.

“If you have a government that does something, they need to figure out what to do before they do it,” he said. “I’m shocked the government is going in not knowing the consequences,” he said.

During the presentation, Brodsky showed Wall Street’s bonuses given to employees from 1997 to 2007 that totaled $198.1 billion.

“Give me 1 percent of that, and I’ll give a student an A,” he said.

Brodsky said he does not want to give his money to bail out any organization like Wall Street.

“I’d rather give it to George ‘deer in headlights’ Bush,” he said.

Bruehler said he thinks the bonuses on Wall Street are beside the point.

“I think the bonuses are largely irrelevant and are an appeal to crass emotionalism,” he said. “It’s water under the bridge.”

Bruehler said people on Wall Street build a bridge.

“They build a bridge between the servers and the investors,” he said.

He said the bonuses show how valuable these bridges are.

“Right now the bridges are burning down, and we have to save it,” he said.

McNitt said he does not like the bonuses on Wall Street.

“It stinks,” he said. “But while the boat is sinking, you will get wet also,” he said.

He said the economic crisis is not about the people at the top.

“But the people who depend on prosperity, who work and borrow money,” he said.

McNitt said everyone eventually would suffer from this economic situation.

“The ones who started this, are not going to be the ones to suffer,” he said. “We are.”

McNitt said whatever theory someone has about government “keeping their hands off” are ridiculous.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous for the government to not do nothing,” he said. “Government has to act relatively quickly to restore liquidity.”

McNitt said the economy must restore credit and confidence.

“If you can’t restore credit and restore confidence, then you will have a recession,” he said.

Brodsky said the government should have let the companies suffer.

“Let them collapse,” he said. “Whatever assets are left then the government can come in and get it and release them slowly back into the market.”

Carwell said reality is absolutely meaningless.

“The only thing is, is perception,” he said. “The government has to be seen doing something.”

Carwell said some people on Wall Street might walk away with something because of the bailout plan.

“The fat cats on Wall Street are going to get something out of this,” he said. “If you want to punish them fine, but you’ll be going home with food stamps, and they’ll go home and just deal with there $50 million.”

Jessica Leggin can be reached at 581-7942 or at jmleggin@eiu.edu.

Moe Samad, a junior English major, listens as a fellow student asks a question about the economy during the lecture discussing the $700 billion bailout plan on Wednesday in the Lumpkin Auditorium. (Cody Rich/The Daily Eastern News)

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