Monday, September 29, 2008

If This Were A Movie...

...it would be a dark comedy.

Everyone is in an uproar about this financial "crisis", and everyone is blaming everyone else. But there are some stark truths that are purposely being totally ignored.

Let's begin with how this happened.

Americans are spoiled, and tend to want everything, and they want it now. That is no secret - and it is one of the reasons the Islamists hate us so much - it has created a breach in our moral fabric. But putting that aside...

Our desire for the best led us to elect people who would help us get it. In the '90's, Bill Clinton signed into law a bill that would make it easier for just about anyone to get a home, and credit - even if they were a bad risk! He did this because it got those people solidly behind the Democrats, to help insure their eventual rise back into power. Democrats provide entitlements to the poor, so the poor must vote Democrat to keep those entitlements coming. This is very smart on the part of Democrats, but it harms the nation as a whole.

At any rate, Bill's bill allowed lenders to make very risky loans, for the sake of more profits - in fact, the bill forced lenders to do this. The greed of "the folks" who wanted more home than they could afford, plasma TV's etc. was coupled with the greed of the lenders, who extended credit to those who were a bigger risk. Greed, greed, greed. Yours, mine, theirs. And the politicians who wanted to strengthen their hold because of it.

Now comes McCain (R), Gregg (R) and other Republicans in 2005, who sponsored a bill that would regulate these banks, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. They saw a huge problem rolling on down the road toward us. But Barney Frank (D), along with his team-mates shot down the bill. They did not want regulation because that would put a harness on credit, which would hurt them politically with the poorer voters who desperately wanted that credit, so they could have what everyone else had. Can't blame them for that - but we can certainly blame those who made it possible for them to get in way over their heads.

And that is the actual history, much of which is purposely overlooked by the media, and by the politicians who want to sell us this bill of goods called a "bailout plan".

I would have to ask, "Why THIS bailout plan? Why are they pushing it so hard and fast, without any review?"

The answer is rather clear - it is a BAD plan, designed to benefit and protect the very people who brought this problem home to us. This is the bill they want, even though there are other, more effective ways to deal with this that would not put such a hole in the taxpayer's pocket. And, as I predicted in an earlier entry when I said JP Morgan would get WaMu for about 2 billion and make $100 billion profit - well, JP bought WaMu for 1.9 billion. I was close.

First, eliminate the capital gains tax altogether, for 5 years. Every economist knows this would result in an immediate influx of tens of billions into Wall Street, which would help prop it up. The taxpayer would be investing - and would receive the eventual profits from those investments, while saving money on taxes.

Second, invest taxpayer money NOT into bailing out those banks, but into alternative energy sources like nuclear and wind farms. This would keep billions of dollars from going to people who hate us, would generate tens of thousands of jobs, and would bolster the economy, even while the energy, itself, is not yet available.

Third, dump the stupid "mark to market" system of accounting, which is directly responsible for at least 2/3 of the problem. This can be dumped without any action by Congress, but only if the President has enough sense to DO it. But I won't hold my breath.

Allow those banks that are troubled to "go under". Yeah, it will hurt, but every economic cycle, by nature, must have its downturns. Let's get it over with so we can start rebuilding. And in the process, let those who CAUSED this mess be the ones to pay the heaviest price. I fail to see the logic behind, "Look, you guys screwed us for years, and caused this mess, so we're gonna punish you by forcing you to take $700 billion in taxpayer money. That'll teach ya!" And the Dems said last night that by proposing this bill, it should help the stock market in the morning. But as I write this, it IS morning, and the Dow has dropped another 300 points...

I sincerely hope that enough people (probably Republicans) are wise enough to keep this bailout bill from getting passed. Then perhaps we can get on with putting together a more sensible bill that will actually HELP us more than it hurts us. Bear in mind - this bailout bill was proposed by Bush. When was the last time HE was right???? But it is the Democrats who are pushing this so hard.

TODAY'S SHIRT: Their symbol is a JACKASS. Any questions?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

not to make light of a horrible situation....
I don't know about $700,000,000,000 but I would appreciate the govt "bailing" me out!
It would only cost about 10g's and I GUARENTEE I will put it back into our economy!
Big Mike