ALL of my thoughts about the bailout bill...

Okay boys and girls...

I want to encourage you to call your U.S. Representative about the bailout vote that will be taking place on Friday.  Here are some details that you might not know about:

• You and I will be on the hook for up to $700 billion, to purchase bad mortgage securities from companies on the verge of collapse.
• $700 billion = $10,000 / household in America.  Of course we can't pay it all right now, so we will just print money to pay for it, which means that the dollars in your pocket will be worth quite a bit less.  Hello $6 milk!
• Companies who get "bailed out" will become partially owned by the U.S. government.  Our founding fathers would have a stroke!
• "Experts" say that the "taxpayers" will make a profit off of this deal.  Do you really believe that you will ever see a single penny of that money when (if) it is paid back?  More likely, the "profit" will go to fund some great government venture like universal health care, or a bailout of another industry like airlines.
• This mess all started back in the 1970's when President Carter signed a bill that required lending institutions to lend money to people who couldn't afford it.  You're wondering why they would do this...  It is called, "affordable housing."  People who get people into their own house (even if they can't afford it) tend to get more votes.  The Clinton administration expanded this program and accelerated the problem by publicly threatening banks who did not make these risky loans, with tough fines.  Also, banks wanting to merge with one another would both have to prove that they made these risky loans, "to help Americans have affordable housing."
• The problems we see today are the fruit of seeds that were sewn many years ago.  Bottom line:  Government disrupted the natural balance of the free market through regulations, and now they want to be the ones to "fix" the problem through more regulation and with a huge pile of money that will decrease the value of your money and mine.

I think we really are in a big mess and something has to happen.  I have a huge problem with giving up on capitalism, blaming this on "greedy" Wall Street, and saddling my grandkids with this debt.  Five weeks before an election, we are told that we have two options:

1)  We all die

2)  Fix the problem with THIS bailout plan

Someone accurately described the bill that failed in the House of Representatives as a "crap sandwich."  So what the Senate did was take the same "crap sandwich" and put cheese whiz on it.  This new bill is just as terrible as the first, but now it has extra stuff in it that they think will keep people from losing their seats in Congress in the upcoming election.  This new bill isn't about the addressing the concerns of the people.  It's about staying in office.  I want my leaders to have some principles about the role of government and stick to them.

If this situation is truly as bad as they say it is, why can't the government agree to slash their spending, cut taxes on companies, roll-back some of the new accounting rules that make things look worse than they really are on a company's balance sheet, and watch our economy take off?  ...POWER!  A good chunk of our leaders have no desire to see the government get smaller, because it means less power for them.  They are not where they are to serve the people, but rather to be in power.  Tomorrow, our nation will likely turn a corner that we will soon regret.  Unfortunately, I don't know that we will ever get back what will be lost if we do that.

If you are of the same mind as I am, please call your representative to tell them how you feel about this.  I've never been as much of an activist as I am today, but I've also never felt less represented.

Lookup your representative here!