The Bail-out

If Congress passes this proposed $700 billion financial bail-out, I will be livid. I am not sure I will be able to speak civilly to anyone for a few days (not that it's their fault; I'll just be in a really bad mood). I don't how many of you know how huge this is. It may be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, pieces of legislation our country has ever seen. It is so dangerous for our government to think it can control economic laws; it can't, just like it can't control the law of gravity. I am not going to go into all I've learned about economics lately (I am happy to share, should you care to ask, but I still have much more to learn), but I promise you, the market has to correct itself. It's going to painful no matter what. The longer we procrastinate it and band-aid it, the worse the correction will be. If we let the market correct now, it won't be pretty, but it won't be nearly so bad as later. Call your representatives today. Let your voice be heard, among the millions of others who oppose this measure. They are supposed to work for us, so tell them your expectations. I'll close with a post I saw on a message board by "John". I really liked what he had to say:

I write to you at this hour with the hopes that this is accompanied by
numerous calls of concern from my fellow constituents to congress.

While the ceasing of credit flow throughout our economic system will
indeed lead to certain recession or worse, I ask that you weigh the
dramatic and dire effects of bloating our national debt to
unprecedented levels while risking explosive rates of inflation that
will certainly put enormous pressure on the dollar. Threatening the
credit rating of the United States Treasury during a time when
international relations are tense will only lead to further debasement
and eventual collapse of the United State currency as it tries to
compete against rising energy costs. Our government has continued to
disregard responsibility and accountability as it socializes risk
based economic loss. Make no mistake about it; the members in congress
that forced lenders to loosen their requirements for the past two
decades are just as responsible as greed stricken Wall Street execs.

Added to which, this legislation seeks to give sweeping authority to
the Treasurer without any kind of accountability; to make acquisitions
at one’s discretion at a tune of what will surely eclipse the
one-trillion dollar figure to assist in liquidating the credit and
housing crunch while bailing out buddies on wall-street. The market
has made its move, and began its self-correction of prices. There is
nothing in existence that can determine the value of assets other than
the free market, and yet government believes it is cunning enough to
contain it and keep value artificially inflated.

Congressional hearings throughout this week have been emphasizing the
assessment of risk between a worst-case scenario of complete loss of
confidence within the market, against the inherent debt that the
American taxpayer will burden. Unfortunately I have not been hearing
much out of Washington regarding possible worst-case scenarios if the
government-acquired assets fail to stop the bleeding in a long-term
situation. While I am unwavering in my opinion that the American
people are resilient enough to endure any economic depression, perhaps
more vital questions to ask would be, ‘Can the American people endure
a complete implosion of public trust in American ideology; Are we the
same people that fought against the tyranny of totalitarianism and
entrusted our freedom not to executive powers but instead the world’s
guiding light of freedom, the Constitution of the United States?’

Risk is the theme of this era, and the only certainty is that we have
to risk something. Do we risk entering the ‘next Great Depression’
now, or do we risk the stability of our entire nation as it continues
to incur debt, debase our currency, nationalize industry, socialize
the losses and consolidate sweeping authoritative powers. If history
has taught us anything, it is that freedom sits precariously on the
most slippery of slopes, greased with the desperation of its people
and pushed by the arrogance of its leaders.