THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM IS SOUND; OUR GOVERNMENT IS NOT!

Recently, looking over some of my left-leaning, socialist wife’s reading material, I happened on a call to arms flyer from the Workers World Party. The flyer had these bullet points: “Karl Marx was right” and “Why Capitalism is Doomed to Fail”.

Larry Holmes, leader of the Workers World Party will speak about factors behind the worldwide capitalist economic collapse, why capitalism cannot solve its basic contradictions and about the growing demand to bail out workers and not Wall Street. Mr. Holmes will explain why socialism, an economic system run by workers, plans production to meet human needs and not profits for the rich, can provide jobs, housing, health care, education and a comfortable life for everyone free from racism, sexism and oppression.

For one that loves and studies history on a continuing basis, this is just a fabulous time where I get to see history in the making but also history as part of a recurring cycle.

We obviously have heard all this before. Communism made some grand promises, quite similar to the above mentioned flyer. We all know what happened in countries espousing the Communist Economic Theory and yet here we go again? All those years of unrivaled prosperity making us the richest nation among nations ever and here we have a bump in the road and people want to toss the system?

Our capitalist system of laissez faire (minimal government interference) and open markets has hit a snag lately, a really big snag and knowing the reasons why will help get us moving again.

I am a capitalist who believes in the system and the system has proven itself time after time but have we tinkered with the system to the point where its principals have been compromised? Well, I think so.

My wife thinks capitalism is such a cold, uncaring system where risk taking is rewarded with monetary success without regard for the welfare of the greater society. I will admit to that but in the long run, it is the success of the risk takers that benefits society as whole the most and socialism, in the end, rewards only the slackers in our society that are taken care of no matter what they contribute to society.

I submit that it is our socialist tendencies (among other factors to be mentioned later) that contributed to the economic problems we face now. Our misguided good intentions are to blame and not the capitalist system.

Everyone now knows that it is the housing / mortgage market boom that was the iceberg that our economy ran into. We wanted all Americans to share in the joys of home ownership and so our government encouraged lax mortgage lending practices. They formed Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, quasi governmental agencies to buy up these mortgages, basically creating a market for mortgages. Since Freddie and Fannie were ostensibly backed by the wealth of the US Government, they could borrow money to buy up those mortgages at rates that were not available to regular business entities.

Builders and developers saw the demand for homes skyrocket since now, everyone could be a home owner; the building and buying boom started.
The huge bubble created by the housing boom was not sustainable and burst when those borrowers that should never have been allowed to borrow, defaulted on their loans. The homes lost to foreclosure were then sold at auction at pennies on the dollar which in turn created a surplus of available properties at lower and lower prices bringing the value of all homes down.

This would never have come to pass if the capitalist system was allowed to work on its own.

Our government created the housing bubble when it allowed and encouraged subprime lending. Under normal circumstances, only those borrowers that were deemed capable of paying off loans would be allowed to obtain mortgages. Some may say this is a cold process but we, as a society, must believe that some people will never be home owners and only renters, as a fact of life.

Also, our government created Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, uncontrolled financial institutions that could never exist and should never exist under a capitalist system. These institutions did not play by normal rules; they were accountable to no one and grew into monsters.

I guess what I am saying is that our government is ultimately to blame for our current situation. It interfered with a system that calls for minimal to no government interference and in so doing, corrupted the very principals our economy is based on.

When I say “our government”, I suppose I need to break it down to specific parties or individuals. Actually both parties are to blame but the Democrats probably a little more.

Democrats are socialist by nature and loved the fact that poor people were being allowed to be home owners. Republicans by nature defend capitalism but turned their heads away and let the Democrats inject their socialism into our non-socialist system.

In fact, Senator Chuck Hagel (Republican) had a bill pending that would rein in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae but, if you can believe this, Fannie and Freddie hired high power lobbyists to sway the Republican vote against the Hagel bill. That lobbyist is now working for John McCain.

NEED TO KNOW ROOT CAUSE OF OUR DILEMMA!

Well, as predicted, this morning the stock market is up some 600 points (largest intra-day gain in history) because after the scaredy-cats bailed out of their holdings, the bargain hunters came rushing in. But let’s not forget, the stock market is not our problem the economy is and we should discuss what is causing this turmoil.

Economists point the finger at DEBT as the cause of the meltdown. At fault are the debtors who took easy credit without a thought about re-payment and the companies that offered the easy credit without a thought to that person’s ability to re-pay. Even our government pushed Fannie May and Freddie Mac to make riskier and riskier mortgage loans just so every American could be a home owner without a thought to whether they could pay these loans back or not.

It’s as if the whole country got drunk and did things only a drunk would do and apparently, we didn’t sober up until now!

I was aware that the “loan” business was booming. Many people quit their regular jobs so they could make more money signing people up for mortgages; I just never though anything about that at the time.

Now in retrospect, I assign the first blame for our dilemma to our government which restructured lending regulations to allow non-banks to make mortgage loans. Every Tom, Dick and Harry was offering mortgages. Remember the commercials for Giant Mortgage or something like that, saying if you call before 5pm, zero down payment!

These so called mortgage originators like Rock Financial, Quicken Loans, etc. made their money when they sold the loans to financial institutions. Why didn’t those financial institutions ask about risk? Probably drunk like everybody else.

Why did our government loosen lending rules so much? I would say socialism (Republicans didn’t complain) which wants everyone, even those at the lowest levels of society, to enjoy the good life (home ownership).

Some are saying people should have known better and I agree but if someone in a suit and tie is telling you that of course you can afford this house; maybe he knows better than I what I can afford or not.

I do remember walking through my neighborhood and seeing these young families with all those young children in these up-scale homes and thinking to myself that when I was their age, I couldn’t afford shit; maybe they all hold high executive positions or something. But what really had me puzzled is that nearly all households with all those children had a stay-at-home Mom (not working) so single wage earner – wow!

Now we know the score. If lending rules remained as firm as they originally were, we would not be in this position right now. But also, our economy would not have shot up as it did with new home building and buying at a record pace and this feverish pace continued for a good long while, to the point that many thought it would never end - until it all came to a screeching halt.

PS: I just looked at the DOW and it is close to 1,000 points up for the day; another one for the history books.

DON'T BUY "TOXIC" SECURITIES!

I will be talking about the current economic crisis at some length because it is historic and because it will, eventually, touch us all.

I was against the Paulsen bailout plan because it seemed to me to be a knee-jerk reaction without enough non-political discussion by economists. Remember, this is “unprecedented” so there are no guidelines available.

The Paulsen plan proposed to buy “toxic” securities from financial institutions and thus allowing those institutions to have a clean slate and money to hopefully lend and thus restore stability to the financial markets.

This is a flawed plan because there is no right or correct way to value these sub-prime securities. The government would then, after buying these securities, would have to form a huge, expensive bureaucracy to unravel these securities and then try to renegotiate individual mortgages so they can be re-sold as stable (not sub-prime) mortgages or whatever is decided to do with them to get back the taxpayer dollars used to buy them. Sounds like a mess to me.

Since the bailout plan was passed by Congress, some are suggesting that the governmentl use the $700 Billion to buy “preferred shares” in troubled banks. In this way we give the bank funds to use in their operations, the taxpayer has real assets for their money and when the crisis is over, the assets are sold for a profit - sounds like a good idea to me.

Realize this is “nationalizing” banks, a socialist thing to do but hey, I didn’t vote for the plan. Use the ownership position in these banks to clean them up; fire management and put in people that are competent and while your at it, set up corporate policy that will prevent stupid practices that got the bank into trouble in the first place.

This plan is better than the original plan but may also not be enough to get the banks out of trouble but give it a try.

Write your Congressman to demand the Treasury Department “invests” in banks and does NOT purchase toxic securities.

Yes, I know I am bouncing between capitalism and socialism; I will try to explain later...

A HISTORIC WEEK FOR SURE!

Well, last week will be in the history books. Wall Street had its worst week in the 112 years that it has been in existence. Must admit I have been reading and watching excitedly not wanting to miss anything as history was being made right in front of me.

Obviously these are not the best of times so as I relish the historical implications of the times, I am also trying to understand and decipher what is going on so I can make intelligent decisions concerning personal finance and business in general.

As it stands, there is not much I can decide about or offer advice on; its too late. My investments are already way down so moving stock mutual funds into cash is dumb because I will be selling at the bottom and probably would not be able to recoup the losses for many years. On the other hand, staying in the market and actually buying more shares at the bottom seems to be the most prudent thing to do at this point and something that may pay off big in the near future.

Obviously, staying the coarse may not be something retirees can do. Their investments are what they live on and financial advisors have been preaching that you must be invested in some stocks even if you are retired because many people live much longer and need the historically better growth potential of stocks to bonds to finance their long retirement years.

I guess it all depends on how low will the market go and how long will it stay there before things start going up.

The first thing to remember is that the stock market is not the same as our economy. Just like the crash of 1929 did not cause the Great Depression, the current downward spiral of the stock market is a side show to what is happening to our economy.

We know that the stock market is unpredictable and moves sometimes on rumor or whims. Fear is a big factor in the investment world and I think a huge factor in what is happening right now. This became quite clear on Thursday when the market plunged in the last hour of trading. Why? Investors watching the market all day decided to get out of their investments so all the large mutual funds now had to sell shares at fire sale prices just to pay all the investors cashing out all at once.

I believe that the people that panicked and cashed out of their investments are done; cashing out at pennies on the dollar next week will be insane so I believe the market will stabilize around people that for all intents and purposes, have to stay the course. It may also be a time for bargain hunters who will get the best stock prices they have ever seen.

More on this history in the making later…

MCCAIN SUPPORTERS SHOW TRUE COLOR

The behavior of people attending recent John McCain rallies tells us something about this country and something about John McCain.

Videos of McCain rallies in Minnesota show very angry white people, some downright out of control, demanding McCain start getting tough with Obama because they do not want to see that MUSLIM ARAB TERRORIST become president.

To McCain’s credit, he took away the microphone from a woman making those statements and said that Obama would make a good president and is a good man, implying that he is not a Muslim Arab Terrorist, at which the CROWD BOOED MCCAIN – can you believe it!

Here is the irony; McCain’s campaign managers are putting out ads that accuse Obama of befriending a terrorist and like I mentioned before, the terrorist moniker carries in today’s America, the additional, some say automatic, intimation that the terrorist is also an Arab and a Muslim.

So, on the one hand McCain does not want to be seen in the company of white, bigoted morons lest people may think that is the crowd he is reaching out to, but on the other hand he wants the American voter to see Obama in just those terms.

Obama has acknowledged McCain’s defense of him in front of such crowds but went on to challenge McCain on issues such as the economy; like honorable politicians should do.

Like I mentioned before, it is unfortunate that Americans are still hung up over race, nationality and religion (my family included) that making a choice for the office of president is not just based on who the better candidate is. It is naïve to think people will think and behave in rational ways. Obviously, the McCain campaign is counting on it and thus trying to throw more wood on the burning fire of bigotry.

ANOTHER DESPERATE McCAIN PROPOSAL!

Another desperation move by McCain.

During the second Presidential debate, McCain said he would instruct the Treasury (when he becomes president) to immediately buy up mortgages of people in foreclosure.

The Treasury Department would then issue a new mortgage to the home owner in foreclosure BUT base it on the new, greatly depressed market value of the home.

Let’s look at this closely. Taxpayers would pay off the mortgage of a home owner in foreclosure; let’s say $300,000 that he owes the bank. The taxpayers would then turn around and give the same home owner another mortgage at a low interest rate for let’s say $100,000; the current value of the home.

The guy that sold him the original sub-prime mortgage makes out like a bandit and so does the homeowner who bought a $300,000 home that he will pay $100,000 for and re-sell it at $300,000 when the home market picks up again.

All of us who pay our mortgages on time and would never have gotten into a sub-prime mortgage situation because we have a few brain cells; we are the taxpayers who would bail out these twits who through greed and/or stupidity got themselves into the untenable situation.

Does this in any way make fiscal sense or is this a desperate cry for votes without giving the matter any serious thought.

McCain is unstable, his handlers are unstable and even Palin is probably wondering what the hell did she get herself into.

DEMOCRATS; Quit being so cocky!

WARNING TO DEMOCRATS – YOU ARE WAY TOO COCKY AT THIS POINT!

I have noticed lately that whenever I flip the TV on, I see Democratic analysts, spokespeople and the like assuming an air of certain victory and that is not only very stupid but dangerous.

At the same time, I hear Republican counterparts admitting that McCain is behind and probably not going to win in November. Even McCain himself is saying that he definitely is an underdog in this race.

This is a tried and true maneuver that has worked countless of times in countless races; Americans favor the underdog. They favor humility instead of bravado and they will vote accordingly.

McCain is definitely in desperation mode but that is when he is most dangerous and the Democratic premature celebration of victory may doom them – so cut the shit out – I really thought they were smarter than this!

McCain's reveals true character - anything goes!

We are in an economic free fall. We are experiencing an economic crisis that is of monumental and historic proportions and all McCain and his stooge, Palin can address is the fact that Obama knows a 1960’s radical who belonged to the notorious “Weathermen” group.

This guy named Bill Ayers is a respected professor at the University of Chicago, named citizen of the year by Chicago for his community work and a board member of several Chicago charities was a bit radical in the 1960s. But he is not in jail or sought by the police for criminal prosecution so what the hell is the problem here.

The problem is that McCain is in trouble and he is being told to attack. In the last few days I have heard nothing but this crap about Obama palling around with a terrorist. Using the word “terrorist” implies a connection with “Arab Terrorists” and not “U.S. Radicals” as Ayers, et. al. were called in the 60s, so people with limited intelligence will quickly associate Obama with Arab terrorists and imagine what – that Obama is a Muslim undercover terrorist?

Guilt by association is a slippery slope and McCain better watch out. McCain has a long history in Congress and had time to do a lot of questionable things. One that comes to mind is his association with this guy Charles Keating that was a star in the Savings & Loan scandal of 1990s. McCain supported him to the hilt and then he was convicted and sent to jail for stealing millions from ordinary folk. Why don’t we explore that friendship and believe me there is way more public evidence of misconduct on McCain’s part then the casual association Obama had with Ayers – two can play at this game.

Actually the McCain thing is quite timely since the public is madder than hell about the greedy Wall Street fat cats that are getting away with millions while the country collapses. That is exactly who Keating was and McCain was his boy in Congress helping him steal millions.

On ABC News with Charles Gibson, Obama was asked about his relations with Ayers and he answered them straightforward. McCain was asked why in this economic turmoil is he talking about Obama’s relations with Ayers, he hemmed and hawed and said that Hillary Clinton asked about this relation also BUT what the fuck does it have to do with our crumbling economy – no answer.

This is plain Karl Rove politics that McCain knows very well because he was a victim of Rove when he ran against Bush. He knows how these made-up lies can actually turn the tide in elections because people don’t take the time to think that they are being played; they just react as predicted.

I hope that in these historic days of world turmoil, voters with brains and sound reason prevail. Remember what got the U.S. out of the Great Depression – WWII.

McCain, in desperation mode, gets dirty!

John McCain has pulled out of Michigan. He will concentrate on only the states that he feels he has a chance of winning. His numbers are down all of a sudden and he has to pull out all the stops if he is to win the presidency.

Why are his numbers down? I think the recent economic debacle has something to do with his numbers taking a dive. Republicans have always been on the side of business and voters want the party that has always stood for the middle class; the working class that is getting its economic ass kicked.

The fact that the economy tanked on Bush’s watch also is a factor. McCain voted with Bush nearly 90% of the time and voters don’t want another Bush in the White House.

So what does John McCain do? He starts hitting below the belt like the Republicans did to Kerry. He must feel this is the only way to win; after all it worked for Bush.

Palin is now dredging up Obama’s relations with his crazy pastor and saying that he pals around with a terrorist. I have covered this nonsense in past blogs when I discovered members of my own family were buying into those lies.

Palin and McCain are now attacking Obama’s character as unsuitable for the presidency and even possibly dangerous to the nation if he should be elected. They have given up on issues; its all about character and maybe even the color of his skin.

Obama is pointing out that they are trying to divert attention from the state of the economy by attacking the man and his family. Yes it is a desperation tactic but it has worked in the past so why not go for it.

As much as I admired McCain’s integrity and honesty in 2000 when he was running against Bush, I now think he has become Bush / Rove and therefore has lost all credibility with me and I hope other voters as well.

It is a shame to see a man so enamored with the office of the presidency that he would sell his own soul to the devil for it.

WILL THE BAILOUT PLAN WORK?

Well the “bailout” passed the House today. I knew it would because no one wants to be blamed for ushering in a depression. On the other hand, this bailout may do nothing to prevent an economic calamity; we just don’t know.

Details of this plan that was voted on and signed by the president in a matter of hours are just starting to come out. To make the plan more palatable to more people, the writers of the bill attached more and more “goodies” to the original bill.

It will be interesting to read the “final” version of this “rushed” bill knowing that very little time was spent in examining the pros and cons of the provisions in the bill.


Today some details of TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) were made available but even though the document is 451 pages long it does not address or list the steps that are needed to implement this program; the Treasury Department will just play it by ear. Imagine if you were given $700 Billion to use as you saw fit – wow!

Actually the money stipulated in the bill will be doled out in three (3) sections ($250/ $100/$350) with close bipartisan oversight at each step.

The Fed will contract with up to ten (10) asset management firms to operate the program and here, I already see great potential for mismanagement and possible corruption because that is what happens when our government contracts out specific jobs to the private sector. Just look at the millions if not billions of dollars that have disappeared into thin air in Iraq with nothing to show for it.

Certain provisions of TARP make sense; others are not related to the problem at hand at all.
Congressman Domenici added a mandate forcing health insurance providers to cover mental health problems as they do physical problems. Also in the bill are tax incentives for renewable energy programs, extensions of several personal and business tax cuts that were to expire together with an extension of the AMT (alternative minimum tax) relief law.

I did like the provisions to limit CEO golden parachute deals and increase FDIC insurance on bank savings accounts to $250,000 for one year.

Also, the companies that will sell their bad debt to the government will have to issue “warrants” to the Fed, in effect giving the government an equity position in the company. You can see that the lawmakers wanted desperately to have a bill that would not just be a bailout of rich, greedy people that made really bad decisions but an investment where the Fed could actually make money.

Well, I am sorry but I just don’t have any confidence in our government to make this plan really work but hey, lets give the plan a chance…

THE VP NON-DEBATE!

I watched the Biden-Palin debate last night and wondered why the call what happened last night a debate.

Palin, as expected, was programmed by experts. The questions were all very predictable so the answers were well rehearsed and sounded a lot like the standard stuff you hear in the commercials or in speeches given by each candidate; there was nothing new.

Palin was so well programmed that if a question was not to her liking, she would just answer a question she was programmed to answer even though it had nothing to do with the question asked by the moderator; quite bizarre.

Neither candidate “won” the debate but supporters of each will claim victory. Friends and family told me they would make up their minds as to who to vote for after listening to the debates. I suspect that they have made up their minds long ago but wanted to seem like they actually made their decision based on a careful examination of each candidate’s positions in the debates – hogwash.

If you really wanted to examine the debate closely you need to read the papers the next morning. I really like when they examine each answer as to its “truthfulness”. Its one thing to listen to a candidate deliver his or her answer but another to read whether it was correct, semi-correct or total bullshit.

I think each candidate needs to be compelled by the moderator to answer her specific question and not just deliver a sound bite from their rehearsed speeches. This particular moderator tried but then just gave up and that is why this debate was so worthless.

More compelling and revealing are the interviews Palin has been allowed to do especially the one with Katie Couric. Poor Katie would ask for specifics like what papers and magazines do you read on a regular basis and Palin’s answer would be “all of them”. When pressed to just name one Palin would just wave her hand and repeat “all of them”. Or her now famous non-answer, “I will have to get back to you on that one”.

I really hope more and more of the “real” Palin come out in the next few weeks so voters can see that she is just a programmed robot and not a real, thinking person.

McCain will do his best to keep her inaccessible to the media and for the very act of doing that as a political ploy or shall we just say “trick”, I cannot ever entertain voting for him.

BAILOUT FAILED, DOW PLUNGED - SO?

The “bailout” bill did not pass even though it included a few compromises that the Democrats wanted. The revised bill was configured to answer specific objections of both Democrats and Republicans.

The bill mandated strict oversight, money to be doled out piecemeal, no CEO golden parachutes and Wall Street to make up the difference IF the government could not re-coup all the money spent on the bailout. The last point, I guess, made the bill not really a bailout but an investment – sort of.

The House Republicans would have none of it and were joined by quite a number of Democrats. The Republicans objected to the bailout provision as socialism and the Democrats to the lack of help for people in foreclosure.

There were a number of reasons why the House Republicans voted down the measure and one of them actually was a speech delivered by Nancy Pelosi BEFORE the vote where she blamed the whole financial mess on the Republicans in blunt and derogatory terms. Her speech was so vitriolic that some House Republicans immediately gave her the finger and said screw your bill toots.

Pelosi, not one of my favorites, made a very stupid mistake by on the one hand calling for
bi-partisanship and on the other, blaming everything on the Republicans. Anyone with half a brain would have at least waited till the voting ended and made her political points some other time.

The House Republicans also had an ulterior motive for killing the bill. Many of them were up for re-election and knew that their support of Bush and his failed policies was being held against them. Many, including me, were going to punish them for that obstinate, damn my constituents, behavior by voting for anyone BUT them.

They saw, in this bailout bill a way to stand up to Bush and show their constituents that they really were not blindly following Bush for the good of the party; they really had an independent mind and really cared for their constituent’s views and concerns.

And there were those Republicans who actually had economic principles that they would not compromise on even though their leader was willing to do.

Bush never really behaved like a true Republican from the start. He grew the government larger than any Democrat. He invaded countries, grew the deficit which is a sin to Republicans and interfered in people’s lives which is anathema to pure Republicanism. BUT Republicans did follow and did not object till now…

OK the Dow did drop a ton but in percentage, it was not the worst in our history. Keep in mind that the DOW is made up of ONLY 30 industrials. The S&P 500 would be a more accurate measure of the market in general.

As I watched CNN, all the anchors were screaming “the sky is falling, run for cover – our credit markets have dried up and so the economy will just crumble and the taxpayers will be the ones to suffer the most – just you wait and see”.

Bullshit…let the FDIC insure all bank deposits up to $250,000 which I hear Obama will propose and insure all money market funds for the same amount and that will free up the credit market.

Let the private sector buy up the toxic sub-prime mortgage securities for what they are really worth and get them off the books and start fresh if you can. If you cannot, hasta la vista baby, next time, don’t be so stupid.

The market has to correct itself with some help from the Feds but NO BAILOUT cause’
a lesson has to be learned by everyone – it appears, the hard way.

It is ironic that I will be voting for Obama and yet I back the Republicans on this particular issue – oh well. McCain, as you noticed, was visible mixed up as to what to do; his crap is getting old. He obviously cannot walk and chew gum at the same time.

PALIN AS PRESIDENT?

I have to say something more about Sarah Palin, our VP nominee and potential president of the United Sates.

I admit, I was saddened and then angered at the nation’s reaction to the naming of Palin for VP by John McCain. People were asking if his decision was stupid or brilliant and initially it seems the decision was pretty smart.

In talking with my friends, I asked if we as a nation are really that naïve, that shallow, that stupid. Do we vote on appearance; nice haircut and a nice ass?

McCain kept her in hiding so her true self could not be seen. He allowed only scripted appearances while his crew implanted all the rote answers she would ever need to know to all possible questions thrown at her.

Could he manufacture a VP robot that could fool all the people all the time?

We now know that one of McCain’s major reasons for picking her besides the fact that she was a woman and would satisfy all the dejected female Hillary supporters, was for her ultra right views on basically, all subjects and way right of even McCain himself.

I was buoyed lately when females that I spoke to suggested that they were also hockey moms and felt insulted by Palins nomination. They felt it was an insult to all women when they are picked for their looks and not their brains and abilities.

This financial crisis we are in has also caused voters to imagine Palin as president or for that matter, even McCain whose president allowed this to happen on his watch with his unwavering support.

Voters are also trying to imagine Palin as a president dealing with a nuclear Iran, re-emerging nuclear North Korea, a newly aggressive Russia and a re-energized al-Qaeda. She may be trained to give the right answers, wear the right hairdo and sport fancy glasses but who is Sarah Palin really and why are they so desperately trying to hide that person from us?

I don’t know Sarah Palin but the little that has trickled out but the fact that McCain is keeping her in seclusion means that he knows the real her not the marketed her and she is nowhere ready, if ever, to lead this country; McCain is counting on staying alive while in office so she never has to lead. That to me is absolutely unpatriotic and callous since it shows a total disregard for this country and its inhabitants.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO THE RESCUE?

Is it not IRONIC that the Bush / Paulson bailout plan is being stymied by HOUSE REPUBLICANS?

You noticed that the Democrats had no trouble agreeing with Bush to just buy up all that nasty debt around the country for $700 BILLION, after all the Democrats are all about SOCIALISM and the bailout plan would put this country on a definitely socialist footing.

House Republicans went against their own president and would not give up their CAPITALIST principles and I applaud them for it.

Bush gave a good speech explaining why the country is in the financial position it is right now and how his plan would save us from certain economic disaster BUT this is the guy that told us about weapons of mass destruction and how we absolutely needed to invade Iraq or disaster will befall our great nation.

I am not saying Bush is totally wrong but I think his plan is too big and too rushed; we need to give this matter some serious thought before we commit $700 Billion to throw at the problem at hand.

I suggested and the House Republicans appear to be thinking in the same vein, that the Federal government provide insurance or a guarantee in specific areas to keep the credit markets open. They have already done this for investments in money market funds which provide most if not all of commercial short term loans.

Freddie Mac and Fannie May can continue to keep mortgage money flowing by buying sound mortgages from mortgage originators.

Washington Mutual (WaMu), a huge bank, failed this morning, was taken over by the Feds and immediately sold to JP Morgan Chase. The bailout would have prevented this demise but why should a bank earn a reprieve for its disastrous decision making; it did not deserve a new life.

Yes, our government will still spend billions of our taxpayer dollars to guarantee the safety of our money but it will not reward wild speculation which needs to be controlled just like the regulations enacted after the Great Depression did but which were conveniently overturned in our time and now need to be re-enacted.

Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch have now become “regular” deposit banks which means strict federal regulation. Warren Buffett just bought five ($5) Billion in Goldman Sachs preferred stock which indicates a private sector with money and a willingness to spend it IF the Feds act to restore trust in our financial system.

Some people should be in foreclosure and some financial institutions should just die or be sold off.

The Democrats are just itching to socialize our economy with the help of a Republican president of all people; they must not be allowed to do that!

If you are thinking why would Bush do such a thing with four (4) months remaining in his tenure as president, just think about his presidency? He led us into a disastrous war in Iraq, he allowed al-Qaeda to rebuild in Afghanistan / Pakistan and he allowed Russia to once again become an aggressor nation in opposition to the U.S. and on top of all that, he allowed our financial system to crash. Wouldn’t you want at least ONE GOOD THING to be written about your eight (8) years in office?

Bush may think that his bailout would be treated as “a good thing” but he is mistaken. In my opinion, it would lead to the collapse of our capitalist system and to me that would be a real disaster for the ages and for this country.

NO TO SOCIALISM!

I have been listening to all the debate about the $700 Billion bailout of financial institutions holding non-liquid and potentially worthless mortgage-backed securities.

I can understand Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke’s rationale (let’s not forget that they work for Bush) for buying up troubled debt from financial institutions and thus preventing, what they feel, would be a serious recession even though a recession has been predicted for some time now.

I can understand why the Democrats want something for the taxpayer that is footing the bill. They want people in foreclosure to get consideration. They want judges in bankruptcy court to be able to re-work mortgage terms for people declaring bankruptcy so they can keep their homes. They want CEOs of the institutions being bailed out to get a realistic severance pay package; not millions of dollars.

Lately I have also heard that people about to lose their cars should be bailed out or any one in financial difficulty and here I have to say ENOUGH!

We are and have always been a CAPITALIST nation. Capitalism is what made us great and the envy of the world.

What the Bush Administration is proposing is SOCIALISM which to me is abandoning the economic structure and philosophy that made us great and that is unacceptable!

What got us in this mess is the housing bubble that burst. People on Wall Street as well as people on Main Street gambled that the housing market would continue to grow and prosper, never thinking that it might not; well, shit happens and it did and so you got poked in the eye but good.

The really important question now is what will happen IF we do not pass the bailout bill. Wall Street investment banks are gone. Financial institutions with large amounts of the toxic mortgage based securities will have to write them off. The credit market may be squeezed and our economy may suffer which means non-financial businesses will suffer also.

BUT the economy will correct itself and recover and we will still be a CAPITALIST nation. Many people will learn a hard lesson as they should and new regulations will be enacted to protect us from future financial shenanigans that damage our economy.

NO TO SOCIALISM!