The Markets Are Failing

And, of course, the sole reason is that our Federal Reserve and other central banks aren't printing enough money. Or that governments won't help the big banks. Or both. Probably both. As a NYTimes article says:

"It is the fear that governments may not ride to the rescue that seems to have unnerved markets."

Ah, so now we have it. The government is no longer forming a (nearly nonexistent) safety net for the banks - the same banks that make risky investments on purpose, overextending themselves and keeping little money actually in hand so they can make more money, and then depend on the taxpayer when they inevitably begin to fail.

The fact is that, if banks would make better business decisions, they would have nothing to worry about. If they would just learn to say "no" when a risky investor came along, they would get into far less trouble. Sadly, the profit motive is too much of...well, a motive. But I see no reason why they shouldn't pay the price.

Veteran and Rep Brian Baird

Only problem I see with this very well-spoken veteran's logic- the Nazis were not only leftist. Actually, in some of their ideology, they were quite Conservative! They absolutely adored their military, and they were obsessively patriotic. They wanted everyone to work- their basic philosophy was "If you don't work for it, you don't have it." (Something I do agree with.)

And let us not forget that it was the Republicans (the 'right wingers') that sparked this beautiful nationalization, what with Bush's bailout. Republicans voted to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

All these positions are things that were set up in the Nazi Programme of the National Socialist German Workers Party.

Let us give credit where credit is due for the mess we're in right now. Both Republicans and Democrats have contributed. Let us not forget that we have, for the past eight years, been under the jurisdiction of a Republican President and a Republican Congress. I do think this mess has been building for the past several decades, and I think that Clinton basically left a ticking time bomb on Bush's hands- but let's not ignore the Republican's part in this.

Both parties have been bad. Let's just throw them all out!

PS- other than that little thing, I thought this gentleman's 'speech' was exceptional. He shared what he wished to say very well. And I think Rep Baird could have handled it with a bit more grace. ;)

How to fix the economy...

1. Make credit more accessible
2. Bail out companies
3. Stimulate the economy
4. Help the auto industry
5. Prevent foreclosures
6. Extend unemployment aid
7. Take over failed banks

Say hello to President Obama's plan. Wonderful, isn't it?

Mr. Obama, let me tell you a couple things.

For starters, giving people more credit won't do a single thing! One cannot spend oneself out of debt. It doesn't work that way. Furthermore, one cannot borrow oneself out of debt. Period. Credit isn't going to do a single thing! We do not need to 'borrow' to fix the economy; that's what got us into this mess!

Let us look at the facts. President Clinton was the one who pushed banks to lend to 'high-risk' borrowers. These 'high-risk' borrowers hence defaulted, and many of their loans were sold to Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac. Sound familiar? Fannie and Freddy summarily went down the tubes because they weren't bringing in money.

Bailing out companies will do absolutely nothing. Hence why Chrysler (which was 'bailed out') is now failing. Bailing out does nothing but apply yet another bandaid to the gaping wound we've given our economy, starting with FDR's 'New Deal'. More bandaids will do zilch. Nada. Zero.

As I said before- lending money to people who will not pay it back is not the way to 'stimulate' the economy. Furthermore, it isn't the government's job to stimulate the economy! It is your job to print money, period. But, of course, since you've already given up that power, I suppose you need to feel like you have some say in what happens...

We've helped the auto industry. To the tune of $31 billion. Not that it did anything, since the companies are still failing. Some help.

Preventing foreclosures will, again, do nothing. People make mistakes. People make dumb mistakes. Buying a house when they couldn't afford one is a pretty dumb mistake. It's what Dave Ramsey calls Dum Math and StupidTax. Stupid Tax is the price you pay when you use Dum Math and make an even dumber decision.

It's the way of life. But giving these people money- which ultimately, is coming from their pocket anyway- isn't the way to fix the problem.

'Unemployment aid' is about the stupidest idea that ever graced the pantheon of business regulations. You know what? If you get 'unemployed'- your employer fired you- there was probably a reason. You know why you're unemployed? Probably because you did a shoddy job. Period.

No one is entitled to money. To get money, you have to work for it. That is the most basic of all beliefs that the American people have ever held dear. Do you think those Irish people came to America hoping to get a government handout and to live on 'easy street'. Of course not! They were glad to get their factory job!

The idea that somehow we as Americans are 'entitled' to everything, is false. We are not 'entitled' to anything but life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That's it. If your pursuit of happiness includes a house, go get a job and pay for it. Don't expect the rest of American society to foot the tab for you.

The government taking over banks? It's already happened, but it's a stupid idea, nonetheless. The idea that somehow the government- who has absolutely no money, and couldn't keep money in it's pocket if it tried- is qualified to handle the entirety of our money stores, is silly.

$10.43 trillion has been allocated to these programs. How much is a trillion? A lot. What is at the bottom of that page is what our government is throwing around. Pretty scary.

On that note, let us end this...Glorified Rant.

AIG, bonuses, taxes...

AIG has been giving out bonuses to their employees. With the money our so generous government gave them. Gave them. And now that same government is throwing a fit over it. Yay.

Now, they're taxing the life out of the businesses because of these bonuses. Yeah, that's smart.

Let's have an economics and business class here folks.

The government taxes the salaries AIG and like companies give to their employees. Lots of money. It doesn't, however, tax the bonuses the companies give their employees. So, AIG gives their people contractual bonuses.

Sorry, Mr. Obama, Mr. Frank, and all you other splendid budgeteers in Washington...but you gave them the money. You said- "Here, we know you're in trouble (or at least, you think you are), we know you messed up, but here ya' go. Have fun with it, and get yourselves out of trouble."

Well, now AIG is getting themselves out of trouble. Let's think about this a minute.

If AIG were not to pay the bonuses- bonuses that are contractual, and hence must be paid- then their workers would leave.

That would complicate our unemployment problem, cause AIG to lose money, and require more taxpayer funds to 'bail' them out. Again.

So...we give them money, and then don't let them do with the money what they will? What? Last I checked, a gift (even a gift from the government) came without preconditions. Maybe I'm missing something in the fine print of the technicalities of the 'stimulus' here, but it still doesn't make any sense to me.

I wish AIG all the luck in my position in their lawsuit. They're going to need it.

$787 billion Stimulus passes

Yep, it passed. Great. I'm so proud of my congressmen. At least not many of the republicans went over. (surprise, surprise.) No House republicans joined the democratic socialist side, and only three of them joined the democrats in the Senate. Seven democrats joined the republicans in the House.

The bill was passed in the House 246 to 183, in the Senate 60 to 38. They didn't pass this bill until almost 11 pm. Why? They were waiting for a democrat senator to get back. Leave him and vote, I say. But, the bill needed 60 votes to either pass or not. Before the senator got back, the vote stood at 59 to 38. So, here comes the senator from Ohio, and casts his vote in favor.

Wonderful. The bill is expected to go to Obama's office this Monday. When he'll sign it. For his 'quick jolt' to the economy. His four-year 'quick jolt'. I'm so proud of my lawmakers in Washington. Not.

Stimulus Plan

Going through, as we all expected. $790 billion of our tax dollars are going to be pledged to this plan. Of course, it's all for a good cause, since we'll jolt the economy over the course of 4 years and finally end up with thousands, maybe even millions of more jobs, to ease the plight of those 500 million Americans who are losing jobs!

The Senate is probably going to vote on this bill today or tomorrow. And the Republicans got what they wanted and are probably going to go along with it. Again.

Anyway. The liberal senators who drafted the bill got a bunch of their social projects passed. And the three Republicans that joined the bandwagon negotiated them down 100 billion. Or tried.

According to the news story, the bill has three major targets of interest: tax cuts for civilians and businesses, investments in alternate energy and health care, funding for government infrastructure programs, and aid to both state and local governments...including aid to individuals who are unemployed.

And our tax dollars are going to do...what again? None of those things are any of the government's business. Except maybe the infrastructure. The tax cuts- well, taxes such as we pay now should never have been instituted in the first place. Let's abolish 'em. Alternate energy? A private sector issue. Let the energy companies deal with it if you're so manic about it, and leave my tax dollars where they belong. Health care? Sorry, that isn't my problem. Or the Senator's from Ohio. Yeah. Aid to state and local governments? This one...well, I guess it is sort of the government's job to take care of their underlings. But isn't that what marriage licenses, drivers licenses, and all that other cool stuff they make money off of for?

And aid to people that are unemployed. And lack health care. They'll find a job someday. It may take awhile, but if they're good workers, why are they unemployed? It isn't the government's job to take care of them with money that doesn't even exist except in somebody's mind.

Nancy Pelosi said on the subject- "We have come to an agreement with the Senate as to how we will go forward and I think people are happy about that. There are some provisions we wish that were still there, but the fact is that there's plenty there to create nearly 4 million jobs that the president has set as our goal." (emphasis mine)

OK. Yeah. Sure Mrs. Speaker. We're all behind you! Not.

Once again, the congress is not listening to their constituency. Remind you of...oh, I don't know...a repressive regime under a King, and a parliment that didn't listen? Yeah...

A great catastrophe...

Yes, that's right. A great catastrophe, and a deepening of our economic crisis will result if we don't immediately pass the stimulus bill. And don't forget the 500 million American jobs that will be lost monthly!

The first remarks came from President Obama. The second came from Nancy Pelosi. At Obama's press conference last night, he focused mainly on jobs and economics.

So, he used one of the most unemployed cities- Elkhart, Indiana- to prove his point that everyone (and I mean everyone!! Mass panic!!) is losing their jobs! I mean, Elkhart has a 15.3 unemployment rate! (And a population of 52,700 according to a 2008 estimate, but that's neither here nor there.)

So let's just push this bill through, despite the economic ramifications. Something that pushes us another $800+ billion into debt can't be good. Period. What happened to Obama's campaign promises of getting us out of debt, and stopping government spending?!

Apparently, they went the way of the dinosaur, because he's sure not trying to uphold that now.

And this $800 billion 'jolt' he's talking about? Isn't happening. Number one, it's not even going to be all out there until almost four years into his term. Second, it's not going to individual people- you know, that 'main street' he's so concerned about? Yeah, isn't coming to us. It's going to big business...again. At least with Bush's first stimulus package, he had the decency to send it to the real main street.

Anyway: this bill went forward 61 to 36 in the senate. Didn't do so well in the House though, and enough people held it back that it's going to have to go through extensive porking to make it through.

So there's my rant for the day. Oh, and yes, the '500 million jobs monthly' deal is real. See second link below.

News Story
Pelosi's Slip

To fund a public bailout...

Just ask private investors!

Does no one besides me see anything just a little, um, odd about this? Apparently, the bigwigs in Washington are partly depending on private companies besides banks, such as hedge funds, equity funds, and insurance companies to help out with the stimulus package by buying up 'contaminated assets'.

The aim with this move? To reduce citizen's fears that they will bear the brunt of these assets in their taxes. But, of course, they probably still will, despite the government's best intentions.

See the entire story here

Spending helps the Economy?

Does that make any sense? We have to 'shore up our faltering economy' by the government spending multiplied billions on economic stimulus plans and bailouts!

Yes, President Obama has been busy, busy! With his new economic recovery plan (to the tune of $825 billion!), they're going to somehow fix the economy, cut government spending, decrease the national debt, and not cut back on any current government programs. Except, of course, Guantanamo Bay.

Yeah, makes tons of sense. Sorry, I just don't think spending more money, and throwing more money at the problem is the answer. We've tried that, with public schools, and the economy too. (Remember the first 'economic stimulus package?)

I don't feel like blogging

Really, I don't. All the news is just too depressing. It was too depressing yesterday also. I don't know...the auto bailout bill passed the House, and President-elect Obama is trying to push it through the Senate.

You know, it's the fault of all these unions. Let's just get rid of them, then we'll all be better off. There's no reason for them anyway.

So I better go now...before I make myself really sick. 'Night!

The Auto Bailout

As most of you know, the congress is considering a bailout/handout for the auto companies, to the tune of $15 billion.

General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford are cashing in big on this deal- each of them petitioning the Fed to give them money! Their biggest allies- the Democrats, predictably- are pushing for this bill to pass the house as quickly as possible.

Beyond this, a provision is being made in the bill to allow the President to have unlimited 'dip-in' powers to get as much as he needs from the treasury to cover any future needs of the auto companies! To put that in perspective, GM has stated that it would like- and 'needs'- at least $15 billion, and Chrysler could sure use an extra $4 billion in it's coffers!

Didn't Washington learn it's lesson the first time? *raises glass* here's a toast to monumental economic stupidity!

Obama's economic plan

On NYtimes

Sorry President-elect Obama, but this just sounds like a stupid idea. We don't need to spend more on government programs- we need to get busy on fixing things that really matter, like the un-constitutional legislation that is going on. Let's repeal the PATRIOT act, then deal with the fact that children can't get online and play games.

I mean, really. Broadband internet access is a privilege that is based on how much money you have. Sorry, but it's the truth. If I couldn't afford internet, then I wouldn't have it. It's as simple as that.

The economy does not need government support. Let them fail. It's called capitalism. They made stupid business decisions; now they're suffering. It's life, and it's the way of the market. But of course, some people might not be able to buy their deluxe new GMC if we were to let the auto companies go under! Our hearts are breaking!

Any way you look at it, spending MORE money is not going to help the economy, or our deficit, which President-elect Obama claims to be so worried about. I'm also concerned about where he's going to get the money to pay for all this. As a person who's going to be paying taxes during Mr. Obama's term (or terms), I'm not to keen on that aspect of things.

“We’ll measure progress by the reforms we make and the results we achieve by the jobs we create, by the energy we save, by whether America is more competitive in the world.” - President-elect Barack Obama