Our Worst Enemy

I continue to hear over and over that we need to fix our economy; and the people saying this come from the highest levels in our government. From the last 5 months of Bush’s term until now, we have been hearing about bailouts and stimulus packages almost daily. Billions and trillions of dollars are on the line as our economy seems headed for certain peril. But I’ve got one problem that seems to be nagging me about this whole situation.

If you remember, the banks began to fail around September of last year and we found ourselves staring this economic crisis dead in the eyes. We began to hear how Wall St. was littered with greed and corruption as they were the ones who were blamed for causing this debacle. And the mortgage industry had apparently suffered a cataclysmic failure as a result of this. Then words like subprime morgtages, Wall St. and Main St. became etched in campaign slogans. At first they were talking about fixing Wall Street, trying to keep it from hurting Main Street. I remember getting tired of hearing these words over and over as it just seemed like rhetoric. I guess it didn’t help that we were in an election cycle.

And then Bush and Paulson started yelling “FIRE FIRE” and told us that if we didn’t pass a $700 billion dollar bailout, then the economy would tank and we would all be eating peanut butter underneath bridges in the rain. Ok, maybe not that last part, but that’s what it felt like. So they passed it, and gave $350 billion to the banks to get them to start lending again to get money moving. Well, that failed. The banks were too afraid to lend money, so they just put the money in their pockets. And there was no accountability on what they did with the money, and they aren’t saying. And neither is the Treasury department. And now, congress is looking at adding another $825 billion on top of the $700 billion, $350b of it already gone, to get our economy back on track! Jeesh! Where is this money going to come from? Oh yeah, me and you.

So, I mentioned I had a problem – here we go. As I see it, everyone keeps talking about what they want to fix, whether it be the corruption on Wall Street or stimulating the economy. But no one seems to be talking about fixing the real problem behind this whole mess – our very on government. Yeah, I said it. Ronald Reagan said it best – “Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem.” It’s the government (mostly dems) who forced the banks to give people loans who couldn’t afford it. Yeah I know, people over spent when they shouldn’t have. But if the government hadn’t forced banks to relax their standards for dealing out mortgages people would have been rejected. And yes, I know there was deregulation at work here too, which didn’t help this process at all. But in the early 200o’s, the Bush administration tried to strictly regulate the industry, but to no avail. So here we are, with a full blown financial crisis on our hands.

So let’s talk government corruption…just in the last few days. Have any of you bothered to look at this new stimulus? You know, the one that’s supposed to cost us $825 billion? Well, if you haven’t heard, the first go at this includes alot of pork…and I do mean alot. And when I say pork, I don’t mean money that will stimulate the economy. I mean pet projects that the government wants us to pay for, and I’ll just list a few:

• $650 million to help Americans upgrade to digital cable after the official transition to digital television on Feb. 17, 2009.
• $600 million for NASA, including $400 million for projects such as “satellite sensors that measure solar radiation critical to understanding climate change.”
• $6.2 billion to weatherize the homes of low-income people to make them more energy efficient.
• $2.5 billion to upgrade government-owned housing projects with new insulation, windows, and furnaces.
• $2.4 billion for projects demonstrating carbon-capture technology.
• $20 billion to provide “nutrition assistance” for middle-income families and to lift restrictions on how long people can receive food stamps.

There’s a lot more here. And this is the stimulus package that the dems came up with on their own…you know, the ones who claim they want to fix the economy? It hasn’t been voted on yet, and hopefully won’t pass as it stands. Yes Yes, I know, there are corrupt republicans too. I am getting to that.

And then we hear about the first bailout again, and how that money was supposed to only go to banks that not only needed the capital, but were healthy enough to utilize it without failing. Well, apparently, according the Wall St Journal, the first bailout money went to more than just those who were healthy, but to those banks who were politically connected. In fact, there were some banks who didn’t get any of it, who were in fact healthier. Alabama has received $3.7 billion in TARP funds for four of its lenders, and state banking officials credit their two Republican Congressmen for getting them their share. And Barney Frank saw to it that a bank from his own home state, OneUnited Bank, who didn’t look like much of a candidate, got their fair share too. And the Treasury is keeping tight lipped about the whole thing, and with no accountability built in, they can just waste our money as they see fit. Awesome!

Back to the new bailout…oh, I mean stimulus. Now we learn today that talks are going on in congress about who get’s the infrastructure jobs that are supposed to help boost the economy. And one group is being targeted as not getting the jobs, skilled white male contractors. So, our bridges and roads may be built by people who currently don’t possess the skills…who are among women and minorities. So everyone pays for this “stimulus” but only certain people benefit based on the color of their skin? This is just great stuff….racism at it’s finest. Now all of this is just discussion mind you, but it is coming from one of Obama’s own Economic Advisors, Robert Reich. And Charles Rangel. You can watch it here.

This could probably go on forever and ever, but suffice it to say that there is no more government for the people. Our government just keeps padding it’s own pockets and the pockets of the corporations with the lobbyists, and we are all left to suffer.

So before they talk about fixing the economy, the auto industry, the mortgage industry, or anything else for that matter, they need to fix the government. We need to start electing a new breed of congressman….someone who actually cares about the people. Remember, it’s the states that created the government, not the other way around.