A Puzzled Look at The Bail Out

I am not an economist. I am a wife, a Mom, a small business owner. I balance my checkbook, use coupons, pay my mortgage on time, attempt to invest wisely and try very hard to live within my means. I respect the Constitution and have wearily watched administrations come and go.

This diaster on the economy has me - well it's a cross between puzzled, bewildered and angry.

First, let me start off with the Fed, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernake and the lot. I am puzzled because I thought that it was their jobs to make sure something like this didn't happen. So exactly what is their purpose? Didn't The Fed contribute heavily to the crash of 1929? Why are we taking advice from these yahoos? Obviously, they were asleep at the switch and failed to protect the American dollar and the economic system, why is it immediate we listen now?

Second, I have watched administrations come and go and I can remember back in the 1990s when there was a gigantic push by the Clinton administration to provide loans to lenders banks wouldn't touch. Shouldn't that have been the first clue? That banks wouldn't touch them? By no means are all Republicans lily white on this issue but I do remember Bush sounding the alarm about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being broken and needing to be fixed. That was in 2003 and in 2003 Barney Frank dismissed the concern as rhetoric. No bills made it past committee to address this situation and who was the Head of Banking? Why Chris Dodd. The man who has received more contributions from Fannie/Freddie than any other politician. The Republicans should have screamed more and more and more. But in typical Republican nature, that dog didn't hunt. In 2005, McCain attempted to address this issue and again, it was shot down by the ranking Democrats.

I was appalled when I saw the bonuses that Raines, Gorlick, Johnson, et al received from Congressionally chartered businesses. The way I view it, since the government has bailed out these agencies, those clowns owe the government millions of dollars to repair the damage they caused. I would like to have answers from Raines and Johnson, if they could stop being economic advisors to Obama long enough to answer them.

Now Paulson is screaming now or never. Um, why wasn't he screaming this a year ago. Is his vision in his capacity so short-sighted that this snuck up on him? What has he been doing with his time? This crisis was years in the making and yet he says we only have days? I think I would fire his ass for poor long term planning.

Another thing about the Treasury bailout, it includes converting billions in foreign loans to grants thus giving debtor countries a free ride on American taxpayer money. Can I get on this gravy-train?

So now Congress is scrambling but in true fashion, they never saw legislation that they didn't believe needed pork seasoning. This solution coming out of Congress not only bails out lenders, it bails out stupid people and absolves personal accountability to homeowners who can't make their mortgages. So not only do I get to pay their bill, I get to shoulder their share of accountability.

Congress has failed miserably at every institution they have meddled in. Medicare, Social security, on and on. Yet we are suppose to believe that their solution will save the day with minimized risk to the taxpayer. Oh yeah, you betcha.

What's a few trillion dollars between friends??