PANIC '08

A joke - what do you call 100 Congresspeople at the bottom of the Potomac River? The answer - a good start.

Today was an important lesson for me. I was reminded of how fruitless it is to count on politicians to put aside partisan or self-interest for the good of the country as a whole. I find it unbelievable that our nation's leaders could essentially flush the American economy down the toilet because it is an election year, and to hell with the little guy. Republicans don't like that the Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, tried to pin the current mortgage and financial crisis on the Bush Administration in her remarks after the bill was negotiated. Some Democrats aren't thrilled with being connected to a $700 billion taxpayer funded bailout when it appears that their party is on the verge of retaking the White House. No politician wants to be seen as an agent for handing over the keys to the treasury to a bunch failed, greedy bankers. Of course, nobody on Capitol Hill has any kind of workable alternative plan either.

Nero fiddles. Rome burns.

Michael Moore says that maybe the failure of the bailout bill is a good thing for the American people. After all he reasons, who are the people who are screaming the most dire and threatening things if the bailout isn't approved? Why the very Wall Street and Washington insiders whose interests would be protected by the bailout, that's who. Reason enough for Moore to think the whole thing is the latest Bush Administration gangster heist at the expense of the American taxpayer.

Here's the problem with that: even in their state of extreme distress, the Wall Street big shots and Washington politicians call all the shots. Just like you don't argue with a loan shark who's got a gun to your head while he demands payment of the vig, you can't just turn your nose up at the people who hold your mortgage, control your credit cards and have the power to layoff literally hundreds of thousands of Americans. Nobody likes having that gun held to their head, but if you're not the one pulling the trigger, then your options are kind of limited, don't you think?

So assuming Congress doesn't come out with some kind of new bailout package (it doesn't look good before the November elections), what is going to happen to this nation's economy? To the world economy? I don't know because I'm not an economist and I'm not Jim Cramer (that guy's CRAAZY!), but I'm certainly not comfortable with the idea of more banks closing, no one being able to get approved for car and home loans, people being laid off, social services being cut to the bone, Social Security going bankrupt and double digit inflation. And all that is just for starters.

What do you think? What should the government do? Is Congress being prudent or just self-serving as usual?

Peace...