Seven hundred billion dollars. That's almost a trillion dollars, and when all is said and done, the cost of this bailout will be at least a trillion dollars, if not more. Like John McCain and Barack Obama I'm no economic expert, but I know that a trillion dollars is one whole heck of a lot of money.
It's one whole heck of a lot of taxpayer money that the federal government wants to use to bail out what are really nothing more than businesses that made very unwise decisions by selling mortgages to unwise (sometimes willfully so) buyers. What makes these failed businesses special is that they have failed on such a grand scale and with so many accomplices.
The mortgage lenders were Greedhogs who gave no thought to the future, no thought to right and wrong. They were assisted by a government claiming to believe in a Free Market, and that meant little to no government oversight, no rules, no regulations. The Bottom Feeders in this scenario are the Other Greedhogs, the mortgage buyer who wanted a McMansion he couldn't really afford, at least not in the long run, not once the low interest balloon popped and became a high interest nightmare turned reality.
Well, now the nightmare is nationwide and it appears that the Free Market is not so free after all. It will cost $700 million. What the government and the banks and the home buyers forgot is that freedom with self-restraint is anarchy, and that's what we have now. Economic chaos brought about by greed on many levels and an ideological belief that has now proven to be a failure. Defenders of the concept that there should be no government interference in business did not take into account the base nature of man. They didn't understand, or didn't want to, the concept that you can have a Free Market, but a little oversight by diligent and responsible people is necessary, else you end up with $700 million bailout.
President Bush and his Treasury Secretary are lobbying hard for this bailout. Just when was it that the Republican Party became the Socialist Party? It was probably when they handed out rebates to every tax paying American so they could go shopping in order to artificially prop up the American economy. We know how well that worked out. This bailout is just the latest thing from these New Socialists, another nail in the coffin of true Republican conservatism, the kind of conservatism that used to say to Americans, if you don't do your job well, you will fail and you won't be given a blank check by the government as a reward for failure. Conservative Republicans in the 1980s used to complain about the "welfare mothers" who scammed the system to get bigger, better welfare checks from their generous Uncle Sam. Now the Republicans and their cronies on Wall Street are the New Welfare Mothers.
What will happen if there is no bailout? Companies will fail and close, people will lose their homes. And maybe that would not be such a bad thing. If a company chooses to use bad business practices, should it not fail? If a mortgage buyer signs a contract knowing he won't be able to afford that house at some point, should that house not be lost? Let's face it, some of these mortgage buyers are not exactly stand up people. When the end is near, and foreclosure around the corner, these homeowners tear up the house, taking kitchen and bathroom fixtures, and more, with them before they abandon the house. Are these the people we want to lend a hand to?
Like I said, I'm no economics expert. I know the situation is a little more complex than I've made out. Our failed economic practices effect not only Americans, but people throughout the world. Because of the complex financial web weaved by Wall Street, a mortgage company in California could fail and stockholders and bond buyers in Finland will get the shaft. It's truly a global economy, and our American Mess has a global impact.
So there will be a bailout at some point. Even though polls show the bailout to be unpopular with the American public, politicians fear doing nothing at all will ultimately look worse with the voters than pissing away almost a trillion of their tax dollars. But with the bailout should come demands. Corporate heads who ran their companies into the ground should not be allowed to abscond with a multi-million dollar "Golden Parachute." There has to be government oversight of how the money is spent, something Henry Paulson doesn't want for some reason. There have to be new rules and regulations and enforcement of those rules, so that this never happens again. I'm not talking about so many rules that commerce is stifled. I'm talking about enforcement of self-restraint. The US cannot be a major player in the 21st century world if we have economic chaos. Remember, freedom without self-restraint is anarchy. We can't afford that. It would be unpatriotic to allow that to happen.
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