Lets talk about the BAILOUT FOR AMERICA !!

U.S. government should bail out of bailouts

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Posted: September 18, 2008

The last thing government officials should do is try to bail us out of the economic crisis they are responsible for creating in the first place.

The lack of oversight provided by Chris Dodd and Barney Frank of the Banking and Financial Services subcommittee is unprecedented and should require the immediate dismissal of both men. Their decisions, which have in large part brought about the current market crisis, make the decisions made during Hurricane Katrina look like sheer genius.

Campaign contributions have a miraculous way of clouding any career politician's ability to make intelligent choices that would directly benefit the American public. They know those choices will greatly disappoint their 'masters' who run Wall Street and thus slow the flow of campaign money for re-election.

Dodd and Frank had the direct responsibility, in congressional oversight, to protect the American public against abuses of the system. They did not!

I would love to see the campaign contribution records of Dodd and Frank from the banks and financial services companies now at the trough looking for taxpayer money to save them from the very folly that lined their pocket with billions.

Or maybe we should take a closer look at Clinton appointees like Jamie Gorelick and Franklin Raines who were paid a combined salary of $125 million from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. How about the contributions from Bears Stearns, JP Morgan, AIG, and Merrill Lynch to both political parties who allowed the shenanigans to continue unabated while many watched the problems grow worse by the day?

The fact is this whole crisis was avoidable. As far back as 1987 there were calls in Congress for oversight in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Yet the Clinton administration had no interest. Instead the "more is better," "chicken in every pot" mentality in America forced officials like Barney Frank to allow lenders' greed and Wall Street's hunger for huge fees to create a culture of corruption never before seen in American history.

Democrats, at the time, ignored the fact that many loans were being made to completely unqualified borrowers to buy homes they clearly could not afford. Overnight, home ownership in America became a birthright under the Democrats. Discussions with the Congressional Black Caucus and housing executives from Fannie and Freddie were just one example of how the Democratic Party encouraged irresponsible borrowing behavior.

So what do we do now? We must suffer the pain and do the hard yet necessary things to return to reality or we had better get prepared for a whole lot more pain. These problems did not happen overnight and the solutions will not come overnight. But the longer we fool ourselves with feel-good government bailouts, the longer the problem will remain.

Why are we turning to the very perpetrators for the answers to the problems they caused in the first place? Are we crazy? Go back to the same folks who broke it for a fix?

Free markets works when they are operated under accountability. The only effective help the government can offer would be to immediate halt wasteful spending and begin to reduce the national debt. Fiscal responsibility at the government level would do more to instill confidence than any bailout a bureaucrat can offer. Bureaucrat bailouts are designed to bring new contributions into their campaigns. That is a huge part of the problem. Bailouts do not work unless they are accompanied with accountability.

It would be easy enough to kid ourselves and allow the government to throw huge amounts of taxpayer dollars at the problems and pass it all on to future generations. But that would be like putting a band-aid on a gaping wound. The patient will still bleed to death, just at a slower pace.

Accountability, not blame, is required NOW. Sacrifice, not politics, is the necessary cure. I know it isn't a popular message but it is reality. Americans are willing to do what it takes to strengthen the country if they know they will not be burned once again by politicians who are more interested in power and position than they are about what is best for America.

It is time for the speaker of the House to drop her blame game and do what is best for America. It is nauseating to listen to the speaker lay blame at the feet of the current administration when she knows all too well that her democratically controlled Congress blocked all attempts to regulate the industry. Why can't both sides stop the attacks and start with the bipartisan cooperation they allegedly desire?

Our best years are ahead if we learn from the mistakes that have been made and not look to government for the answers to our problems. Government is not the solution to the problem; government is the problem. We must work together. We must allow free markets to punish those who did wrong, weed out the weak borrowers and reward those who borrowed honestly. If we don't, we are headed for even more difficult times.

We can avoid those difficult times if we believe in less government, more personal responsibility and accountability from leaders in both the private and public sectors.