First of all, let's get something straight. This is a bailout of Wall Street to be paid for by Main Street. Barack Obama has already gone on record with his ridiculous remark that tax cuts are the reason for this whole mess. Tax cuts had nothing to do with this. This whole thing was the creation of some liberal Democrats who forced banks and lenders into making high risk loans and now those risks are threatening the liquidity of the banks.
Read this excerpt from Michael Flynn over at Reason:
| Let's be clear: This is a Wall Street crisis, not a national economic crisis. The overall economy, while a bit weak, is still growing. Some politicians are comparing the current environment to the Great Depression. But in 1932, when the federal government last moved to bail out the banking sector, economic output had fallen 45 percent and unemployment was a staggering 24 percent. Today, economic output is actually up and unemployment is a historically modest 6.1 percent. The overall economy doesn't even face a liquidity crisis in the current turmoil. Consumer, commercial/industrial, and real estate loans are all up over last year. Main Street is doing fine. The liquidity crisis is confined to Wall Street, between and among investment banks, insurance and securities firms, and hedge funds. There is the possibility that the contagion could spread, but in a global capital market, this is hardly certain. It is the intersection of several underlying trends that have brought us to this point, not a breakdown in any specific part of the financial sector. The fundamental flaw with the bailout approach is that it ignores these trends and simply seeks to shore up the finances of certain Wall Street institutions. |
The Roots Of The Crisis
Michael Flynn
Reason.com
October 1, 2008
And yet, Barack Obama, the man is is supposedly so intelligent about things, blames it all on tax cuts.
Let's look at what is being proposed as a solution to this Wall Street problem. The Senate Conservative Fund website has posted the current bill that the Senate will be voting on this evening for all to see. It went from 3 pages to 451 pages, just like that!
Ed Morrisey over at Hot Air gives us a small look at some of the earmarks he found in this legislation:
| New earmarks in Bailout bill - Film and Television Productions (Sec. 502) - Wooden Arrows designed for use by children (Sec. 503) - 6 page package of earmarks for litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident, Alaska (Sec. 504) “Extenders” in the bailout bill. - Virgin Island and Puerto Rican Rum (Section 308) - American Samoa (Sec. 309) - Mine Rescue Teams (Sec. 310) - Mine Safety Equipment (Sec. 311) - Domestic Production Activities in Puerto Rico (Sec. 312) - Indian Tribes (Sec. 314, 315) - Railroads (Sec. 316) - Auto Racing Tracks (317) - District of Columbia (Sec. 322) - Wool Research (Sec. 325) |
Let's see, Main Street is going to bail out Wall Street for some Puerto Rican Rum and maybe some NASCAR tracks? How about that "Wool Research?" God knows we can never have too much of that now, can we? And what about those "Wooden Arrows designed for use by children?" Maybe we can line the Wall Street CEOs up against the wall and shoot them with the arrows!
I don't care what crap they added to this bill. It could be 3000 pages or its original 3 pages, it doesn't matter. It is a socialist bailout of banks and institutions that should be allowed to go under so that new, more principled business interests can step up and take over.
We need to stop this thing again, just like we did last Monday, especially the current version going before the Senate.
Contact your Senators at the following link:
Congressional Email Directory
WebSlingerz.com
In the left-hand column, find your State and click on it. It will take you to a page with links to the home pages of your entire Congressional Delegation including your Senators. Call them. Send them emails. Tell them to vote "No" on this taxpayer money squandering bailout.
You can access the Hot Air posting on-line here:
Senate Bailout Bill Hits The Internet
Ed Morrisey
Hot Air
October 1, 2008
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