Bailout Schmailout

It is not enough that a $700B bailout package for purchasing toxic mortgage paper was first voted down and then revamped, bloated with pork and then rammed down our throat in the guise of "dire straits". No sooner did this bill pass, than the concept was "tweaked" so that monies from it MIGHT be diverted in order for the government to buy stakes in troubled banks to shore them up and unclog the credit market.

Now we find out that this atrocious stimulus package may not be used even in these ways. Though the monies have not been dispersed, everyone wants a piece of the pie, and banks are planning, dreaming and scheming about how it will be used, like I do when I buy a lottery ticket!! Proposed plans for this money include mergers and acquisitions, raises, CEO perks and bonuses or just plain squirreling the money away for a rainy day. (Like I wish I could if I had any!) In addition, lurking on the fringes and licking their chops are the insurance companies and the automakers who already have been given substantial amounts ($25B) of low interest loans to bolster them. Who the heck are we bailing out by this scheme with OUR money??

Is blood shooting out of your eyes yet??? Well get ready, because in spite of the proclaimed purpose for the bailout, there is apparently nothing in the legislation that REQUIRES that this money be used in any particular way.

Neel Kashkari, head of the Treasury's financial stability program, told Dodd's committee this past week that there are few strings attached to the capital-infusion program because too many rules would discourage financial institutions from participating. "Firms with the relevant financial expertise may also hold assets that become eligible for sale into the TARP or represent clients who hold troubled assets," Kashkari said.

Can you hear me SCREAMING??? What happened to this plea for this legislation to be passed immediately for the good of the overall economy??? Thankfully, real $$ (is that an oxymoron?) have not yet been doled out, though allocation is underway. And now members of Congress from both sides of the aisle are sounding righteous indignation about this law and its potential implementation. Senators Richard Shelby (R) who opposed the bailout, Charles Schumer (D) and Chris Dodd (D) (who did not) are all asking why the turn of events and demanding explanations, though the reasons for their concern may not all be the same (go figure). It appears that the inmates are running the asylum (on our dime).

If there was ever a more cogent argument for term limits, I think this is it. Since Congress has such an abysmal approval record, my gut reaction is to vote them all out and start over with people like Joe the Plumber, who did NOT get a sweetheart mortgage deal from CountryWide (but probably did have his HELOC frozen by them), who doesn't get perks from Freddie and Fannie (and would not have his campaign subsidized by them), and who isn't in cahoots Franklin Raines. Jamie Gorelick, Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, William Ayers, Father Pfleger, Rev. Wright, Louis Farrakhan ....to name just a chosen FEW.

We are in desperate need of a smaller government with fewer entitlements, handouts and departments (translation: rat holes down which billions of dollars can disappear). Our government bureaucracy has become so bloated that it is imploding on itself and Barack Obama is licking his chops at the idea that we will further "INVEST" (translation: take away the taxpayer's dollars) in this black hole of a government we now have. While I am not one to buy into whacko conspiracy theories, I am thinking that the Cloward-Piven Strategy of Orchestrated Crisis (just Google it!!) has finally played itself out and we are primed for a sweeping socialist takeover that has been carefully and quietly planned and implemented over several decades of gradual and insidious infiltration of all aspects of our lives. Yes, we do need change, but not THAT kind of change.

I am going to the True Value hardware and see if there are any pitchforks left. Let them eat cake!!!