For the last few days, I’ve been writing about risk and responsibility. Specifically, I’ve tried to point out that individual decision-making played at least some role in setting up this current financial crisis.
Some seem to think I’m saying that the borrowers are the primary problem in all this — but that’s not it. What I am trying to point out that although lenders certainly own a big chunk of the responsibility, one cannot place all the blame on them.
There is, in fact, a third player in all of this that not only set the entire situation up, it’s now doing its very best (like everybody else) to deflect focus onto the lenders: our government. And it’s not just the executive branch; this third player, upon whom most of my ire is focused, includes Congress, too.
They’ve been asleep at the wheel, people, and the bus has gone off the road.
Me, I think we need a whole new set of drivers come November. Our Constitution is forcing a shift-change on the executive branch this year, but the incompetents in the legislative branch also need their licenses pulled.
We need to throw the bums out.
Cross-posted to The Moderate Voice.
Throw the bums out!
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Well, I couldn’t agree more, but I’d not stop there. What we really need here is a suspension of this government and the appointment of an “independen” auditor. Come to think of it, we need TWO independent auditors. The first audit team should be directed to unravel the connections between the money, the lobbyists and the votes. My guess is that we’ll find a money trail reflecting corruption on a collosal scale sufficient to present evidence returning indictments against the politicians and the managment of these financial institutions. This audit should also serve as a basis for civil lawsuits against the two major parties and their operatives. The second audit team needs to investigate and fully examine the connections between the lobbyists and campaign donors and all current office holders and those currently seeking office. This election needs be suspended and an independent interim administration should be brought in to steward the gov’t with very limited authority for no more than 6 months to work with the second audit team to take the information discovered and determine 1) why our system is broken and produces criminals for office and 2) what needs be done to fix the political system and restore it to some semblance of working order sufficient to restore the confidence of the citizenry in the system and it’s product.
This is a crises of unprecedented severity and may well result in a default by the U.S. gov’t on it’s obligations. Why? Because what the plan they are working out does is essentially put the Gov’t in the hedge fund business while at the same time printing a trillion more worthless dollars to cover the bad loans. This problem however is worse than just financial. It’s completely undermined any confidence the “thinking” public, (15-20%), might have had in this Government. And of course, it’s done the same thing for overseas investors. That means that the “buyers” of U.S. debt, i.e. overseas investors, aren’t going to want to continue to buy U.S. treasury Bonds they increasingly deem as more and more unstable and with the potential to hit junk bond status. The U.S. Dollar will probably fall completely out of bed and approach $2.00 to the more stable Euro. At this point my read on this is that if ever there was a time to exit your dollar based U.S. investments be they stocks or bonds, this is it! And you’d best be quick about it because even after the Novemember debacle of this election there isn’t anything anyone who is elected can do to solve the problem.
Polimom – I couldn’t agree with you more. That was one of the things I really liked about the Contract with America – the term-limits for Congress.
Unfortunately, neither party has shown much in the way of
cojonesleadership when it comes to this issue. And, from what I have heard, neither of the presidential candidates has anything concrete to add, either.🙁
~EdT.
CORRECT! Why isn’t there a strong independent candidate running? Could you imagine the message and campaign against these two corrupt, do-nothing parties? You really want to bring change, put up a nonpartisan moderate candidate who will make government budget-balanced, functional, and most of all TRANSPARENT! Both parties have failed us before and during this financial crisis. Now they’re asking us, the taxpayers of America, to PAY WITHOUT QUESTIONS for their mistakes! UNACCEPTABLE!
Subject: Fw: I took the pledge – Have you?
Well the congress has done it.
As of the morning of the bail out vote in the House of Representatives, polls showed that the American people were 74% against any bail out for the Wall Street fat cats. We wanted a fix from the bottom up and not from the top down. Fix ‘Main Street’ not Wall Street we told them. They didn’t do it.
However they did agree with the bloated $700 billion the Senate passed for their greedy Wall Street friends with another $150 Billion of Pork. So now our children are on the hook for at least $850 billion and no one can tell us if it will work or will be the last.
Meanwhile, ‘We The People’ continue to lose our jobs and homes.
Our elected representatives have chosen to ignore us, ‘We The People’ whom they swore to represent.
They think we are stupid. They think we don’t have the guts to clean house. They think ‘they know better’ than we on ‘Main Street’ do.
So…
I have taken the Pledge:
I, (put your name here), will NOT vote for any incumbent in the upcoming election regardless of party. I intend to do my part in ‘throwing the bums out’ in Washington that continue spending my money on those that have wrecked our economy rather than the people who sent them there. This is my solemn pledge.
Mail this to your Representative and Senators, to all your friends and all news media, both local and national. Email this to all the talking heads on the cable outlets, Lou Dobbs, Bill O’Reilly, Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Alan Colmes, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and every talk show host you are familiar.
Urge everyone you meet to take the Pledge.
This the only way we, the American People, will ever take back our own government.
Do we have the guts? Do you???
If not, then you don’t have any right to complain if they continue to screw us over.