Sounding The Economy Alarm

Suddenly everyone is talking about how bad the economy is doing. Most American workers have felt it at the pump or the grocery store. Many of us have been cutting back on nonessentials since the first rumblings back in May. Today however a noticeable change has taken place. The President of the United States of America has pushed the panic button. Even Senator McCain got in on the action by suspending his campaign and canceling Friday’s debate. I’m pretty sure he’s going to regret that move.  

On the television and radio the economy is the topic of the day. Here in California the Governor is threatening lawmakers with cutting their pay for not passing budgets. Mayor Villaraigosa is talking about a 120 million dollar budget deficit.  What has really changed in the last few days? The answer is…. President Bush pushed the panic button.   

I remember while on vacation in Tahiti in 1994 a woman from Club Med rang the church bell as a joke. Suddenly villagers ran out into the streets to see what was happening. The rope, just hanging there was too tempting to pass up. She was the center of attention. She said she didn’t expect it to be that loud. That’s what this reminds me of. 

President Bush has never shown much mastery of domestic issues. Like his father before him he always tried to convince a weary public that the economy was expanding, when all indications were that it wasn’t.  If he seemed out-of-touch it was because he was optimistic when everyone knew better. Remember his astonishment at hearing gas would soon hit $4 per gallon. Imagine an oil-man being unaware of the price of a gallon of gas. Everyone else was only too familiar with the pain at the pump. 

This time however is different. He looked more like a sweaty Richard Nixon than a calm John F. Kennedy. His insistence that the market would suffer without passage of his bailout dared naysayers to dig in their heels to find out. 

A friend emailed his congressman to express his opposition to the bailout. I did the same thing. In fact I called the congressman’s office as well. If you took the Presidential Address as a call to action I would like to hear from you. I’m glad I made my son watch the Presidential Address. This was an historic event. Presidents don’t usually risk an all out panic. 

700 Billion Dollars for CEO’s

The proposed 700 Billion Dollar Bail-Out will be the biggest scam ever pulled on the American public. If you thought Enron was a crime. If you thought the Iraq War was a complete disaster. If you thought the government's response to Hurricane Katrina was heartbreaking. If you thought the price at the pump was outrageous. If you thought the Stimulus Package was a waste. You ain’t seen nothin yet.

How did we get here??? The pundits asked over and over this weekend on television and radio. 

I’ll tell you how we got here….. Eight years of conservative leadership. They lied about wanting limited government. They lied about believing in fiscal responsibility. They lied about helping Main Street. They lied about the reasons we went to Iraq. It WAS for the oil. Two oil men in the White House, the President and the Vice President out to get as much money as they could. 

Now they say we have to bail out the financial system or our pensions and retirement savings will be wiped out. When was the last time you read your 401K Statement? Chances are you already lost 20 percent since the beginning of the year. Every time you fill your tank you’re losing more money. The price of your groceries has gone up 40%. The value of your home if you are lucky to own one has dropped like a rock. So much for your retirement plans.

Trickle down economics is a scam. It always has been. Just how many financial experts will need to be hired to dole out the 700 Billion Dollars? How many of the same CEO’s that ran their company’s in to the ground will be hired to fix this mess? How many golden parachutes and stock options will be distributed? How many politicians will get kickbacks from Lobbyists? How long will our kids have to work to pay this debt off?

Have you any idea how many schools or hospitals could be built with 700 billion dollars?

Like I said, this is the biggest scam ever pulled on the American public. We have got to stop it from passing!