Saturday, October 25, 2008

Eddie Burke Post

So I listen to Eddie Burke because he's funny, but mostly he's really smart. I saw a post on his blog today about giving $425,000 per adult to the people. Actually, the math was off and it was supposed to be $425. Anyway, here's a link to the original post. It has to be approved by a moderator, and I'm sure it will be, but anyway, below is my response:
______________________________________________________________________________________


Alright, so the math may be off on his post. I just can't honestly believe that companies that make bad decisions get helped by the government like this. If you make $85 billion in horrible decisions then you shouldn't be in business anymore. De-regulation really shows us which companies in our Country have the self-control to make it and which ones don't.

We're talking about an industry with many major players who rely on the government to give them rules to protect themselves, and just as soon as those rules are slackened and begin to let free market reign - as it should - the same players blame the government for their own bad decisions. De-regulation is the way to demonstrate which are the smart businesses and which are the dumb ones. If you can't ride an investor's bike once the training wheels are off, then go do something else.

I am completely opposed to this bailout. We can see (especially after today, Friday the 24th) how the idea of this bailout effects faith in the market - people just don't trust a market that can't sustain itself. Folks will trust the market a lot more knowing that the Free Market system will protect us from situations like this on it's own - companies like AIG that make poor financial practices will have to close their doors and will NOT be around to lose investers' money again. It's PRETTY SIMPLE.

Granted, $425 per person, or even $1,000 per person won't get the economy out of this slump (like we saw in June). But at least something like this would put this money back where it belongs - in the hands of The People.

Thinking about this just gets me all fired up, and I think this should be on a ballot on November 4th under the title "How to spend $700 Billion." Choice A, proceed with proposed bailout. Choice 2, give $3,500 to every NON-ALIEN, tax-paying adult in our country (that's $700 billion divided by 200 million adults, if my math is right). Choice 3??? Choice 4??? There are a lot of different things we can do with that money, but in the end, it belongs back in our hands. This amount of money could pay $7,000 to working couples on the brink of foreclosure from losing their homes. It could help a single parent pay 3-6 months of amortgage or rent. If they really want to revive the economy and the housing market, that would be the closest to a sure thing I've hear about.

Obama's right, we need change. But he's completely wrong about how - we need to give money back to the people and not the other way around. If he actually gets voted in, I'll be investing in Gold and in chains for my chainsaw because I know I won't be able to pay for heating oil. And if he wins, God help us all.

~Joe Holod

No comments: