Bailout Bill: Finacial Saviour or Self Interest

Physicians subscribe to the Hippocratic Oath. An old code of ethics from Ancient Greece that in its purest form says "Physician do no Harm." Well for centuries the medical profession has taken that to heart. They will refuse to do a treatment that will do more harm to the patient that good. Now is the time for our elected officials to take the same oath.

Over the last 72 hours more politicians have said, "I really hate this bill but I voted for it anyway because we had to do something." Those elected officials who stood up and said NO should now be applauded. Expert after expert has said that the current legislation will do more harm and is only a band aid. We need solutions not band aids.

It seems after reading the legislation that truly it is not in the best interest of the country. That some of the solutions being offered up by the likes of Newt Gingrich are a better way to go. Not being an expert I must follow my gut and what seems to feel more in line with basic economic principles. The current bailout bill does not sit right. It was too quickly devised and gives too much power to too few people with oversight but very little oversight.

Take a look from a common sense point of view. This situation did not occur overnight. We will not solve it overnight. When one political party comes on TV and says we delivered the number of votes we agreed on and the other side did not, this seems to smell to me. It seems that while they want the legislation they are not willing to take the blame for it if something goes wrong. The Democratic party said the Republicans were supposed to have more people vote for it than actually did. If it was so good for the country I would think that all the elected officials would stand up and do what they were elected for and vote it in to power. But it seems that perhaps it is not as good for us as they say and some of our officials grew a set of balls and stood up to the loud mouthed bullies who have had their hands in our pockets for so long.

The official word is that the number used to bailout is $700 billion. This number is supposed to represent the 5% of bad loans in the country. 5% of the loans are bad that means there is more than $14 trillion dollars worth of performing loans. Are we so cash poor that the companies involved cannot live on 95% of their income. Now that seems like a crime. As a family if I lost 5% of my income it would hurt but would not be cause for me to go bankrupt. And what about working out payment arrangements that would allow under performing loans to be paid at what the family could afford. At least some of the money would be coming in. It would keep families in homes and some money coming in. A mortgage is not like real money. When a bank makes a mortgage they are actually creating money. (This is a discussion for another time)

It is then sold to an investor. The investor takes a chance. Well like any other investment sometimes it can lose value. So they lose a little value until things shake out. This does not seem like an earth shattering crises. But who am I? Just a little peon with no real knowledge of all the facts. Well it seems like those in the know don't really know either.

Somebody have mercy on us!!