500th Post: Trillion Dollar Lipstick

Well, the Senate decided to pass the $700 billion dollar rescue package, which according to the CBO is actually a $926.5 billion borrowing spree. It's almost like the Senate didn't bother to look at the report. To use that phrase the Presidential candidates love so much, this is trillion dollar lipstick.

Seriously, are these guys kidding. I realize the AP talks about the "sweeteners" added to the bill for passage, but it seems the Senate (at Wall Steet's bidding) is treating the American taxpayer like children at the mercy of the proverbial pervert offering candy in their pocket.

Wall Street doesn't get that they did this to themselves, and this bailout bill doesn't do anything to fix that. On Monday, after the House vote, the Wall Street entitlement complex was on full display in the press.

"How could this have happened? Is there such a disconnect on Capitol Hill? This becomes a problem because Wall Street is very uncomfortable with uncertainty," said Gordon Charlop, managing director with Rosenblatt Securities. "The bailout not going through sends a signal that Congress isn't willing to do their part."

With all do respect to Mr. Charlop, Congress has loosened regulations for the last 20 years because Wall Street has preached they could handle their own affairs. Exactly who wasn't holding up their end of the bargain? Now, after they couldn't put their house in order they expect the People's House to be their personal piggy bank.

No one can guarantee this action will avert the technical recession most Americans have been in for years. If the problem is that there is not enough capital in the market so that the good actors can go about their business, then the funds should be directed to the good actors. Simply giving money to those who couldn't handle it in the first place puts our nation at a greater risk in the future.

I seriously hope Representative Scott Garrett and those who voted against this bill in the first place have the moral fortitude to stick to their guns and vote no again. I actually hope others who claim to care about deficits join them.

We already spend 30% of our taxes paying down debt. Increasing the amount each man, woman and child in this nation owes by 9% in a single vote, with no guarantee of success, is idiotic. If this thing goes through, with no guarantees except for the wink and nod that things will get better, the share of the national debt of every man, woman and child in this nation will rise to about $36,000.

I don't dispute something needs to be done, but Congress can do better than this. It now rests on the House to return some commonsense to this process. Simply because, more often than not, those in Washington seem to care more for sweets than substance, we the American taxpayer are likely going to be hosed.