A Failing Economy and the Band-Aid Applied
In the last 18 months there has been a financial crisis brewing. Gas prices have been skyrocketing close to $4.00 a gallon, houses are being foreclosed on at an alarming rate, and banks have been losing money and buying each other out. To cure this the United States government have created and passed a $700 billion rescue plan for Wall Street banks. This “bailout” is not the answer to the problem it is only giving the banks another “golden parachute” that will not help the people who really need it, the American public.
I recently read an article about a landmark building in Coral Gables, Fla. There was a fire in one apartment in the building. After that fire was brought under control, the fire department – for some unknown reason – dropped a hose in the burned apartment, and left the water running … for hours.
That inane maneuver destroyed many apartments, crippled the building’s infrastructure and resulted in the building being temporarily condemned. The entire building was closed down for many months. Every person who lived there had to relocate. Some lucky renters, fortunately, had the wherewithal to take up temporary residence in the world-famous Biltmore Hotel. Others, however, weren’t so lucky.
When the banking-system bailout plan – formally referred to as the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008” – was originally unveiled, the financial-crisis firefighters at the U.S. Treasury Department were essentially reprising the Florida firefighting strategy. And U.S. taxpayers can anticipate an outcome a lot like the one that afflicted the Coral Gables apartment dwellers. Unfortunately for the U.S. taxpayer, there’s no Biltmore Hotel in which to seek temporary shelter. There’s only one U.S. economy, and we have to stay in it, whether it’s condemned or not. The Senate passed the bill on October 1st, 2008, followed by the House of Representatives on October 3rd. U.S....