The Never-Ending Bailout and the End of American Economic Dominance

Our political leadership -- folks like President George W. Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and President-elect Barack Obama -- told us that the government would save us. They said that the economic crisis was so dire, so grim, that we needed to allow the government to spend our money to bail out Wall Street. They stated that Paulson, with full authority and no oversight, would be able to right the ship.

Now they tell us that Paulson has exercised his authority recklessly. They say that they want their oversight back. They state that they need more cash for bailouts, and they need more leeway to create new regulatory schemes.

So far, the federal bailout, which was designed to jumpstart lending, has cost $300 billion and produced no effect. This is not a surprise. Lenders are rational actors. They tightened lending standards because they were hit hard by the subprime crisis -- a crisis caused by lax lending standards. But instead of seeing stricter lending standards and occasional bankruptcies as the natural outgrowth of bad decisions, the government panicked. The credit had to flow, our politicians told us. And the best way to make the credit flow was to hand over more cash to lenders.

This, of course, was sheer idiocy. Handing lenders money wasn't going to get them to loosen lending standards again. That money was earmarked for lenders' savings from the moment they received it -- lenders' first priority is to their stockholders, who want to see profit margin, not more bad loans.

But the government wants bad loans to continue. And so the government has decided that if lenders won't provide them, the government will. The first step is rescuing the Big Three in Detroit. We're told that General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler are the key to American industry -- a statement laughable in its exaggeration. We're told that if automakers go under, unemployment will skyrocket. We're told that these companies are too big to fail.

Here's something thats too big to fail: America's entrepreneurial spirit. But no one seems to care about that. Instead, we're supposed to worry about the risky lenders who bet wrong on the market; the risky borrowers who took mortgages they could never pay; and the risky investors who counted on both risky lenders and risky borrowers to keep the waterwheel of cash turning. In doing so, we ignore those who could actually heal the economy: solid lenders, solid borrowers and smart investors who will pick up the pieces of broken businesses and lead the way. But they don't matter. Instead, say the politicians, we should focus on GM. We should focus on Lehman Brothers. We should focus on the failures. And we should bail them out.

These bailouts have monetary costs that will cripple American business. Someone will have to pay for these bailouts. Either we will have to pay for them with higher taxes, or we will have to pay for them through inflation. The government is investing our money in bad stock. Would you buy GM stock right now? The government will, with your hard-earned dollar.

These bailouts also have psychological costs that breed dependency. Paulson is fond of saying that he wants to be wary of "moral hazard" -- the idea that we must not give incentives for bad behavior -- but then he pushes rewarding reckless companies with taxpayer handouts. Meanwhile, both Democrats and Republicans recommend rewarding risky borrowers by keeping them in the houses they can't pay for. How long will it be before folks stop paying their credit card bills and mortgages altogether, hoping that the government will step in to save them?

What we are watching is Carter-esque interference with the economy. President Bush's handling of this economic debacle will go down as the biggest black mark on his legacy. While supposedly touting the importance of capitalism, Bush has embraced the same Keynesian solutions that trashed the economy during the 1930s and 1970s. And both Republicans and Democrats go right along with him, psychotically citing the Great Depression while ignoring the basic fact that Presidents Herbert Hoover's and Franklin Delano Roosevelt's tinkering made a depression into the Great Depression.

The bailout is a disaster. And the politicians will continue fostering this disaster until the American people say, "Enough. We dont need your help. We will do this ourselves."

Many of us have wondered about the absense of America in the” end time” scenario as related in Revelations.

We know something must hapened to America ...

Ecclesiastical Babylon is all apostate Christendom.
Read Revelation 18:4-19

“Revelation 18:4-19 (Young's Literal Translation)
Young's Literal Translation (YLT)
Public Domain

4And I heard another voice out of the heaven, saying, `Come forth out of her, My people, that ye may not partake with her sins, and that ye may not receive of her plagues,

5because her sins did follow — unto the heaven, and God did remember her unrighteousness.

6Render to her as also she did render to you, and double to her doubles according to her works; in the cup that she did mingle mingle to her double.

7`As much as she did glorify herself and did revel, so much torment and sorrow give to her, because in her heart she saith, I sit a queen, and a widow I am not, and sorrow I shall not see;

8because of this, in one day, shall come her plagues, death, and sorrow, and famine; and in fire she shall be utterly burned, because strong [is] the Lord God who is judging her;

9and weep over her, and smite themselves for her, shall the kings of the earth, who with her did commit whoredom and did revel, when they may see the smoke of her burning,

10from afar having stood because of the fear of her torment, saying, Wo, wo, the great city! Babylon, the strong city! because in one hour did come thy judgment.

11`And the merchants of the earth shall weep and sorrow over her, because their lading no one doth buy any more;

12lading of gold, and silver, and precious stone, and pearl, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyne wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel of most precious wood, and brass, and iron, and marble,

13and cinnamon, and odours, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep, and of horses, and of chariots, and of bodies and souls of men.

14`And the fruits of the desire of thy soul did go away from thee, and all things — the dainty and the bright — did go away from thee, and no more at all mayest thou find them.

15The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, far off shall stand because of the fear of her torment, weeping, and sorrowing,

16and saying, Woe, woe, the great city, that was arrayed with fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and gilded in gold, and precious stone, and pearls — because in one hour so much riches were made waste!

17`And every shipmaster, and all the company upon the ships, and sailors, and as many as work the sea, far off stood,

18and were crying, seeing the smoke of her burning, saying, What [city is] like to the great city?

19and they did cast dust upon their heads, and were crying out, weeping and sorrowing, saying, Woe, woe, the great city! in which were made rich all having ships in the sea, out of her costliness — for in one hour was she made waste.”

Now (for one thing) most all our goods are brought by ships ... this is possible if not for sure. Consider well.

NOW THEY TELL US----Secy Paulson has exercised his authority recklessly.

US Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) said Saturday that Congress was not told the truth about the $700 billion blank bailout check. "The American people don't know how much money Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has given away to anyone. IT COULD BE TO HIS FRIENDS. We don't know. There is no way of knowing.''

KEEP IN MIND Henry Paulson (former Goldman Sachs honcho) named his Goldman Sachs underling, Neel Kashkari, to oversee the $700B Wall Street bailout. G/S alumni are bailing out the very pople who contributed to the economy's meltdown.

WATTA SURPRISE---G/S SCREWED TAXPAYERS No wonder the economy is in turmoil. New reports say it appears Treasury Secy Paulson named his G/S buddies---to handout the bailout billions. Conflict of interest anybody?

GOLDMAN SACHS SCREWS US AGAIN Secy Pavelson told Congress bailout billions would be used for one purpose then the foxy, wily Pavelson changes horses in midstream and decides to use the billions for something else. Typical Wall Street chicanery.

The heck with Congress enacting the bailout law for one use. Pavelson personally decides he and the G/S guys will use it for "something else."

The late economist John Kenneth Galbraith blamed Goldman Sachs for policies causing the Great Depression of '29. In his book, The Great Crash, 1929, Galbraith, a key figure in JFK's admin, an entire chapter titled “In Goldman, Sachs, We Trust,” details the “large-scale corporate thimblerigging” that Goldman and other Wall Streeters practiced in the 1920s.

G/S alumni at the highest levels of govt are now pulling the levers of power. Watching them operate, we know Goldman types promote their own interests relentlessly...........the rest of us be damned. Heaven help us.

As US citizens line up at soup kitchens and sell apples on street corners, they demand Paulson, Kashkari, and the G/S frat boys come clean about their holdings (at least the ones not hidden in numbered offshore bank accounts, the ones not "parked" at Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street entities, or bailout assets not tied up in untraceable untaxable, casino chips).

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