The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum

I understand that the country voted for change in November, but is this really what we had in mind? It's seems like we now have a government that has completely lost it's mind and is running amok, spending hundreds billions, probably trillions, of dollars with no real idea of whether any of this spending will make a dime's worth of difference to solve our current economic woes.

We get corporate bailouts followed by "stimulus" plans that nobody read, followed by mortgage bailouts, and every time one is announced the stock market plummets, 401Ks get smaller and the public confidence goes down.

As this because we feel the government needs to "do something" even if that something makes the situation worse not better. Has anyone ever considered that sometimes there are events in our lives that are just too big for the government to stop?

If a hurricane were heading toward us, would we start clamoring for the government to "do something" to stop the hurricane? Of course not. Why? The hurricane is something too large for the government to do anything about. If it were to try all the resources used to try and stop it would be wasted. The government can warn us it is coming, tell us to get out of the way, help clean up the mess after it has passed and even help us rebuild. But stop it? Impossible.

Has anyone ever considered that we may be in the midst of an economic and financial hurricane that is simply too big and too powerful for the government to stop? Has anyone considered that all the money (debt) being used to try to stop it is simply being wasted and we will have nothing to show for it but the debt payments?

As a real estate broker, times are tough and we all hope things improve soon. But it's hard to see that doubling down on the irresponsible policies of the previous administration is the way out. I am personally tired of listening to all the chatter about what the economists say. In my opinion, economists are nothing more that a modern version of the court astrologist.

What would seem to work is common sense. If too much risk, too much debt an too much spending got us into this mess, then less risk, less debt and less spending would get us out. Since the lunatics in the government are doing the exact opposite, it's hard to be confident. God help us all.

Is There Anyone Who Will Represent Us?

Although this is a real estate blog, I feel compelled to comment and vent my anger at the Bailout Mania that is sweeping through our government. It seems that our "leaders", and I use that word very loosely, have completely lost their minds and can't move fast enough to bail out everyone, whether it be companies, individuals or governments who now find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

The more I listen to the "experts", the more I am convinced that nobody in a position of authority has a clue on how to get us out of the mess we are in. You need to look no further than our Treasury Secretary, who less than two months ago said the world would end if we didn't agree to buy toxic assets from troubled banks, now says we don't need to buy them at all! Think about this for a minute. Our habit of borrowing from tomorrow to pay for today has, in large measure, brought us to the point we are at. What is our government's plan to rescue us? Borrow even more money from tomorrow to pay for today! This is nuts!

You would think that once it is clear that nobody has the answers, caution would be the order of the day. But no, instead we throw caution to wind and race to spend money we don't have to bail out people who can't be rescued. We are bailing out banks, insurance companies, probably auto companies, those unfortunate individuals who are in trouble with their mortgages, and probably city and state governments as well. We are at the point where we are no longer talking tens or hundreds of billion of dollars, but are now talking in the trillions. And these trillions of dollars are dollars we don't actually have. This can't possibly end well.

But not everyone is in trouble. There are people in the country who have made it a habit to live within their means. IS THERE ANYONE IN OUR GOVERNMENT LOOKING OUT FOR THOSE OF US WHO HAVE USED OUR HOMES AS ATM MACHINES, WHO HAVE NOT MADE IT A LIFESTYLE TO BORROW FROM TOMORROW TO PAY FOR TODAY? It would appear not. Isn't anyone willing to stand up and be the voice of us that don't have massive credit card debt, that have gone without at times because we didn't have the money to pay for it, that have made a habit of saving some of what we earn because it is the right thing to do?

This whole economic situation is not only sad, it is downright maddening. What is most frustrating is that those of us that have lived our lives in an economically responsible way are going to get stuck with the tab for the disaster that our government seems intent on bringing upon us!