POLITICAL FOOTBALL

Don't get caught up in the "bailing out Wall Street" hype. As I said before, unfortunately, we all must assume some responsibility for this crisis. If for no other reason, but because "we" all were inadvertently implicit.

Once we elect these officials into office, we disconnect from the political process. Honestly, a majority of us find the political spectrum boring, until something sensational happens, and believe me; the politicians took notice a long time ago.

Had the nation spoke out, and inundated members of the House, and Senate, when lax regulation was being signed into law, we could very well have prevented this calamity.

If you listen to the media spin, you would swear both parties revolted against this bill for the same reasons. Fact is, the Senate majority, Paulson and the White House came together to try to stop the bleeding, and begin the healing process.

Now here's where the politics come in.

At first, The White House and Paulson wanted:
1. A blank check, with limited oversight, and no guarantees.

At first, The Democrats wanted:
1. Guarantees the taxpayer would be protected, in the event profits were made.

2. Strict regulation, and oversight.

3. Consumer protectionism. Which would allow judges to arbitrate the loan terms of individuals on the brink of bankruptcy.

4. A market correction. Which would bring the value of these assets down to their realistic values.

5. A cap on Executive compensation.

The revolting Republicans still want:
1. To let private investors obtain the bad assets (most likely at a discounted price), then repackage and place those assets back on the market, at their current valuation. In the hope of letting the market correct itself.

2. Limited Gov't funding, intervention, and oversight.

3. No cap on Executive compensation.

*** There are more talking points, but I wanted to point out the issues that speak to a majority of Americans ***

Faced with possibility of a crisis, the Senate majority, the White House, Paulson, and members from both sides of the aisle, ratified the bill, and made concessions, in order to stabilize our markets sooner, rather than later.

Herein lies the reason for the stalemate. The negotiating parties made concessions, because they wanted a version of the bill they believed would receive bi-partisan support. Both parties made sacrifices in the hopes of starting the healing process.

The bill is not perfect, but it would have set the wheels in motion. But, revolting members from both parties are adamant about their positions, and refuse to budge.

Basically, the consumer protectionism provisions were scaled down, to appease the Republicans, and the Executive compensation limits were added to appease the Democrats. As before, it gets more complicated, but this is the basis for the revolt people.

You could look up the bill yourself, but basically, the Republicans want to limit control on big business, claiming free market enterprise principles. The Democrats feel the best way to get it done, is by giving some of us who qualify, the opportunity to restructure our loans, and keep them to term.

Now you can argue principles all day. I strongly believe in the free market enterprise, but I do believe the middle class needs to be protected from greed.

In my area, property values have been grossly inflated. Some properties have nearly triple in value, in about as many years, before the market got tight. This was a result of the markets run amok.

It's almost like economic cleansing has been waged in some neighborhoods. Once the prices started getting out of control, people were coerced into taking loans they could not afford, with the hopes of renting out units in order to make their mortgage payments, or more refinancing down the road.

I am familiar with both situations, because I briefly worked for a mortgage company who targeted middle/low income applicants, utilizing predatory methods. I also briefly entertained the thought of purchasing a home, but by that time the median home prices had clearly jumped out of my range, but although I came to grips and abandoned thoughts of pursuing the "dream" for now, I was also aggressively targeted by the real estate agents, and they tried to get me to buy using the same deceptive practices.

Although I had the presence of mind to resist, I could see how many people were lured into this fatal financial decision. They made it seem so easy. They said things like, "the Gov't backed loans were easy to get", and "median home prices would continue to boom".
Now, you could take the position of "I don't want to bail out Wall Street", but the fact of the matter is, we all WILL BE AFFECTED BY THIS MESS.

I happen to side with the Democrats. Although I do not believe in "socialism", "corporate socialism", or any form thereof, I don't think a little regulation, oversight, accountability, and a taxpayer guarantee is necessarily a bad thing.

We all know that absolute power corrupts, and that's exactly what allowed this travesty to occur. Everybody was getting in on the frenzy, but as people were being laid off, companies were outsourcing, and everybody had their hand in the pot, the disposable incomes of Middle Class Americans were decreasing or stagnant, at best, the cost of living continued to spiral out of control, oil prices caused more trauma, we started importing more, and producing less, and we are engaged in a War.

All of these factors are direct contributors to our markets demise. But now is not time for finger pointing. I hope Congress could look past their political affiliations, and get some form of the bill passed quickly, but not without regulation, oversight, CEO compensation limits, and some form of a guarantee for the taxpayer.

In my opinion, the Republicans are protecting big business, and although businesses need incentives in order to create jobs, it's obvious that wasn't happening.

If you could increase the spending capacity of a majority of Americans, and greatly reduce the number of future foreclosures, the market will rebound. Trickle up is pretty much guaranteed. If not, a lot of us will continue to suffer.

A great many of us will take hits with our incomes, investment portfolios, jobs, etc, but the Wealthy will not lose.

When you write your elected officials in protest of the bail out, learn the facts, think about how this affects you, and argue your positions first.
A robust Middle Class, will always keep their pockets fat anyway. We have to give Trickle Up economics a shot. The financial industries that survive will see their money come back, with INTEREST.