THE BAIL OUT

By Butch Wells, Troy, AL

The financial situation our country is facing right now should get every working, tax paying American’s undivided attention. Our elected officials are working on a plan to bail out banking and mortgage companies for billions of dollars worth of bad decisions that they made while collecting huge salaries and bonuses.
All of this money can come from one source and one source only. It has to come from the people who work and pay taxes. Politicians don’t work and pay taxes. They collect checks from taxes paid by the working class and they pay taxes on that money with more taxes paid by the working class. The working class pays the politicians salary, medical, retirement, social security, and vacation pay with the money they pay in taxes. The working class pays income taxes, sales taxes, gasoline taxes, tobacco taxes, land taxes, advalorum taxes, capital gains taxes, inheritance taxes, and worst of all, taxes to the mortician for burial services. That doesn’t even get me to the sin taxes. Lord I need to start going to Church more.
Blue collar workers, is a term used a lot when it comes to the working class. I guess I could be considered a blue collar worker, because I wear a blue shirt every day. I think its blue since people tell me its blue, but, I’m color blind so I have to trust people to tell me what color it is.
Blue collar workers know how it feels to get up every day and go to work so they can provide for their needs. Blue collar workers know how it feels to do that and realize that what is left after taxes, doesn’t leave enough to provide for those needs.
This 750 billion dollar bail out is not for blue collar America. It is for big bank and mortgage CEO’s to continue their lavish lifestyles. There is nothing in this thing that will help the everyday working stiff. But I have a solution.
Instead of giving these big shot CEOs billions of dollars to spend on some secluded island some where, why not use it to keep some working people in their homes. Buy these mortgages that are being, or about to be foreclosed on. Buy these mortgages for pennies on the dollar and tell these otherwise, soon to be working homeless people, that they can stay in their homes.
The next step is some what simple. Use some of that money to set up a system whereby the working people can pay their mortgage payments at a reduced rate, since we bought the mortgages at pennies on the dollar. All these non-working politicians say we need change, now wouldn’t that be some kind of a change?
I have heard a lot of the rhetoric from a lot of politicians who blame this on the ordinary working people who applied for home loans that they couldn’t afford. It was politicians who put that train wreck on the tracks to start with. Now the politicians want to fix it all with a plan that would still leave these people homeless. I say NO!!!
Don’t bail out a bunch of rich cats that have already made millions of dollars from this. Reach out to those working people who got suckered into your idiotic policies to start with.
I’m not a United States Senator, but if I was, this would be burning in my innermost being right about now.

Enough is Enough

I have finally had it with George Bush and his administration. You can't say that I haven't been supportive of him for almost 8 years. But his decision to bailout the Big 3 Automakers after Congress and the American public made it clear that a bailout is not favored is the last straw.

It was wrong to spend taxpayer money to bail out the insurance and financial industries and it is wrong to use taxpayer money to bail out the automotive industries. I'm no Constitutional scholar but what happened to equal protection under the law? If the government is going to protect some businesses from failing, aren't all businesses due the same protection?

I wonder if this protection is retroactive? I had a business fail a few years ago. Can I go chow down at the public trough?

Where in the Constitution is it written that you and I (taxpayers) can be forced to buy stock in a car company. That's what is happening. We already own part of the banking and insurance industry. I don't know about you but I am ready to sell my interest.

And what makes the government think it can run the car companies? Have they looked at their own books lately? If we ran our businesses like the Congress runs the government's business we would be put in jail.

I think before the government starts buying into a bunch of failed companies they should get their own house in order.

What say you?

Mea Culpa

Since the election I haven't had much ambition so there hasn't been many posts. I promise to do better soon. My promises are more dependable than Obamas.