The bailout soup line is getting longer and longer. Heck, it is around the block. It seems since the automakers got their chuck of bailout cash that more and more groups are getting into the action. 

Now property developers and managers are letting the government know that thousands of hotels, shopping malls, and commercial buildings are headed into foreclosure and bankruptcy unless the government steps in and helps.

The industry is looking for a piece of the $200 billion the government set aside for car, student loans, and credit-card debt. 

We got it. We are all hurting. But does this qualify you for a government bailout and just when did this “you owe me” mentality start anyway? Certainly the country was not founded on it. 

If this is the new mentality than everyone should get in line… 

Starbucks Barista’s – With coffee sales down 100% and no one buying mocha-frappa-asiago coffees, your tips are way down – get in line! 

Movie Ticket Taker – Come on. Blockbuster, cable and downloading off the Internet are cutting into your  action in this time of cut backs – get in line! 

Wal-Mart Greeter – Hell, your position is downright dangerous as people push each other to find a deal on a Beanie Baby – get in line! 

Fur Coat Maker – Between the political incorrectness of buying a fur coat and the damaging economy, you must be hurting – get in line! 

Santa Claus – Gift giving is down a bazillion percent this year. That puts unforeseeable pressure on the North Pole to deliver gifts – get in line! 

I suppose I could go on and on but in light of the holiday season I will stop at this point. I just don’t get it. I don’t like the situation any more than anyone else, but I don’t think we should be bailing out those groups that couldn’t save for a rainy day. 

Feel free to ad your favorites to the list! 

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I am not going to get into a “who is responsible” debate but I am going to say, for the most part, excess credit card debt is a choice. Yea, yea, I know, plenty of people have it rough and had to turn to credit cards – but that is the minority. Go back five years and there were plenty of big screen televisions and vacations thrown on those cards. Now you bail them out?

While some of the Fed’s ideas on the table are pretty good and protect the consumer, what about those people that don’t have credit card debt? It seems more and more everyday the people that are not going to get any kind of break are the ones that lived within their means and saved for a rainy day. 

I see it every day. Hardworking people falling deeper and deeper behind. Not because they abused the system, far from it – Because they tried to prepare for it and did the right things; just came up short. 

Would you have been better off taking a bunch of cash out of your house, buying toys and traveling, then giving the house back to the bank or getting a “forced” mortgage write down? Sometimes I wonder.

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Ok, what is the deal anyway? 

In September Paulson was the man with a plan. Matter of fact, he basically scared the $^#@! out of everyone saying if they didn’t do what he wanted we were in for an economic collapse.

He said it was “urgent and necessary” to buy toxic assets (bad mortgages) – the cornerstone of his $700 billion bailout. This money must be infused into the banks (so they can lend) and not have the government take any type of ownership in the private sector. 

Now that most of the first round money is spent, Paulson is making a complete 180 based on “new information” – which actually won’t be shared with anyone. We absolutely should not buy the assets and we should take ownership interest in failing companies in a variety of sectors including automobiles and consumer finance. 

Some friends need money? 

Are you a financial organization and want a piece of the “new and improved” bailout pie? 

You would think there would be a very stringent process in place. Well, I hate to disappoint, but the application is only two pages long – just enough space to add a lot of zeros. 

This is just another example of the government trying to control a free market.

I don’t like it anymore than anyone else, but the system will correct itself if you just leave it alone. Greed and overvaluation got us there – once everything settles back down we can move on. But not if we keep spending money trying to solve a greater issue. 

Some companies conducted themselves irresponsibly. If they can not survive without a government handout then they should fail and let the next company in line (that did conduct themselves professionally) move up. 

So this week we have a “new and improved” plan.  I am not buying it. I think I will wait around for next week’s plan…or the movie.  

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So where does the Godfather and The Slow Bleed stand on all of this? 

Well, neither party is specifically to blame. That is not to say neither are guilty, frankly, we all are. Some of us saw it coming and people that could have acted to avoid it didn’t. 
Here is my top 5 list of what went wrong… 

1. Bush administration failed to provide needed oversight. Argue as much as you want about who controlled the House or the Senate, the buck stops at the Presidency. We want to hold all CEO’s accountable for their companies? It starts at the top here as well. 

2. Mark-to-Market accounting. An obscure accounting rule allowing companies to book revenue that has not been realized assuming it will be taken to market at a given price. That works great unless the market changes by the time you get there. 

3. Home buyers who purchased homes they could not afford. Buyers that relied on the hopes the market would go up and they could sell for a profit. If you couldn’t afford the normal payments (amortized) an interest-only loan was not the answer. 

4. Wall Street Companies. They know better than anyone the market will go up and down. CEO’s acted like kids in candy store and forgot the basic rules of gravity. Personal greed outweighed good business judgment. 

5. The aggressive lowering of rates. After the dot-com crash the Federal Reserve aggressively lowered rates. Too aggressively and for too long. At some point the market got to control the rate drop instead of the Federal Reserve. 

I could go on and on but wanted to limit it to my top five. Anything you want to add to the list?

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The Senate may have proved to be so great at fishing this week I think we should move them to ESPN or at least the Outdoor Network. 

The House is debating the economic bailout today and they are optimistic they will pass the $700 billion bailout (oh yea, and the other $110 billion in pork additives to buy their votes). Did I say that?

Come on; let’s just go over the facts. 

1. The Bailout gets shot down in the House. They don’t like it; they think it is a bad way to help. It falls 13 votes short of passing. 

2. Senate decides to take a shot. They add some pork to help sway those that didn’t vote for the bailout. Is this not bribery? “Hey, I know you think the bailout is a bad idea, but what if I throw in some stuff – completely unrelated – that you want?” 

3. House Approves the Bailout, the President signs it. 

Now the House all of a sudden “feels good” about the bailout? 

Rep. John Boehner, the House Leader, said “Is it perfect? No. But its clearly better than it was a week ago,” “I’m optimistic about today.”

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Mmmmm Pork. No not the kind you may find next to eggs during your morning meal. I am talking about the pork “sweeteners” the Senate added to the bailout plan in hopes that the House members will bite. 

This is beyond sad and I can’t say I have seen a better example of a messed up government. Take a bad situation (the economy) and make it worse by throwing on a bunch of personal @#$! to get the bailout approved. 

Sure they call it adding “incentives”  to have the House push the Bailout through – it just looks like a load of you-know-what to me. 

So what gems will we get on top of the $700 Billion Bailout if the House approves it? 

Pork Additive #1 – Provisions to keep movie and television production in the U.S. It allows production companies to deduct the cost of “producing” the movies from their taxes. 

How Much? – It will cost taxpayers about $478 million over 10 years 

Pork Addictive #2 – Allow plaintiffs who won damages from the Exxon Mobile spill to average their awards over three years (as oppose to treating it as single year income). 

How Much? – It will cost the taxpayers about $49 Million. 

Pork Additive #3 – Allow a seven-year recovery cost for people who build motorsports racetracks. 

How Much? – It will cost the taxpayers $100 Million. 

Pork Addictive #4 – Allow citizens who do not pay state income tax also deduct what they pay in sales tax. 

How Much? – It will cost the taxpayers about $3.3 Billion 

Ok, there is too much to list and I am getting depressed. In all there is about $110 Billion Dollars in pork additives that will put even more stress on a bad situation. 

I think throwing this stuff in is borderline extortion – the “hey, we are not going to help the American economy unless I get some stuff for me” needs to stop. Spending is out of control. 

Stop thinking in terms of Left and Right and start thinking in terms of Right and Wrong! 

What do you think about this? Feel free to comment! 

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Want to see the new Bailout Bill including some $110 Billion in extra added pork thrown in by the Senate?

You get 451 pages of our government in action. Click Here to see the actual Bailout…

Now back to the House…

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It failed in the House on Monday so today the Senate plans to try and rescue the $700 billion dollar bailout. Why don’t you try and rescue Scott Baio’s career while you are at it – it just isn’t gonna happen. 

The bailout is getting messier by the minute. The Senate thinks by throwing in a few “sweeteners” the Republicans and Democrats who were against the plan will now throw all in. 

So what $@&! is getting thrown in? 

Increase the FDIC insurance cap from $100,000 to $250,000. Forgive me if I don’t bother scouring documents to verify this…but I am going to guess that most people don’t have $10,000 cash in the bank let alone over the current $100,000 FDIC insurance level. So who would that help…wait a minute…maybe some fat cat lobbyists or political officials worried about the economy?! 

Additionally in the “sweeteners” is relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax and Renewable Energy Incentives. 

Here is my favorite part… 

Also included? The “Mental Health Parity” provision, which would require health insurance companies to cover mental illness. Yea, I guess some high level executives are a little depressed right now. 

The vote won’t happen until “Sundown” in observance of Rash Hashanah – I have to say, I hope this is the second knockout of the week. It needs to be done right…and without all this other crud thrown in. 

Update: Well, it passed. Want to see it before it goes back to the House? And you have got to check out the “Pork Additives!” 

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Despite President Bush’s requests and John McCain’s last-minute-cancel-the-debate-get-on-a-plane-save-the-world-speech, the bailout package was rejected yesterday (sending the stock market down 777 points). 

Was it close? Not really. The vote was 228-205 after marathon talks from the Bush administration. Matter of fact, only 65 Republicans followed Bush and McCain and voted for it (so much for influence). 

As they pour back to the drawing board today I expect the stock market to go up for awhile. Optimism always seems to follow these types of things. I think today is the Jewish New Year so don’t expect anything to happen for a couple days as the Congress and Senate pass this one back and forth like a hot potato. 

In the end I think the hold on approval is a good move. No matter what happens we are in uncharted territory and need to make some careful decisions here (ie: not decisions made latenight over the weekend whilst full of Mountain Dew and Pizza Rolls). 

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Taking inspiration from Renaissance Guy I decided to make my own list of things the government can buy from me. Obviously they are in a big spending mood lately, with the bailout and the new fiscal year budget, so some of my stuff must be in high demand. 

Here is what I am willing to sell to the Government during this bailout… 

• Two broken PC Computers 

• One-half box of Lucky Charms 

• 210 Data CD’s (don’t know what is on them) 

• 43 VHS Tapes (including Howard the Duck) 

• Original Sony Walkman (broken) 

• One-half bar of Toblerone 

• One Franklin Mint Plate (faded) 

• 3 Dozen Golf Balls 

• One-Half Box of Lego’s 

• One Black Jump Suit (please don’t ask) 

• 2 packs of gum(?) 

• One Scooby Do Lunch Box (should get a good price for this) 

• Something in the Tupperware in the Fridge 

• Two Puzzles (pieces missing) 

• Two Dilbert Calendars 

• One Paintball Gun 

• Six Old Cell Phones 

• Three “Idiots Guide to…” Books (you might need these in Washington).

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