Speaking Out

I finally decided to take the plunge into blogging. Why? Well, the reason is simple.

The US Congress was responsible enough to stand up to the Secretary of the United States Treasury, telling him that he couldn't simply request of 700 thousand million dollars and not have some accountability built into that request. Henry Pauson stated that he needed the U.S. taxpayers money to spend as he saw fit and that he would get us out of this crisis, without any oversight.

I was angry, how could someone demand a sum of money that large, an amount so large that the sum total of all the current working class citizens would not be able to pay back in our collective lifetimes. My children and children's children would be the individuals responsible for this bailout. How could we attempt to sell them out so quickly?

I was so angry that I contacted both my Senators and Congressmen telling them that they couldn't do this to my grandchildren. The day of the congressional vote came, I waited.... When I read that the bill had been defeated I breathed a sigh of relief. "The system works," I thought.

President Bush publicly stated, "There are disagreements over aspects of the rescue plan, but there is no disagreement that something substantial must be done." "OK," I thought, "maybe something should be done about it." - Bailout plan agreement expected by Sunday: U.S. Democrat I began to question my opinion, thinking that that maybe we should do something to save our financial system. I didn't seem like the correct thing to do but maybe we did need to do "something substantial."

The Senate got involved and quickly the resolution was passed by both houses. Then I read this bill that was so important and critical to the welfare of our financial system that it contained an extra 110 thousand million dollars for spending on things like - wooden arrows, rum, health care, economic development in American Samoa, bicycle commuters, Indians, recycling, and oil spills. "(Please read the sad details here) Where do these guys live for crying out loud!! Wasn't the bill risky enough without adding 110 billion dollars more!

That was the last straw! I need to speak up. I can no longer sit on my hands and just say nothing (after all, I need to type with something.) I don't claim to be anything other than an "ordinary" guy. I have been studying for three years now attempting to understand what I saw in the markets. So, being just an "ordinary" guy maybe I can contribute by stating in "ordinary" terms how we got into this mess. Hence, the blog "Ordinary Economics."