Yes, I am on the brink of redeigning/restructuring some things around here. I will probably keep the blog mostly the same, but I will definitely be overhauling the main site and portfolio.
Be looking for it soon.
Convergence is coming.
Here, I will be posting my Facebook updates detailing the Bailout Drama…from my skewed point of view.
Brian wonders why the Senate passed a bill to bailout/rescue Wall Street for $700 Billion, but didn’t even consider passing one for me. Gonna call my Senator…
Thursday, October 02, 2008 2:29 PM
Brian is waiting on the Senate to determine if they will consider giving me my own $700 Billion Bailout again…with added measures like rum imports & wooden arrows.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008 5:36 PM
Brian wonders if someone will come up with an alternative solution to not giving me my own $700 Billion Bailout plan. :cough: Mike Huckabee :cough:
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 6:55 PM
Brian just might now have a slim chance at that non-existant $700 Billion Bailout for himself as the House has voted not to give it to the banks.
Monday, September 29, 2008 3:28 PM
Brian found out that no one in the government paid any attention to his needing his own $700 Billion Bailout…bah humbug.
Monday, September 29, 2008 1:45 PM
Brian will find out tommorrow morning if Congress has decided to give him his own $700 Billion Bailout. Keeping those fingers crossed!
Sunday, September 28, 2008 2:05 PM
Brian is still begging the government for his own $700 Billion Bailout. Sounds like congress is in session about it now. I sure hope they’ll give it to me!
Sunday, September 28, 2008 2:52 AM
Brian is begging the government for his own $700 Billion Bailout. Think I have a chance?
Saturday, September 27, 2008 1:41 AM
While reading Mere Christianity, I came across this quote which reminded me of our current state in the nation.
God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
That is the key to history. Terrific energy is expended–civilisations are built up–excellent institutions devised; but each time something goes wrong. Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and cruel people to the top and it all slides back into misery and ruin. In fact, the machine conks. It seems to start up all right and runs a few yards, and then it breaks down. They are trying to run it on the wrong juice.
-Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis.
We’ve all heard about the recent push by the government to pass quickly a bill that would bailout the large corporations that are coming up short with crap mortgages and junk bonds and such. Apparently this bailout solution is supposed to keep the economy from an apocalyptic meltdown, and is supposed to completely fix the economy as it is. However, this action is not what the government and media have made it out to be. This is a quick fix that will not last.
So now I am extremely concerned about the government’s band-aid action to the recent financial crisis. $700 billion dollars is not just money to throw around; it is our hard earned money as tax payers that will be going to these dishonest companies and individuals. Giving them this money and bailing them out like this will just result in the pat on the back that tells them its OK, we’ll always be there to bail you out whenever you need it. No! They are the ones who have gambled by throwing the dice, and they have lost. Just like in Vegas, they need to accept their losses and move on, do their best to scrape together and start again.
The thing that really ticks me off is that this “bailout” is being postulated as the one and only option available by both the government and the media. How can they get away with pushing this through so quick without a real analysis of alternative options? Do you realize what will happen when the government gives away $700 Billion? The only way the government can get this money in the first place is to print it, which will thereby decrease the low value of the dollar even lower!
So has anyone taken any time to consider some of these alternative options? Former Presidential Candidate Governor Mike Huckabee wrote a blog about his frank disappointment with the way his party (the Republicans, President Bush) has handled this crisis. But he does not just criticize, he offers some alternative suggestions:
If Congress wants to do something, here are some suggestions:1. Eliminate ALL capital gains taxes and taxes on savings and dividends right now. Free up the capital and encourage investment. This is the kind of economic stimulus the Fair Tax would bring and if Congress is going to lose money, let them lose it with lower taxes, not with public dollar bailouts of private market mistakes.
2. Repeal Sarbanes/Oxley. It has failed. It was supposed to prevent this. It didn’t. Kill it.
3. Demand that the executives who steered their ships into the ground be forced to pay back the losses of their companies. Of course, they can’t, so let them work and give back to the government and they can live like the people they put on the streets or kept there. It makes no sense to put them in jail-that’s just more they will cost you and me. I’d rather them go out and earn money-just not get to keep so much of it this time. I’m not talking about limiting CEO salaries—just those of the people who now are up in Washington begging for help because they ruined their companies.
[link]
Another option I have heard is about something on the table in Washington to “change the mark-to-market accounting law and to extend insurance but extend no loans.” Supposedly, doing this will help open up the market for a far less price.
“If the government insured those mortgages, they would then be marketable. And could sell them. And the companies would stay afloat. And we, the people, don’t have to get into the mortgage business.”
[link]
So why have we not heard about any of these as viable alternative options? Because everyone in the government is all up in arms to fix this thing quick the only way they know how…step in and throw tax payer money at the beggars.
We the people of this nation should not be punished for the greed and misconduct of the companies and executives as a result of their asinine gambling and risky stakes that they have taken because of their corruption and greed!
We need to take a stand and voice our concerns over giving our money away without our consent to executives and companies that will just waste this money again… This will just be a vicious cycle resulting in the continual downward spiral of the American economy resulting in collapse.