Are you disgusted? I am.

The recent bail outs of financial giants are unconscionable. The government should not be bailing these institutions out of the mess they created. By providing this support the government delays the necessary and painful correction that must occur. All that is being done is propping up a house of cards with used toothpicks. Reckless, short-term policies and the interference with the natural evolution of such things are creating the conditions for a major collapse that will have dire consequences. There is no such thing as an institution that is “too big” to let fail.

Instead of investigating steroids in baseball, maybe our elected officials should be investigating how we got into this mess and measures to prevent it from happening again. Where are the emergency sessions that spotlight the financial mess? Of course such an investigation would also point the finger at them for allowing lax lending practices in the first place for the misnomer of home ownership for everyone regardless if they could really afford it. Such inquiries would also inevitably shed light on the thousands of dollars of political contributions received by politicians from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (The Clinton administration's White House Budget Director Franklin Raines ran Fannie Mae and collected $50 million. Jamie Gorelick — Clinton Justice Department official — worked for Fannie Mae and took home $26 million. Big Democrat Jim Johnson, briefly on Obama's VP search committee, has hauled in millions from his Fannie Mae CEO job). They probably know that these skeletons will have disastrous consequences shortly before an election which is why I fear that nothing is being done but putting the proverbial finger in the failing dike. Unfortunately, I, like many other Americans, are tired of the divisive politics that permeates Washington, D.C. We want solutions, not half-measures and more political pandering.

It is time our "leaders" stopped thinking about themselves and their political careers and started thinking about the country and its citizens. They need to stop thinking about themselves as democrats and republicans and instead see themselves as Americans first. Continuing down this road of billion dollar deficits and billion dollar bail outs will be the end of this country. You are probably aware of the testimony of David Walker, former Comptroller General and his forecasts of tens of trillions of dollars of unfunded liabilities. Maybe they should turn Sarbanes-Oxley on the financial books of the United States government. Where is the accountability? Stop pointing fingers at one another and start with constructive governance.

I sure hope they can sleep at night knowing that our children and grandchildren will suffer in debt bondage due to the actions and inactions of selfish politicians and greedy bankers.

Photo by KCThinker. Street side in Les Cayes, Haiti.

One Nation Under A Mountain of Debt

Some say that Iraq is the most important topic for the upcoming election. Some say immigration and others say the economy. Some say healthcare while others say education. The most important topic for this election is really all of these and none of these. The most important topic should be fiscal policy because it encompasses all of these topics and should be at the forefront of all the debates. Fiscal policy will dictate whether we can afford to have a military presence in the world. Fiscal policy will dictate if we can afford Medicare and Medicaid. Fiscal policy will determine where our economy goes.

If you are at all following fiscal policy you know that the national debt is around $9.1 trillion (Bush has increased the national debt by an on the books amount of $3.4 trillion). If you had no idea what the national debt is you should now be outraged at the utter irresponsibility of our federal government. Now the other shoe drops – the real debt is much, much more. What the morons running this country do not want you to know is that there are no trust funds for Medicare and Social Security – only a bunch of worthless IOUs in a “lock box”. The accountants for the federal government make the accountants at Enron and Worldcom blush. The sheer scope of the fraud that is occurring in Washington, D.C. when it comes to the keeping of our nation’s books is absolutely mind boggling. The real debt is more than $50 trillion according to David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States of America.

While the presidential candidates are busy debating who the real candidate for change is, Mr. Walker is coming out and talking about the important issues. While Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama were stumping in some diner in New Hampshire Mr. Walker was talking to CBS and raising the alarm. While former Governor Romney was schmoozing at an Iowa farm Mr. Walker was talking to USA Today. While Mike Huckabee was trying not to evolve Mr. Walker was. While Senator John McCain was developing yet another miserable failure of a bill, David Walker submitted testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget. While former Senator John Edwards was getting a hair cut for $400 and giving a speech about two America’s the Washington Post said the following:

"The largest employer in the world announced on Dec. 15 that it lost about $450 billion in fiscal 2006. Its auditor found that its financial statements were unreliable and that its controls were inadequate for the 10th straight year. On top of that, the entity's total liabilities and unfunded commitments rose to about $50 trillion, up from $20 trillion in just six years.

If this announcement related to a private company, the news would have been on the front page of major newspapers. Unfortunately, such was not the case -- even though the entity is the U.S. government."

If you think what I am talking about is unimportant take a look at the federal budget and where our money goes. It shows a troubling trend. Medicare/Medicaid, interest on Debt, defense, and Social Security make up the majority of the money the United States spends every year.

Instead of talking about the one issue that dictates all the others, we are stuck with speeches filled with senseless rhetoric only meant to appeal those with a low IQ. The budget determines what we can do and what we can’t do. Simplistic statements like taxing the rich by bigger simpletons are not enough to solve this problem. Wake up America. It is time to demand real change where our fiscal policy is concerned. If we don’t address fiscal policy you won’t get healthcare and you won’t get defense. You won’t get anything at all but a bill saying Due in 30 days.

Photo by KCThinker, Roman ruins, Vaison la Romaine, France.