My Quick Thoughts On $700 Billion

Topic(s): me
2008-10-02 02:11:11 US/Pacific

You reap what you sow. After 20 years of voting incompetence in to office, the citizens of the United States finally see the results: a stinking pile of refuse slightly resembling an economy. Democrat, Republican, it doesn't matter. Both parties mucked this one up badly, and both were complicit.

How is it we elect these people in to office year after year? That's a tough question to answer. Seems like the answer resides somewhere in the average attention span of the average citizen. We're a nation largely collectively distracted by pop music stars and pro football players. And where that doesn't work, we're a nation divided by same-sex marriage and gun control. All of those issues are small potatoes compared to the economy. Can't we all agree? Let's put those issues aside. We need to elect people in to office who care about the country and have the capacity to undo the damage caused by 20 years of incompetence, with a minimal amount of pain.

Who might that be? Most likely somewhere other than D and R on your ballot.

I can't believe the same people who caused the current economic crisis, are the same people who failed to see it coming, are the same people who denied its arrival, are the same people who are responsible for fixing it! Their fix is to print $700 billion? And they say the repercussions for not selecting their fix would be terrible. I have to question that.

What's a good analogy for this? How about this one... while you're walking the streets, a mugger points a gun at you and tells you to give him $700 billion no questions asked, or else something terrible will happen.

No, here's a better analogy... a mugger calls you on the phone and tells you to meet him on street X in 20 years so that he can mug you. Twenty years go by, and while you're walking on street X, a mugger points a gun at you and tells you to give him $700 billion no questions asked, or else something terrible will happen.

Let me try again. An even better analogy... a mugger calls you on the phone and tells you to meet him on street X in 20 years so that he can mug you. Twenty years go by, and while you're walking on street X, a mugger points a gun at you and tells you to give him $700 billion no questions asked, or else something terrible will happen immediately. The mugger also says that even if you do give him $700 billion, he'll find you in 20 more years and something even more terrible will happen at that time.

Firstly, you're stupid for walking on street X. But because you're already on street X, what's your best recourse? You can give the mugger $700 billion and hope he doesn't show himself in 20 years time. Or you can give him not a dime and hope something terrible is at least survivable.

I'm writing this to say we should not print $700 billion. It's a very bad idea. Printing more money causes inflation. Inflation causes your money to be worth less. Your money is the dollar. The world as a whole will lose confidence in the dollar. Your quality of life relative to the world will decrease relative to the confidence decrease in the dollar.

Not printing $700 billion also causes problems. The problem is there's no money to pay off the debt we as a populace have accumulated the previous 20 years. There will be loads and loads of loan defaults and failed loan institutions (banks). People will lose money. It will really suck for a year or a few years. But it will not suck permanently.

Please, please, please. Do not support the printing of $700 billion.

The same people who caused this problem, are the same people fixing it! Stop for a moment and calculate the odds that maybe the same people are creating yet a larger problem.

Please, please, please. Do not vote in to office the people who caused the problem. The people in office are at best incompetent. This much has been proven. And I don't mean the people currently holding office. I mean the people who are currently holding office, and anyone who has held office anytime in the last 20 years, and anybody associated with them or their power base.

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