The TARP is turning into a political body bag
Today's Financial News - Posted November 14, 2008
This is turning out to be one of the most important months in American history. Congress is making one politically induced mistake after the other. If it cannot get this mess sorted out, the nation will never be the same again.
By Andrew Snyder, TodaysFinancialNews.com
Baltimore — (TFN): The nation celebrated Veteran’s Day this week. The eleventh day of the eleventh month is a day when we thank our troops, past and present, for their sacrifices, hard work and dedication to a cause worth dying for. Our men and women, on so many occasions, have fought until they could fight no more to ensure this nation remains one of the greatest and strongest in history.
Why is it then, our politicians work overtime to destroy everything our heroes have sacrificed for? As the economy looks weaker and weaker as each day goes by, I am convinced our politicians are on the cusp of permanently and severely harming this great land.
Even with tens of thousands of highly trained and devoted troops, America’s military will not be able to fight the country out of this horrid mess created by Washington.
Is it too late?
Our politicians must be reined in before they turn us into yet another slow-growing, socialist mess. Washington is seemingly involved in every aspect of every American’s life.
Over the last four years, Congress has picked on Major League Baseball for its steroid scandal. It butted in to Hewlett Packard’s (NYSE:HPQ) boardroom scandal. And now it is trying to tell the free markets what to do.
For instance, the nation’s banks do not want to lend their money in fear of not getting it back. It is a prudent business move that lowers shareholder risk. But Congress wants to look like a hero, so it is doing its best to strong-arm banks into making loans. It does not sound like free enterprise to me.
Even worse, the free markets are trying to force General Motors (NYSE:GM) out of business. Its products have little demand, its executives made horrible decisions and competitors are beating the pants off the slow-to-move company.
If this were Joe-the-Plumber’s business, it would have closed its doors long ago. But because of previous government “intervention,” GM has hung around long enough and grown so enormous (like a giant national cancer) that we cannot let it die without cutting the head off much of the American economy.
Our congressmen need re-elected (at least in their minds), so GM absolutely cannot fail on their watch. Congress will bicker and fight until it creates a politically acceptable package that will do nothing more than inject a few more years of artificial life into the company. Just like healthcare. Just like social security. And just like the nation’s oil addiction.
Already, there is news that because of Washington politics, GM will not see any relief money until Obama takes over the White House. By then, GM says it will be too late.
Not a TARP, it’s a body bag
And how about Congress sticking its nose into the Treasury Department and telling Henry Paulson how to do his job? The last I checked, Paulson was appointed to the position and is expected to act on the nation’s best interest, not what Congress feels what is politically best for their campaigns.
Paulson backed out of buying illiquid assets and now wants to invest directly in the nation’s banks. His team of financial experts, not political gurus, believes it is best for the country and its economy. Congress has no idea what the true financial ramifications are of this change, but it sees an opportunity to place the blame squarely on somebody else.
I can just hear them next November. “I voted for the original plan. Paulson is the one that changed it. You can’t blame me.”
It is sad to say, but the next few weeks are going to be some of the most important in the nation’s history. If Congress messes this up, that little tea party in Boston, the invasion in Normandy, and the dropping of the atomic bomb are going to look like footnotes in American history.
I will leave you with a quote that is blowing through my mind today.
“The best solution would be to raise the rate of taxation on incomes above 600,000 euros to 80 percent in one go,” said Germany’s finance minister Oskar Lafontaine about his country’s financial crisis. “All shameful incomes would be included in this.”
Obama’s “shameful” income level is far, far lower. I just pray his figure never reaches 80%.
Next Article: Forecast for 2009: Prepare for the most dangerous military stand-off since the end of the Cold War!
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January 8th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
They are all to blame for what is happening to our Country- Bush, Paulson, Congres, Senate, etc. They all received warnings about this happening years ago and they all ignored it because they were too busy filling their pockets with taxpayers’ money. Business as usual. When are the Government Leaders, etc. going to do their jobs to which they were elected? All they seem to care about is how much they can put into their own pockets.