HappilyRetired.Com

I can’t take it any more!
By Ken Earnhardt, Charleston, SC

I have to get some things off my chest about our current political and financial state.

First, I am not an economists or politician but I have learned a lot in my years of owning my own businesses and trying to survive in difficult times.

I am sharing my thoughts with you not to promote any political party but to hopefully inspire those who normally do not vote to get registered by this Saturday and participate in our democratic process. It has been said that all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing. This is not the time to “do nothing”. We must have our voices heard loud and clear!

Our Constitution starts out by saying “We the People…”. It is time that we the people started acting like we care about this country. The politicians would have us believe that the Constitution starts with “The wee people…”. Their elitists’ attitude toward us and their constant idea that they can run our lives and know better what is good for us has got to stop. There is not one straight talking politician in our government. They tell us that governing is too difficult for us to understand and that we just have to “trust” them to do what is best for us.

Now our part as the governed has also got to change. We must stop looking to Washington for cures of our ailments. We have accepted the Courts intervention into our lives by allowing them to legislate instead of interpret our laws. This is totally unconstitutional and must be stopped. The politicians are allowing it because they know that if they were to legislate the types of rulings that are coming through our courts then they would not be re-elected. So they turn their backs on the Constitution all the while trampling on our individual rights.

If the Congress was a Board of Directors in charge of a corporation and you were a stock holder would you allow them to make the kinds of decisions they are making or would you call for their resignation?
Algebra.Com:

The role of politician was never intended to be a career. It was designed for service, not self-service, to the public. I know what would cure this aspect of politics but I also know that it will never happen because the ones it would affect are the ones who would have to vote for it – TERM LIMITATIONS!

Here is a truth that stands today – “The borrower is servant to the lender.” We need to have this drilled into our collective heads over and over. As I have learned over the years, you can not borrow your way out of debt. Why is it that we don’t expect the same action from the government that we have to implement in our own lives just to survive? No, we say well the government will help us through this crisis. It is high time that we woke up to the reality that WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT! The government earns no money but we have given them the power to confiscate money from our earnings. Programs that are funded by the government are paid for from our earnings. There is saying, “When you find yourself in a hole –STOP DIGGING!” Fiscal restraint is called for, not more “government funding”.

That brings me to my final thought. These bailouts are not good for America. These bailouts fly in the face of capitalism and move us closer to nationalism. I am so concerned about the issues facing our nation that I sat down this morning and read all 110 pages of the proposed “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.” (www.speaker.gov). The first rule of getting someone to buy into an idea is to use the fear of loss. The fear of loss is more powerful than the potential for gain. So our politicians, along with the media, have set out on a campaign to invoke fear in each American and then say that they have a plan for relieving our fear. And of course we like sheep are led to the slaughter without opening our mouths. Well it is time to open our collective mouths and speak loudly and clearly. Here are some things I found interesting in this latest 700 Billion DOLLAR bailout.

The politicians knew that this was going to be a problem over 2 years ago but chose to do nothing preemptive to avert the situation. Why? Because they saw an opportunity to grab more power for themselves at our expense if the system failed and they could use fear to get us to blindly accept their solution. No rational person believes that the politicians have our interest at heart in this bailout. They see an opportunity to grow government by trillions of dollars through this program. The name the politicians have given this program is the “Troubled Asset Relief Program” or “TARP”. I think this is a great name because, just as a tarp is used to cover-up things, the politicians are covering-up their real motives in voting for this program.





I did a little research into the “mortgage crisis” and found that only 2.75% of mortgages are in some stage of the foreclosure process. I also found that there is 10.5 TRILLION DOLLARS in mortgage debt. That means that if all properties in foreclosure are NEVER sold to anyone for any amount of money then the amount of bailout would only be 288 BILLION DOLLLARS. Why are we committing to 700 BILLION DOLLARS?

If this deal is so good for the taxpayer why not let the private sector purchase the underlying assets and benefit directly from the future gains. Why do we need a middle man? Here are exact words from the plan:

(underlining added)

Section 113 Authority, Paragraph 2

(A) “Hold the assets to maturity for resale for and until such time as the Secretary determines that the market is optimal for selling such assets, in order to maximize the value for taxpayers, and

(B) Sell such assets at a price that the Secretary determines, based on available financial analysis, will maximize return on investment for the Federal government.”

Is it just me or does it seem to you that this deal is about “holding” the assets for the taxpayer but “selling” the assets for the benefit of the Federal government. Their intention is not to return the profit to you and I as taxpayers but to use the profits to grow government. The plan gives Congress the power to increase our federal debt to $11,315,000,000,000 DOLLARS. That’s right it is TRILLION! Also in Section 113 Paragraph 3 they call for the private sector to be involved. Here are the exact words-




“Private Sector Participation – The Secretary shall encourage the private sector to participate in purchases of troubled assets, and to invest in financial institutions, consistent with the provisions of this section.”

In my humble estimation this proves that this is a power grab and not a move to benefit the taxpayer. If the private sector is going to be involved why not just let the private sector (capitalism) operate and leave the government out?

The banking and mortgage industry must bare some consequence for the loans they made. In my simple mind as a business man, if I had a mortgage holder that could not pay what they agreed to in the original loan I would look to renegotiate the loan before I would foreclose. My logic for this is that the person who is defaulting is going to have to live somewhere and pay somebody something for their housing so why not work with them and keep them in their home. But there I go being logical again. I guess it really is too complicated for me so please Mr. Government help me understand what I should do.

BOTTOM LINE – VOTE!, VOTE!, VOTE!

If you are as frustrated as I am please feel free to pass this along to everyone you know.