Legislate in haste, regret at leisure

Update: Bailout Bill Fails in House 228-205


If these people are happy, you should be worried

Grinning Democrats equals a tax increase for you. These people are only happy when they are spending your money. When was the last time you saw Harry Reid smile?

Call your Senators. Call your Representative in the House. Send President Bush an e-mail. Tell them you don't see any rush to "bail out" the idiots that have screwed up their own financial schemes. Not to the tune of 700 billion of your dollars.

Anything that costs this much shouldn't be bought without long, hard consideration. Rushing in a panic to finish costly prophylactic legislation before we are even sure there is a problem that will affect ordinary folks very much or for very long is foolish.

I'm concerned that the cure will be worse than the disease.
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Less than 20% of Americans approve of this Congress, yet we are about to let them pass the biggest, fattest law ever. Would you let go to a hospital for major surgery if 80% of your neighbors thought the doctors there did a bad job? I wouldn't let someone work on my car or mow my lawn that had such a low approval rating.
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More: Conservatives are chickening out faster than I can count them. Here is my reply to those who are getting panicky and are considering falling behind this ill-advised bailout scheme:

Stop and think.

Won't the threatened crash be followed by a recovery? Good investments reflect real assets and honest equities, just as true creditworthiness finds capital.

What should be the instrument of the needed adjustments, the inept and untrustworthy Congress, or the invisible hand of Adam Smith? Whom do you trust? The congressclowns you can see, or the less obvious economic realities of the market?

What kind of legislation MUST be rushed through on a weekend, while the instigators think no one is paying attention? Answer: only legislation that the leftists and their dupes in Congress think we won't approve of if we have a chance to examine it more closely.

This is simply another step in the left's efforts to force the USA to adopt Marxist thinking. If we don't resist now, it will take generations to fix the damage.
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Worse: The bailout scheme is untestable. If we commit the money and the economy doesn't collapse, how can we ever know if the economy would have collapsed without the bailout?
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We could fight a decent sized war for 700 billion dollars.
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Must Read - Michelle Malkin: All aboard the bailout bandwagon? Hell, no!
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Update: Bailout Bill Fails in House 228-205
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A little reality check for you hand-wringers from Michelle Malkin:

Today’s stock market drop is a record point drop, but does not even crack the top 10 single-day percentage drops in American history.
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In terms of percentages in a single day of trading, 1987’s stock market crash was far worse, and the NASDAQ slide of 2000-2002 was massively worse.
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Are there businesses getting turned down for loans? Yes.

Here’s a novel thought: Maybe banks are finally learning they shouldn’t fork over money to bad risks.

Don't panic. Breathe deeply. Keep repeating: "America's economy is stronger than this ginned up correction. I will trust the free market more than I trust government."
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First posted at 2:42 AM, 28 September, 2008. Bumped to the top at 8:20 PM on the 29th.