Fed IG Elizabeth Coleman and 9 Trillion dollars

Federal Reserve Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman

Click over to RedStateEclectic blog to watch a short video of US Congressman Alan Grayson asking Federal Reserve IG Elizabeth Coleman "where the money went." IG Coleman is clueless.

If you pay federal income taxes, her answers will make you cry. If not, feel free to laugh at her.

Obama's Post-Election Market Bounce Surges

Gateway Pundit: Post Election Stock Market Nosedive Continues...:

This is the largest post election stock market sell off in history. The market is down at least 1,000 points since the election.

From the Gateway Pundit's comments:

The DJIA finished down 428 points. Can you imagine if this had happened after McCain was elected? The front pages would all scream, 'Stock Market Votes NO on McCain!'

The market is trading on fear. The bailout isn't working. Unemployment numbers are rising and the consumer price index is falling. The last time high unemployment was accompanied by price deflation we called it The Great Depression. How great this one will be is anyone's guess.
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Numbers aren't magic, but "below 8,000" sounds bad.

Gaming the bailout

The American Way of Theft

San Francisco Chronicle via NewsBusters: "Are You an Idiot to Keep Paying Your Mortgage?"

You can work less, keep any assets you bought with your re-fi and get your mortgage payments significantly reduced. All you need to do is qualify. Follow the links above to see how you can live better at your neighbor's expense.
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Tomorrow, Congress will vote on the Big Three Automakers - United Auto Workers bailout boondoggle. Call your congresscat and order your new car first thing in the morning.

Obama Market Bounce Continues - Bailouts Working

Chart of Bailout Success since Election Day

Dow Jones Industrial Average change to date:
since the huge economic bailout plan passed October 3, 2008: -2,042.72
since the votes were counted Election day November 4, 2008 : -1,342.9
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Other world and national news is worse.
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At least we are all in this together. Or not.

US Stock Market Reacts to Historic Obama Victory

Dow Jones Industrial Average: falls 486.01 points - 5.1%

Maybe the investors didn't like seeing the big, red Hammer and Sickle flag that Obama supporters were waving at the White House last night. The Dow closed today at 9139.27. Good thing we have that big bail-out working for us.

Market Uncertainty: Fear of Socialism

DJIA post bailout 'recovery' as of yesterday's close

The market remains trending down and is extremely volatile. In my view, large institutional investors are trading on fear and uncertainty. Here is what one such investor, John Wilson, the co-director of equity strategy at Memphis, Tennessee-based Morgan Keegan, (which manages $120 billion) says about trading on the fear, as quoted at Bloomberg.com:

It's absolutely trading on fear right now and uncertainty, because nobody knows yet how bad the economy is going to get. It's disquieting to me, and I've been doing this for 35 years.

What is behind this fear of recession? A poll taken by CEO Magazine and posted October 8th, offers an insight into the minds of America's business CEOs. Their overwhelming sense that an Obama presidency would be bad for US business is part of the fear driving the institutional investors to execute panic trades. This type of trading are further destabilizing what might have been a normal recovery from the well-deserved collapse parts of the commercial credit industry. The poll suggests that their fears are of a Barack Obama presidency and his anti-wealth policies would add to the already troublesome government meddling in the free market.

Almost 70% of CEO's fear an Obama presidency

I think these CEOs probably know more about the nuts and bolts of how the economy works than most politically motivated theorists. These cats actually want to see the market make money for investors! Some comments from CEOs that responded to the CEO Magazine poll:

CEO comments reflect McCain as the better of two less than ideal choices. One CEO said, "I’m not terribly excited about McCain being president, but I’m sure that Obama, if elected, will have a negative impact on business and the economy." Another stated, "Obama has shown his inexperience in many of his ideas. Some of his planned programs would bankrupt the country within three years if implemented."

For example, Obama says that he wants to increase the capital gains tax. Many small business owners have from time to time reaped a substantial capital gain from the sale of a business or a vacation home. If they receive a couple of hundred thousand dollars or more from the capital gain, they appear to be "rich" in that year, according to Obama’s definition, even though they may have an average yearly income of less than $100,000 and net assets of less than a half-million dollars. They will not only be taxed at a higher rate, but if the asset has been held for many years and has grown in value no faster than inflation, they will be taxed on imaginary income, and may well suffer a real loss. Many politicians, it is felt, confuse wealth with taxable income. A wealth tax mainly taxes productive capital, thus reducing job and productivity growth, and it also encourages people to move their wealth to other countries and/or engage in other non-growth oriented expenditures.

The bailout is, as I said before, an unmitigated disaster. The Congress still can't see the light, and can only propose more socialist government meddling with the markets and another 'share the wealth' stimulus package for the economy. Bad will indeed come to worse should our enlightened electorate put Barack Obama in the White House.
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Hat Tip: I heard about the CEO Magazine poll while listening to Rush Limbaugh on the car radio.
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Update: At closing today, the market had recovered a bit more than half of yesterdays losses. The downward trend continues with the kind of volatility that only a day trader could love. Two ticks down and one tick up does not a recovery make.

Dow up 936

Best Day Ever

You've seen the news. The Dow Jones average was up by 936 points at today's close. If this is a real recovery, I'll be glad of it. Most of the Wall Street Experts who were in favor of the Big Bailout seem to think the corner has been turned. Bloomberg is even happy that oil prices are going up again.

I'm not so sure today's big gains aren't merely evidence of increased volatility due to investor uncertainty. I'm fairly sure that a good bit today's uptick is due to late-in-the-day buying by market bargain hunters. There is no doubt in my mind that the bargains are out there; the vast majority of the US economy wasn't suffering from the panicky sickness the anti-free-market bailout pill was intended to cure.

As I have said before, we now have absolutely no way to know if government meddling or natural market forces are responsible, no matter which way the market moves in the months ahead. If things improve, as I have confidence that they will, you can bet there won't be any credit given to the invisible hand of Adam Smith. The goons that got us into this mess will thump their chests and claim their costly socialist bailout scheme worked. If things get worse, it will be because we didn't socialize the market enough.

At any event, trends are defined over time, not in a day. Meanwhile, the pink area of the chart below should give some idea of how far the 'recovery' has yet to go to regain the position of a year ago.

Everything is Relative

How's that Bailout working for you? - Part 2

Bailout effect on Dow Jones Industrial Average (click)

The medicine isn't working. Some are saying we need to take a bigger dose or add more meds. Others are recommending major surgery.

I think that the doctors are killing the patient. Can't socialism wait until Obama is elected?
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The No Shit, Sherlock! award goes to President Bush for his elementary deduction today: anxiety is feeding market instability. Wasn't it President Bush that kept saying we were headed for catastrophe that could only be averted by a huge bailout when the old feeder told him he ought to be jawboning up investor confidence? That is the trouble with government; they just won't listen to me.

How's that Bailout working for you?

Bread Line

In the feedlot mailbox this morning:

MARKET ALERT
from The Wall Street Journal.

Oct. 6, 2008

Asian markets plunged as investors dismissed the passage of a U.S. bailout plan and focused instead on Europe's worsening financial crisis. The Nikkei hit a four-year low, falling 4.7% while Hong Kong ended nearly 5% lower.

European indexes tumbled in early trading, as renewed turmoil in the banking sector over the weekend heightened anxiety over the state of the global economy. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index was down 3.9% at 251.20. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and France's CAC-40 Index were both down more than 5%, while Germany's DAX shed 4.8%. For more on Asian markets, see: Stocks Take Further Beating in Tokyo, Sydney

For more on European markets, see: Bank Turmoil Sinks European Shares

Michelle Malkin has these stories linked this morning:

• World markets tumble amid fears of growing financial turmoil
• London plunges as banks pump billions into market
• US STOCKS-Futures tumble as credit woes fan global rout

So, how is that bailout working for you? I really hate to say "I told you so". But I think I just did.

Now that the economy of the whole world is in a panic, we might just get the Next Great Depression the socialists in Congress have predicted for us. And the really nasty part is that we will never know what the economy might have done without the fear-mongering and meddling from our shameful government.

If the Next Great Depression starts this week, the world will rightly blame the USA for it. Fasten your seat belts, ladies and gentlemen.
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The socialists have developed a mechanism for dealing with the failures of Marxist thought. It goes like this: "If the medicine doesn't work, it is only because we haven't taken enough of it." In this case, the experts in Congress will be calling for more bailout.

Get ready for another nasty big Marxist pill from Dr. Congress.
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Hiding in the bailout lard: socialist voter-fraud outfit ACORN got a piece of the bailout pie.
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Update: 10:20 AM Drudge Report screen capture. It looks grim.

Insatiable

More!

I couldn't say it better:

Washington’s pork-stuffed panic mob forked over $700billion/$850billion/$1 trillion-plus of our money over to the Chicken Littles, who handed it over to Foxy Loxy at the Treasury Department.

And now?

And now, they tell us it’s not enough.

Its not enough.

Its not enough.

Its not enough.

Its not enough.

It’s never enough.

Welcome to the slippery slope; next stop, socialism. You get the government you deserve. Suck it up.
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Now we will never be able to know if the market would have been able to recover on its own or not. Therefore, I shall not be in any hurry to admit that my assessment was wrong.
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Update: Bitterness over being ignored by our elected representatives on the bailout? Nah! Oh, and BTW, you stink, Lee Terry.
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Note: October 6, 2008 - Gateway Pundit, an otherwise sensible blog, seems to have cleansed its front page of its slavish, partisan support for the bailout. Now that the bill has passed, he ought to be crowing about it. Someone should ask Jim Hoft how that bailout is working out for him.

Keep up the pressure on the Worst Congress Ever

Flash: Congressman Lee Terry
replaces Senator Chuck Hagel
at the very top of the Feedlot Shit List.


Quick Study?

The current session of Congress will go into the history books as having the lowest ever approval ratings from the American people. This worthless Congress thinks we don't like it because we perceive them as a "do-nothing" Congress. That is why you keep hearing them say that "Doing nothing is not an option". As if doing something stupid was preferable.

I believe the reason we hold the 110th Congress in such low esteem is that they have been a "do everything wrong" Congress.

The only time this session of Congress has even come close to doing anything right has been on those occasions where the US voters have come out and told their representatives what they should or should not do. If it weren't for these 'voter interventions' we would have lost the war in Iraq, granted blanket amnesty to illegal immigrants, and let the terrorists at Guantanamo go free. Without our guidance, this Congress would have raised taxes, stopped oil exploration and ruined our health care system. We would be paying $5 a gallon for gasoline watered down with alcohol made out of our food supply. Nobody but Warren Buffet would be able to afford to eat a steak fattened on $10 corn.

Would that the 110th Congress really were a 'do nothing' Congress. We'd all be better off for it.

Last weekend, we were told that, unless Congress passed a $700,000.000,000 Wall Street bailout bill, the US economic system would be destroyed. Without immediate passage on Sunday night or Monday morning of the huge bailout, (the dollar amount pulled out of thin air) our economy would collapse before market close on Monday. It was a sure thing, they said.

It has been almost a week now, and the bailout bill still hasn't passed and the economy hasn't collapsed. The economy is on its way to recovery on its own. Just as it always has before. Just as it will continue to do in the future if we don't let Congress control it by making politically motivated bailouts a regular feature of our markets.

From the National Review Online:

On Sept. 19, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson put a gun to America’s head: Pass his $700 billion bailout of the banking industry and give him unfettered new powers to buy up an ocean of privately-held toxic assets or all hell would break loose. Treasury officials warned that the market would lose a third of its value if not passed immediately.

“We could see falls of 3,000 or 4,000 points on the Dow,” a Republican official heaved. “We may not have another day,” Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hyperventilated. “We can’t afford to do nothing,” echoed all the other Democrat Henny Pennys and Republican Goosey Looseys in Paulson’s sway. It’s a “crap sandwich,” House GOP leader John Boehner sighed, but the costs of inaction would be worse.

On Sept. 29, the House refused to bite. The Dow dropped nearly 7 percent – a “record fall” in points (778), but nowhere near the apocalyptic levels predicted by Paulson’s fear-mongers. Half that drop occurred before the bailout rejection. The skies, however gray, did not fall. The world did not end. The dire predictions of Paulson and company did not come to pass. The next day, stocks (their barometer, mind you, not necessarily mine) rebounded. We’re about where we were in 2006. Stock market Armageddon? I think not.

We must keep the pressure on this Congress to leave our free market free. If these clowns don't hear from you every day, they will assume that you have either come to agree with them or have finally grown complacent. Yes, getting Congress to do the will of the people is much like potty training a chicken. You will only appear to succeed at house-breaking a chicken if you follow the chicken around all day and put it on the toilet every time it needs to go. The moment you stop, the chicken will go back to crapping in the house.

Call your member of the Peoples House in Congress again today. Try to send them some e-mail. Sign a petition. Let them know you haven't changed your mind or grown complacent. If you don't, they will go right back to their old ways and 'reluctantly' take a $700,000,000,000 crap in the house.

Senate: We had to burn Wall Street to save it

Don't let Congress put the Zippo to the economy

You have heard by now that the US Senate yesterday "reluctantly" passed a larded-up version of the $700,000,000,000 Wall Street bailout bill. I don't think they were reluctant enough. It is again time to let the House know that we don't want this bill sent to the White House. We know clueless George will sign it "reluctantly". This Congressional economic disaster needs to be stopped now.

The US House of Representatives' e-mail system is not working worth a darn. My efforts to contact Jeff Fortenberry keep getting bounced back, so I have taken the advice of a great blogger and gotten on the telephone. Thank goodness the phones in Congress still work.

Please! Spring for a long-distance call today. It isn't only seven hundred billion dollars at stake; it is the American free market economy that is in danger of being destroyed by misguided meddlers in Congress.

From Michelle Malkin: "The People’s House needs to hear from the people. Get your fingers dialing for Operation Hold The Line. Because so many of you asked, I’ve compiled the phone numbers for each and every one of the House GOP members who voted no on Monday. They need to hear from you again." Here is Michelle's Congressional phone directory of House Republican stalwarts:

Aderholt R AL legislator 202-225-4876
Akin R MO legislator 202-225-2561
Alexander R LA legislator 202-225-8490
Bachmann R MN legislator 202-225-2331
Barrett (SC) R SC legislator 202-225-5301
Bartlett (MD) R MD legislator 202-225-2721
Barton (TX) R TX legislator 202-225-2002
Biggert R IL legislator 202-225-3515
Bilbray R CA legislator 202-225-0508
Bilirakis R FL legislator 202-225-5755
Bishop (UT) R UT legislator 202-225-0453
Blackburn R TN legislator 202-225-2811
Boustany R LA legislator 202-225-2031
Broun (GA) R GA legislator 202-225-4101
Brown-Waite, Ginny R FL legislator 202-225-1002
Buchanan R FL legislator 202-225-5015
Burgess R TX legislator 202-225-7772
Burton (IN) R IN legislator 202-225-2276
Buyer R IN legislator 202-225-5037
Capito R WV legislator 202-225-2711
Carter R TX legislator 202-225-3864
Chabot R OH legislator 202-225-2216
Coble R NC legislator 202-225-3065
Conaway R TX legislator 202-225-3605
Culberson R TX legislator 202-225-2571
Davis (KY) R KY legislator 202-225-3465
Davis, David R TN legislator 202-225-6356
Deal (GA) R GA legislator 202-225-5211
Dent R PA legislator 202-225-6411
Diaz-Balart, L. R FL legislator 202-225-4211
Diaz-Balart, M. R FL legislator 202-225-2778
Doolittle R CA legislator 202-225-2511
Drake R VA legislator 202-225-4215
Duncan R TN legislator 202-225-5435
English (PA) R PA legislator 202-225-5406
Fallin R OK legislator 202-225-2132
Feeney R FL legislator 202-225-2706
Flake R AZ legislator 202-225-2635
Forbes R VA legislator 202-225-6365
Fortenberry R NE legislator 202-225-4806
Foxx R NC legislator 202-225-2071
Franks (AZ) R AZ legislator 202-225-4576
Frelinghuysen R NJ legislator 202-225-5034
Gallegly R CA legislator 202-225-5811
Garrett (NJ) R NJ legislator 202-225-4465
Gerlach R PA legislator 202-225-4315
Gingrey R GA legislator 202-225-2931
Gohmert R TX legislator 202-225-3035
Goode R VA legislator 202-225-4711
Goodlatte R VA legislator 202-225-5431
Graves R MO legislator 202-225-7041
Hall (TX) R TX legislator 202-225-6673
Hastings (WA) R WA legislator 202-225-5816
Hayes R NC legislator 202-225-3715
Heller R NV legislator 202-225-6155
Hensarling R TX legislator 202-225-3484
Hoekstra R MI legislator 202-225-4401
Hulshof R MO legislator 202-225-2956
Hunter R CA legislator 202-225-5672
Issa R CA legislator 202-225-3906
Johnson (IL) R IL legislator 202-225-2371
Johnson, Sam R TX legislator 202-225-4201
Jones (NC) R NC legislator 202-225-3415
Jordan R OH legislator 202-225-2676
Keller R FL legislator 202-225-2176
King (IA) R IA legislator 202-225-4426
Kingston R GA legislator 202-225-5831
Knollenberg R MI legislator 202-225-5802
Kuhl (NY) R NY legislator 202-225-3161
Lamborn R CO legislator 202-225-4422
Latham R IA legislator 202-225-5476
LaTourette R OH legislator 202-225-5731
Latta R OH legislator 202-225-6405
Linder R GA legislator 202-225-4272
LoBiondo R NJ legislator 202-225-6572
Lucas R OK legislator 202-225-5565
Mack R FL legislator 202-225-2536
Manzullo R IL legislator 202-225-5676
Marchant R TX legislator 202-225-6605
McCarthy (CA) R CA legislator 202-225-2915
McCaul (TX) R TX legislator 202-225-2401
McCotter R MI legislator 202-225-8171
McHenry R NC legislator 202-225-2576
McMorris Rodgers R WA legislator 202-225-2006
Mica R FL legislator 202-225-4035
Miller (FL) R FL legislator 202-225-4136
Miller (MI) R MI legislator 202-225-2106
Moran (KS) R KS legislator 202-225-2715
Murphy, Tim R PA legislator 202-225-2301
Musgrave R CO legislator 202-225-4676
Myrick R NC legislator 202-225-1976
Neugebauer R TX legislator 202-225-4005
Nunes R CA legislator 202-225-2523
Paul R TX legislator 202-225-2831
Pearce R NM legislator 202-225-2365
Pence R IN legislator 202-225-3021
Petri R WI legislator 202-225-2476
Pitts R PA legislator 202-225-2411
Platts R PA legislator 202-225-5836
Poe R TX legislator 202-225-6565
Price (GA) R GA legislator 202-225-4501
Ramstad R MN legislator 202-225-2871
Rehberg R MT legislator 202-225-3211
Reichert R WA legislator 202-225-7761
Renzi R AZ legislator 202-225-2315
Rogers (MI) R MI legislator 202-225-4872
Rohrabacher R CA legislator 202-225-2415
Ros-Lehtinen R FL legislator 202-225-3931
Roskam R IL legislator 202-225-4561
Royce R CA legislator 202-225-4111
Sali R ID legislator 202-225-6611
Scalise R LA legislator 202-225-3015
Schmidt R OH legislator 202-225-3164
Sensenbrenner R WI legislator 202-225-5101
Shadegg R AZ legislator 202-225-3361
Shimkus R IL legislator 202-225-5271
Shuster R PA legislator 202-225-2431
Smith (NE) R NE legislator 202-225-6435
Smith (NJ) R NJ legislator 202-225-3765
Stearns R FL legislator 202-225-5744
Sullivan R OK legislator 202-225-2211
Terry R NE legislator 202-225-4155
Thornberry R TX legislator 202-225-3706
Tiahrt R KS legislator 202-225-6216
Tiberi R OH legislator 202-225-5355
Turner R OH legislator 202-225-6465
Walberg R MI legislator 202-225-6276
Wamp R TN legislator 202-225-3271
Westmoreland R GA legislator 202-225-5901
Whitfield (KY) R KY legislator 202-225-3115
Wittman (VA) R VA legislator 202-225-4261
Young (AK) R AK legislator 202-225-5765
Young (FL) R FL legislator 202-225-5961

If your representative isn't on this list, odds are they will vote for the bailout. Call them anyhow and try to get them to change their minds. The phone numbers for ALL US Congressmen and women can be found here. (The House websites are jammed up for some reason, you may need to look up the number in your telephone directory or by Googling your representative's name.)

Get on the telephone NOW. These cats will listen. Remember how we stopped the amnesty for illegal immigrants? Its time to tell your representative to start representing YOU.
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To quote the great Lady Margaret Thatcher: “This is no time to go wobbly.”
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Question: Why should we trust the Congress with the lowest approval rating that anyone can remember to pass a bill that is bigger in dollar numbers than any such bailout ever? Did you know how Congress arrived at the $700,000,000,000.00 figure? You won't believe it:

It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. We just wanted to choose a really large number.

Believe it. Tell your congress-cats not to vote for it.
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Addendum: Melodramatic leftist billionaire Warren Buffet says the economy is undergoing an "economic Pearl Harbor". He doesn't complete his fear-mongering metaphor by clarifying just who is playing the role of the Japanese in his mind. I'll help him out: this sneak attack on the US free market system is coming from the treacherous leftists in Congress.

If this awful bill passes it will indeed be a day to be remembered in infamy.

Kill the Bailout

Click the Government Bailout Sandwich

Hands off the US economy. Government meddling will only make the economy worse. Bailouts beget more bailouts. The stock market is self adjusting and was never meant to be risk free. The free market rewards good ideas and punishes bad ones. Do you really think the government should be 'correcting' this healthy, natural process?

Call or e-mail your representatives in Washington. Tell them that doing nothing is an option. The right option.

Next Great Depression fails to occur as predicted

Update: Dow Jones Industrial Average
up 485.21 points at close today.
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Tokyo Stock Exchange - down 4.6%

The Big Bailout was defeated in the US House of Representatives yesterday. Today, the predicted collapse of the world's economic systems has not materialized as predicted by Marxist dupes. The US market lost a great deal of its (I would argue, artificially inflated) value, but not so much as to be devastating. The 7% drop on Monday didn't come close to other recent setbacks, all of which our robust economy has taken in stride.

The predicted destruction of the Asian markets didn't happen as America slept last night, either. From the Thomson Financial News Asian stock market summary at Forbes.com:

Japan's Nikkei index in Japan lost 4.1%,
Japan's Topix was down 3.6%
Autralia's ASX 200 index finished down 4.3%
Korea's Composite Stock Price Index fell only 0.57 %
Taiwan's weighted index closed down 3.55%

Its a national Holiday in China, so the markets there were closed. Early trading has indicated that there won't be a catastrophe in the European markets today either. Carnage in the markets - NOT!
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This reminds me of the concerns that the Large Hadron Collider was going to create a black hole that would swallow the Earth earlier this month. It was a cheap thrill, but it never happened. The biggest damage done by the Big Collider was to the wallets of the suckers that are funding it.
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What I wrote in the comments to Sunday's post bears repeating:

The real economy is based on valuable physical assets, a productive labor force and abundant natural resources. Our best industries own such assets, our labor force's productivity is second to none and America is blessed with natural resources and potential energy like no place else on earth. The economy will be emerge stronger than ever.

Don't waste any tears over the collapse of the part of our economy that has been doomed from its inception. I mean the part based on pure hype, virtual assets like 'derivatives', unworkable eco-nut market schemes like cap and trade or phony carbon credits. Let these bad ideas pass, along with the Marxist thought that was supposed to drive them. If you were invested in them, kiss that money a belated good-bye. It had its bags packed up under the bed a long time ago.

Think of the present adjustment as a costly lesson. Don't throw it away; we all can learn from it. I'm giving thanks to the stalwarts in Congress who refused to panic. I just hope their resolve lasts out the coming few weeks and months. Let the howling and hand-wringing begin.

With apologies to Byron:

The widows of Marx are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Bail.
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Certainly the markets will lose some value, but I don't think it will be as bad or last as long as advertised. At least now we might get a chance to watch free market forces work as they should, without the mindless manipulators in government perverting its natural tendency toward growth and prosperity, inadvertently or not.

I wouldn't put it past some folks to have been trying to gin up a big economic crisis as part of a political power grab. Call me paranoid, but...

Get a grip, ye of little faith! We have weathered worse in recent tears, as Michelle Malkin points out in Some perspective for the Chicken Littles.
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Somehow, I think it is going to be difficult for President Bush, and those in Congress to admit that they were suckered in by the Marxists among us who wanted to see the US economy taken over by the federal government. Their pride has been hurt, but that is no reason to take it out on the rest of us. I expect the worst of them to try to jawbone the economy further into the tank today to justify their mistaken positions regarding the bailout.
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We must continue to resist, Set your teeth, stiffen your upper lip, remember the free market and call, write or e-mail the President, your Representatives and your Senators today. Thank the Republican stalwarts that pushed our nation out of the path of yesterday's red bullet. Tell the 'Chicken Littles" to show some faith in the USA.

Remind them that the panic is off. The black hole didn't happen. We have time to see what happens.

Doing nothing IS an option.
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Don't tell anyone I said so, but this might be a great opportunity to buy some equity in America at bargain prices. You can bet the farm Warren Buffet is doing exactly that today.
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The Marxist dupes at the New York Times are saying that the only reason the world's economy hasn't crashed is that investors are hopeful that the bailout will come back to life. These traitors have no shame at all. Bush can be such an idiot at times. I've always said he will go into the history books as a weak president. His continued duplicity in this week's attempted socialist economic coup is more evidence to that effect.

Send President Bush an e-mail (just click) and tell the pathetic lame duck that he is starting to look like Nancy Pelosi more every day.

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.

Next Great Depression or Next Great Boondoggle?

Get in on the top floor of the Next Big Bailout!

Its the end of the world, the economy is in ruins, the spectre of the Next Great Depression looms. Unless, of course you are on the 'take' end of the apparently inevitable bailout. The old feeder has been out of town for a few days, but all I heard on the TV and radio is that this credit crunch, combined with the collapse of the Fannie and Freddie mortgage rackets threatens another depression.

I cant' see it. The stock market hasn't collapsed. Gasoline prices continue to decrease. I still get junk mail from banks offering to lend me stupendous amounts of money for sub-prime rates.

The best analysis I've seen so far is at the Marginal Revolution. Read these posts: Where is the Credit Crunch?; Questions that are rarely asked; and A Supply Side Approach to the Crisis for a view that is a bit less dramatic than the one pumped up by the slavering media and our presidential contenders.
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If WaMu is going broke, how come I got an offer from them in today's mail to lend me $10,000 at 1.66% interest, said rate guaranteed through June, 2009? If I deposit the enclosed check, the money will be mine. Of course, the only reason I get such offers is that I have always paid these types of loans back promptly. But at the offered rate, I could hedge inflation by putting the loan proceeds into a CD.
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Them as are going broke from making bad investments or ill-advised loans should suck it up on their own. Let them sing along with John Lee Hooker: Serves me right to suffer.
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A bit of comfort and perspective from via Genevieve at Prairie Bluestem:

Capitalism is not the free world.
Capitalism is a term devised by Marxists to describe what they thought were the worst aspects of our freedom.
We should never let any corporation or bank or computer company pose as the embodiment of our freedom.

James Healy, The Heelers Diaries.