Big Dogs Weblog

I have written that I understand the reason for the bailout but that I am not happy with it. The government should not be in the business of giving taxpayer money to businesses that are failing because they were mismanaged. It makes no difference if the market turned, it was greed, or they did not know what they were doing. The fact is, taxpayers do not share the wealth when these companies make money and we should not pay for the problems when they don’t.

The government is moving toward socialism where it will own, subsidize or underwrite everything. This is not the America I grew up in and it is not the America I want to leave to my grandchildren.

The reality is that the federal government is unable to do things effectively and they are irresponsible with our money. That’s right our money. In addition to the fiasco and huge expense that Treasury Secretary Paulson is working on to bailout his buddies in the financial world, the government is adding many items to the bailout showing once again that they cannot wait to spend our money. The Washington Times reports:

In the dark of night over the weekend when most people were snoozing, the Treasury dramatically expanded its bailout plan to include buying student loans, car loans, credit card debt and any other “troubled” assets held by banks.

The changes, which were included in draft language that also opened the bailout program to foreign banks with extensive loan operations in the United States, potentially added tens of billions of dollars to the cost of the program.

Although it was a major addition to what was already the nation’s largest-ever bailout, it did not become part of the debate between Democrats and the Treasury over details of the program. A Monday counterproposal by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd included such consumer loans as well as mortgages, just as the Treasury’s draft did Saturday night.

When exactly are people going to be held accountable for their own risks in life? The financial geniuses who make millions of dollars in salaries are still rich while the country pays for their sins. Now, the government is adding people who made bad decisions with their credit and students who finance their schooling to the program.

Let me be clear; IT IS NOT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE TAXPAYER TO PAY FOR ANY OF THIS.

People who are in credit card debt or have car loans that they cannot afford have no one to blame but themselves. Students who take out loans for an education are making an investment in their future. I wonder how these students would act if their future earnings were given to taxpayers. It is, after all, only fair. If we pay for your car, house or credit cards then we deserve to have the things you bought. This idea that the world will end if people or businesses fail is ridiculous.

We need to end this whole bailout now. ALL OF IT. If AIG and other companies, including foreign banks, are going to fail than let them fail. This is a buyer’s opportunity to pick up cheap investments. Lehman Brothers is being purchased, Constellation Energy is being purchased (by a Warren Buffet company) and there are many (like Buffet) looking for bargains. If a company fails there are people who will buy them on the cheap and have a go at making them successful. If no one buys them then they can go out of business.

It is a shame that people lose their jobs as a result of mismanagement and the ineptitude of the corrupt government but that is not the fault of the taxpayer.

John McCain needs to oppose this bailout. He needs to provide real leadership and show that he truly is against government waste because surely, this bailout is just that. The money is designed to let Paulson help his buddies and it is designed to allow politicians claim they were there to help during a time of crisis. This is particularly important to them because it is an election year and they are the ones who helped cause it.

Look at the items added. Christopher Dodd added consumer loans. He is the criminal most responsible. He has his Countrywide VIP loan that saved him $75,000 and he failed, to act early on when President Bush, on 17 occasions, warned of trouble and tried to get something done. The last things we need are the people who caused this mess to be the ones overseeing its cleanup. Yes, greed on Wall Street is partly responsible but to be fair, many mortgage companies were following the inane law that allows people with no hope of affording a house to buy one. Did they [financial companies] abuse the process? You bet and they should be held accountable.

Everyone involved should be held accountable. We can do this by:

• Getting rid of the CEOs and ensuring they do not receive a severance.
• Take back some of the untold millions these people made through greed and shady practices
• Stop the bailout and let unsound companies fail (or be bought up)
• Vote for the non incumbent challenger in all 435 House seats (thereby replacing the entire House)
• Vote for the non incumbent challenger in all contested Senate seats (thereby replacing 1/3 of the Senate)
• Hold people accountable for their own loans. If they fail they will learn a valuable lesson. If we bail them out, they will not

It is time for a shake up in DC. We need to replace all of these criminals so that they are held accountable for their misdeeds.

It is also time we held our fellow citizens accountable for their actions. Ron Paul has an excellent piece on this. He states exactly what I believe:

Additionally, the government’s actions encourage moral hazard of the worst sort. Now that the precedent has been set, the likelihood of financial institutions to engage in riskier investment schemes is increased, because they now know that an investment position so overextended as to threaten the stability of the financial system will result in a government bailout and purchase of worthless, illiquid assets.

I would add that this extends to any individual who takes risky decisions and is bailed out by the government.

Big Dog Salute to Raven who, as usual, is on top of things.
Others:
Texas Pundit

Tags: bailout, corruption, dodd, mortgage companies, paulson, sham, taxpayer fraud

Joe Biden has been embellishing a story just a little bit and that story is that his helicopter was forced down in Afghanistan. While I suppose that we would technically call it forced down, the reality is that it landed because of weather. So, if I stretch it, the weather forced it down. But I guess it does not sound as heroic to say our helicopter was forced to land because the weather turned bad. That shows that a pilot had good sense and took care of his ship and his passengers. It is much more glamorous to say that it was forced down leaving the impression that Russian Migs, Ack Acks, missiles, small arms fire or even a mechanical malfunction had literally forced the helicopter down and that Biden was in real danger.

This is the line of thinking that makes it more glamorous to say that “I landed under sniper fire after the pilot spiraled in like a corkscrew and then I ran for cover” than to say “we had an uneventful landing and a band and school children greeted us and then we walked to a car and were driven away.”

Joe Biden has mentioned being forced down one other time and he did so again today at a National Guard conference in Baltimore. John McCain spoke there yesterday and there is no doubt the Guardsmen respected him and honored his service. It was also obvious that he was comfortable there. Biden had to follow that and try to make people believe he has some relevance. McCain is a war hero so Biden had to embellish a story in order to sound like he can connect with the troops.

In reality, the conference went from hero to zero.

I think the troops noticed that as well.

Rumor has it that Biden will be replaced by Clinton after the VP debate because of a previously undisclosed illness. I don’t think it holds much water but the left is awfully uncomfortable with Palin. Biden’s daily gaffes are not helping. I guess it is likely he will no more be forced out than he was forced down.

Will they force him out?

Tags: biden, embellishment, forced landing, helicopter

Governor Sarah Palin has energized the Republican base and John McCain is bringing in the Independents. Despite what some say the Democrats are running scared. Folks in California, which should easily go to Obama, are organizing and working in nearby swing states in order to swing the vote in the Republican’s direction. According to the San Francisco Chronicle:

Post-convention swing state polls are tipping toward Sen. John McCain, the TV pundits are waxing about “The Palin Factor,” and Sen. Barack Obama’s California supporters are freaking out about a race Democrats were uncommonly confident about only a month ago.
~snip~
So Californians seeking to get involved in either campaign have options: pick up the phone, get on a plane, or hop in a car and contact a voter in a swing state that’s still in play. Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado are the closest swing states. Most of the Great Lakes states are still up for grabs, and Florida always beckons.

While it is true that any post convention bounce has been erased, a statement true for each campaign, this is a year in which Democrats were expected to roll to victory. Barack Obama made a few tactical errors and has been unable to completely regroup. He failed to pick Clinton as his running mate, a move that would have guaranteed him the White House, and he was taken by surprise by the Palin selection which caused him to respond very negatively. Obama’s most important selection to date was for VP and he blew that. Then he compounded things by insulting Governor Palin and his surrogates have unleashed a lot of trash that has failed to get them anywhere. In fact, there are many who were turned off by the attacks, especially the ones on her kids. The hacking of her email account also brought negative attention especially since Obama had just told his followers to “get in their faces.”

Several of the pundits have said the Palin fervor will wear off and the race will tighten or move in Obama’s favor. While national polls show Obama with a small lead the electoral college is extremely tight with a number of surprise states up for grabs. It is possible that we will have another election where the person with the highest number of votes will lose. Thank goodness the Founders had the sense to make the election 50 individual elections.

Has the Palin influence worn off? Was she a flash in the pan or does she have appeal? While Barack Obama was in Florida telling lies to senior citizens about Social Security Sarah Palin was there to discuss the issues. She drew a crowd of 60,000 people who were interested in what she had to say. So, if the Palin influence is wearing off, then why is she drawing such large crowds? Florida was considered to be very much in play but I have read Obama might scale back there if McCain increases his lead so that money can be concentrated in other battleground states. Another Obama error might have been saying no to federal funds. He might not raise the money needed to compete so he will have to concentrate in states where he has the best chances to win.

I think the next few weeks will be pretty exciting. I am looking forward to the debates. I want to see the open style for the presidential candidates but I am very interested in the VP debates. I think if Palin holds her own with Biden or wins then the balance of power will swing. Of course, Palin is at a disadvantage because she has to fight Biden and the media wing of the Obama campaign. But she is tough enough.

Sarah Palin is here to stay and she will have a lot of influence on this election. The rumors are that Biden will get some previously undisclosed illness and be replaced with Hillary. That would make things interesting but it would lead to questions about Obama’s leadership abilities. There are not many chances for do-overs in the White House.

Get the popcorn, this is going to be fun.

Tags: battleground states, biden, crowds, debates, McCain, Obama, palin

Known tax evader Charlie Rangel has partly satisfied his obligation to pay his taxes in that he wrote checks for the amount of money owed for the taxes he neglected to pay. However, Rangel has not paid any of the fines and penalties that should accompany his remittance to the IRS. The average citizen would be hounded to death with enormous fines and penalties. Rangel is the head of the committee that writes the tax laws. One would think he would know the rules so either he is incompetent and should be removed or he used his position to avoid taxes and he should be removed.

Rangel, true to liberal form, wasted no time in playing the victim in this mess. Rangel wrote a letter to his constituents, those who keep putting this crook in office, explaining that he has done nothing dishonorable and that he has no intention of stepping down from his chairman position, explaining to New Yorkers that he has never “violated the public trust.” I don’t know about anyone else but this seems like things that are dishonorable and violate the public’s trust:

…he didn’t pay taxes on rental income for a beach house in the Dominican Republic; he used three rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem, including one for a campaign office; he used his congressional stationery to drum up private donations to a college center named after him.

Now Rangel’s victim hood comes from his assertion that the Republicans had declared guerrilla war against Democrats and have made every attempt to smear ole Charlie and his fellow Democrats. This is how these deranged idiots think. If they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar then they are victims of an attack and smears but when a Republican gets caught nothing short of a public hanging will satisfy the left.

Charlie Rangel is doing damage control and trying to convince people that he is a victim and deserves to keep his position when in reality he should be booted out the door. We should apply the same standard that was applied to Tom Delay and the other Republicans who have been caught doing something wrong.

Let us keep in mind that Rangel is not the victim of guerrilla warfare. He is the victim of his own criminal acts. He probably assumed that after decades of using public office to get rich he would be immune from scrutiny but it seems that this is not so. If Republicans were responsible for exposing this criminal, good. It is about time they decided to play hardball with the other side’s corruption regardless of how long the left desires to ignore it.

As for Rangel. He was recently very crass when referring to Sarah Palin when he said she was “disabled.” One thing is certain, Rangel might think Palin is disabled but he is just plain stupid.

Source:
Yahoo News

Tags: charlie rangel, criminal, tax evasion

It is no secret who the politicians in the UK want to be the next American President. Despite their claim of having no preference or remaining neutral their actions and their statements about the race speak much louder than words. Gordon Brown recently gave an endorsement of Barack Obama but then nuanced his words so as to appear neutral. Recent polls show that many of the major countries around the world (including all the Muslim ones) want Obama to win. Now Communities Secretary Hazel Blears of the UK has chimed in and called Sarah Palin Horrendous. This is so because Palin appeals to people who are disillusioned with “regular politics.”

By regular politics I assume she means the politics where elected officials line their pockets with money from investment companies and other Wall Street entities, ignore the criminal activity occurring, get their friends jobs in those companies so they get rich and then stand around pointing fingers at each other while whole system collapses and is paid for by taxpayers.

Or maybe Blears means politics where those elected in the UK to uphold English law succumb to demands of an ever growing Muslim population and allow Sharia Law (a religious law) to be practiced in the country. Maybe she means standing by and watching as your country rapidly dissolves into an Islamic state while those who oppose Islam or support the US are bombed.

In any event, it is not for Blears, or the rest of the world, to decide. This decision belongs to Americans and Americans alone and it does not matter what the rest of the world thinks about who we elect. Blears, Brown and the rest of these people should concern themselves with the rapid decline of their countries and let us worry about our elections.

I think the world can see by now what being soft on the radical Islamic terrorists does and Pakistan’s inability to control it has played out this weekend as the death toll keeps rising in the hotel bombing. Maybe the rest of the world wants a President Obama begging negotiating with the thugs who cause these problems but I prefer someone who will do more than just scream racism when confronted with adversity.

Pretty soon when Blears, Brown, and every other person in the UK is kneeling to Mecca five times a day they can beg President McCain and Vice President Palin for help. If we don’t view the people asking as horrendous, we might actually help.

Given the horrendous invasion of privacy in the UK, the horrendous dental care, the horrendous medical care, the horrendous cost of everything and the horrendous appeasement of terrorists, I would think Blears would concern herself with those issues and not a person who lives up to our Founder’s wishes.

A citizen who is like the rest of us and serves the people. If we could just replace ALL the current politicians with “regular” Americans, this country would run a lot better.

Source:
Breitbart (This source incorrectly and irresponsibly states that Palin said US Soldiers were sent on a task from God)

Tags: palin, presidential election, radical islam, UK