Wrecking the Economy

The Democrats are doing a mighty good job of adding uncertainty to a weak economy. What the economy desperately needs now is certainty and predictability, to the extent that is possible. They've made matters worse by putting off a decision on bailing out automakers. Their ingenious plan is to let Barney Frank and Chris Dodd "review" the proposals from Ford, Chrysler, and GM before a vote is put forward on whether to bail out the troubled giants.

Let's recall it was Frank and Dodd who were primarily responsible for the disasters known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It was these two idiots who led the charge in preventing reform of the two GSE's that Republicans had attempted as early as 2003.

What should be occurring is that Dodd and Frank are under FBI investigation for corruption, fraud, and whatever else they may have been involved in while perpetuating these colossal masses of waste and malfeasance.

There is absolutely NO REASON not to push these companies into Chapter 11 first, if a bailout is truly deemed necessary. This bankruptcy provision will allow far greater flexibility to the entities to reorganize and prepare a plan for long term viability.

The only reason not to allow Chapter 11 first would be to ensure that the unions primarily benefit, to create a nice little political slush fund for the willing conspirators, and to avoid proper scrutiny.

Gingrich has suggested that "crony capitalism" has contributed to the economic mess:

"The agents of this expansion are elected officials. Call them “predatory politicians.” Crony capitalism practiced by predatory politicians is at the root of the current financial meltdown. In exchange for campaign cash and support for favored constituents, predatory politicians aided and abetted the government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as they created and fed the subprime mortgage market."

Solutions:

1. The Congress needs to immediate move towards making the cost of business lower. This will stimulate economic activity and investment. This can be done immediately by slashing corporate taxes and capital gains taxes.

2. Sarbanes-Oxley should be scrapped. This ridiculous law has only added red tape and increased the costs of business. It has failed to make companies more transparent to investors, as AIG has proven, and has prevented new companies from being able to blossom into large companies because of the massive costs of compliance.

3. Individual tax rates and capital gains taxes should be dramatically cut. This will enable people to keep more of the money they earn which will help them pay their mortgage, meet debt obligations, and spend on consumer items.

5. A major criminal investigation should be launched into AIG, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Secretary of the Treasury, and Congress to root out corruption, fraud, bribery, obstructing justice, larceny, and embezzlement. Yes, I'm calling for a witch hunt.

When this much money, $800 billion, is thrown around with little or no accountability amongst persons of immense political and economic power, the danger of corruption and the weakening of democracy is critical.

Enough is enough. Will Obama bring "real change", or will he go along with the tired old Democrats like Frank and Dodd like he did in the US Senate?