The Courage To Do Absolutely Nothing

"Can't we just all go out there and say everything's OK?" - President Bush during contentious negotiations over his 700 billion dollar corporate welfare program

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I make a comfortable living exposing defects in the work products of others. It matters not whether it be a system of integrated software components, a supply chain, transportation system or electrical grid; the search for defects in processes or their physical implementation that result in the failure of major systems must always start at the failure itself and work backwards until the root cause(s) can be found. Most major disasters cannot be traced to a single point of failure. Rather they are the result of a combination of factors. Generally speaking, if any one of those factors is removed from the equation, the disaster becomes a near-miss. But the fact remains, every disaster is dependent upon one or more root causes that often involve human intervention. And many disasters turn out to be completely avoidable.  The root cause of our current economic woes can be summed in one, single word: Greed We all know how we got here, the big question is how we move forward. But don't look to your leadership for those answers. When it came to providing the information that so many Americans sought this weekend concerning precisely what action the government was ready to take or what the actual consequences were to taxpayers for either acting or not acting, we were not well-served. The dishonesty, spin and finger-pointing emanating from Washington was palpable, shameful and entirely un-American. • We were told that if we don't act; and act now; our entire economy will meltdown. • We were told that credit will freeze and our nation will grind to a halt. • We were told that the only way to fix this mess is to enact yet another welfare package for failed financial institutions. A 700 billion dollar behemoth that the taxpayers will chain themselves to, inheriting the very  poisoned debt that caused this mess, making us all culpable for the misdeeds of others. On Friday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid lambasted the injection of politics into the process and then immediately injected politics into the process, slamming John McCain. One of those candidates will inherit the mess, so they should both be heavily invested in the solution. But the candidates offered little more. During the Friday night Presidential debate, host Jim Lehrer took multiple opportunities to ask both John McCain and Barack Obama whether they supported the plan as discussed. Neither would directly address the question. It was only by examining their answers to other questions that we learned they both support it. Then on Saturday came an urgent announcement: First there was a deal. Then there was no deal. Then there was a bill, followed by no bill. Then there was an agreement in principle, followed by no agreement but a pledge to cooperate through tough negotiations. Recessing Saturday after midnight, Democrats called a photo-op to pat themselves on the back and remind us that they were still there. Finally, on Sunday came the announcement that agreement had been reached. Over the vehement objections of the vast majority of Americans and just in time for the opening of the Asian stock markets.  Let's be clear: Democrats have the majorities in both Houses of Congress. They had the votes necessary on Friday to pass any bill they chose. What they wanted was political cover. We're less than two months away from an election and the last thing they want is to be politically exposed. With no guarantees their unprecedented scheme will even work, if they go down in flames, they want Republicans to share in their demise. This legislation centralizes far too much power. It very broadly defines "troubled asset" to mean essentially any financial institution or mortgage instrument the government (hence Treasury Secretary) deems in trouble. It either insures those institutions against their losses or allows the Secretary to buy them outright at his own discretion. With YOUR money. It opens up the possibility of aid to ALL financial institutions, regardless of size, geography or assets. This includes securities brokers and insurance companies. It effectively forgives lenders and borrowers who are equally culpable for the mess. If we choose to do nothing, opinions range from complete financial meltdown to tighter credit and recession. The truth is nobody really knows. Yet our government is expecting us to simply fall in line like timid little sheep and allow them to saddle us with this mountain of bad debt. After cutting through all the weekend spin, the doom and gloom predictions are simply nonsense. What will happen if we don't intervene, is that those institutions who gambled will fail, those homeowners and house-flippers who gambled will foreclose. The real estate market will surely suffer the consequences, but it is only one segment of the entire U.S. economy. Roughly 20 percent of America will find it harder to obtain credit. That is roughly the percentage of Americans who gambled and incidentally, the same number of Americans who support this garbage. We'll all pay more as a result and we could very well slip into recession, but the dire warnings of complete collapse are utter nonsense. I'd like to know how many Congressional pensions are tied up in this worthless paper? That would indeed tell us how many in Congress are under financial pressure to act. Either way we'll suffer, but it will be far less painful for those who had no hand in this mess if we do nothing. In the wake of the Enron scandal, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the purpose of which was to address those deficiencies in corporate financial controls and reporting that allowed Enron to happen. Yet all it succeeded in doing is stifling productivity. It has done absolutely nothing in terms of preventing another Enron as we have now seen. The overwhelming majority or Americans are self-sufficient. They live within their means, pay their bills on time, maintain good credit, pay their taxes and want the government to stay the hell out of our affairs, much less confiscate our wealth or socialize our economy. It is not our responsibility to bail out crooks on Wall Street, or those who gambled on the housing bubble and lost. Eighty percent of America is absolutely, unwaveringly opposed to this action by our government. All across the political spectrum. In some districts, calls to Congressmen were going 100-1 in opposition to the plan. Has any of this had any impact on Congress whatsoever? Just before they began debate on this monstrosity, they sent President Bush a spending bill with 2,332 earmarks and pet projects totaling $4.9 billion dollars. The airlines, hurricane victims, the auto industry, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Washington Mutual, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. And now they gather for yet another bailout. Where the hell does this end? This Administration, this Congress and the greed that their policies have fostered in Corporate America have gotten us into this mess. It was a bipartisan effort and a collective failure. Corporate lobbyists and Congressional earmarks will ensure it remains that way. More legislation and more money thrown at this problem is not going to fix it. The only way for us to end this as Americans is to let the chips fall where they may. And then we must completely clean House. Enact taxpayer-led term limits by voting out all incumbents in Congress. This taxpayer-funded corporate welfare program will bankrupt this nation while those who directly contributed to it retire in comfort. In this particular case, we must have the intestinal fortitude not to reward that most loathsome of human vices, greed. We must have the courage to do absolutely nothing. Let Congress eliminate the death tax, cut their quarter million dollar salaries or forego their COLA increases for five years. Jail for C.E.O.s who turned a blind eye sounds attractive too. There ARE other alternatives. To hell with you. I'm not paying for your mistakes.