The Bail Out

I don't know enough about the fine details of the economy to have an intelligent opinion on whether we need a bail out or not. It's complicated and I don't feel like doing that much research.

All I know is that when you and me and people we know were losing homes and declaring bankruptcy, all the concern we mustered from Washington was "Hey, it's a Free Market. That's what makes America great! You made stupid decisions that made me and my buddies rich, so now you have to pay the price. Sucks to be you."

But when the Fat Cats stood to lose a measurable percentage of THEIR money, it's all "OMFG, OMFG! MELTDOWN! I COULD LOSE A HOME IN THE HAMPTONS! MAYDAY, MAYDAY! BAIL OUT!" The solution? Saddle the same people they just told to go fuck themselves with the debt burden that made them all billionaires.

See, the thing is, if we don't do a bail out, if we just let shit happen, all of those rich people will still be rich. They might go from being a billionaire to a millionaire. They might go from 18 homes to just 4 homes. But they will still be fucking rich!

On the other hand, those same, complicated securities, largely made up of bundled mortgages, that led to this crises are also the same ones funding your retirement accounts. So if we don't do the $700 billion dollar bail out, then almost every American will find themselves with a foreclosed home, renting an apartment, living paycheck to paycheck, with no retirement and completely dependant on Social Security.

So much for The American Dream.

Another economic issue that I know even less about is the involvement of China in the American Bond Market. From what I understand, China holds the majority of U.S. debt in the form of Bonds. China is funding our war spending through the daily purchase of billions of dollars in U.S. Bonds.

They buy our Bonds because they view them as safe, stable investments that are guaranteed to return their investment plus interest.

But what if China loses confidence in the long term viability of the American economy as a result of this financial crises and they quit buying our Bonds. Essentially, the American Government quits getting a paycheck and can't pay the bills.

Worse yet, what if China sees us in a weakened position, decide they are kind of sick of our shit and decide to deal our economy a death blow by selling off all of the Bonds they hold?

Asia is playing us like a puppet right now. We are no longer the masters of our own fate. We haven't been for a very long time. The legendary strength of the American Economy is as much of a paper tiger today as the strength of the Soviet Military was during the Cold War.

We are in a very, very fragile economic predicament and we don't have a lot of good will with the rest of the world thanks to our arrogant, blustering, rhetoric and our heavy-handed military shenanigans. Every time our president opens his mouth and says something, our prospects for survival become more precarious. He really needs to just shut the fuck up.

In fact, there is a conspiratorial element that thinks this whole fucking financial mess is a master strategy of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney to drive the United States so far into debt that President Obama won't be able to do a goddamn thing except pay the bills he inherited from them. Then he won't be able to deliver on any of his promises because he doesn't have any money to spend and the Republicans take back the White House in 2012.

I probably have a lot of this stuff wrong. I'm no economist.

So I don't know. What do you think?