Well, I did the math on the bailout. IF it only costs $700,000,000,000 (that’s $700 billion) and there are 303,000,000 (303 million citizens – current census estimate) then each person’s share, child, woman, and man, is just north of $2,300. That means for a family of three like ours, the bill is $6,900. Now, I don’t believe for a moment it’s going to be $700B, I think if we get off for a Trillion dollars – think about that for a moment – a Trillion dollars – we will have done well.

Now, do we have a choice? No, I don’t think so. Should we put some controls around the bailout mechanism? You bet. That doesn’t seem to be in the proposal. In a continuation of the largest movement of public funds (our money) to a small number of Bush beneficiaries, you can bet that we’re going to see every kind of bad decision security banks hold take advantage of this bailout. Who can blame them?

Meanwhile, back at the campaign, neither Senator Obama nor Senator McCain have any sort of credible answer about what specifically they would do, or we should do. That’s likely a winning strategy for Obama, but not what I expect from a leader. Mr. McCain continues to do his dance about how he’s a reformer. Oh yeah, I remember, in 1989 in the shadow of the savings and loan fiasco, he was a part of removing the regulation from the banks that caused this in the first place. Any ownership from him? No. His idea? Combine Federal agencies for better supervision. In other words, rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Now, when we’re spending more than we take in on an annual basis, we’re signing up to take on nearly a Trillion dollars more debt, does either candidate have a sound fiscal plan? Check the chart out below on the revenue side of the equation (courtesy of countryclubfirst.com):

Now, I’m not an economics expert, but I can add. If you continually spend more than you make, you have a problem. If you sign on to handle debts that you cannot pay, you have a problem. The problem has a solution, you spend less and try to make more. You don’t take on extra commitments when you can’t meet your current obligations. Our government is operating under the check theory of economics. “What do you mean I’m out of money, I still have checks?” And that’s bad for all of us.

Tweet