Buckeye RINO

The Plain Dealer editorializes that because the Secretary of the Treasury has become so much more powerful (I referred to the prospect as making Hank Paulson head of the Communist Party) as a result of the passage of the bailout bill, that Barack Obama and John McCain should name their choices for Secretary of the Treasury in advance of the November election.

I should point out to the Plain Dealer that, by the time the bailout bill was passed, large-scale early voting in Ohio had already begun.  Whoops!  Those early votes are already locked in, no matter who is named. Read the rest of this entry »

Not everyone has a firm grasp of fundamental economic principles.  We can see that reflected in the way Ohio’s Congressional delegation voted on the bailout bill, or “rescue plan,” or whatever you want to call it.

We saw a group of legislators who understood economic principles well enough that they comfortably stood by their convictions, voted “NO” on the bailout bill, and even put forward their own proposals to fix Wall Street’s mess without bailing out Wall Street using taxpayers’ money.

We also saw a group of legislators who knew a little bit about economics, saw the same crisis looming that the above-mentioned group saw, but who were only capable of “inside-the-box” thinking in coming up with a plan that will stave off a few symptoms of the malaise, “for the good of the country,” but will not eradicate the pathogens that have sickened our economy, thus the economic crisis has not been averted.  These representatives to Congress voted “YES” on the bailout bill because they only knew enough of economics to offer temporary relief from the symptoms, not enough to treat the syndrome, and figured it was better to act on the little bit of knowledge that they had than do nothing.

Then there were three legislators, Pat Tiberi, Jean Schmidt, and Betty Sutton, who are so clueless about economics that they don’t know what or who to believe.  They took their cue from others (check out this video clip of Betty Sutton from the Openers section of the Cleveland Plain Dealer), because they lacked their own knowledge and inward convictions. They voted NO on Monday but changed their vote to YES on Friday.

If the economy is issue number one in this election, then how are these three supposed to be of any help?

Of course, one must look at who they are running against to see if their challengers offer any advantages over the incumbents.  Read the rest of this entry »

I am very disappointed with our U.S. Senators, not just George Voinovich and Sherrod Brown, but many, many others.  In the House, they voted on a bailout bill that was a little over 100 pages long.  Tonight, the Senate voted on a bailout bill that was about 450 pages long.  While some good measures were added in to better the bill, there were also some bad measures added in that worsen the bill.  The fundamentals, though, remain just as bad as they were.

Some of the Senators who spoke with the MSM afterward said that they had received support from small businesses in their state to pass the bailout bill.  The thought that crossed my mind is that ordinary Americans have very little access to their Senators.  The Senators live in a bubble.

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate Majority Leader, pointed out that Congress will adjourn later this week, but will reconvene in late November for organizational meetings.  How naive is it for me to hope that committee assignments in the new Congress, specifically banking and finance committee assignments, will trend toward legislators that do NOT receive campaign contributions from the industries they should oversee?

My representative to Congress, Democrat Marcy Kaptur, has recently been possessed by an alien puppetmaster from the planet Austere in the galaxy Libertad.  Since this dramatic change, she has voted down a bailout bill that would have socialized our nation’s economy, and has appeared on CNN with, no, not Campbell Brown or one of those anchors in the tank for Obama, but with independent populist Lou Dobbs, talking about reforming Wall Street with zero taxpayer dollars and market solutions!  Who knew?  (I know you can’t believe it, so check out the video clip here.) Note to aliens: Don’t be in any hurry to relinquish your control over my representative to Congress.  I like the new Marcy Kaptur better than the old Marcy Kaptur.

I suppose I shouldn’t be poking fun at her at a time when she’s doing the right thing.

On a more serious note, my parents’ representative to Congress, Bob Latta, was in Seneca County yesterday talking about his views on the bailout bill.  I’m a little bit troubled by the Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune’s account of what Latta said the upside to the bill was.

The $700 billion would not have been allocated all in one lump sum. An initial sum of $250 billion would have been allocated, with another $100 billion later after authorization by the president, and another $350 billion with additional congressional approval.

I like the upside of Marcy Kaptur’s proposal a whole lot better: $0.

Note to Latta:  Even the initial sum of $250 billion is way too much.  I want those billions from AIG and the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailouts back RIGHT NOW!

However, Latta did identify a very ugly downside to the bailout bill.

Latta said the bill would allow the secretary of the treasury to bail out virtually any kind of bad debt: mortgages, student loans, credit card debt, and even car loans.

“They could say we’re going to dump all that credit card junk on the American taxpayers,” Latta said. “That’s scary. How are you going to securitize that?”

Latta said he and many other legislators, including Democrats, were troubled because FDIC leaders were not included in discussions about the bailout.

Latta said a $700 billion bailout would increase the national debt to more than $11 trillion.

OK, so, taking that last fact first, Mr. Latta, do you want to revise your statement about the $250 billion being part of the upside?

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the bill tonight, but it has been amended since it had been presented in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Senators are expecting that Representatives in the lower House of Congress will like this package better, because there are a few more bells and whistles.  This bothers me to no end, knowing that for the bailout attempt to fail, nearly everybody who was against it last time needs to be against it the next time.

This time, the FDIC, which Latta said wasn’t in the mix before, is now in the mix.

OK.  I can support the change to FDIC if it was a stand-alone bill.  It’s not enough to sway me to support this bailout bill.

This time, tax cuts will be in the mix.  I support tax cuts, but if they are part of this bailout bill, I’ll vote against them.

The fundamental crux of the matter is that this bill gives Hank Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury, friend to the Wall Street crooks and enemy of the taxpayer, $250 billion of taxpayer money right up front, and perhaps $700 billion over all (and maybe more, since the precedent has already been set) to bailout whoever he pleases, with no judicial review.  He already acted on behalf of Bear Stearns without getting permission from the American people.  He already acted on behalf of AIG without getting permission from the American people.  He was able to coax Congress into going along with a bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  He’s been a crybaby that threw a tantrum to get this latest bailout approved, but it didn’t work.  Now he’s handing out candy to get this bailout approved.  Paulson and his Wall Street cronies have been more manipulative than any spoiled rotten brat I know.  Has it occurred to anyone on Capitol Hill and in the MSM that Paulson has been wrong with every move he makes?  Has it occurred to anyone that on Capitol Hill and in the MSM that Paulson has quietly assured his Wall Street cronies that the fix is in, and that he guaranteed to them that he’ll deliver the goods?  If we want accountability and oversight, it has to start with denying any of this bailout money.  It has to start with not granting additional power to the Secretary of the Treasury.

To our Senators and Representatives on Capitol Hill, I implore you to not pass anything at the present time that includes billions of taxpayer dollars and makes a czar out of the Treasury Secretary.  Start with the Marcy Kaptur plan of $0.  Add my new “Ellis Island” plan.  Have Congressional hearings about the Mike Spence plan.  Don’t pass this socialist takeover with Paulson as head of the Communist Party.