Economic Meltdown

I'm not sure if we're in the middle of one, but if not, we're surly teetering on the brink. I find Glenn Beck mostly smug and obnoxious, but he's got a pretty good summary of the economic fallout of companies like Bear Stearns, AIG, and Lehman Brothers. Coincidentally, I too thought of Gordon Gekko's famous "greed is good" quote upon hearing of AIG's collapse and following bailout. Greed might the fuel that runs Wall Street, but it might also plunge the U.S. economy into a modern economic depression.

Brian Williams on the NBC Nightly News reported yesterday that in order to bail out the latest failed financial institutions, the federal government will begin printing more money. If you know anything about basic economics, that's a desperate reaction to a fiscal problem. Printing more money devalues the currency and drives up prices across the board. In other words, it directly contributes to inflation, an economic phenomenon that has been harassing the U.S. economy as of late even before the U.S. Treasury started pumping out Monopoly money.

It absolutely boggles my mind that our nation is in the middle of this kind of crisis. Bin Laden's terrorists hijacked airliners and flew them into the Twin Towers in the hopes of wreaking economic damage to our country. He failed spectacularly and instead found the U.S. army right in his backyard. And yet, what Bin Laden failed to do, we have done to ourselves. Handing out loans like they're Pez has blown up in our faces. Institutions that behaved unprofessionally, irresponsibility, unpatriotically, will not have to reap what they sow because our government must bail them out to ensure the nation's economy doesn't slide into a deep depression that could, God help us, rival that of the 30s. I'm at a complete loss at the greed, the stupidity, and total and utter lack of responsibility these institutions exhibited.

I'm at a loss and I'm angry.

I also place blame fully at the feet of the U.S. President and Congress. Elected officials are tasked with the responsibility of protecting our country. Bush sent an entire army to Iraq to root our WMD and take out a renegade dictator. Meanwhile, the real danger ticked away back at home, U.S. banking institutions handing out loans indiscriminately and on a massively unprecedented scale. It turns out a small minority of those loans were grounded in the reality that they could be paid back. The sheer volume belies the defense that the banks didn't know they were overextending themselves as much as their customers. This greed and stupidity has put our nation at risk.

As much risk as when those planes flew into the World Trade Center.

This has to be fixed. Now. I don't care if it's a Republican or a Democrat that gets it done. American partisan politics will prove the death of our country. Someone in the Federal government has to pull their mouth from the teat and start legislating responsible civic policy that protects the United States. Forget Bin Laden for a moment. I won't label the employees of Bear Stearns, AIG, or Lehman Brothers as terrorists, but they've certainly accomplished the terrorists' job. Well, enough. Time to pull our heads out of our asses and focus on the new reality that is hurtling towards us like a brick to the face. Time to stop screwing around in Iraq, pull the camera back, and regain our lost perspective. Time to stop the wealthy few from sabotaging the very foundations of our economy as they money-grab. Time to stop living on borrowed money. Time to stop living beyond our means.

I hope it's not too late.