Lipstick on a Bailout
By Ron Paul
01/10/09 -"ICH"
-- - This time last week, the biggest bailout in the
history of the world seemed to be a fait accompli.
Last weekend, the Fed Chairman and the Secretary of
the Treasury had harsh words of doom and gloom for
Congressional leaders, with the rest of the administration
parroting along, and by last Monday it seemed both parties
were about to fall in line and vote our Republic away by
socializing the banking industry through this bailout.
Foolish business
behavior was about to be rewarded, and propped up a little
longer, the bubble blown a little bigger, and our coming
Depression made that much greater, but then something
happened on the way to the House floor.
Citizens made their
voices heard.
The real story behind
the story in Congress this week was the thousands of calls
and emails sent to Representatives, clogging up inboxes and
even slowing down the House internet system.
Slowly, like the Titanic turning around, sentiments
on the Hill shifted, and we heard Congressmen capitulating
and changing their tune a little, desperately trying to find
ways to salvage the bailout without completely enraging
their constituencies.
Now we hear about
taxpayer protections, about golden parachutes, and about
other nuances that hardly cover up the fact that we would be
creating more money out of thin air and further devaluing
the dollar! The problem is not HOW the
government is spending this money; it’s the fact that the
government is spending this money. We
don’t have it. We are already nearly $10
trillion in debt, not including unfunded liabilities.
We already spend about $1 trillion a year we don’t
have on our overseas empire. Now nearly
$1 trillion more is somehow supposed to magically appear and
solve all our problems! No – creating
more money might delay the inevitable for some
well-connected banks on Wall Street, but in a few weeks we
will find ourselves right back in this same position, but
much poorer.
The unfortunate thing
is that we’ve already spent at least $700 billion on other
bailouts that did not solve the problem.
And while all this negotiation was taking place, the auto
industry was quietly bailed out, with no controversy, no
discussion, to the tune of $25 billion.
Inevitably, it appears
Congress will call their constituents’ bluff and the bailout
will pass, because that is the habit Wall Street and
Washington have fallen into. People are
right to be concerned about our financial future.
I’ve been talking for 30 some years about reasons we
need to be concerned and change our ways.
We find ourselves now in a position of no good
options, and no silver bullets. But the
worst thing we can do is to compound our problems by
intensifying the mistakes of the past.
We do have tough economic times ahead, no doubt, no matter
what we do, even if we do nothing. The
question, is will we have the courage to take our medicine
now and get it over with, or will we prolong the misery for
many years to come? I’m less and less
optimistic about the answer to that question.
Dr. Ron Paul is a
Republican member of Congress from Texas
