So many of you might just look at our economy, and go, "it's all soandso's fault!" I would ask you to wait a moment before you blame your choice of group and consider a few points.

This entire deal started with the banks. Banks were making loans they should not have. I will refer you to this:

http://blog.beliefnet.com/reformedchicksblabbing/2009/02/a-school-bus-driver-wants-bail.html

How did a bus driver get an $800,000 loan? This may be an extreme example, but it gives me a point to start from. This woman should never have gotten this loan; if the bank had even bothered to do ten seconds of math they'd realize she would not be able to afford it. Many of the banks who are failing right now did this same thing, and other banks got caught up in it because this caused house values to fall rapidly.


This was the starting point for our problems, people who got loans when they should not have qualified for them. From there, they inevitably started foreclosing, and suddenly the media became involved. The media started reporting the horrible housing market, caused by these ridiculous loans(that part was of course left out), and suddenly consumer confidence dropped. When consumer confidence drops, spending drops and saving increases, which drops sales for everybody. When spending drops, companies are forced to do layoffs. This begins a crazy cycle of layoffs and further reduced spending.

So what is the government's solution? Lets give money to the institutions who failed! (now this, I fault Bush for... the bailout plan he signed was not what true republicans would've liked, and the voting record reflects this) Not just the banks, mind you, the UAW-run car companies have also failed. The workers earn something like 40% more than their Japanese-owned competitors who also reside in the states, yet they make about the same quality of cars. No wonder they're having financial problems. The Japanese companies(again, these are factories that reside in the states, with US employees) are finally feeling the effects of this recession, but notice it took them a -lot- longer to fall into it.

Just think about these things, and ask yourself, why are we giving money to these businesses who have proven they can not manage money correctly? If, say, GM went bankrupt... know what would happen? They would then have the ability to renegotiate contracts with their UAW employees, bringing their pay back down to a competitive level. Or, they could do like the Japanese companies do, and start over without any unions at all. GM going bankrupt does not mean GM would disappear, it would mean they would have a chance to lower their costs and start fresh.

Anyway, these are my current thoughts on the economy. If you think I've overstated something or have my facts wrong, please reply and I will take a look at it. I am by no means set in my ways in any of my opinions, it's perfectly possible I have been misinformed.

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