At Last: The Financial Crisis Solved!

Just when I was losing hope that anyone would be able to solve the financial crisis gripping the nation and the world, I got a boost yesterday while I was listening to The Diane Rehm Show on NPR. At one point in a discussion titled "The Economy and the Presidential Campaign," one of the show's guests (I wish I could remember which one) said that it was not out of the question that Congress might be called back from its upcoming recess for a special session to deal with the economic crisis.

Hmmm...this would be the Congress that, through its reckless dependence on political orthdoxy and flagrant kowtowing to special interests with deep pockets, got us into this mess in the first place, would it not?

I feel soooooo much better!

I also felt good yesterday when the government finally drew yet another shallow and wavy line in the fiscal sand and elected not to bail out Lehman Brothers. But then the news this morning is that insurance giant AIG has been bailed out to the tune of 85 billion dollars.

I guess we should all feel better now...we can be recklessly irresponsible with our own money (if we have any left) and everyone else's and - as long as we've made the right contributions to the right politicians and parties - we'll never have to worry about losing our financial shirts.

Yeah, right.

Once again, Bilbo's First Rule of Economic Policy applies: "financial institutions" may be too big to fail, but Real People will always be too small to matter.

I think I'm going to move all my money to the First National Bank of Under the Mattress and depend on the old, established firm of Smith and Wesson to insure it, rather than relying on the notable economic acumen of the bloviating, devious fools who drove us to this point.

I can hardly do worse. I won't earn any interest, but then, I won't lose my interest and my savings so Congress can bail out a business more important than I am, either.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

P.S. - do you remember the old Loony Tunes cartoon in which one character kept drawing lines in the sand to taunt another into moving forward...and the last line was at the edge of a cliff? That's how I feel when I open the newspaper every morning.

B.