YOU CAN FIX STUPID

As my favorite comedian Ron "Tater Salad" White of Fritch, Texas says, “You can’t fix stupid.” and Nancy Peolosi the less than illustrious Speaker of the United States House of Representatives tried to prove that yesterday when her partisan vitriole managed to anger and submarine the crucial so-called “bail out package” in that illustrious body. She took a deal brokered by her own party which really demonstrated most of the leadership in the negotiations and because she just couldn’t resist turning this into an election year spectacle, pounded the Republicans and President Bush. Republicans so angered, yea incensed, with her rantings and Democrats indignant over their perceived forced support for the package turned it down by twelve votes, votes that had already been tallied in the “Yes” column. Then, as we know, all Hell broke loose.

I certainly blame the Republicans and the Democrats as much as their less than illustrious leader for voting the bill down and causing the single greatest loss in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. We then heard that thousands of our great (and mostly ill informed) citizens e-mailed, telephoned and faxed in their condemnation of the package which in their estimation would only bail out those who had caused the problem in the first place. Yikes!

Ignorant perspectives like that and the reality that much of the deregulation which actually started around 1990 was coupled with apathy from the Fed who in a generous non-partisan spirit failed to perceive the risk along with our highly touted representatives in Congress, both Republican and Democrat. Yes, it was a consensus and everybody can accept part of the blame.

The real test was whether our representatives in Congress would accept the terrible burden of voting on an issue of greatest importance to the stability of our country or capitulating to the partisan ramblings from their mostly ignorant constituencies. Yes, it’s an election year and most are scared of getting voted out of office rather than voting in the best interests of their country and, frankly, the world. They are paid to make sometimes unpopular and difficult decisions – for the good of the many.

Today the market rebounded gaining almost 500 of those 777 lost points back. That rebound was due mostly to the optimism that Congress was going to do “something” soon and the money and action of the smartest among us who seeing an incredible bargin bought low and made a lot of money today.

This whole issue could ultimately put more money in our treasury and it’s sad that many don’t have the basic math skills in order to comprehend that the issue is really the difference between the market value of the properties in question and any potential loss/gain.

Now, what do we do about the members of Congress who failed to vote for the recovery package? You can fix stupid by voting them out of office. Thankfully, both Obama and McCain both ardently support the bill and demonstrated an admirable spirit of cooperation amidst the turmoil. It would appear, however, that despite Pelosi’s predictable bad judgment (as if she ever had any good qualities) the Republicans with their incredible showboating and bad judgment just lost the presidency.

Yep, you sure can fix stupid…. Too bad the elections aren't sooner for if a recovery package isn't passed soon, we'll all be slurping thin gruel whilst in pursuit of our own happiness - anticipatng the great Yellowstone Super Volcano...

Aye,

Ned Buxton