Good News! We'll all be Millionaires Soon!

Bad News: A million dollars won't be worth a bucket of spit. Think it can't happen here?

Consider Argentina: The corrupt, incompetent colossus of South America. It has lucrative farming operations, abundant fertile land, natural resources and universities, but it is an economic basket case. It wasn't always like this. 100 years ago Argentina enjoyed one of the top 10 global economies and was a powerful, respected nation. Those evil twins, Corruption and Socialist Statism, got the best of them.

Still think it can't happen here? Consider what our Socialist Interventionist government is doing:

- Bailing out the Wall Street welfare queens (formerly known as capitalists)
- Bailing out people who bought more house than they could afford
- Bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
- Bribing taxpayers with free money and calling it a "Stimulus Package"
- Putting our nation further in debt to continue this unbridled spending spree
- We're sitting on enough oil, gas and coal to tell the world to get bent, but thanks to congress, we continue to sit on it
- Wind, solar, hydrogen. Like the weather, everybody talks about it but nobody does anything. Hey government! Got Energy Policy?

Adding fuel to the fire, Senator Chuck Schumer, in an act both venal and stupid, caused a good old fashioned bank run. Panicked citizens, apparently not realizing their deposits were federally insured, lined up demanding their money, ala "It's a Wonderful Life," although I doubt this story will end with everyone happily singing Auld Lang Syne.

Speaking of bank runs, if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac go under and require government money to save them, we are in big trouble:

"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or guarantee $5 trillion of mortgages, nearly half of all U.S. mortgages." (Reuters)

This particular crisis was caused by, you guessed it, government policy. Presidents Clinton and Bush, egged on by congress, established irresponsible policies that encouraged home ownership by people who had no business owning one. Of course, this scheme was funded with our tax dollars. Here's an excerpt from reuters:

"Efforts that began in the Clinton White House and continued through the Bush administration to boost home ownership, particularly among Americans in minority groups and with lower incomes, were what helped drive a surge in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac activity. Supporters in Congress egged them on."

Oh, and Speaker Pelosi wants to hand out more free money. Congressional approval is below 10% and elections are less than 4 months away. Coincidence? You decide...

And for my progressive friends who want me to include "President Bush's wars" in the financial toll, I remind you that Democrats voted for both wars but then didn't have the rocks to back their vote when the Nut Roots went crazy. If these same politicians had stood up for what they voted for instead of stabbing the president in the back at every turn, both wars would be won now and our troops would be home.

Free Market Capitalism works. Socialism fails. History has taught us that. Capitalism built every successful economy on the globe, including ours. If you want to blame conservatives for something, blame them for a lack of regulation. They forgot that Capitalism without a moral code is a jungle. Adam Smith, the proto-capitalist of "Invisible Hand" fame, told us so 200 years ago.

So here's my suggestion. Let the greedy and the stupid fail: It will put them where they belong and serve as a lesson to the rest of us. Let the conservatives plan laissez fair economic policy and let the progressives be the watchdog. Having a liberal on each shoulder should teach those Wall Street Bankster pigs a lesson! And, as a bonus, liberals will be performing a useful function besides just nagging and protesting. Finally, American Citizen, have enough pride in yourself to tell your candy man congresswoman and senator to shove it next time they dangle goodies in front of you. You have to live by a budget, demand they do the same.

It beats the hell out of being an Argentinian millionaire.