Financial Crisis - Addendum
In my tirade yesterday, I left out one part out. That of the mortgage issue. Billions upon billions for 'poor helpless home owners". There is a simple truth here;
If you borrow more than you can afford and go down in flames, tough shit.
When did our lives loose all responsibility? If your house gets trashed by a hurricane because you built along the pictorial Florida coast, the government fixes it. If your house is destroyed by a tornado because you chose to build in tornado alley, the government pays to fix it. And if you buy a house three times more than you can afford to pay for, then the government blames the lender and bails you out. WTF?!
For more than a century our federal government did MOSTLY what it was intended to do. It handled treaties with foreign nations, maintained a national defense, and made sure the states didn't blow the shit out of each other. Along comes the worst president in history, Abraham Lincoln. Separatists on both sides fractured our nation and this president in his wisdom spilled the blood of some 700,000 Americans. Not a civil war, by definition a war of independence. Put the slavery issue aside, it was only a sidebar in this war. The federal government had been becoming more and more heavy handed with the states and the southern states finally said; 'go to hell' and left the union. By the articles of our nations formation, they had the right. Lincoln didn't like the idea, and thousands died.
That was the beginning of the end for our republic. The states had been served notice. Do what the central government says, or we will use military force to pound you into submission. More and more nails have been driven into the coffin. The 17th amendment (passed by the crazy 'progressives') of 1919, the 1929 firearms act, the New Deal, the Great Society, trillions of unfunded federal mandates. Two hundred years ago we were a republic made up of the 'several states'. The states were a sort of quasi-nation unto itself, the federal government only ensuring that certain rights were maintained (bill of rights), and that they didn't attack each other. Religions, laws, taxes, etc varied widely from state to state. Never has this been less so now, the all powerful central government now consumes almost 1/5 of every dollar generated in our nation and runs roughshod over all our laws, elections, and proceedings. A lot of this can be blamed on two events. The civil war, and the 17th amendment that stripped the states of their last true power. That being the direct appointment of US Senators.
A lot of you don't realize that our central government was a lot more ingeniously created than you thought. Varied levels of protection were built in to our three branches of government. The judiciary (don't get me started), the executive, and the congress. The congress is the only branch that was segmented even further. The house of congress to be composed of representatives of districts within the state directly elected. The senate composed of two representatives from each state, to be appointed by that states own government. What? Are you serious? Yes, the founding fathers realized that the entities of states needed to be protected from the tyranny of the majority. Everyone loves democracy, except most of our founding fathers. They knew how dangerous a democracy was, which was why they created a constitutional republic. That republic is all but gone now. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see the average moronic voter allowed to cast an uniformed vote through their xbox in a few years.
So here we are. The states are emasculated. People are no longer expected to demonstrate and individual responsibility. And the federal government is so far in debt that were it to seize every dollar made this year, it would only barely be able to retire the nearly $10 trillion dollar debt.
Just so you know, I do have a horse in this race. I own two houses, one in Indiana, one in Kentucky (which I live in). The house in Indiana has been empty on and off the last four years and more than once pushed us hard enough into debt that I became concerned. Never once has it entered into my mind that I must somehow seek relief from the federal government. I will not seek it, nor accept it if offered. We signed both mortgages with our eyes wide open. It is high time we stop subsidizing STUPIDITY! If a loan is given illegally to knowingly unqualified lenders, then punish the lender. But the person who took out the loan is at fault too. Sorry folks, but if your too stupid to read the paperwork and understand interest rates, points, balloon payments, your just too dumb to own a house. I recomend renting. But maybe you should have a friend read the lease for you. The government won't bail you out on that one...yet.
If you borrow more than you can afford and go down in flames, tough shit.
When did our lives loose all responsibility? If your house gets trashed by a hurricane because you built along the pictorial Florida coast, the government fixes it. If your house is destroyed by a tornado because you chose to build in tornado alley, the government pays to fix it. And if you buy a house three times more than you can afford to pay for, then the government blames the lender and bails you out. WTF?!
For more than a century our federal government did MOSTLY what it was intended to do. It handled treaties with foreign nations, maintained a national defense, and made sure the states didn't blow the shit out of each other. Along comes the worst president in history, Abraham Lincoln. Separatists on both sides fractured our nation and this president in his wisdom spilled the blood of some 700,000 Americans. Not a civil war, by definition a war of independence. Put the slavery issue aside, it was only a sidebar in this war. The federal government had been becoming more and more heavy handed with the states and the southern states finally said; 'go to hell' and left the union. By the articles of our nations formation, they had the right. Lincoln didn't like the idea, and thousands died.
That was the beginning of the end for our republic. The states had been served notice. Do what the central government says, or we will use military force to pound you into submission. More and more nails have been driven into the coffin. The 17th amendment (passed by the crazy 'progressives') of 1919, the 1929 firearms act, the New Deal, the Great Society, trillions of unfunded federal mandates. Two hundred years ago we were a republic made up of the 'several states'. The states were a sort of quasi-nation unto itself, the federal government only ensuring that certain rights were maintained (bill of rights), and that they didn't attack each other. Religions, laws, taxes, etc varied widely from state to state. Never has this been less so now, the all powerful central government now consumes almost 1/5 of every dollar generated in our nation and runs roughshod over all our laws, elections, and proceedings. A lot of this can be blamed on two events. The civil war, and the 17th amendment that stripped the states of their last true power. That being the direct appointment of US Senators.
A lot of you don't realize that our central government was a lot more ingeniously created than you thought. Varied levels of protection were built in to our three branches of government. The judiciary (don't get me started), the executive, and the congress. The congress is the only branch that was segmented even further. The house of congress to be composed of representatives of districts within the state directly elected. The senate composed of two representatives from each state, to be appointed by that states own government. What? Are you serious? Yes, the founding fathers realized that the entities of states needed to be protected from the tyranny of the majority. Everyone loves democracy, except most of our founding fathers. They knew how dangerous a democracy was, which was why they created a constitutional republic. That republic is all but gone now. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see the average moronic voter allowed to cast an uniformed vote through their xbox in a few years.
So here we are. The states are emasculated. People are no longer expected to demonstrate and individual responsibility. And the federal government is so far in debt that were it to seize every dollar made this year, it would only barely be able to retire the nearly $10 trillion dollar debt.
Just so you know, I do have a horse in this race. I own two houses, one in Indiana, one in Kentucky (which I live in). The house in Indiana has been empty on and off the last four years and more than once pushed us hard enough into debt that I became concerned. Never once has it entered into my mind that I must somehow seek relief from the federal government. I will not seek it, nor accept it if offered. We signed both mortgages with our eyes wide open. It is high time we stop subsidizing STUPIDITY! If a loan is given illegally to knowingly unqualified lenders, then punish the lender. But the person who took out the loan is at fault too. Sorry folks, but if your too stupid to read the paperwork and understand interest rates, points, balloon payments, your just too dumb to own a house. I recomend renting. But maybe you should have a friend read the lease for you. The government won't bail you out on that one...yet.
posted by Falconsword at 9/28/2008 09:11:00 AM
2 Comments:
Oh, but you forgot to mention the biggest fallacy of them all - that the American people actually believe that their votes count in presidential elections. That was something else our great founding fathers dreamed up. The electoral college, which is still in existence today. The members of the college (and I have yet to meet anyone who has ever know who these people are) can vote for the president and vice president with immunity (and impunity) from prosecution for not voting with the popular vote of the state that they are supposedly representing. If that doesn't scream "bribe" to you, then it should.
Additionally, we citizens are supposed to be able to vote for the president and vice president independently. So I could vote for McCain/Bayden or O'Bama/Palin or Falconsword/Oz if I wanted to (scary!!!!). But I've never seen a ballot like that - have you? I've never even seen the vice-presidential candidates on the ballot at all...
And the president really has very little power according to the constitution (but not in real life - more on that later). Commander in Chief of the armed forces, veto power, head up the executive branch (appoint people to positions) and give a state of the union speech once a year to the joint houses. That's it.
So your saying that you hope whomever gets elected this year as president will make a difference is inaccurate. Congress - the house and the senate - is where the real power is. THEY are the ones that appoved this incomprehensible bill and they are the ones we all should be screaming at. Because we citizens do choose them directly...
Presidential, back-room dealings and the siezing of power that presdents didn't really have is a relatively-recent (100 years, give or take) addition to the whole DC dynamic. The president was supposed to be there as a stop-gap for a corrupt congress. To me, they're all corrupt now, and you pretty much have to be to raise the kind of money it takes get elected.
Personally, my punch for the presidential line this year will be blank. I don't like either of them or their running-mates and it doesn't really matter how I choose anyway. BUT I have paid very close attention to how my Senators and Represenatives have voted over this "bail out" and won't be supporting those that voted yes.
(And you thought I was 100% bleeding heart liberal...)
Naw, only about 25% liberal, kind of surprising.
Just to clarify it for you, per the constitution, you didn't vote separately for Prez and VP, the winner was Prez, the 2nd place was VP.
The electoral college is the only thing keeping us safe from the unwashed masses of true democracy, so I don't really have a problem with it right now, even if it costs us 4+ years of the Obamanation. I've known several electoral college members, and it might surprise you that they are just normal people!
The presidential usurpation of power is the topic of a future tirade. It's a long and torrid story and gets into some 'conspiracies' I can't quite handle with now. I'll tackle it after the election next month.
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