Who Gets the Money?

It is sometimes embarrassing to be a Democrat. Did I just say sometimes? What I meant to say is frequently. Today's news of nearly everyone scrambling after the remaining $350 billion in TARP funds is a little ummm...crass. Obama says he needs it for an emergency, of which I'm sure there will be plenty. Congress, wants to use the remaining money to bail out homeowners, ie constituents, and Henry Paulsen wants to give the money to his favorite group, banks and mortgage underwriters. In the midst of all of these different greedy fists grabbing for the money, the DOW dropped 123 points, and Americans like you and me lost a good chunk of our savings.

I'm thinking that Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama need to have dinner tonight and get on the same freaking page. I mean, for god's sake, aren't we on the same team? Why does Obama have to ask Bush to ask Congress for the money? Shouldn't Obama be able to call Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and just tell them that there's an emergency coming, and to save the money? And for that matter, can't Bush tell Henry Paulsen to go on vacation, get far, far, away from the problems he hasn't been able to solve? Henry, go to Jamaica. Rent a beach house. Stock the fridge with fruity rum drinks, and smoke some ganja. Keep your hands off of the tax payers hard earned money.

The frantic scramble for money makes me worry that this may be the last of it. It's not actually our money that we have sitting around in a bank account, it is money that we have borrowed from China. What if China decides that the US, with all of the different branches of power fighting over this last handout, decides that we are all just crazy greedy capitalists, not worth the risk of more investment, and that if they don't lend us any more money, we will finally all just shut the F up, and give the world a break for a few years? A lot of people will argue that China's interests are best served by greedy American consumers, but right now, Americans have stopped consuming, and I don't see them changing that pattern any time soon.

The fight over the money is beneath us, and I would love to see our leaders come together to serve our country in the most positive way. I would also love to see Americans looking out for each other, the strongest among us taking better care of the weakest. The wealthy looking after the poor. The healthy taking care of the sick. Everyone gives up something so that we all enjoy a better life. The idea is giving more, and taking less.

I'm pretty sure that American lawmakers will not set the example.

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