Remember 2008 and the financial crisis? The one where we bailed out the companies that were “too big to fail”? The one that started this mess where today in California, the unemployment rate is 12.6% – the highest since the depression.

Finally someone is getting charged. Sadly, no one will go to jail. The company will be fined and that will be pasted along to the stockholders.

Someone should go to jail. The crisis was not caused by “companies” but by individuals. Individuals who failed in their due dillegance, or just didn’t care because they were too busy counting their money. Meanwhile, those of us who did it right wonder if we will ever get the money out of our homes that we put into them.

Lock ‘em all up. The borrowers who knew they could never make the payments, some of whom after getting their home, went out and borrowed again on the same house. They told a lie. The mortgage brokers who cut and pasted false information into the loan applications. They told a lie.The CEO’s and their henchmen that knew this was happening. They told a lie. The rating companies that said a package of this bad loans were not bad, in fact they were a great investment. They told a lie. And the folks that work for the investment banks and their like; Goldman Sachs, FannyMae, FreddyMac, AGIA and others. They told a lie.

No one has gone to jail. Bonuses in the millions are still being given. No laws have been passed and the one our government is bandying about would create a fund to bail these same people out again when the same thing happens again – which it will until someone goes to jail! They used my money, your money, your mom’s money, the neighbor’s down the street money to prop these guys up who still sit at the same desk, in the same corner office with a million dollar view (we paid for that too).

Too big to fail? Would employment be higher that 12.6% in California. Guess it would be with all the investment bankers (akacrooks) unemployed. “Too big to fail” is code in Washington for, “Hey I know those guys. I used to work there. Their kids play with my kids. They make lots of donations. We can’t let them fail. John and David are friends of Henry Paulson. They are both one of us!”

Yes, I am mad, bitter and very upset. And unless you are on the President’s cabinet or work on Wall Street, you should be mad, bitter and very upset also.

Myth 1: Credit will dry up and folks on “Main Street” will not be able to borrow money.

Status: False.

Banks need to loan money deposited by their customers to make money. They will not stop loaning money. They will however, stop loaning money to those with poor credit. You will actually have to have physical assets and a job to borrow money. You will actually be expected to repay your loan.

 

Myth 2: I won’t be able to buy a new car.

Status: False.

There will be just a many deals on new cars as there ever has been. You will have to have a job, a good trade-in or down payment. The car makers are not going to stop selling cars because some idiots on wall street sold bad paper.

 

Myth 3: Stocks will probably go down to who knows where if Congress does nothing.

Status: Maybe.

But we don’t know for sure. The market may also go down because Congress does something. If you are in the stock market there are risks. I for one am betting that if it goes down, it will come up again and if we let capitalism actually work, stocks will go higher as time goes on.

 

Myth 4: All the “experts” say we have to do something. Shouldn’t we listen?

Status: False and no.

These are the same “experts” who tell you that deficit spending is good and spend money to study why the sky is blue and the sex life of gnats. They are only expert at one thing and it is not the economy.

 

Myth 5: Asian and other markets are affected by what happens in the US.

Status: True

Guess we are not irrelevant after all. Those who feed off the good times in the US need to feel the tough times also. Frankly, if you are not in the US then I really don’t care about your financial problems.

 

Myth 6: President Bush assures all of us that the problem is real so it must be.

Status: False.

That assurance does nothing to assure me and it shouldn’t assure you just because you saw it on TV. Moreover, having the Treasury run by a former head of Goldman Sachs is like letting the fox guard the hen house.

 

There are some sensible politicians from both parties who understand this is only a crisis for those who are over-leveraged (in debt over their heads). For millions not involved in the applying, approving, lending or selling of mortgages to people who did not deserve them in the first place, it is not a crisis. We do know though, that if the government does something about it, we most likey will have a different crisis.

 

Myth 7: This problem is the fault of the Republicans and President Bush or Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats.

Status: False, but not entirely.

This goes back to at least 1999 (NYT, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all ) and both parties were sleeping at the switch or looking the other way. The real fault lies with corruption and greed from many including politicians from both parties who allow lobbyists from organizations like the National Association of Home Builders to directly influence legislation or lack thereof. Professional lobbying is nothing more than bribery.

We have to act now! It is a crisis! I have looked into Paulson’s eyes and seen fear! The sky if falling!

Calling all federal legislators.

• Do not attempt to fix anything.
• The people do not want you to spend our money.
• The market will take care of itself.
• The system is called capitalism. If you fail, you start over. You do not get $200 and and pass go!
• A legislator does not, because of your position, title, education, party, religion, or sense of self-importance know more or understand more than the rest of us.
• A legislator does not have a duty to save us. We can save ourselves. Really.
• Let those who made bad investments fail. Send those who lied and borrowed to jail. Send those who lied and loaned to jail. Send those who lied and sold those loans to jail.

And please, ask all those people yelling on television to take it down to conversation level. It is only cloudy, the sky is not falling.