The huge, shiny, new luxury car sat in a driveway not far from my house when I was a kid. The house and the car shouted, "Wealth!"
I noticed such things as big new shiny cars and big houses because they were rare in my neighborhood.
Every time I went by that house and car with my mother, I stared. I didn't say anything, but she must have suspected the wheels turning in my head.
One day she commented as we passed by: "A big new car does not mean that the people inside the house can afford it." And that was all she said about that.
Did my mother also notice when a new cousin-by-marriage mocked our family car with a rough laugh: "What's your daddy doing driving an old thing like that?"
For the first time, I realized that some people judged other people by their cars. I loved my daddy a lot, so right away I knew I did not want to be around my new cousin-in-law.
I can only guess what my mom or dad might say about the political shenanigans coming from Wall Street and Congress over this latest failure.
A child is expected to grow up and to conquer the most extreme tendencies. Today's political and financial scene shows that Congress ignores that kind of growth.
Boys used to be able to carry pen knives back in my dad's day. It was a little guy thing, for trimming branches and cutting rope during outdoor adventures. Now neither children nor adults are supposed to carry knives, but grown ups can threaten bad things with legislative bills. Congress's failure to cut budget excesses continues and grows. The majority in Congress shrink from taking responsibility needed to put a big knife into disgusting, ballooning bloat in the national budget.
The Senate bailout bill is full of limousine pork, yet it's being sold as a benefit to Main Street. There is not one convincing assurance, only repeated fear-mongering. I do not believe the arguments for this bill, do you? If so, why?
Like that new behemoth car in my old neighborhood, the Senate pork limo bailout has handouts designed to please on the surface. Congress will have many opportunities to try to drive that monster at taxpayer expense. There's a very bumpy ride ahead before the shiny wheels fall off.
Some will enjoy the benefits of driving more mortgage debt, again sending the bill to taxpayers. Meanwhile, before the monster limo starts to back out of the driveway, lenders of bad loans climb into the back seat with their Dagwood sandwiches laced with pork lard.
Is that a big crack I see in the national driveway from all the weight inside and outside this shiny, new Congressional bill? That new thing looks good to many insiders, and there's a lot of cautious cheering going on, but what's happening at the foundation level?
It almost looks like time to wish you Happy Birthday, Wall Street and Senate, if the House approves this on Friday. Look at you. Aren't you lucky if this thing passes? But hold the cake and candles. The House may have a majority unwilling to buy this sell. If not, then almost One Trillion Dollars comes from our accounts.
We cannot afford to worry about that tomorrow, or Friday, when the House will vote. God bless the Senator from Oklahoma who puts on the brakes against every earmark of pork lard that comes his way. Will the House also have some who will do the same? We need to do our part, more than just hope or cross our fingers. We must communicate with Congress, calling or e-mailing Congressional reps. I started by using Google "House of Representatives," which took me to the name I needed, with the e-mail link. I'm getting ready to e-mail my representative for the third time. Maybe he will vote No!, again, to that shiny monster we cannot afford!
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