The Empire Crumbles from within...

When the Roman Republic started to crumble, the Roman Senate, instead of acting as a bulwark to the executive power of the Emperor, it stood by inactive, as the Emperors concentrated more and more power in their hards. Instead of adopting Christianity, it remained the last standing supporter of Paganism.

Fast forward to our modern day America and the $700 billion bailout package for Wall Street. As if Executive Power did not expand enough the last eight years under the watch of Dick Cheney and David Addington, as if our civil rights and international law have not been trampled repeatedly by various acts of the Bush Administration, our brilliant politicians are now attempting to expand the power of the Treasury & The Fed.

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't the House of Representatives only yesterday vote down the $700 billion bailout package because of an overwhelming amount of letters, emails and telephone calls from the American public? Or was this all smoke and mirrors in an effort to look good to the public and then pass an enhanced bailout package on steroids with the additional tax reduction proposals?

And who comes to the rescue? The US Senate. Their goal is to sweeten the bill for the localities and send it back to the House for approval by adding more spending and cutting taxes.

I respect the New York Bankers. They work for their money. But when will the politicians in Washington understand that if a household lives beyond its means, one day the piper will need to be paid. We need production, not consumption. We do not need lower taxes, more spending and an additional borrowing for $700 to provide additional credit. We have been doing this for 8 years. Look where we are now. Dollar down 35%, trade & budget deficits balooning, national debt in all time highs. Yet, we keep watching the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

From my experience, credit is still affluent. I have a good credit score and I spend less than what I make. I never lost a dime for anyone I dealt with. Are banks willing to lend me? Sure they are. Nobody decreased my lines of credit on my cards or raised my interest rates. And I am unemployed!

The problem is that we are exiting a period of reckless credit. For better or for worse (for better I think) credit is not recklessly affluent any more, and that is why it NEEDS to contract. There is some pain involved in the process. The ones who borrowed more than they could afford will feel it. So be it. Nobody put a gun to our head to buy a new European car every 3 years.

But in a classic move of an empire lacking values and seeking valuations, the Senate is moving to support preposterous executive powers for the Fed and the Treasury and at the same time seek more consumption & credit, lower taxes & more borrowing. So, we will go to the Chinese and the Arabs (oh, now we conveniently forgot that these are the bad guys), and borrow $700 billion.

The piper will need to be paid sooner or later. But the Senate is once again postponing it for later. So, let's go ahead, print some more money, derail the value of the dollar until we are cut off from the producers of this world like a drunk is cut off from the bar manager.

Because if we do not decide to discipline ourselves now I am sure that the Chinese, Japanese, Germans & Arabs will do it for us later. And I am fine with the Empire crumbling. People get what they deserve in life... I just hope and pray there is no blood spilt in the process because the punishment would not fit the crime.