Children's Arrows and Rum Producers??

So we the tax payers of this wonderful country are going to spend 700+billion dollars to bail out the dummies on Wall Street and Main Street. So much is made of who is rescuing whom. Wall Street has made some dumb moves. American lenders, including banks, have made some dumb moves. We fell for the sales pitch of the "snake oil salesmen". People were talked into loans they really could not afford. I remember when we were toying with the idea of trying to buy a house. We had some money and thought it might be a good idea. Of course we did not have very good credit. In looking into financing, I saw all sorts of lending possibilities. I discovered a lot of people were going for the ARM (Adjustable rate mortage) financing. I questioned the wisdom of these loans as did many "experts" in real estate finance. People who chose this type fo financing were told that the rates would go up later, but by then they would have increased their income, etc. No worry. Then the rates increased and these people were startled to discover they were not making enough income. Credit cards came in handy to fill in the gaps. Credit card companies were more than happy to up the credit limits. After all, the more money charged the more the credit card companies made in interest. Oops, flash forward, the money ran out.

This is just an oversimplification of some of the things that have gone wrong which has made it necessary to "rescue" our economy. I don't have any credit cards. I have frequently thought about getting one "just in case". But I never liked the interest rates. So, if I don't have the cash, I don't buy. But I guess, I'm in the minority. I remember years ago, my ex-father in law had several credit cards which all had credit insurance on them. He figured if he died they would be paid off. He did not worry about the monthly payments or credit limits. Now things are different. People are paying for groceries with credit cause they don't have enough money or may not even have a job. Now the banks don't want to lend money because there is already too much credit on the books. Banks borrow from other banks. Business borrows to stay to expand or pay employees, but then suddenly there is no work. No work, no income. Hum... Now what, we have bills to pay! What about my business, what about my home?

But we've been told by Washington that our economy is strong. Over and over, we have a strong economy. Our economy is so strong that the Senate and House are working on an economic rescue bill. 700 billion dollars said the House. Citizens screamed in anger. We don't want to bail out the Wall Street "fatcats". The House listened to people who called and emailed and rejected the bill. But we have to do something before we have an "economic Pearl Harbor" as this has been called. So the Senate says we'll come up with something more palatible. This one should pass and we know the House will pass it, too. Yeah. Let's rescue our economy... The Senate's version has some good plans but they added another 130 billion dollars to the 700 billion already proposed. They added incentives like six million dollars makers of kids wooden arrows. Huh?? Why? Also, they put in 192 million for rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. I like rum. I have some in my liquor cabinet. But why do these guys need extra money? And then there is 128 million for car racing tracks. What are they going to do with that? Are the race tracks going to be paved with gold? I guess arrow and rum producers are having a hard time. Maybe there are not enough kids practicing archery. And for sure those race tracks have to be kept in good condition. Those race cars don't come cheap. Fine choices for the use of my money.