Lots and Lots of Money...

Have you ever wondered what half a trillion dollars looks like?

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$500,000,000,000.00

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I still wonder why the Republicans claim to be the party of smaller government...

I mean, god forbid the rich should suffer. I love how we are now a government in debt because of the rich, for the rich. Robin Hood would be proud...

I bet ya Lehman is kicking themselves for not waiting just a few more days before declaring bankruptcy. Then they, too, could have gotten a free ride out of their bad business decisions...

So, once the failing financial institutions (Does anyone remember the Savings and Loans debacle of the Reagan years?!) have their bad debt erased because of our socialist "generosity," the American taxpayers get, in return, the privileged opportunity, from those very same financial institutions, to be extended more credit and more money in the form of loans on top of loans that the taxpayers can't afford to pay back in the first place?

Where can I sign up for that?!

I see a new generation of children growing up, saying things like, "Daddy, Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be an investor. I get to play with other people's money and get rich, no matter what happens!"

Let's take a short trip down political lane, shall we?

• Since 1970, Republicans have held the presidency for 26 of the last 38 years.
• Democrats had one back-to-back term in those 38 years; the Republicans have had four. In Clinton's back-to-back term, he spent the last six years with a Republican House and Senate.
• The current administration has held control of the House, Senate, and Presidency for six of the last eight years. Bush's time in office and the control of the House/Senate has been the most favorable for a Republican since Calvin Coolidge. Add to that the fact that the current administration was handed a surplus when it took office, it provides a near optimal opportunity to test the Republican rhetoric.

If the idea is that Republican tax cuts for businesses will provide prosperity for the workers (keep a straight face, keep a straight face...!), then why have workers' wages effectively declined in the last 8 years...?

If the tax cuts are good for business, then why are we having the business/banking failures that we are having right now...?

We've tried trickle down and citizens have been waiting nearly three decades for the trickle ("It sounds like my grandfather taking a leak--so what, Mikey?"). With a very slight exception for the Clinton years (due to the dot.com bubble Republican policies also helped create...), it's time for a little bottom-up economics, which lets those of us down here get a little taste first.

(Remember us? The lower-middle class? The ones who used to have dreams and aspirations?)

Why would they? We don't have the money to pay people to set the economic policies that would favor us with money...

This bail out is nothing more than a way to keep the stupidly rich from becoming stupidly poor. You think this half a trillion dollars is going to keep anyone's home from being foreclosed upon? You think it will bring back the thousands your 401(k) lost these last eight years? You think it will go toward boosting the average workers wages so they can afford to pay for the rising costs of gas and groceries?

No, but it will keep CEO's and bankers and investors for being investigated and going to jail for fraud, negligence, and a host of other activities they shouldn't have been engaged in...

Do you know you shouldn't loan a friend money if you know they can't pay you back? Congratulations--you are smarter than a Wall Street tycoon...

You know... Robin Hood just may have been on to something...