What ever happened to equal protection of the law? I mean, what exactly are the qualifications for a bailout? How do I apply? How can I be assured my application is being judged equally?  Why are only certain industries included in the chosen ones? Are the repayment terms the same for everyone? These are questions that might normally be asked of a government program bestowing benefits.

But not with bailouts!

There’s a reason that nothing is being done according to a normal process or procedure - it’s a rip off.  The government is being looted and Congress is doing everything except helping citizens. Look at the “mortgage crisis” for example. As widely stated, the problem is supposed to be that too many people can’t keep up with the interest rates on trick mortgages - mortgages that were bundled and resold so that they are difficult to modify.  As people abandoned their homes in desperation, other homes in their neighborhoods began to drop in value, which not surprisingly discourages even more people from struggling with their own unaffordable payments. And then the cycle continues.

So what did Congress do?  They dumped billions into the coffers of kingpin businesses that caused the problem.  That provided banks and insurance companies with the money they needed to foreclose on even more homes and pay out on defaults to investors.  It’s like they’re actually trying to cause a bigger mess in America’s neighborhoods.

Why didn’t the government nationalize the banking system and make housing loans that terminated the bad loans? Even at a 4.5% rate the government would collect $364,813.42 for every $200K mortgage it issued. What possible better investment in America than home loans to the citizens making the economic engine run.  Budget restraints you say?  Give me a break.  Stabilizing the housing market would do more for the economy than any bailout ever will.  And without an economy, budget deficits will be the least of America’s worries.

I know I don’t have a proper education for this kind of thing, but I’m beginning to wonder who does.  I mean, look at the automaker bailouts; they make no sense at all.  Maybe I could see huge tax cut for anyone that traded in their gas hog for an electric vehicle from a domestic automaker. But wait, that’s right, THERE’S NOT ONE AVAILABLE!  So why would citizens ever loan money to car companies that ignore market demand?

And where’s NASA in all of this?

If the development of technology for natural gas and electric cars is a national priority and the government is going to invest $25B developing an efficient automobile, we should utilize the massive investment we’ve already made in scientific human resources through our military and space programs.  It makes no sense to outsource the job of designing a highly efficient automobile to a private company.

When technology that’s designed and created by the government is released into the public sector, any commercial interest may use that technology to create the products we need.  If we fund GM’s development of the technology we need, we end up with private company patents that prevent aggressive competition.  After all, any GM competitor is essentially competing with the government.

But if you listen, the automakers are saying the real problem is the global financial crisis.  They say they were already improving.  But how?  Improving by firing workers, closing plants, pressuring workers for wage concessions?  How does that really help America?  No, whether the automakers get ANOTHER $25B or not, they can’t fix this - and neither will the $4 trillion already spent on financial bailouts.

Why?  Three reasons:

(1) Unions in America have been destroyed and need to be restored.

(2) Exploitative price-based globalization is dragging America down.

(3) Congress is not doing the things needed to fix America’s economy.

Today, many of America’s workers are competing with foreign workers that make $300 a month or less - in some cases a lot less.  Even our higher paying jobs are being undermined by wild west offshoring. When combined with the government destruction of unions, you begin to see why Americans have lost wages, job security, and pension plans.

Every American company should have to pay foreign workers the equivalent of our legal minimum wage. They should be required to provide unemployment and workers compensation insurance into an international fund if it is not already required in the country where they do business. They should be required to maintain occupational health and safety programs and to abide by U.S. labor and civil rights laws - no matter where they operate.

Similarly, goods coming into this country should be assessed a separate tariff for each of those things that are not provided in the country of origin.  As a nation we should refuse to condone the exploitation of people no matter where they reside.  Our government has allowed American corporations to leave our ideals at the border, while at the same time turning a blind eye to communists flooding our markets.

And Congress is doing nothing to address these issues. How could this be happening? How did we ever get to this point?

Well we know that - by law - officers of a corporation are required to represent the best interest of their shareholders.  And with that, it’s easy to see how corporations were compelled to take advantage of the bottleneck in Congress.  And, once Congress was dominated by corporate influence, laws harmful to the majority of citizens - the American working class - became easier and easier to pass.

Meanwhile, American labor unions have been crushed into caricatures of unions - slowly dieing without adequate government protection.  So guess what - without an organized effort to improve workers’ wages and working conditions both have deteriorated dramatically.

President Obama and the new Congress must act to restore the fundamental principles espoused in our Constitution.  Congress in particular must stay focused on the good of the working class.  Today, 90% of America’s citizens make less than $80,000 per year, and of them more than 60% would not be able to financially maintain their personal program for 90 days if they suddenly lost their income.

Today’s manipulation of home prices, utility prices and the job market is literally terrorizing American families.  The wildly gyrating costs associated with manipulation are compounded by the destabilizing effects of price-based globalization.  These conditions distract citizens at work and in school, and result in lost productivity and stress-related health costs for society as a whole.

We must put an end to this cycle of destruction and restore the foundation of life for working class Americans.  When the government thought unions had become too powerful they attacked the corruption.  We must resolve to attack with the same vigor today’s corporate corruption of government.

Congress must do the work of the people.  The House of Representatives should be expanded and the pay for members of both the House and the Senate should be tied to reduced to median household income. Imagine an executive shows up for work 114 days out of the year, makes an annual salary of $165,000, but often makes decisions that harm the shareholders.  Well that’s what you get if you replace “executive” with “Congressman” and “shareholders” with “citizens.”  It has to change.

Here’s a tidbit that may help put things in perspective: In 1967 a U.S. Senator made $30,000 or just 81% of the median annual household income for Americans, which was $36,847 that year. Today, a Senator makes $169,300 or more than 337% of the median annual household income for Americans, which is now only $50,233.

And don’t forget staff!  U.S. Senators and Representatives have almost 10,000 staff members on the Hill and at State and District offices. This is approximately the same number of Representatives that need to be added to Congress. So instead of having a Representative that has time to talk to you, you end up with a staff person that nobody ever elected.

Today’s perverted capitalism is a pyramid scheme wherein the masses never realize the false promise of financial security.  By now, Americans would be working a three-day work week and paying off their home in ten years if the government had truly been representing them over the last few decades.  Instead, corporations have been given sweetheart deals on our most valuable assets and allowed to manipulate the cost of our fundamental needs like utilities and fuels taken from our own facilities and public lands.

Change, oh change, where art thou.

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UPDATE: For a legal treatment of the issue you’d be better off reading the Legal Times article by Robert A. Levy that’s been reprinted by the Cato Institute

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