Do you believe that United States economy is bad? Especially with all our presidential candidates discussing it as such and proposing their various "stimulus packages" and other "buy your vote" pandering. Not to mention the blathering of the talking-head pundits and their gloom and doom prognostications of a (gasp) recession. It almost seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy when the soothsayers start whispering recession or credit crisis. Whether true or not it's beginning to come true. Why just look at the international markets and how they tumbled during our closed-market holiday for The Rev. Dr. King Jr. This in anticipation of a stumbling U.S. economy over fears of a U.S. recession.

I'm no economist, but a lot of this seems like it has stemmed from the so called "housing crisis" or "sub-prime lender crisis" or "mortgage crisis" or whatever you want to call it is absolutely asinine. Why you can do a quick google search and find stories about people making $35,000 a year being sold ARMs for $350,000 homes because the first three year's payment was affordable and then lo and behold when the rate adjusts they can't make the payments. Now I imagine (and hope rather) that most people aren't quite that ignorant. However, a bunch of fools nonetheless got sold a dog and pony show for either a house they couldn't afford or an adjustable rate mortgage they didn't understand and we're supposed to cry havoc?  If they get foreclosed on that's their problem. What about predatory lending practices? That's unfortunate, but unless a lender held a gun to a borrowers head and forced them to close the loan, it's still a poor choice on the part of the consumer. If you're that stupid to think you can afford a loan for something worth $350,000 when you make $35,000 and it's an ADJUSTIBLE RATE mortgage, and you can't figure it out. You're a moron! Even if the loan amount were half that gross amount in the example it's still too much for that level of gross income. I say let the banks foreclose and let these fools learn a hard and valuable lesson called life.When you make a stupid decision (or are slick-talked into one) there are consequences.

Unfortunately most people seem to have not a clue these days. Simply look at the national average consumer credit card debt by going to www.fool.com. 1.7 trillion with a "T" total consumer credit. $50 billion in total finance charges paid in 2001. From this report on PR Newswire,  they estimate that the average (low and middle-income) American household has over $8,000 in credit card debt. The averages for upper middle class families is even higher. Not to mention that credit card debt is usually high interest with all kinds of penalties that can be arbitrarily levied by the credit card companies. Are we this collectively ignorant on basic economics that are supposed to be taught in high school?

Based on fears of a recession, the fed has slashed interest rates. I guess that's great for some of these morons with ARM's that are bright enough to refinance to a fixed rate mortgage. However, with the President and our democrat congress getting ready to pass a wonderfully socialist "stimulus package" farce is outrageous. The last time I looked the senate had the stimulus bill and was going to give $500 to single people grossing less than 150,000/yr and $1000 to married couples grossing less than $350,000/yr. Whoop-de-do. The IRS will cut these checks in May and some of us won't get the money until August. That's really going to stimulate the economy in Feburary. Besides this fact, there's also the fact that people that don't make enough to actually pay any taxes will get checks. Illegal immigrants illegally employed in this country may actually get these checks. Great. The government is going to take mine and every other legal taxpayer's money and hand it out to everyone as a "stimulus rebate" whether they earned it or not. Thank you Karl Marx, from each according to their ability, to each according to their (percieved) need. This is absolutely asinine! Not only is it overtly socialist it's not even going to do a damn thing! Is our government a bunch of wise guys expecting us sheep to take a payoff and look the other way from their over taxing and over spending socialisim? Further esposing the nanny-state view of the government as a panacea!

The simple fact is the government shouldn't be taking as much money from us as they are in the first place. At least not with taxation in the form it is now. Especially the social security slush-fund pay-for-whatever tax.

Taxes are always paid by private individuals, the end consumers.Period. What? Don't believe me? Then you're again ignorant of basic economics, that doesn't take a degree in the subject to understand.

Here's the truth, or if you want "The Straight Talk" (which I wish John McCain would do more of than he suggests he does). Any taxes the government imposes upon business are paid for by passing them on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. The manufacturer/supplier charges more to the distributor to purchase the goods/services to pay his taxes/wages/inherent operating costs. The distributor charges the dealer higher prices to sell the goods/services to pay their taxes/wages/inherent operating costs. The dealear charges the consumer higher prices to buy and use the goods/services to pay their taxes/wages/inherent operating costs. Furthermore all businesses have employees, from whom they must withold income taxes. They also have to match the income taxes themseleves. These taxes are embedded in the cost of goods/services no matter where on the supply chain the business rests. Employers raise wages and prices in order to compensate for taxes and costs of living imposed on the economy by the government. 

This isn't rocket science. Just think about it. No matter who is taxed we personally pay for it when we buy anything from gasoline to potting soil, groceries to DVDs.  

Then we're told that we need to tax the extremely monetarily wealthy (rich can be rather ambiguous here) because the middle and lower classes are overburdened. Poppycock! Who runs the companies? Who employs workers of all varying levels of wages from the lower classes? Who spend the most money to buy the most expensive goods and services with the highest profit margins and inherent embedded taxes. Not to mention are already paying over two thirds of the taxes to begin with. The extremely monetary wealthy do all these things! They run the businesses, they employ the workers, they drive the economy. 

The government needs to get out of the way of entreprenuers, businesses owners, and other extremely wealthy individuals, just as much as they do from the guy making minimum wage sweeping floors because the free market allows the floor sweeper to start his own janitorial service company if he is inspired to do so and rewards him with monetary wealth if he succeeds. That's America and freedom my friends! And I'm scared of where its going or rather going away. Its being lost to the over-emotional entitlement socialisim of the left in this country. It's very scary indeed.

It's also scary because for freedom and free markets to work free people have to take responsibility. They have to educate themselves and think. You can't decide to buy a home because the inital low payments you see quoted for an ARM allow you to temporarily a home you feel you want. It's a decision based on irresponsibility, ignorance, and emotion. Compounded by the idea that you shouldn't have to be responsible for your decision because the government will bail you out. Not just this but the idea that it's perfectly acceptable to live on more than you earn, often much more, via credit cards is also extremely irresponsible. What happened to the meaning of the words responsible and adult, and where have all the responsible adults gone?

I guess I'm just an idiot for paying off my credit card every month and using it as debit card based on my monthly net income budget. I guess I'm an idiot for running the numbers when I was in the market for a house and determining that on my net salary I could afford only so much house with a 30 year fixed traditional mortgage. I mean I should have gotten a ARM so the government could help me pay my mortgage, how stupid of me not to figure that out.

I guess I'm just an idiot for beliving in the American Dream of personal freedom. And the freedom to become personally wealthy, and chaffing at the idea of losing these sacred things that our founding fathers had hoped to guarantee with our Constitution. Which these days seems to be something we simply rewrite by getting the right judges nominated anyway.