Response to the President's address to congress part 2

Well, Mr. President, I’ll continue discussing your speech today. Maybe I’ll be able to figure out exactly what you were saying if I try really hard.

I wanted to ask you what exactly you meant when you were talking about the credit crunch, you said, “First, we are creating a new lending fund that represents the largest effort ever to help provide auto loans, college loans, and small business loans to the consumers and entrepreneurs who keep this economy running.” You’re creating a fund? Is this a government fund? Is the federal government now going to operate as a bank, loaning money to people? Where is the money coming from to do that? Or are you just talking about the government controlling the private banks?

You said, “Second, we have launched a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and re-finance their mortgages.” Hmmm… who decides who is responsible or not? Oh right, Joe Biden… “It’s a plan that won’t help speculators or that neighbor down the street who bought a house he could never hope to afford…” Hmmm… are you going to have someone look at each individual case and decide who can afford what? Oh yeah… Joe Biden… “but it will help millions of Americans who are struggling with declining home values…” Declining home values??? Everybody that owns a house is seeing their home value decline. Are you going to help everybody? When can I expect a check? “– Americans who will now be able to take advantage of the lower interest rates that this plan has already helped bring about.” Wow, you mean we had a huge interest rate drop last week I didn’t hear about? I didn’t realize mortgage rate control was written into the bill and worked that fast. Or are you just taking credit for the interest rate reductions that happened before your spending bill ever saw the light of day?

Then you said something a little scary, “…we will act with the full force of the federal government to ensure that the major banks that Americans depend on have enough confidence and enough money to lend even in more difficult times.” Hmmm… the full force of the federal government… ensure that they have enough money… How exactly does the government do that??? “And when we learn that a major bank has serious problems, we will hold accountable those responsible, force the necessary adjustments, provide the support to clean up their balance sheets and assure the continuity of a strong, viable institution that can serve our people and our economy.” That actually sounds quite ominous to me. It sounds like you are saying that the federal government is going to exert complete control over the banking system in this country. Those are pretty strong words, “the full force of the federal government”, “hold accountable those responsible” and “force the necessary adjustments” I’m not a political expert, but that sounds like a socialist or even a fascist ideology there…

You went on to say that you’re going to hold banks fully accountable and they “won’t be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet. Those days are over.” I agree, they should be more responsible and far less greedy, especially when taxpayer money is being used to bail them out. By the way, do any members of congress fly around on private jets or military jets at taxpayer expense? Just asking, because I heard Nancy Pelosi flies home every weekend in a private military plane at taxpayer expense. Is that true? Also, was there any reason you had to fly across the country at taxpayer expense just to sign this spending bill? You couldn’t just sign it in your office? Or you just felt like taking a little jaunt in Air Force One? Just asking, because it just sort of seems like you’re talking the talk but not really walking the walk, you know?

I also caught that other little dig against the Bush administration when you said that “this time, they will have to clearly demonstrate how taxpayer dollars result in more lending…” right before you said you were going to give them another load of money over and above the spending bill. “This time”, meaning that Bush did it all wrong giving money to the banks but “this time” it’s ok that you’re giving money to the banks because you’re going to do it right. Ok…Joe Biden will oversee it… right, ok…

You went on to say, “…to ensure that a crisis” (there’s your favorite word again) “of this magnitude never happens again, I ask congress to move quickly on legislation that will finally reform our outdated regulatory system.” Would that be anything like the reform recommended by the Bush administration and proposed by Republicans like John McCain and that got shot down by your fellow Democrats like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who insisted there was no need for controls over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Is that the kind of reform you're talking about? Don’t even go there if you’re going to blame it on the Republicans when the Democrats were just as much, if not more at fault for the whole housing and banking collapse. There’s plenty of blame to go around and mistakes were made by both parties and frankly, I’m getting a little tired of you blaming the Republicans for everything every chance you get. It's getting a little tiresome. For someone that pays a lot of lip service to being bi-partisan, you’re one of the most partisan sounding people I’ve ever heard. You wouldn’t be lying about that too would you Mr. President?

The next thing you said was that we need to make “long term investments” and “The only way this century will be another American century is if we confront at last the price of our dependence on oil and the high cost of health care; the schools that aren’t preparing our children and the mountain of debt they stand to inherit. That is our responsibility.”

I think I’ll wait to respond to all these issues but I will say one thing about that statement. It’s interesting that you mention the mountain of debt our children stand to inherit. It IS our responsibility and now it’s largely your responsibility since you just DOUBLED it and you’re getting ready to spend a lot more.

Stay tuned...