The anxiety sweeping the financial markets masks the efforts the Federal Government is making to aid the struggling economy, said President George W. Bush in an address in the Rose Garden of the White House.

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Well, I agree with Dubya on one point: panicking during a panic causes more panic. It’s a fairly well-known fact that the stock market runs on a very generous dose of emotion, so you need to keep that in mind while watching the Dow drop.

Now, is the bailout going to fix anything? Well, while I think the government should just leave stuff alone, and let the economiy fix itself, I’m willing to give this bailout the benefit of the doubt and wait to see what happens before criticising.  However, nobody expects it to be a cure-all, so I don’t have my hopes that high.

All that being said, I have to admit something: my days as a Bush supporter are done.  When he tossed capitalism out the window, when his fix was to socialize the economy, when his support seemed mostly from the Democrat camp, then it became clear that he’s abandoned conservatism.  He’s done a lot for our country, but it’s time for him to go.  Now.  Heck, let Cheney take over and finish the term!

The Bush administration is considering taking ownership stakes in certain U.S. banks as an option for dealing with a severe global credit crisis.

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This is really bad.  Not only is it a socialized banking system, but it’s our government deciding that capitalism doesn’t work and moving on to another option.  If we keep going down this road, the U.S. as we’ve known it will be lost forever.

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank claims conservatives are trying to partly blame the nation’s economic woes on black people.

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Basically, Barney is saying that the Community Reinvestment Act, which forced banks to give out subprime mortgages, was intended to help poor people.  Some poor people are black.  Therefore, conservatives are blaming black people for the economic crisis.

Sorry, Barney, but the problem is the CRA, regardless of who the loans went to.  You forced banks to loan large sums of money to people who didn’t have the means to pay it back, which is why we’re here.  Racism didn’t play a part, but greed sure did!

Quite simply, this is an act of desperation on the part of a guy who knows he played a big part in this mess.

Ah, Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank Barney Frank…

Can we kick Massachusetts out of the Union if they reelect this guy?

Funny stuff! Click here for video.

Already, the Postal Service is not hiring because it simply doesn’t move as much mail as it once did. E-mail has taken an increasing amount of its business. McKiernan says mail volume dropped 11 percent in fiscal 2008, which ended Tuesday. That resulted in the service spending $2.3 billion more than it took in.

In a message to his members, American Postal Workers Union President William Burris said Postmaster General John E. Potter told union leaders that “16,000 USPS employees lack the six years of continuous service required to achieve protection against layoffs.”

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Ultimately, The government is trying to keep staff levels where they were before email took off, even though it isn’t necessary.  There will always be a need for a postal service, as I doubt the ability to email packages will ever surface, but it’s going to require less people as more turn to email for correspondence and to websites to pay their bills.

However, I’m torn on this.  While I don’t think my tax money should pay for unnecessary jobs, I realize that the Post Office gives preference to veterans, and I don’t want to see anyone willing to get shot at for this country laid off by the very same government.  What to do, what to do…

Warren Buffett said Thursday that it is crucial to the global economy that the controversial $700 billion Wall Street bailout passes and that the pricetag may have to rise to do the job right.

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If the government doesn’t just step aside and let the economy correct itself, the cost wil be higher.  We’ll get bailout after bailout, the problem will never be fixed, and we’ll have another lengthy depression (pick the fancy name of your choice: New Great Depression, Great Depression 2.0, Greater Depression…)

Ah, GraphJam.com. Always funny stuff!

more music charts

110 pages of bad governing at it’s finest!

Why, the Dems, of course!

If you only watch one YouTube video today, it should probably be this one:

Urgent efforts to lash together a $700 billion rescue plan for the national economy broke apart Thursday night, hours after key lawmakers had declared they had reached a deal.

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This may actually be for the best.  The system needs to correst itself.  If that’s prevented, the inevitable crash will just keep getting worse each time it’s pushed back.

Only seven percent (7%) of voters think the federal government should use taxpayer funds to keep a large financial institution solvent. Sixty-five percent (65%) say let the company file for bankruptcy.

These numbers are generally the same across Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters.

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Don’t get me wrong, I think the $700 billion bailout and near-dictatorial power the proposal would give the Treasury Secretary (see Sec. 8 ) are far too Socialist for my taste, but it’s not like I have a better plan.

I’m also pretty sure that we’re so far removed from the Great Depression that nobody truly grasps what another one would be like.  That fact most likely explains the poll results above.

HT: Lew Rockwell (here & here)

When it comes to the economy, we should listen to Ron Paul.

The Democratic-controlled Congress, acknowledging that it isn’t equipped to lead the way to a solution for the financial crisis and can’t agree on a path to follow, is likely to just get out of the way.

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It may not be intentional, but I think Congress is doing the right thing here.  Too much regulation is just contributing to the problem and prolonging the inevitable.  I can’t remember where I read it, but all the government solutions to the economic crisis are doing is preventing the economy from correcting itself, thus making the eventual correction much more devastating when it finally happens.

HT: A Blog For All