Government to the rescue……Not again. Let the Auto makers fail for crying out loud. Let the Recession takes its course. Let the market decide if they want these cars. You might be GM but that does not mean you rule the world so much that we have to bail you out. Then again, its not about cars it is about jobs. So now yet again, our government will get to decide which businesses fail and those that will succeed. Ok, so you make a product that nobody wants, that does not last, looks like a joke, runs like a joke and then you come with your tin cup for more cash. Should we be surprised. The market has decided! You make a truck and a Cadillac…thats it. Get over it, no one wants your car! The House of Representatives has approved the plan. The Senate must stand and say sorry, but no go. You are in this with everyone else. Go bankrupt, clear cut your operation and start again. Better yet, get in line with the Venture Capital guys oh you would have so much fun there!

What a relief it has been to see our gas prices fall as they have. Perhaps now people will go back on vacation, take their kids to more events and even buy a few more cars. I cant help but feel that OPEC and others raise these prices to get us numb to the idea that $1.69 is a whole lot better than 4.68 even thought 1.69 is still high to what it costs to produce and distribute gasoline. “Wow, look on how much I save on gas today.” How can it be a savings when you were being gouged in the first place! It is like going to the store and finding a great sale off the “alread inflated price” and coming home with your trophy; a t-shirt or trinket. You feel so proud of your find! Savings, are you kidding me. You are numb. You are thankful you have a few more bucks in your pocket. OPEC is smiling. OPEC would be doing time with Blago if they ran their operations here in the US. Who else can hold supply with such a tight fist, sell at any price etc. No one. Wake up people, We are Going South.

It is just the same ol Chicago system, is typical American Politics, is plain greed and power or indication of really is going on behind the scenes. Just when you thought we had had enough to worry about, here comes the Illinois Governor to make us all proud. What a scandal. How will Obama Hussein handle all of this. The rest of the world which is already questioning capitalism now will get the chance to question our leadership for the free world. Sorry folks, when it comes to the most powerful it really is who has the largest checkbook. So many other States would not have this issue but of course, since this is our President’s Senate seat there is a price. Ok, let us play it out. What is the price you would pay to have this Senate seat? Would you pay millions, vote for Blago’s pet projects, broker his wife’s real estate deals? Chicago has been corrupt for years. Correct me if I am wrong, but didnt the JFK campaign get a little help with some missing ballot boxes some time ago? Sorry to the world.

Ok, lets get this right. Seventy percent of our GDP is made up from consumer s spending. Are you kidding me? We do produce anything for export that we can fall back on? No we do not. We depend on Black Fridays, Holidays and great sales to get the economy  running again. Just think about that. Even the Treasury Secretary said we need to loosen up the credit card rates so people can spend. So now how do you like the government legislating personal responsibility? Not so well do you? If we can just make credit easier we can all spend more money. What is our savings rate for families…somewhere around 1 percent. Why cant the government suggest we think of new ideas of production and resources the world needs and change the economy away from one that depends on the American spender/ consumer. Not a good bet. We are way to fickle anyway. To be the leader of the free world is to live by example. I am afraid the world will look and say we are a poor example and that capitalism does not work. Watch out, this will be the crowd that crys to the government for help because we cannot help ourselves. Think about that for a moment. The free market cant help itself so look the government for answers. I argue that is a slippery slope away from the free market system and to that of strong central government.

This phrase has got to go, “Its the economy or well you how the economy is or we just cant do it in this economy” This is self defeating and dangerous. It will only drag us down. Let the recession take its course, we will have a “correction” and move forward. Do you really think we should just close the doors of America and simply say we are out of business? We are the economy and if the self fulfilling prophecy has any merit we will hit rock bottom. Please recall that it is our own behaviors that got us into this mess. No one made you buy a home that you cant afford with a loan that you do not understand.  Not one government has ever been able to legislate personal responsibility. Look in the mirror and realize that it is up to you to stand up and take the bull by the horns. What amazing opportunities there are out there. Take it and run with it.  We will all realize that yes, loans will be old fashioned and boring. So what. You cannot live beyond your means anymore, Great. You may actually have to save money for the item you want, gee how revolutionary.

I know its a very tired source of conversation but housing is in a real crunch. Interest rates are great if you can qualify. what I have found is that people have the money to buy homes but their down payment is in their home equity. How do you get that our, well by selling your home and unlocking that equity. Hence, the domino effect will begin. Who or what will be the initial tipping point to get things moving again. Could it be Obamas new plan to build roads, bridges hospitals? I think so. But how are we going to pay for all that investment in infrastructure? Raise taxes on wages that comefrom that construction? Does it really matter in these times. You see, we do not have a war or cold war to heat things up again. There is nothing to fall back on but on ourselves. We all need a home and are at a point where we can afford a mortgage so why not get back in market. I just dont get it. I will revisit this in my next post.

We just purchased my three young kids their first MP3 player, although they call it an iPod. Great branding by Apple! So they were asking me to put some music on their players so that they could listen to their new devices. I had forgotten that we had a CD from vacation bible school from the summer, and loaded some of those onto their MP3 players. I think they got more enjoyment out of those songs than those from Hilary Duff.

In the world of iPods and MP3 players wouldn’t it be nice to have some inspirational music to listen too. You can now get MP3 downloads, where you can even use PayPal to pay for the tunes at GET a FREE Download and Discover This brand new site just launched and caters to those looking for alternative to main stream audio with an inspirational appeal. Check them out today, as the season for giving and sharing is here.