LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Bailout f lies in the face of fiscal responsibility

Mark D. Alger, Henderson

Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.

Although the federal bailout will free up the credit markets, it does not fully address the economic problems facing this country. The housing market will continue to struggle. Unemployment will continue to rise.

The bailout will have negative effects on the economy. The dollar’s free fall will continue. In the long term, inflation will escalate. Some individuals and the federal government have been living beyond their means. We are trying to maintain a standard of living while borrowing against the future.

In 1991 we had approximately $3 trillion in debt. We will soon break the $10 trillion mark, with no end in sight. Foreign investors have been financing our spending spree. If they should “dump” our treasuries, we could face an even bigger crisis. There is an adage, “you can’t borrow your way to prosperity,” but we keep trying.

It seems there have been more speculation and bubbles the past few years. We are just putting the high-tech bubble behind us, and now we are dealing with the housing bubble. The housing bubble was quite predictable, yet few experts and economists saw it coming.

One final note: Wall Street and Washington believe that artificially low interest rates are a panacea for our economy. Unfortunately, artificially low rates contributed to our present crisis. Borrowers take on more debt than they should and investors take higher risks to enhance their yields (i.e., subprime mortgages).

Today’s economic problems are complex and extensive and cannot be corrected overnight with a magic wand. We need to start planning long term and to be fiscally responsible.

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By dsteele13 (Don Steele)

Oct. 5, 2008

1:42 p.m.

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As we've been trying hard to solve our economic problems for over ten years, and with only negative results, it should be obvious we need to explore new possibilites and I suggest we create some forums to get many more involved.
I don't believe we can avoid the coming pain but with more involvement we can speed the recovery. To allow only those who've tackled this problem for so long to keep searching for the cure is absolutely insane.
By KDR81

Oct. 5, 2008

3 p.m.

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credit was never frozen, the media FAILED to do their job with that one.

http://npri.org/blog/credit-crisis-hits-...
By tokaloshe

Oct. 5, 2008

7:51 p.m.

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OBAMA CONTINUES TO LIE ABOUT HIS CLOSE INVOLVEMENT WITH EXTREME LEFT AND TERRORIST ACTIVITY

Did Sen. Barack Obama's campaign attempt to hide a paid working relationship with a radical leftist organization that has admitted to major financial improprieties and has been convicted in numerous major voter fraud scandals?

That question is being openly asked by the Republican National Committee after it was disclosed Obama's campaign paid more than $800,000 in services to Citizen Services Inc. (CSI), a nonprofit organization that is an offshoot of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.

ACORN is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families. It has held violent, disruptive protests, seeks to regulate banks, supports left-leaning education policies, is accused of working on urging partisan voter turnout for elections, and seems to promote driving businesses from cities.

CSI is headquartered in New Orleans in the same building as ACORN. The three directors of CSI are also top leaders of ACORN. The two groups have close financial ties.

The Obama campaign's payments to CSI -- first reported by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review -- raise questions about the nature of Obama's current relationship with ACORN. Obama has been closely linked with the radical group and may have even helped drive large amount of money to the organization.

According to FEC records reviewed by the Tribune-Review, the Obama campaign paid CSI $832,598.29, from Feb. 25 to May 17, including $564,342.21 for "stage, lighting and sound."

That payment immediately stood out after a pro-Hillary Clinton blogger contacted CSI Director Sunday Alabi, who also serves as an ACORN leader. Alabi said CSI doesn't perform stage, lighting or sound services.