liveonearth | (Reply)

From: (Anonymous)

There is no easy resolution to our problems. It took us 50 years to get in this deep, and we will never get all the way out because 50 years from now oil will be incredibly expensive and we will still be sorting out how to survive without it. But what we need to do is let the banks fall and not bail them out by printing more money. The effect of this will be that businesses and home-purchasers will not be able to borrow money, for a long time, unless they have some connections or a really good business plan. Lots of people will loose their homes and/or their jobs, and have to go live with family or friends. The beneficial effect of this is that the dollar will keep its current value, instead of being devalued by central bank driven inflation. In the long term I think our federal reserve needs to be dissolved, such that the financial markets are no longer tied to the government, and the bubble and bust cycle will not be created by our government's efforts to shore up business. Let businesses fail that do not provide a useful product. Let the market decide. This is a long view toward a stable economy: the short run is going to be rough, regardless. Part of what we can do to stop running our economy into a hole is to stop pretending that it is our job to assure that Iran doesn't get nukes, that Iraq and Russia sell us their oil, etc etc etc. We have no right to dictate the behavoir of other countries, and it is precisely our invasive foreign policy that is driving us bankrupt. We need to retreat, lick our wounds, learn how to grow food in our yards, and stop expecting the government to keep us all rich. Because it won't happen. The bailout will cause the dollar to tank, which will be the end of the American Way. And as far as I can tell, they are going to do it. It will be a slower and worse fate than if we went into a deep depression tomorrow and emerged 10 years from now a rebalanced and more self-sufficient nation. More realistic. Less infantile and selfish. But as I have said, I don't think that the people or the powers that be are prepared for a decade of hardship to prevent a lifetime of disaster. So we are going to have short term mild hardship and long term chaos, starvation, disease and violence. This is page one of what happens when immediate gratification politics rules over long term horse sense. It is unfortunate that our country has fallen so far, but we are still high up in the saddle, and we have a long way yet to go before we hit bottom.