Right now the target for the source of the financial bailout is centered around the most irrational area - the American middle class. Ultimately the currently proposed plan taps into the very people that have been battered the most by the crisis. The stability of of the middle class is so eroded that we may face within a decade an entirely different landscape, a tiny cadre of wealth and power and a depressed and subservient lower class.
America will die an ugly death similar to the fall of the Roman Empire should we allow this march to proceed.
Just maybe there's another answer.
Here's a list of the 400 richest Americans from Forbes Magazine.
Forbes Magazine - The 400 Richest Americans
We can assume from the nationalistic rhetoric of many on this list that they consider themselves true American patriots willing to support politicians that want to spread our wonderful democracy throughout the world. For the most part, they fully support unfettered free enterprise and one would think they would abhor any governmental intervention in the matters of capitalism.
The fortunes they've made, the yachts they maintain, their fleets of vehicles, their sprawling mansions, the salaries of their employees that take care of their every whim are all the result of the advantages they've received by being citizens of the most powerful nation on Earth. Their companies take advantage of the infrastructure built over the centuries by the blood and sweat of real Americans.
Before one cent is pulled from middle America to bail out the failed companies that threaten all of our lives, perhaps it's time for each of these 400 people to pay back a bit. Let's look at the estimated worth for the people just on the first page. Bill Gates has a net worth of $51 billion dollars. If he could come up with just 5% of that sum and put it into the bailout fund, it would add about 2.5 billion dollars. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't miss a meal, have to skip a mansion payment, lose a day on one of his yachts. Warren Buffet giving that same percent would add in an additional 2 billion dollars to the kitty.
Almost any of us would be ecstatic to be able give a few billion to save our great country and still have billions remaining to live a lifestyle beyond anyone's dreams. If any of the people on that first page donated that amount, they would still remain fabulously wealthy.
So how do we convince these "fine Americans" that it's in their best interest to step forward and lead the way to restore our financial integrity? Would a telethon for the fabulously rich work? We could probably get Paris Hilton to host it. (No disrespect meant for Jerry Lewis but I just don't think he'd relate to these folks.)
Just maybe, if these richest of the rich would step up to the plate, the rest of us wouldn't mind so much opening up our empty wallets or dumping the contents of our penny jars into the pot.
Oh, and T. Boone Pickens, if our energy future is so important to you that you feel obliged to barrage us with your commercials touting wind and natural gas, maybe you should be first in line to hand over the keys to all those natural gas leases and real estate you own that just happen to bring you immeasurable wealth should your plan go through. We'll send you a nice card for your contribution.