An Open Letter to Congress About the Economy

Dear Congress,

Have I got a deal for you!

The CEOs of the big three automakers keep asking for billions of dollars in handouts and "emergency bridge loans" from you, well, actually from me and about 300 million others like me. 

I can see both sides of the bail-out vs. Chapter 11 bankruptcy argument, so I'm not trying to make light of the bad situation that thousands upon thousands of Americans would be put in if they lose their jobs because Detroit manufacturing goes under. But while you've got that big ol' checkbook out, I just want to put in a few words for my parents.

No, they're not Wall Street titans or tone-deaf executives -- they're small family farmers.  And even though they don't say this and they don't complain, they could really use a little help making ends meet.

I understand there's a whole philosophical thing about whether the government should come to the aid of big businesses -- the ones that have gotten "too big to fail." But I'd like to say a word about the families and businesses around the country that are too small to fail.  That's right, too small to fail.

If you save the big guys but all the little businesses go under, who's going to be there to buy the products and save the money?    Someone once told me that I was so vigilant in getting reimbursed for business expenses that I could turn $1 into $1.05!  Lots of people, including my parents, are like that, but I'm afraid that the extra nickel isn't going to go very far anymore.

You're all very concerned, as you should be, about the state of our economy and how to keep us from descending into another Great Depression.  But you're a little too busy patting yourselves on the backs for staying in Washington, D.C. in December so those auto CEOs could test drive their hybrids halfway across the country.

The stock market tanked in 1929.  The depths of the Great Depression didn't come until 1933.  It took that long for the bad things that happened to the big guys to trickle down to the rest of the country. So, as my parents are in semi-retirement, but still working a couple jobs to make sure they have health insurance and something extra for on the table at the holidays, don't be so focused on  the guys in the suits who are giving you their best pity-party spiel.

After the Wall Street guys and the Detroit executives get their inevitable handouts, please see if you've got a little something left over for my parents and others like them, especially since they're the ones who are helping to put the food on your holiday dinner tables, too.  And try not to make it one of those stimulus things that are really just early tax refunds in disguise.  Something real would be nice that would give a boost to families, both financially and emotionally.

I'm sure that's something your constituents could get behind, especially as they're trying to finance their own holiday gatherings with all the trimmings while still trying to have a little something left to tide them over t0 the New Year.

Thanks so much in advance.  I know my parents would thank you, too.

Sincerely yours,

PunditMom

Cross-posted from MOMocrat Joanne's place, PunditMom.

Comments

[TINYMARIE]

I really believe the economy will rebound only after we are released from this state of fear. The media has us locked in fear. This is not the Great Depression, yet. It will only go there if consumers and small business don't shake the fear. Hopefully we will learn from this fall, and make some BIG changes when we are on our feet again. If we don't this is going to look mild compared to the hit we will take when the Social Security and Fuel nightmares come to a head! NO President or CONGRESS has had the guts to face those giants. They are sleeping giants who will one day jolt out of bed.

[JayMonster]

Actually some members of Congress as well as the President-Elect understand this already. This is what is known as the economic stimulus package that the President-Elect has been speaking about (and the GOP has been deriding). By investing in think like infrastructure, jobs are created, taxables are created. These things directly help keep property taxes lower since local and State economies are directly benefited by these programs, and help keep property and State taxes from going up.

These programs are specifically designed to help from the bottom up (as opposed to the myth of "trickle down" which never seems to make it past CEO bonus checks).

The key here is that people need to remember this, and not buy into the "tax and spend" rhetoric that the GOP is (and will continue) to throw around, the programs directly help the "too small to fail" people and these investments in our future provides exactly the sort of help you are seeking.

[kady]

Tinymarie - I don't think you are alone in your belief but I am curious as to why you think that the economic situation we are in is purely fear driven.

[TINYMARIE]

Kady : I don't think fear alone drives it, but I do believe it is feeding it .Giving loans to people who couldn't afford to pay them back helped lead us here, and so did unrealistic Union deals. A multitudes of other things helped. The fear and bad economic news that is being thrust upon us at ever angle is feeding the crises. People with real money are holding back, and refusing to purchase. Seniors are terrified, even rich seniors who are economically sound. I'm a RN, and I see their fears and hear their concern. Businesses are cutting back, some because they can't get good loans. Other businesses are cutting back out of fear. The stimulus packages are going to drown us in debt. Social Security is ticking toward a disaster.
Real " Change" may require a little suffering now to prevent utter chaos later. My patient who survived the Great Depression did it by working, saving, doing without, and optimistically looking for a better future. I'd love a quick fix just as much as the next guy, but there are no "miracle cures".

[Lawyer Mama]

Tinymarie - Um, I wouldn't really say it was loaning money to people who couldn't afford it that was the problem entirely. Rather, another major problem came from the morons on Wall Street who thought it would be a great idea to package subprime loans with prime loans, rendering them so inextricably intertwined that they can't be accurately valued. So what happened when the subprime loans became a problem? They took down everything else with them. Because they couldn't be separated from them.
This country got out of the Great Depression through deficit spending. That's exactly what the O administration is planning to do. There is no other way around it. A lot of people *didn't* make it through the Great Depression by saving and cutting back. There wasn't any more to cut back on, so they went with out food, they lost their homes, and they lost their jobs. A little frugality and hardship alone isn't going to solve this problem.

[PunditMom]

I wish I saw some real investment in infrastructure, but so far I'm just seeing potential handouts. And as for fear, I hardly think it's the media's fault. Sure, they're beating the drum because it's the story of the day, but aren't we responsible for how we react to news or what purports to be news?

[TINYMARIE]

Dear Kady:

I pray you are right! Many economists believe Roosevelt's New Deal actually kept us in the Great Depression longer.

I live in Oregon. The Public Employees Retirement Account's are drowning our State.
We can't afford to give all Union retirees amazing retirements. They may deserve it,but it just ain't feasible.

In California half the homes on my parent's street are foreclosed. My parents are friends with these folks. They bought homes they couldn't afford, but the banks gave them the loans. Many of the banks were forced to loan to them under the Community Reinvestment Act.

In 2004 Congress met and many tried to reign in and regulate Freddy and Fanny.
But, the Lobbyist were in bed with Freddy and Fanny.
~Barney Frank " Safety and Soundness not an issue."~Talking about Freddy & Fanny
~Maxine Waters said, " There is no crisis at Freddie and Fannie".
~Gregory Meeks said, "There's nothing wrong with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

Twenty years from now it will be too late to play the blame game in explaining why Social Security went belly up. When the dust settles, let's vote in some Congress members who will ignore the lobbyist and fix this beast!

Gas prices are shockingly low right now. Has everyone forgotten July? I'm looking for Congress remembers who will work on fixing that future crisis too.

Wishing the best for us all,

Tinymarie

[StacyH]

Another problem that was occuring was home valuations. Homes were valued at $400,000 but the asking price was $500,000 and even though the bank new this, they would grant loans at $500K because they could get securities for it and make money on the investment end.

Wall Street was surely to blame for a lot of this mess. But the regulations that were taken off of wall street occured during Clinton's lame duck years and Bush tried to bring them back, to no avail.

You are not going to fix this by stimulus checks. We can not SPEND our way out of this. People need to save more, spend less, and live on what they earn. Even if what they earn isn't what they want it to be.

And while I sincerely appreciate your parents plight and you're desire to help them, I am sick of bailouts. People are going to need to start taking care of themselves and their neighbors on an individual level, not on a federal level.