The Fly in the Ointment

Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor. Ecclesiastes 10:1 NKJV

From Shakespeare's Hamlet, we get the phrase "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark".

In these days of financial fear mongering and massive bailouts, the foregoing phrases seem to readily come to mind.

I have felt prompted to post some of my reactions several times, but it's probably best that I haven't since they were pretty bitter.

Here are some of my reactions (hopefully they have now been tempered somewhat):

- The "fly" in the ointment of all these failings is our government and particularly the legislative branch. Whether by regulation or deregulation -but most likely through corruption- I believe they bear the weight of the responsibility. They are now meddling with our economic system yet again- in order to "save us" all from the natural outcomes of their last few episodes of meddling with our economic system.

-This amazing and wonderful free-market economy is at the same time - marvelously resilient and extremely harsh. When our government steps in by circumventing the natural outcome of corruption or poor decisions; or by trying to manipulate the economy in some fashion, it always results in problems.

-I understand that a "run" on banks or "soup-lines" or -any other apocalyptic, depression era descriptive terms - would not be good for our national morale or our standing in the world. However, precious few people are pointing out the fact that all these costly bailouts and take-overs will have to be funded by you and I.

-How do our leaders in the legislative arena respond in this time of crisis?

Nancy Pelosi continues to run a national office as if the entire country looks like her very liberal constituency. She avoids the natural questions about corruption at the congressional level and promises to investigate WALLSTREET.

Harry Reid - that citadel of resolve - says "No one knows what to do..." .

In the same manner with which they dealt with the real crisis of rising fuel prices, this congress has once again... left town.

- I am really concerned that we see no move toward investigating those committees that had oversight on these industries. And why no one seems to be examining the officials on those committees that have benefited greatly from the organizations that are now being bailed out (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in particular).

President Bush is doing something. I respect him for that - this President has never run from trouble. My problem with him is that his conservative principles have not always shown themselves to be strong in the arena of "limited government". So his response seems to be one that will -again- grow the government.

In all of this I cannot get the scenes from It's a Wonderful Life! out of my mind.... "Potter isn't selling; Potter's buying!..." George Bailey says.

Make no mistake, congress is not "bailing out" - congress is "taking over".