This time, it’s Paul Newman, an actor and a person I greatly admired. He really tried to live his values. People like him are rare… and seem more rare in the world of movie stars.

Google News Article

My heart is full for his family.

The headline right now at CNN reads “Grim Bernanke Offers Grave Threats.”

The premise is, apparently, that unless the Federal Government gives money — with no strings attached — to the companies that caused this whole economic mess the economy will take a huge downturn.

Newsflash for Mr. Bernanke: The economy took a huge downturn a year ago and continues to slide as people are less and less able to purchase items, less able even to make payments on existing debt. We are, as a nation, stagnating, drowning under huge debt loads we cannot pay — debt we would not have incurred without predatory lenders… who were being encouraged by corporations to extend credit so that consumers would purchase things they would otherwise have waited for or never bought. This artificial prosperity allowed “investors” to take profits in advance of people actually paying for the products that were delivered. And, it drove up prices for many items for above their actual value because of temporarily increased demand.

Does it sound complicated? Think about this: 50 years ago, few people had credit cards of any kind. Purchases were made in cash — or on store accounts that were carefully monitored, and immediately frozen if a payment was late. People went into debt to buy a house, to purchase a car, to pay doctor bills – NOT to buy vacations and video games! Today, most people have credit cards, and many (more and more as the economy bleeds jobs) are juggling their accounts to try to keep current… meaning there is less actual cash flowing in to the economy because salaries and wages are pre-spent.

What is apparent is, the federal government and pundits don’t care about the real economy — the one average people deal with. They care about the economy of the rich people, the ones who hold investments and run the banks and other financial institutions.

And yet… their wealth depends on the hard work and prosperity of the actual workers.

Think about it.

This weekend, I wrote a letter to our community’s newspaper. They won’t publish anything unless they put the post office address address for the person, which can lead to unsolicited contacts from disturbed persons. Another stupid bureaucratic rule, administered by an automaton. We are somehow in the phone book — though our number was supposed to be unpublished, somehow it got in a few years back, and now all the phone book distributors seem to have it. So I refused to give permission — have I mentioned how much I HATE talking on the phone?

Hence, the letter being unpublished. Next time, I will just lie and give them a city that is further afield. Like New York or Boston.

Meantime, for your reading challenge (don’t forget to check your blood pressure), here is my contribution to the current discussion about government bailouts and predatory lending practices (I wrote this before I started to hear similar things from so-called pundits, by the way!).

The “plan” for mitigating the collapse of Wall Street is the equivalent of using bubble gum to seal gaping holes in a ship’s hull. We are not making the ship sound, just delaying its sinking — perhaps long enough for the first-class passengers to escape in the lifeboats.

In simplified form: We are experiencing financial chaos because people defaulted on mortgages backed by predatory lenders, and were offered unsecured debt far beyond their ability to pay. Where were the experts? Short-selling, buying up foreclosed properties, encouraging the government to rescind regulations designed after the Depression to avoid precisely this sort of scenario.

Banks gambled that housing prices would continue to increase. They forgot about cycles and downturns. They forgot that, with changes in bankruptcy laws, individuals were unlikely to have debt forgiven in order to pay their mortgages, and as more people defaulted on mortgages and walked away from unsecured debt there would be less money flowing through the economy.

I suggest the government step in and require a moratorium on foreclosures, while banning predatory practices in mortgages, credit cards and other loans. People with mortgages and other debt they can barely afford need a chance to renegotiate. This would keep people in homes and banks would still earn interest. There would be less need for bailouts at higher levels.

The tragedy of the Titanic was the loss of working-class people in steerage who lacked lifeboats and were trapped below decks. Do we really want a sequel?

It was good practice for me, being creative and concise within the 250 word limit allowed.

yes, I know it would be good practice for all my posts!

Stay tuned, I think I will publish editorials here more regularly.