The $700 billion Wall Street and bank bailout proposed by President Bush, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, and Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke, has generated a tremendous amount of rage on the main streets of America.

This has caused the offices of the members of congress to be flooded with irate phone calls, letters, emails, and on occasion unannounced visits of mad as all hell voters from back home. Seldom have the American people, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, come together in such large numbers to protest a funding bill and financial plan.

This has placed the members of congress in a sweat. The administration’s fear tactics seem to have worked. Most members of congress have bought into the President’s, Bernanke’s, and Paulson’s frequent fearful statements that some sort of bailout must be put into place. Or else bad, bad, bad things will happen. But congressmen and congresswomen must worry about what will happen to their privileged position in Washington if they vote for the bailout plan when there is so much rage against it coming from the voters. Those who are up for reelection are going to face some unpleasant discussions in their home districts.

And what if the plan doesn’t work? What then? Another bailout plan to bail out the bailout plan? At that point the rage may spill over into the streets.

When one really thinks about it it is easy to believe that the Paulson plan, even after modified by Congress, will fail. The “cash for trash” nature of the bailout may take some of the pressure off the banks and Wall Street but it does not address the root cause of the problems. As we have seen over recent months billions of dollars can disappear fast in the black hole created out of the sorry misguided financial dealings over the past twenty to thirty years. Until the housing bubble collapse has fully run its course the $700 billion placed with the banks and brokerage firms almost surely won’t make much of a difference.

What the United States has forgotten in its drive to socialism is that in a capitalistic system recessions are a natural part of the way economic cycles take place. In the rush to prevent a recession at all costs the US government is driving up debt as a percentage of GDP towards, even beyond, third world nation status.

The good sense of the America people in this situation should be trusted by their leaders. The cure proposed by the good old bailout boys is likely to make financial matters for the United States even worst. For one thing even village idiots know that government forecasting and accounting really is dishonest and frankly sucks. The $700 billion will probably balloon to two or three trillion before the new president has a chance to organize his new impressive desk. The ship of state may capsize under such a debt burden.

In my opinion, the rage on main street is fully justified. After all should the bailout plan be approved the $700 billion would be largely turned over to the greedy financial rascals who caused the problem in the first place. I expect that old habits would die hard. Once their grubby money loving hands are on all of that money the temptation to game the system all over again would be great.

In watching the Presidential debate last night I thought that Obama and McCain only danced around the bailout issue. Both missed a good opportunity to garner the respect of a multitude of American voters. If only one of them had the guts to demonstrate real leadership. All they would have had to say was that they are as outraged over the $700 billion bailout plan as most Americans and give reasons as to why.

Another gutless politic operator in the Whitehouse is not going to be very beneficial. America has lived for a long time with reckless borrowing and spending habits. It now appears that our glory days are over. Now that we are the largest debtor nation on this planet it can’t be long with even more debt on the way from massive bailouts that middle class Americans will be able to have a third world experience without leaving America.

Should that happen rage will be all too common all across America. The “mother of all bailouts” may be the tipping point bailout. Confidence in America is becoming fragile. Once our main lenders, China and Japan, decide that enough is enough America will need a bailout all right. But from whom?

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