By Bruce Sessions
When a pilot bails out of his plane, he does so with a reasonable expectation that his chute will open and that his life will be saved. The current Stimulus bailout plan now in Conference Committee comes with no such expectation that the chute will open and the economy will be saved. Democrats will pull the ripcord only to discover, there is no chute.
How can I say that when the stimulus bill carries a price tag in excess of 800 billion dollars? Easy! Look at it this way: weve been told that our economic dilemma started with the housing crisis. That is, people defaulting on mortgages that had ballooned way beyond their ability to pay and therefore lost their homes due to foreclosure. They didnt lose their jobs –they just lost their homes.
Keep in mind, two thirds of this countrys economic engine is driven by (here it comes) consumer spending. As long as people continued spending, we were fine. Somewhere along the way, the consumer became wary and began cutting spending, and salting money away. When that happened, the economic engine began to sputter. The more it sputtered, the less they spent.
When people quit buying, retailers couldnt make a profit. The result? Layoffsand eventually store closures, a vicious cycle feeding upon itself. Just remember, (Ill say it again) 2/3rds of this countrys economic engine is driven by consumer spending. So, how do we get consumers to start spending again?
Democrats say unfreeze the credit markets. But, who is going to apply for credit when they dont have a job? What bank is going to lend to an applicant who has no job? What bank is going to lend to an applicant who may have a job today, but no job tomorrow? So, the stimulus bailout plan offers billions to banks to unclog the credit markets. Will it work? No! Why? 1st Community Bank president Mark Lund says Its difficult in this environment to find loans that we can underwrite.
The solution is putting people back to work but the stimulus bailout plan doesnt do that. Its a far cry from Franklin Roosevelts stimulus plan that actually put people back to work during the depression. And yes, I was around then, and I do remember. The current Democrat stimulus bailout bill is so larded up with pork and social engineering, even calling it a bailout is a farce.
Unless and until the Democrats realize people with jobs will spend, buying cars, houses, boats and RVs, go out to dinner, take vacations, etc, there will be no bailout that saves the economy. Theyll pull the ripcord, but no chute will appear.