The Weasel List

Karen De Coster links us to the final vote tally for the House’s vote on bailing Wall Street out from it’s excesses with the tile “The Heroic 170“. I, however, would like for you to note the 263 Congresscreatures who voted to spend your money, your kids money and your grand kids money in order to make somewhat whole a group of wicked and greedy bastards who have taken advantage of a group of foolish and greedy bastards who were encouraged by a group of evil and greedy bastards to finance the out-sized wants of a group of grasping, lazy bastards.

You’ll note that the common thread there is “bastards”.

Depending on how you look at it, the sad or good thing about this is that, even at the cost of $700 billion, this is a finger in the dike. I suspect that, whether or not the 263 who voted for this realize it, it is simply meant to buy time and allow the weakest of our financial institutions to fail in a somewhat more orderly manner than would occur without it.

Either way, they will fail. There is simply too much toxic debt, sliced and diced too many ways, for any government or group of governments to be able to buy it all up and magically make things right.

I suspect we are seeing the beginning of the bad times. I also suspect things will get worse, perhaps far worse, before they get better. I believe we are in for an era of hard times–a slow moving recession (if we’re lucky) that may take literally decades to do its necessary work.