I don’t know where you fall into this whole “bailout”, “rescue”, “resuscitation”, whatever that the Senate just passed, but I’m extremely angry about it. Our nation’s Senators just voted to put me, my children, my grandchildren and probably further into the greatest debt this country has ever known! OVER $700 billion!! And the money doesn’t GO to you and me. It COMES from you and me. But, we won’t see relief at all. This $700 billion will not make a bit of difference to you and me, whom our politicians call “main street”. It sends a message to the lazy and unaccountable that they can do whatever they want, screw up everything they do, mismanage their companies, overextend themselves, debt themselves into oblivion…it sends a message to these people that you and I will simply give them money to fix all their problems without any requirement for payback and without anyone being prosecuted. Sure the government THINKS we’ll get “some” or “most” of our money back “eventually”, but how many times have we heard that? And how will you and I really get that money back?

Let’s be honest, that money – when/if it ever gets paid back – will get sucked into the operating budget of the biggest and most out of control federal government in history. It’ll go the way of every other “temporary” tax that’s ever been levied on us. Hopefully, each of you have been on the phone and email letting your Senators and congressman know where you stand on this issue like I have. I made it quite clear that my family will NOT vote for anyone that votes FOR these bailouts – even if that means voting for a liberal! They even tried to “sweeten” the deal with all kinds of tax breaks for us military troops and I’m still opposed to it!! And I stand to benefit from it!!

I own two homes and I’m a Soldier!! One is rented out and is just a tiny thing and I live in the other, but I have always done whatever it takes to pay my bills. At times, I’ve had to cancel my cable, stop eating out completely, cut my grocery bill in half, ride my bike to work, work an extra night job, whatever it took to meet my obligations! I never asked to be bailed out for my stupidity in owning a home I couldn’t afford. And we shouldn’t be asked to do the same for others!! Yes, I’m going to suffer if these companies are allowed to fail. I have a 401K plan and savings. But, that’s the price we pay of not stuffing money under my mattress instead. It’s a risk, but we have to have accountability.

Here is a link to how your senators voted:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14196.html

I would urge each of you to either thank or criticize your Congressmen and women and Senators personally! I know I will. And I also learned a lot about who I will NOT be voting for in the upcoming elections.

Something else you should know is that this “$700 billion” bill is actually a whole lot MORE than that because of all the pork additions added to it. For example, here are just a few additions that were added to the bill that the Senate APPROVED (tax breaks alone will cost an additional $110 billion over ten years):

- tax breaks for a motorsports racetrack facility (317)
- tax breaks for a company that makes wooden arrows for kids (Sec. 503)
- tax breaks for the rum excise tax for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (Section 308)
- tax breaks for film and TV production (Sec. 502)
- tax breaks for Indian tribes (Sec. 314, 315)
- tax breaks for railroads (Sec. 316)

- relief for litigants in the Exxon Valdez oil spill (you know, from back in 1989!!) (Sec. 504)

The bill also provides for $3.5 billion intended to force health insurance companies to cover mental illness. We may actually need this since we’ll all go nuts trying to figure out how to pay for all this!