Capitalism not to blame for economic woes

The stock market crashed over 500 points today. Lehman brothers went bankrupt. Many others are scared that the market will crash even further. Some are worried the economy will crash. And, worse of all, many people are blaming the free market here.

The truth is there is no free market when it comes to financial institutions. These financial institutions are run by the government, and mainly by liberals in Washington. They decided a few years back was to make it easy for poor people to get into homes. So it is the government, not the free market, that is dragging the economy down.

The housing market was doing just fine until these businesses made it so that people could get into houses they could not afford. They could buy a house with no down payment. And this drove up the price of houses.

Then one day the housing market crashed because all of a sudden these people who couldn't afford homes in the first place were not paying their mortgages. So then you have a record number of mortgages because the market is correcting itself because of the inflated market that was tampered with.

And president Bush is blamed for it. He is blamed for the economic slump.

The real blame, however, is not Bush nor Bush policies. The blame is liberals who are in charge of the financial institutions. They are the ones who should get the blame for the economic woes we are facing today.

Yet the media will refuse to understand this. They will mis-educate the people, and the people will continue to believe them. In that sense, the media is just as guilty as liberals for this mess we are in.

Even John McCain is running around saying that we need more government regulations, we need reform (and we know that reform and government regulations are the same thing). However, he is right that we should not bail these failing companies out.

We have to remember that the free market will have its ups and down, but when the government imposes regulations, when the market is tampered with the way the financial institutions were, bad things happen.

That is exactly why we cannot afford to have liberals in the Washington. They do not understand how the economy works. They fail to see that every time Washington has tampered with the market it has failed.

A great example is the Great depression. Here the economy was sputtering, and politicians in Washington just had to do something to show that they cared, and the economy sputtered into the worst depression ever.

A good example of the opposite is Warren G. Harding, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush who all inherited recessions and allowed the markets to correct themselves. They all ended their respective recessions and a boom ensued.

The housing bubble burst not because of Bush's policies, and the economy is not sputtering because of a failing free market, it is sputtering because of liberals who continue to think that they need to tinker with the free market to the benefit of the poor.

However, when the economy sputters as a result of these bad policies, more poor people are created as a result, which is just what the democrats want. Remember folks, the democrats can only prosper as a party when bad things happen in America. They have positioned themselves as the party of failure.

And when the economy fails, when the number of unemployed go up, and inflation goes up, people cry to liberals to bail them out. And things only get worse.

So then you have people saying that we have to bail these failing institutions out. Yet, if they get bailed out the people who made the bad policies, who allowed all these bad loans to happen, will never be punished. Instead, they will be rewarded.

And if we keep bailing companies out, they will not be responsible and try to run their businesses with sound policies. If I know the government is going to bail me out, why would I not take the risk. If I do well, I get richer.

If I do poorly, then the government will bail me out. If there is no risk for me, then I don't need to be responsible. I mean I would, but some people place money as their number one priority. Some people don't have the conscience of you and me.

Hey, it's easy to play with money when it's not yours and you know you won't be punished for doing something stupid.

So, the free market and capitalism are not to blame here. It is those who feel they have to tamper with the free market, with Capitalism. I said it before and I'll say it again, sometimes it is better to do nothing than to do something stupid.

But, some will never learn. And the wrong people will be blamed for their stupidity.

Only you can solve the health care crisis

One of the biggest strategies of the democrats to win the White House in 2008 is to appeal to the 47 million uninsured people in the United States, and telling them that they will create a universal healthcare system so everybody will get "free" healthcare.

I placed free in quotes in the last paragraph because you and I know that when a politician says something is free, what it really means is a big tax increase on everybody else so you can get your "free" healthcare.

To me, the strategy of the democrats is this: Since the 47 million Americans are too stupid to solve their own health care problems, we are going to solve them for you with another big government program. And, they want to force you to buy into it.

Quite frankly, while healthcare is typically a democrat issue, many people are still very skeptical that universal, or socialized, or big-government health care and forcing people to buy into it is really the way to go.

The real solution to the health care crisis is to provide people a choice so they can choose the insurance plan that works best for them, at the lowest cost. Likewise, they should be able to choose not to buy any health insurance too.

Providing choices, and inciting competition between businesses, is what has made the U.S. economy the best in the world, so why not do the same for the health care system

And that is where John McCain steps in. By proposing a health care program of his own, he intends to sweep the health care issue right out from under the feet of democrats.

Instead of forcing people to buy health insurance as both the democratic candidates have proposed, McCain proposes to solve the uninsured problem "without a massive new government program that denies you health-care freedom in the name of providing care at a price tag we cannot afford," according to Patrick Rooney & Dan Perrin in their post"Wanted: Doc McCain," a post on the May 1, 2008, over at Nationalreview.com.

McCain's policy is actually quite simple, and it would involve allowing people to purchase health insurance across state lines. "This will increase choices, lower costs, and most importantly," according to the article, "bring more Americans into the folds of having health insurance."

Likewise, the authors state, "Senator McCain’s emphasis on patient choice and control is another winning message. It means he trusts you to make better health-care decisions about your health with your doctor than can a government or corporate bureaucrat."

In other words, John McCain DOES NOT think you are too stupid to think for yourself.

According to John McCain, "The Right Rx: Choice and competition are indispensible to real reform that brings costs down and broadens access while maintaining quality," on nationalreview.com (May 1, 2008), the government provides tax benefits to employers who provide health insurance to their workers and their families.

While this isn't the perfect arrangement, "Many workers are perfectly content with this arrangement, and under my reform plan they would be able to keep that coverage," wrote McCain.

For the other 47 million, another option would be available if they choose it:

"Every year, they would receive a tax credit directly, with the same cash value of the credits for employees in big companies, in a small business, or self-employed. You simply choose the insurance provider that suits you best. By mail or online, you would then inform the government of your selection. And the money to help pay for your health care would be sent straight to that insurance provider. The health plan you chose would be as good as any that an employer could choose for you."

And, on top of that, "The bottom line: Health insurance would be yours and your family’s health-care plan to keep without worrying that it will go away along with your job."

Of course this is only a proposal, and if McCain gets elected a proposed bill will be debated, tinkered with, and maybe even changed a great deal.

However, if the resulting compromise results in a free market solution to the health care crises, the country, and it's citizenz (that's you and me) would be far better off than either alternative, which are the status quo and universal healthcare.

The real solution to the healthcare crisis is within the people of this great nation, not a one size fits all govenrment, beaurocratic program. The only candidate for president who understands this is John Sidney McCain.