Bailout: Is there another way?

My family has always been in the ministry. By that I mean that since being a kid I recall my mother and father pastoring churches and having downtrodden people over to the house for various reasons. A story that seemed to crop up from time to was always the reality of someone going through tough economic times. It didn't take an entire nation in an economic downturn for folks to find themselves on the wrong side of a soup line. Sad but true.

One less common story would be one of a person who was entirely debt-ridden and living on credit cards. I would overhear / listen in on stories of people who were struggling to keep their family fed and sometimes they would be running a small business that was deep in the red and groceries were being purchased using credit cards and cash advances. Imagine a weeks worth of consumable groceries depreciating in front of you, invested at a rate of 21%? Forget the national economy, that is a tough time no matter what decade you are in.

As a country, right now, we are hearing all about how the Federal Government needs to quickly take huge financial action or the immanent crashing of America will occur. Now, I have no idea if that is true or not. In fact, it reminds me very much of a statement that was made about Global Climate change back in the 1970s. It was said that climate change is now upon us, undeniable and without question. We needed (back in the 1970s) to take action to deal with the nearly unavoidable collision we would have with... THE COMING ICE AGE! That's right. 30+ years ago science had us in a dead heat race against time in hopes that we would avoid an impending ice age. Oh how times change, and the rhetoric doesn't. Now we are being told that we must act now or prolong (for who knows, how long) these dire times. The parallel in history, the lesson-teller, is Franklin D. Roosevelt and how the New Deal saved us. The basic idea here is very similar in theory to what is being proposed right now: spend our way to job creation and breath life into the economy. Secondly, to ensure that this happens in a responsible manner, increase over-sight / regulation. The devil being in the details, FDR: saw an average 17% unemployment rate throughout the New Deal, tripled taxes, rages against the evils of Big Business, increase business regulations that made it more difficult for companies to hire people, and underwent huge national infrastructure projects during the economic downturn. The only thing that saved the unemployment numbers in the end was World War II, when 12 million Americans left the work force to go to war.

If you want to read about a president that successfully fought an economic downturn, read about Warren G. Harding. But don't take my word for it. Follow this link here, to hear the other side of the economic story:

The Not-So-Great Depression

Under Harding taxes were significantly cut, corporate taxes were as well, certain regulations on businesses were removed (big business bashing disappeared), huge elements of government spending were removed, we moved away from FDRs increase in the national debt and toward paying off our national debt.

All of this to say: There is another way. I don't think the current momentum on Capital Hill would honestly consider that other way when certain democrat voices currently in Congress are already declaring that Obamas economic bailout / infusion will FAIL because he isn't prepairing to spend nearly ENOUGH money! If history repeats itself, unemployment will rise, taxes will rise and we will be digging ourselves out of debt for the next few generations. I don't want America to become that struggling family that pays $4 for a gallon of milk on a credit card cash advance only to find that it costs them $20 once it is all paid off later on!

It's a good thing my hope is not dependant upon the government.