The financial crisis our nation is facing has me so confused and very scared. my mom and dad were ushered into this world during the Great Depression (they still have ration coupoun books), and they could very well be ushered out with the Next Great Depression. It is madness, Jason--but not only because of the ridiculous nature of the bailouts.

I have a defined contribution retirement account with AIG set up by a previous employer. I couldn't even get to those funds last week in order to move them to my current retirement account.

You are young, Jason, and you know me enough to know I do not mean that as a negative. I have been working for over 30 years, have saved a lot, and am conservative in my investment choices. To think all that could disappear in a blink of an eye scares me to death! Where is the fairness in that? I have a child who is a senior in high school and we are looking at colleges now. I am beginning to wonder if we will be able to afford that!

Our government has failed us in soooo many ways. As such, even those people who do things right, work their butts off, have a good credit rating, and save for the "future" will suffer the consequences.

Yeah--it's madness, alright.

This is madness on a new scale. Just think of the money paid in bailouts this year alone. It is an economy spiraling downward with unnerving speed. I watched this afternoon as the stock market dropped 200 points in the matter of minutes. We as a nation cannot continue to bail out these companies who cannot manage their business. The government has sure been very generous with our money this year and if the trend continues they will bleed us to death. People cannot even get to their savings and that money was hard earned. Now the government seems to be headed into a direction of wanting to own and control everything we do in life.
My dad used to tell me something when I was young about money. He said if you have a bucket of peas sitting next to the door and you pass by and take a pea out and do not replace it the pot will go dry. His philosophy was a simple one that he had learned from his father. His father was born during the Depression of the 1890's and my dad was born before the crash of 1929. He told me that one day it would come again. I wonder what he would think if he were alive today? The shock might be too much for him. This is an ugly situation our government is getting into by bailing out all these people and it will be a bad pill to swallow for us the taxpayers. All we can do for the moment is to pray for a better future.
The Doctor

The question is whether or not the Fed is just arbitrarily printing more money to cover the bailouts, thus increasing the money supply, which in effect increases the degree of inflation. Not to mention further devaluation of the dollar.

These types of actions are indicative of the ideals of the Republican Party, past & present.

Danny,
I hate to inform you that centralized banking and the Fed are supported by both parties. If you want to play politics with this -- like Obama wants to -- then you should admit that both parties were wrong on this and that only one candidate in the past few years has predicted and correctly identified this problem, Ron Paul.

Rick,

Thank you Rick for the belaboring comment. What is that at the end of the tunnel? Oh, it's the light. Thank you for pointing it out to me.

Of course both parties want the Fed. It's an unaudited license to print money, or legal