Stop the Dysfunction in Congress

by Mark Mulligan

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Many of us are not economic experts, however, many of us over the past several weeks have become information seekers concerning the economic crisis.

Currently, our national debt is over 10 trillion dollars, and government spending is out of control with almost a half trillion-dollar budget deficit for the last several years.

The 850 billion dollar Emergency Economic Stabilization Act that Congress passed on October 3 was to restore the confidence and stability to our crippling economy.

Instead, quite the opposite has occurred. Since the "bailout" bill passed, our country has realized three quarters of a trillion dollars in wealth destruction.

The "bailout" package has also triggered a cascading global panic in the financial markets across Europe and Asia.

The bailout was never intended to put credit back into our economy. The bailout is to buy toxic debt from mismanaged companies and to provide relief to foreign financial entities such as those located in London and China.

AIG received their 85 billion dollar bailout and then threw a $400 thousand dollar bailout party. Remember, the bailout dollars come from the taxpayers.

When will the bailouts stop? In an article in the Wall Street Journal is titled, The Next Bailout: Your Adult Children?

In the U.S. we don't have a money problem. There is over 3.5 trillion dollars hoarded away in U.S. banks.

The money is hoarded away because the cash holders don't trust the market players.

One root of the problem is that investors cannot trust the balance sheets of many financial companies due to off-balance-sheet vehicles that were supposed to be banned after the ENRON scandal. The regulations concerning transparency have not been upheld.

When the Secretary of the Treasury came to Congress with the proposal to buy toxic debt from failing companies, Congress should have turned him around and sent him back.

Congress did not need to throw money at the problem, they needed to respond by enforcing existing regulations.

Members in Congress should have immediately contacted the executives in many of the financial regulatory agencies and prompted an investigation on why they haven't been doing their jobs.

Nevertheless, the claim by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and the Secretary of the Treasury, is that the toxic debt is actually undervalued and if U.S. Government buys the debt, then over time the value will bounce back and the U.S. Government will make a profit. Highly speculative on their part.

Eventually. the market will correct itself, however it may take several years, realize significant loses, and experience many pains along the way.

In situations like this, we don't need bigger government, we need better government, and I am able to contribute.

Hopefully in the future, Congress will not rush legislation based on fear and panic, at any time, or for any reason.

I can provide the leadership to resolve the issues using better research skills, better analytical skills and better strategic planning skills.

When Florida's Second Congressional District cried out and pleaded for its leadership, all we got form our representative were complaints about how other representatives in Congress were drafting poorly written legislation, and then voted "yes" twice. I can and will make more sound decisions.

What the Second Congressional District needs is a representative in Congress that is willing to stand strong with a backbone, fight to draft solutions to solve the problems, and stand for what is the right thing to do.

We are living in a turbulent time. This is an era when the United States is in the process of redefining itself. At the congressional level, the major national issues that were once talked about a few years ago are now at our doorstep. With certainty, Congress will face many more challenges in the upcoming months.

I am not a professional politician and I don't intend to be. I am a scholar and have not received one penny from lobbyists, political action committees, or special interests groups. I come to the table with a fresh slate and eager to work on the tough issues.

It is time to pass the torch to a new representative. As a candidate for Congress, I am ready to grab the torch and represent our district in Washington with common sense and conservatism.

Sincerely,

Mark Mulligan, PhD

Here is Boyd's view, in case you didn't read the terrible News Herald editorial last week.