LateBreaking: Cities Running Out Of Gas, page 1

I live in Canada and I have already witnessed the extent to which this credit crisis is even affecting smaller businesses on this side of the border. An office supply depot is currently out of stock of all supplies; I talked to one of the cashiers and she said that stocks are not being replenished for several weeks; which is implicit in suggesting that whatever I see on the shelves is what I get.

It looks like, however, the House is going to reconvene on the current bail out "concert" this Thursday night... investor confidence is apparently returning, but that doesn't mean there isn't an enormous possibility of the occurrence of a depression. It all depends on how easily we are willing to abandon our egotism for the sake of responsibility. This is our fault; we have to let a little corporate capitalism run its course and we should be able to reestablish financial order.

This all comes back to the founding fathers laying their foundation for Republic. They were wary that mob mentality of the few, or high ranking officials (Congress, in this case, which is meant to be a representative voice of the collective people) would distort the true vision this country was founded on, presumably destroying the liberties and welfare of the people in the process. However, even the collective people is not the best safeguard of its own liberty. The personal interests of the people shouldn't interfere with the good will of governance. "Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other (John Adams)." This is not a situation where it is "the people" pitted against the "Government". This is a situation where "some people" are weary, misinformed and generally spiteful of the current economic crisis, and that has distorted their ability to think for the greater good of the Republic and the rest of its people. It's become a game of blame.

In the end, it's the Congress' fault for not listening to the right people (for listening to the seats in front and behind them); it's their fault that a mentality of mob rule has overcome their ability to make a decision representative of an impartial voice of its constituent. It's the people's fault (some of them) for weighing their own interests over those of their neighbors, i.e. the "hard working Americans" (and their representatives) feeling they don't need to bail out their neighbors of a crisis that they themselves sowed.

Though I am not American, I wish I were. My business is, in fact, entirely contingent on the ability of my clients to attain credit, and having that all of my North American clients reside exclusively in the U.S. about half my income is itself at the grip of this entire financial crisis. Hope you can still take what I say seriously.

[edit on 2-10-2008 by cognoscente]