I am not an economist but I do have some thoughts on the present crisis and ideas that could generally be applied to the situation.

The Problem Is Not a Shortage of Rope

People that made poor, sometimes negligent, sometimes fraudulent decisions got us here. How will giving them more money get us out? How can those selfsame people now contribute to a solution?

Past Inaction Is Not a Qualification

Giving more coercive power to people who were in place to foresee and act on problems early and totally failed to do so is not a wise strategy.

Broad Based Failure Is Endemic of Fundamental, Systemic or Prevailing Problems

In an example germane to my life, patching cracks in a wall that sits on sinking foundation solves nothing. Likewise, trying to patch up broadly floundering economic system and tack on ancillary regulation doesn’t address the underlying problems that created the immediate situation.

Unknown Problems Cannot Have Known Solutions

I’m not claiming to understand the scope of the problem myself, but if someone asked me how much money it would take to fix a problem, I would make sure I understood within a reasonable amount of certainty what needed to be done before I quoted a number.

Are You Negligent or a Liar?

Even last week, there were a lot of people in power, ostensibly intelligent, who were claiming that the current crisis was isolated and controllable. Now, however, many of the same people claim that without immediate, unquestioned granting of unprecedented power and money that the sky will fall. While much has happened since last week, the only two explanations are that previous statements were either intentionally false or made in ignorance. Neither are qualities I desire in those overseeing our economic system.

I doubt congress reads my blog, so all of this thinking is probably in vain. Big companies have lobbyists and rich CEOs have friends, but the taxpayer has nothing.

And people ask me why I’m a cynic.