An open letter to Congress...

I am very concerned about the legislation currently being drafted to socialize the US financial markets. The primary reason for the current financial crisis is the manipulation of the financial system by Congress through entities such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

An additional primary factor is the decade old legislation such as HOPE IV promoting home ownership by all that provided stiff penalties to “unfair” practices in mortgage lending. Those unfair practices were left ambiguous enough to force banks and institutions to make unsound loans to unqualified applicants in a bid to protect themselves from lawsuits.

Secondarily, giving taxpayer funds to activist agencies such as A.C.O.R.N. is a travesty. A.C.O.R.N. has been a major player in creating this crisis taking advantage of the aforementioned legislation. Included in recent drafts of the bail out legislation is language giving them 20% of any profits. This is like allowing a convicted murderer to profit from books written about his crime.

A major initial concern of my was what Congress would do with any "profits" from this supposed "investment." I had no faith they would actually return it to the people from whom they took it. There is no precedence for that. Now we know what their intent is.

Ayn Rand said, "One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary."

The Congress has done that to our financial systems through demands for housing loans to many who cannot afford it, in the process encouraging the "cooking of the books" and fraudulent application and approval process that Congress now rails against.

The creation of GSEs Freddie and Fannie, then failing to provide strong rules to prevent them from buying up weak mortgage packages while allowing them to enrich members of Congress through lobbying and contributions has only created an incestuous and disastrous relationship.

Instead of a rush to create another monster that may address the short term "crisis" but in the process create unintended consequences that will irreparably damage our financial systems for decades to come and take us dramatically into socialism, the Congress needs to step back and breath deeply.

The American people in their intuitive grasp of this problem has said, "slow down and back off!" Congress needs to do just that. The major players in the financial system are sitting back to see what Congress is going to do.

If Congress stands down, the financial players will step up to the plate. But why should they if there is a socialist Congress willing to commit the wealth and treasure of ordinary Americans to the task.

I'll do my own investing; I don't need Congress to do it for me.


"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson