Saving The Fincancial System from Meltdown

There is another way to finance the $700 billion needed to save the country from financial instability. It need not increase the Federal debt that is already astronomical. When our economy is not using all of its resources, it makes no sense to have the government extract capital from the economy and switch it to buy bad mortgages. The Federal Reserve and the Treasury could simply write checks on themselves. They could create new money just as the banking system does when it makes a loan. The problem is that banks don’t want to make new loans in these troubled times, so the government needs to be its own banker and fill in. If banks are empowered to create money, why can’t the government’s own bank do it too?

Tax cuts & other incantations

Political campaigns are like ancient military campaigns. The magic words must be spoken before the battle begins. Once they were words like "Ish-ca-bib-el," but today they are "cut taxes and government waste." No campaign can start without them. Neither the ancient nor the modern incantations have any reference to reality. You do not hear politicians say what specific public services will be cut after cutting taxes This is because you don't hear citizens demanding less highway maintenance, larger class sizes, less medical care for the elderly, and a smaller army. All hail Ish-ca-bib-el" and the Tooth Fairy that brings us good things for free.