Bailout Fever: We'd Better Find a Cure

I am not an economist or a financial expert by any stretch of the imagination. Truth be known, I took two economics courses in college, along with a project management course and one accounting course. Trust me, you do not want me doing your financial planning for you-not if you want to see your money actually grow.

However, it takes neither a financial wiz nor an economic genius to understand that what is currently going on in this country regarding the Federal Government's recently stepping in to save the bacon for some very poorly-run entities is not a good thing for us hapless taxpayers.

Remember, there is no such thing as government money. The only money government has is that which it takes from others-people like you and me.

We taxpayers (cash-cows?) are now in hock for $1 Trillion to cover these bailouts so far (and I really make no distinction here between an actual bailout and a government backed loan) and apparently are going to be on the hook for far more before this thing plays itself out. When you combine this with the myriad of other things we taxpayers are being asked (forced?) to foot the bill for, we are talking about some serious money here.

Somehow, I have a feeling that the government, which I firmly believe helped us get into this mess to begin with, should stay out of it and let the chips fall where they may.

Something tells me we would be far better off in the long-term.