[StBernard] Truth behind Congress rejecting bail-out

[Westley Annis]

John,

To add a bit of local commentary to this (followed by my own thoughts on the whole mess), the only two members of the Louisiana delegation to vote in favor of this bill will NOT be on the ballot this year.

Jim McCrery, retiring at the end of this term, and Charlie Melancon, who represents St. Bernard Parish, was elected with no opposition. Even Bill Jefferson voted against this bill, and he needs to gather more brownie points with Pelosi than with his electorate.

Personally, I am against the bail out, no matter what form it takes. Too much emphasis is placed on the value of the Dow Jones Industrial average. Thirty stocks, out of the thousands listed on both the NYSE and the NASDAQ, are not going to accurately reflect the current state of the market.

Does anyone really think that because of the failure of FannieMae or FreddieMac that ATT or GE are no longer good companies? What about Home Depot, Microsoft, Intel, McDonald's, Walt Disney? These companies are all still good companies and are not going to fold just because of failed mortgages.

The buyers and sellers on Wall Street all have a herd mentality. If they see their neighbor selling, they become afraid their neighbor knows something they don't know, so they start selling also. Next thing you know, everything is headed south and no one knows why.

If this bail out was so important that it had to be passed LAST WEEK, as Bush & Co. were stating, then how can the world possibly still be working today?

It is just an attempt to have the government take more control of our lives and we need to fight it tooth and nail.

Westley