Congress Lacks Chutzpah

Elected officials should operate in the best interest of the people who elected them, knowing that occasionally their constituents are wrong. Sometimes they do not recognize a situation for its gravity, complexity and its interwoveness. Our financial system and the ways in which it affects Americans are not easily grasped, especially when the news-media prefers shocking or appalling stories to those that aid people with understanding complex issues or the way an event can have lasting and far-reaching effects.

The failure to provide our financial system liquidity through a "bailout," defines a legislative branch more worried about public perception and re-election rather than operating in the best interest of those who elected them. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would have effectively used the Fed as an investment bank that could have reaped huge rewards for the American taxpayer by creating loan structures that were very much in favor of the US government. Paulson, recognizing the leverage the situation afforded the government, could have used the Fed as a monopoly to set loan prices knowing that it was the most capable and logical lender to any of the enormous financial institutions who had nowhere else to turn .

Henry Paulson's audacity to operate, the way he knows best, by evaluating the risk and return on an investment could have saved our financial system now and given the taxpayers significant returns on their investment in American business. In contrast, congress showed it's lack of foresight and unwillingness to evaluate an issue when self-preservation is more important than doing their jobs.