The Common Sense Fix

I love Dave Ramsey. He's the guy out there giving financial advice that my grandmother would give. Since my grandparents lived through the Great Depression, I trust them. He has a plan that makes sense, and we should pass this, instead of incurring more national debt.

Here's a quick and dirty summary of the plan:

1. Insure the subprime mortgages
2. Remove mark-to-market accounting rules for 2 years
3. Eliminate capital gains taxes

Go read it at daveramsey.com, and send it to your congress representatives. Congress needs to hear from us that we know what we want.

Bringing our Country Back from the Brink

Who can escape the news of the proposed $700 billion bailout program? Well, not I, and it has been bothering me. I can't support this kind of action, it just seems ill-advised for our government to grow this much -- not matter what kind of oversight there is. So, I wrote this letter to my Senators and Congressmen.

There is another plan out there that can help this situation, and let the market fix itself. One of the biggest reasons for this problem we're in is because of government regulation in the form of Sarbanes-Oxley. While that law isn't without merit (it did have good intentions), it's heavily contributed to this problem with sub-prime mortgages because the market hasn't adjusted to this way of thinking.

I usually hate regurgitating other material, but Dave Ramsey has posted a very good explanation of the current situation. I'd recommend you read the full text here, but I'll requote what Dave learned from economist Simon Wesbury:

"... if we change ... one rule and don't force [companies] to mark [sub-primes] down to market value and just let them hold on to all the stuff ... for [a fixed] period of time ... -- a temporary change -- that'll free the market up."

The cost is also far less be much simpler to implement. We need to make smart decisions about our country, and be prudent with taxpayers' money.

Speaking of taxpayers' money, I've also read recently about FairTax (www.fairtax.org). Coming from Texas, I understand how an economy can be boosted by the lack of an income tax. We've had things far better in this part of the country in recent years, and I believe that has something to do with our lack of an income tax. It is a simpler tax system to implement, and encourages businesses to grow. The research that has gone into this proposal is amazing, and it addresses all the concerns I had about such a drastic change. We need to start growing this economy, and putting money back into taxpayers and investors hands is a great start, but it also brings the added bonus of making America more attractive for businesses to come here -- bringing jobs back home. This is all in a plan that keeps the same level of government funding. Please consider this plan as a way to help the United States of America compete in a global economy.