"The bailout fallout"

A bizarre confusion has come over me lately regarding the national financial crisis, bailout plan and political reaction to both.

Before I get too far into this I hope nobody makes the mistake of believing I am an expert even extremely knowledgeable about this event. However, I am not sure one needs to be to question some recent politics.

When it was announced that there was a serious financial crisis, I believe I said the same thing just about everyone else in the nation said. "Oh $*&!."

But, when I heard the plan devised by the national treasury could pin $700 billion on tax payers, I responded much more intelligently. I said, "you $&^@, #^%&, @%*#s." Like I said, I was much more composed at that moment.

However, this proposal was rejected by a great majority of politicians including most of our representatives here in Kansas.

Now I feel sick. I don't know what is going on. Political figures -- the people who are paid by our tax dollars -- had an opportunity to take over nearly $700 billion in debts and possibly raise taxes, and they turned it down? Now, don't think I am unpatriotic, I love this country, but, since when has any politician turned down an opportunity to pawn a debt off of tax payers.

So, now I am thinking, "there has to be an angle to this."

There are three scenarios I have come up with as to why so many politicians have turned their backs on this plan.

The first is possibly the least likely. Perhaps, politicians suddenly decided to do the right thing. Maybe, they saw what this bailout plan could do long term to American tax payers and decided it was not fair.

The second idea I had regards our currently less than popular president. I don't really care whether you like or dislike President George Bush. Either way, I think we can agree that over all, politicians have been distancing themselves from him.

Now, Bush was quick to support the initial bailout plan even threatening that America would be in for a "painful recession" if it was not accepted.

Perhaps politicians across the nation decided to use this opportunity to distance themselves and earn some support. After all, the presidency is not the only seat up for grabs this November.

Or, maybe the entire thing is simply a chance to make things worse. (This is the scenario I don't really like. Which means it could be the most accurate).

Could our U.S. representatives simply be delaying in a decision because they are trying to figure out how they will be paid from this whole mess. Are there really people out there that would let the country's economy sink even further because they are not sure who will be writing them a check when it's all over.

I don't know. I guess ultimately there is no way of knowing for sure.

I personally am glad to see that our representatives didn't rush into a decision which could in the end make things worse. When dealing with an issue this large, I hope every angle is well thought out.

Unless of course it is the angle being used to cyphen more money from the wallets of tax payers.