Hurry, hurry, and don't look at the fine print

Also: putting down the Biden rumor?

By Wes Vernon

If Congress seriously wants to come to grips with the underlying causes of the credit crisis, there are some obvious starters available. We did not get into the mess overnight, while Congress dithered and — in some cases — heaped gasoline on the fire. In tune with the American psyche, we may get our "instant gratification," without getting a long-term solution.

But we can start

But to put us on a path to recovery, here is the best set of ideas this column has seen yet:

1 — Index the Capital Gains Tax to inflation (which the Treasury Department can do without any help from Congress), or suspend it for one year. In fact, of all the taxes on the books, Cap Gains is absolutely the most destructive to the economy. It sucks more money out of the economy than it adds because it slows down investment and costs jobs. Suspending it for one year would give the economy at all levels an enormous shot in the arm.

2 — Pass an energy bill that lessens the price of gasoline at the pump through more domestic drilling, wind, solar, nuclear, and conservation. This would bring relief to family budgets and create American jobs. (One welcome step toward that goal came this week when the Democrats gave up their idea of continuing the 26-year ban on drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf and developing shale oil in the Rockies.)

3 — Establish a reform commission to develop bipartisan solutions to the crushing weight of entitlements. Coming to grips with this festering "elephant in the room" would be one way to strengthen the American dollar.

The above proposals have been offered by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.). And he adds one more:

4 — "Finally, any new expenditure of taxpayer dollars should be paid for with fiscal discipline and reform. If Congress decides to spend $1 trillion on a corporate bailout, it must find budget savings to prevent that cost from being passed along to the American people."

This column disagrees with only one part of Pence's plan. The Capital Gains Tax ought not merely to be indexed for inflation or suspended for one year. It needs to be repealed — wiped off the books, period.

As for the commission, Barack Obama has already put that down, in response to a similar idea by John McCain. Easy to understand considering that two of Obama's buddies scooped up millions from Fannie Mae, stuffed their wallets and now have heaped goodies on his plate. Can't have a nosy commission looking into that, now, can we?

Sorting our priorities

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says we must protect homeowners before we worry about shareholders. When I heard that, (in my mind) I yelled at my TV set saying, "Excuse me! Shareholders be damned? You want to let millions of owners of humble retirement portfolios go to hell while you guys bail out people who had no business being in the housing market? And all because you threatened lenders with lawsuits and brutal penalties designed to shut them down if they didn't buckle to your edicts? And all because you trolled for votes by promising the free lunch?"

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) still won't give up the affirmative action easy money home-acquiring vote-grabbing racket. These are the same jokers who won't fix Social Security with personal accounts, lest their greedy hold on the lives of millions slip through their power-mad fingers.

Be careful what you ask for

One wonders how many of those clamoring for the quick fix now on the table realize the government could end up as the majority owner of private sector businesses such as depository institutions, investment banks, secondary mortgage lenders, and insurance companies.

Conservatives all over the lot on the issue

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Investors Business Daily(IBD) — both conservative — have generally endorsed the Bush administration's plan — IBD going so far as to say Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has "crafted a reasonable, workable response to the subprime mortgage meltdown."

The Heritage Foundation warns that a new Resolution Trust Corporation needs the flexibility to succeed, but should not be given a "blank check or be free of responsibility."

One longtime conservative activist associated with the Republican Party warns we should be careful in condemning the administration plan because failure to act could bring back the thirties "and we'll be out [of office] for another forty years."

On the other hand, Senator Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) warned the Bush plan is "socialist" and "un-American."

Thirty-one Republican lawmakers have fired off a letter to Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in which they get right the nub of the current drama:

"It is evident that no one wants to be the one who says no to a fiscal rescue when there is so much at stake. But the reality is that actions like federal bailouts taken to delay the short-term financial pain often end up producing long-term damage to our entire economy."

That calls to mind George Bernard Shaw, who said, "Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it."

Gaffe machine = ticket exit?

In 1992, the name of "Dan Quayle" and the word "potato" became almost synonymous in the media chatter. The then-Republican vice president failed to spell potato correctly, and the talking heads were all over the story for weeks.

Contrast that with the media gloss over the gaffe machine that is Democrat Joe Biden — Obama's running mate in 2008.

To hit just one or two highlights: At a rally, Senator Biden asked a state senator to "stand up, Chuck." But Chuck was wheelchair-bound, causing the Delaware senator to say, "What am I talking about?", which was replayed unkindly on conservative talk shows, but got the light brush-over by the mainstream media as a one-day story at most.

But the ultimate was Biden's statement that when the stock market crashed in 1929, President Franklin Roosevelt went on television to give the nation confidence — apparently unaware that (A) Roosevelt was not president then — Herbert Hoover was. And (B) There was no television in 1929. It was radio.

That segues into rumors — bandied about on the internet and talk shows (mostly in disbelief) that the skids are set for Biden to excuse himself from the ticket at some point (pleading health problems), to be replaced by Hillary Clinton.

Even if the rumors are not true, Biden is fueling that speculation with his serial gaffes. It's hard to believe a United States senator would deliberately set himself up for a fall. But it's also hard to believe that any United States senator is really so ignorant of 20th Century history that he doesn't know about FDR not being in the White House in 1929, or that there was no television then.

© Wes Vernon