"America does not have a debt problem. We have a political problem."- Catherine Austin Fitts

An economic rescue plan sounds great doesn't it? A quick fix to get us all green and liquid again.

Let's take a quick inventory.

Unelected government officials, in a matter of a few days, propose to spend about a 5.3 trillion dollars we don't have to save financial institutions on Wall Street (local and, indirectly, foreign government investors) that took risks over-lending to Americans who couldn't really afford the debt to begin with. They wanted this provision passed in short order in its entirety, no time for questions asked. The sell? If we don't do this immediately the economy will fail (fear-propaganda*). This from the same people who, months earlier, refused to admit there was anything beyond a minor, short-term recession going on.

*Yes, I think the economy is a disaster, but I don't think there is a real solution in this plan.

You are witnessing a massive cover-up attempt on organized crime that our government has been orchestrating for years with unprecedented boldness. History in the making, no doubt.

I am thrilled that members of Congress representing both political parties are actually standing up for what is wrong about this, although I don't know that they will have a significant impact.

Here is an insider data (note: lots of data- an overload to try and digest in one read) that I have been following for about a year now: former Assistant Secretary of Housing - Federal Housing Commissioner (1989-1990) Catherine Austin Fitts:
http://solari.com/archive/housing_bill/#PartI

For the past few years, Catherine has been warning people about government fraud and connections to large private financial companies. She has been advising Americans to take their money out of gi-normous banking institutions and put it into smaller, local banks and to also buy from our neighborhood producers- keeping our money within our own community. Easier said than done, I know - especially as we watch all the smaller banks get gobbled up by the bigger ones and buying local can be more expensive and (ironically) less-convenient. But I do agree that if a large number of Americans made the effort to do this, we'd be better off and I love that there is someone who has insider connections encouraging a positive solution to get us back on track. She writes...

"And maybe the smartest and most creative among us will be willing to invest the time and energy it takes to reinvent a model that incorporates what we like to think are traditional American values. These are the values that are enduring and make us proud to be Americans still. There is no hint of these values in the housing bill. There is, however, an abundance of them in the hearts and minds of the people. "

I agree and have been in the process of making the gradual (smaller/local) shift over the past year.

I often remind people who complain about the power of big corporations and the negative effects they have on local communities that they can always put their money where their mouth is. (And, often the topic is quickly dropped altogether.) While I think our country's status as a "democratic republic" is largely an illusion, I do believe that we have an opportunity to vote with our money 365 days a year. In fact, as notorious consumers, this is what Americans do best. We just need to be smarter about the the impact of where we invest our resources, myself included.