Can't see the trees

Can't see the trees, For the Forest Join me for a short journey around the economic mess that we American's find ourselves facing today. Allow me to share a limited vantage point: mine. First, I am not a financial wizard. Wall Street does not hold my attention... at least not for more than a few minutes at a time. But I have been telling folks for years (since I first heard about the concept), that "home equity" lines of credit are bad news. All for a tax deduction. How stupid. The "meltdown" on Wall Street cannot be fixed by throwing money at it... especially when as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said, it was caused by the "system" that our leaders have created. Until the system constraints are addressed (like home equity lines of credit and bogus home loans to the unqualified), we will only make it worse. Bite the bullet, stop the presses, fix the weak dollar, and remove requirements to actually make stupid loans; then, and only then, would a bailout make any sense. In other words, we are no where close to fixing the REAL problem. -ski