Welcome To Oz

Watching the antics of our government in action makes it seem like Oz, although we are short a few wizards. Our President, eloquent though he may be, is an empty suit, flying unnecessarily to Arizona in Air Force One to make a foreclosure bail-out speech at a cost of approximately $650,000, (that's just for the airplane). He is threatening to nationalize health care, reduce our defense spending (the only thing that's been keeping us safe), and remove some money from the over 90% of people paying their mortgages and give it to those who are not. Contrary to Senator Dodd's unfortunate comments we are not going to nationalize the banks, according to Bernanke, but are instead going to give the 20 largest banks a "stress test" to see if they're adequately capitalized, and to those that are not we're going to infuse them with public money so that they will be. The "Recovery Act" often referred to by politicians as the "stimulus act", over 1100 pages unread by the President who signed it, or the politicians who passed it, was originated in large part by Pelosi who is garnering substantial money for some project in her district, and by Reid who is winning a rail system from Las Vegas in his home state to Disneyland. Out the window are the promises of no lobbyists to be appointed,(the stack of waivers is growing), and the most careful vetting process in history (a 60 page questionnaire) for cabinet positions, has produced the worst appointment record in history. Many are called, few are chosen, and rightly so. The same lack of judgment that allowed affiliation with Ayers, Wright, Acorn, dogs this man's every move, but he will do or say whatever it takes to get where he wants to go, never mind what the country needs. It worked once. Probably not again.
The dithering and profligacy of this government has brought the real estate market, and credit markets generally to a standstill. Locally we have sold 24 homes in greater Chico in February on the 24th of the month. In 2007, the last almost normal year we sold 63 in the same period. Pretty sad.
Back to government for a moment. Barney Frank is trying to put together a regulatory framework for the housing industry. He's the same one who effectively and very vocally objected to and blocked attempts to regulate Fannie and Freddie because to regulate would thwart their efforts to initiate sub-prime mortgages. Feinstein, Chair of the Intelligence Committee, who in an epiphany reversed her objection to our new, inexperienced, Director of the CIA, blurted out classified information in open session and caused substantial harm to our relations with Pakistan. Should it come to pass that the circus should again gain favor as an entertainment medium, we have a reservoir of clown talent immediately available, and I hope soon, not otherwise employed.