Solving the economic crisis

Okay, I am not an economist. Half the time I can't figure out how to balance my checkbook. And it appears I'm not alone. Huge companies aren't able to balance their checkbooks either! The 50 year old hippie lady next door has a wonderful bumper sticker on the back of her van that reads "The problems we face cannot be solved by those who created them." So why are we dumping huge chunks of money into failing companies? Not just huge, unfathomable chunks of money! 700 billion dollars? That's a 7 with 11 zeros!

The next big thing is the bailout of the auto industry. (BTW, I love the word "bailout", like they are some punk kids who had to call their dad after getting busted for something...) My gut says don't do it. My wallet says it had better happen. See, the husband works for a platinum mine. And one of the biggest uses for platinum is...(pause for dramatic effect) catalytic converters. That's right, the auto industry. So if they tank, there are going to be huge layoffs, which lead to numerous foreclosures as half the town will be out of work. We're talking shanty towns, just in time for winter! (Awesome.)

But I saw an email the other day that seemed to have the answer. Give us the money. 700 billion divided by 135 million taxpayers is roughly $5,000 a piece! If you're married, that's $10,000! What would you do with ten thousand dollars? Pay off some debt? Take a vacation? Maybe put a down payment on a new car? Even if all you did was put it in a savings account, that would dramatically increase your bank's working capital, making it possible for them to pay their loans and so on. Sounds win/win to me! The banks aren't failing because they don't have enough money. They're failing because we don't have enough money! Even if the auto industries get help and turn their production to hybrids and other fuel efficient cars, it's not going to make a lick of difference if no one is buying cars!

Huh. Maybe I should be an economist after all.