by Andrew Hockenbroch

Created on: December 16, 2008   Last Updated: January 13, 2009

10) Inflation is bad, or so we have been told for years. What happens when you release multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars per adult US citizen into the US economy? If you thought four dollar gas was bad I bet you cannot wait for four dollar sticks of chewing gum.

9) The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. When was the last time you heard a politician say, "Look at Joe Plumber. He has $20,000 in debt and lives on $25,000 per year. We can fix him right up for a long time for about $40,000?" (Thank you, Mrs. Palin.)

8) For Joe Plumber, it is not that bad. Certainly there are many unemployed, and anyone who was about to retire may have to wait a little, but a report released on November 21 of this year from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a statistically significant change of employment status between October 2007 and October 2008 in only ten states. In two of those ten the change is positive. For many of us the largest effect has been that we can afford to put gas in our vehicles now.

7) The market will right itself without the tax money of unwilling tax payers. There are already enough tax payers disenchanted with the United States government that elected officials cannot really claim to be representative of the majority for lack of actual voters. The free market system only really needs time.

6) Our President is invested in the oil market. Congressmen can actually afford to have large amounts in the stock market. If the money of the middle class must be used to bail out the upper class should that decision really be made by those in the upper class? Mr. Moneybags may be gaining faith in the market this way, but Joe Plumber and his sixteen cousins are sure not gaining faith in the government.

5) Commerce is global now. If you were to fall and cut both of your knees could you stop all of the bleeding with a band aid on the left one? Yes, other world leaders are also trying to work on the issue, but the smart governments are not going to waste their money on a plan like this.

4) More appropriately, if you broke both of your legs could you fix both bones by putting a band aid on your left knee? The bailout plan may treat the symptoms, but it does not touch the core problem, allowing the problem to compound itself without detection. If Joe Plumber's debts are not fixed the problem will not go away. Solving the root of the problem also requires a medicine for greed.

3) We did this to ourselves. We developed a sense of entitlement that led to overspending,

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