by Martha Rhodes

Created on: February 27, 2009   Last Updated: February 28, 2009

We are debating whether our fellow citizens, taxpayers and the victims of a banking system that in the 1990s we were all assured was overregulated to the point of being unable to compete in the world arena should be helped. As a result of deregulation and the belief that a bank can be "too big" to fail, through greed and mismanagement these banks have managed to bring the economies of pretty much the entire world to their knees. Instead of contributing more money to the new office furnishings of bank CEOs and failing auto companies that refuse to come to terms with the fact that they are not competitive in todays markets, lets invest a little in what really keeps this nation one of the most powerful on the planet, the people. The 1,000,000 furnishings of Merrill Lynch CEO Thain could probably have kept 100 or more people in their homes for another year, until a bank with some sense of fairness stepped up to the plate to offer reasonable refinancing within a contract that doesn't require four years of college to read.

Wall Street's answer: "Let the free market work it out" but the other famous Wall Street saying "So goes the financials, so goes the market" leaves us all a little uneasy, so we turn to the federal government. The government that was supposed to be keeping an eye on these banks in the first place?

The problem with a trickle down theory is that those who control the stream don't want so much as a trickle escaping their hands especially when you're talking about billions of dollars. The Troubled Assets Relief Package (TARP) was $700 billion, but very few homes were saved out of it. From what should have been a flood there was a pretty sad trickle, but a "trickle" it was, so we can't say there is mischief afoot or perhaps we can.

This was why we declared independence. Unfair treatment of our citizens and overtaxing. Ever heard of the Boston Tea Party? Anyone for throwing office furnishings into the Hudson?

This country was built on faith in people, not credit. Productive, innovative, hard-working people that built infrastructure in this country that we still use today. Let's put people back to work rebuilding roads, upgrading bridges and railways and making parts for our own products instead of in or outsourcing work. Although its hard to have faith in the federal government, many of us have placed faith in President Obama and his promise of "change" and there are a couple of points that President Obama touched on in his address to Congress that many

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