To President Bush

So where have you been, President Bush?

Last evening you came on national television to once again scare the American people.

We are tired of the fear mongering.

Didn't you know the economy has already failed? Didn't you realize that when you sent out those "economic stimulus checks" this past spring? Weren't you watching the falling housing prices that actually started back in 2006? Didn't you watch the increasing real estate inventory increase to 14 months in places like Florida? Weren't you paying attention to record high gas prices, record high milk prices, record high cereal prices? The economy has already failed, it is just now a "crisis" because your rich, Wall Street friends are finally feeling the consequences of their greed.

Last I heard, you were a believer. Have you ever read in the Bible about the sin of greed? Do you remember the story about the rich young ruler and the eye of the camel? Or what about Lazarus? Does any of it ring a bell? There is nothing wrong with having wealth, there is something wrong with having wealth at the expense of everyone else, and that's what happened with the collapse of Bear Stearns, Freddie & Fannie, AIG, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch. How can CEOs walk away with millions when their very companies were ruined? Is that how this is supposed to work? And now you want me to bankrupt not only the rest of my life but the lives of my children and future grandchildren so your friends can have more millions? And you want me to give Henry Paulson the right to tax me to death to pay for his $700 BILLION bailout without me asking what he is doing with the money? President Bush, this is not the way to treat the people in this country. This is on top of the $3 TRILLION debt we have because of your illegal war. Never mind the loss of lives. And I have news for you President Bush, jobs have already been lost, didn't you know we are in 6.1% unemployment, 6.4% unemployment in my state of Missouri, and over 11% African American unemployment? We have been in recession since 2001, we are now in a depression because of your leadership and I am not happy.

So, what do we do now? First, tell the truth to the American people and STOP TRYING TO SCARE EVERYONE! We want oversight, we want oversight, and we do not want to pay the CEOs. Where is the bailout for Main Street or me? If I am irresponsible for my financial behavior, I am responsible for the consequences. I have to bite the bullet and just cut back, not put my debt on someone else. I am frustrated. Ok, I understand that this is serious and I agree with Senator Barack Obama that we haven't seen something like this in my 44 years of life, I get that, what I don't get is you coming on trying to scare us more.

We want full disclosure. As a fellow MBA graduate, I expect full disclosure. You and Congress owe us this much before you take this HUGE RISK. The market is part risk, why not let these companies fail, they took a risk and the market responded. If you are going to bail anyone out, try bailing out the people with the bad mortgages, the small businesses that actually create jobs and not the corporations that have slashed over 600,000 jobs just this year. Come on, we are not that stupid.

Where have you been? This did not happen on September 15th. Look at history, the handwriting was on the wall two years ago. Actually, five years ago! This is because of Wall Street and the CEOs and the lobbyists bullying D.C. to deregulate the markets and let them run hog wild with "other people's money." Regulation is to make sure they don't destroy the economy, but guess what? They did and most of their money is on offshore accounts and you worry about Senator Barack Obama raising their taxes! Their taxes need to be raised so they can pay for the mess that happened under your watch. Our backs, the backs of the American people can not bear this one! Not this time.

Please listen to the bipartisan efforts to structure something that doesn't forget Main Street. No more pillaging everyday people because of your rich, country club friends. Let them remember that they can't take it with them and they can actually use their own money to bail out their other rich friends. It is time to speak the truth to the American people, stop the scare tactic and remember the least of these.