I’m not what you would call a political follower. I rarely pay too much attention to what’s going on in the world of politics, but when I do I’m usually quite interested in it. This, is no different: The $700 Billion Bailout. I was quite interested to find that western Kentucky’s Representative, Ed Whitfield, actually voted against the bailout.

I will eat your children!

While I’m not an economic guru, I did disagree with the proposed bill. What’s even better about it, is seeing the politicians in a cat fight that is broadcasted on cable television. Nancy Pelosi essentially criticized Republicans for not voting for it. Another Democrat, Barney Frank, slurred some improper statement that suggested that people didn’t vote for the bailout because their feelings were hurt. At the same time, in interviews with some of the Republican house members, they actually came out looking pretty good in this (especially since they didn’t look like immature four year olds in Wal-Mart that didn’t get that toy they were begging for). At the same time though, they took some pretty big measures to make it seem like John McCain was having a big say in the bill (isn’t he a Senator?). Either way, it looks like the people who voted for the bill are extremely upset that it didn’t pass. They keep pointing out that the “stock market is tanking on this news” and that “they were depending on this to pass.”

Personally, I’m actually quite happy that the bailout hasn’t passed yet. For some reason, running and throwing $700 billion dollars at a problem instead of taking the time and figuring out how to best handle it, doesn’t really sound like a good idea. People are crying about how we need to fix this now with bailout money so that we can save our “retirement funds and our investments,” how about spending that money to buy back homes for families so that we can have a place to live? How about using that money to create jobs for a struggling economy? If Ed Whitfield’s numbers are right, there aren’t that many banks in financial trouble:

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in its most recent quarterly report indicates that there were 8,451 banks in America and 98.4% are well capitalized. In other words, only 1.6% of our nation’s banks have a financial problem.

Either way, I think this is my new goal: become more involved in what’s happening in our political system. For some reason, I feel it might be kind of important.