well, there you go again

I watched the new president last night, and while I haven't given up hope, he didn't exactly instill any.

First we blamed the economic crisis on "the failed policies of the last eight years." That's just lazy. Saying "George Bush bad" may have got you elected, but eventually that isn't going to be enough. I'm sorry, but put the blame where it belongs. Government didn't get us into this mess. I don't care whose side of the fence you're on, government didn't buy or sell sub-prime mortgages. We did that. The people of this country did that. We knew better, but bought into the idea that we could live in million dollar houses on ridiculously small mortgages. Or, we knew we couldn't afford a house yet and needed to save more, but we bought into some realtors pitch that sold us up a risky river without a paddle. We knew better, but we allowed mortgage brokers to talk us into risks we couldn't afford. Investment houses knew the risk of buying those mortgages, but they went and did it anyway. The irony for me is, as a group, the "victims" of foreclosure are the people who got us into this mess. They're the biggest group to blame. Right behind them are the investment bankers who bought that same crap. Our own greed and rationalization bought us this crisis. Take it on the chin, America. You did this to yourselves. George Bush didn't do it to you.

True, government allowed that to happen, but that doesn't make them the culprit. Just because government allows one to be an asshole doesn't make it their fault when someone jumps on that opportunity. If you do that, it's on you.

Then, the prevailing message was, this plan isn't perfect. No plan is. But we have to act now. Well, if you have to act now, could you at least try to make it as perfect as possible, and not throw in all the pet projects you've been holding back for the last eight years because you couldn't have them then. I'll agree funding for the arts is a great thing, but it doesn't belong in a bill that's trying to save the country from economic disaster. Stop throwing that stuff in there and then complaining that your opponents aren't taking the crisis seriously and are "playing the same old games." No, they're not. They're not sliding unrelated crap into the plan and then defending the plan as something we have to do. You are. OK, maybe they are playing the same old games too, but that doesn't make it right. That just makes for the same old ineffective government that couldn't get out of its own way before and won't now. (You know, the one I thought we were changing from.)

Then when someone points that out, you say, well, it's not perfect, but we have to do something. Well then do something, but make that something effective in ending the crisis. Don't just do something to do something.