Smoke and Mirrors is all they offer

We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto...

I don't know how many of you are old enough to remember the original production of the "Wizard of Oz", with the then quite young Judy Garland, but there is an uncanny resemblance of many of our Banking industry leaders and government officials today with the the "Wizard" in the Oz epic. For those of you who have never seen this, the wizard was an incompetent phony, who only pretended to control events. Rather like the rooster who takes credit for the sunrise, you know. Smoke and mirrors is what he offered, not leadership.

....and so, the parallel with the Federal Reserve. The idea that lowering interest rates will have any effect at all on this economy is ludicrous, as it's the availability of credit, rather than it's cost, that is sinking the ship.

That availability, in turn, has been reduced greatly by abuses, allowed and even abetted by the same officials who now profess to want to "help" or have "solutions". The very thought that these people are still in charge after what they have done through greed and incompetence should make your blood run cold, it certainly does mine. A tragedy of first magnitude is manifesting itself. This is controversial, but it is hard to not come to the conclusion that our entire financial system (and probably the government too, no surprise) is saturated with people that are barely distinguishable from common criminals. Enron was apparently a warm-up, and now we see the entire banking and financial system has been running on Enron-like ethics for years....and now the day of reckoning is here...

However, there is something we can do about this. Remember, don't forget to vote and be politically active, get involved, it will be much worse if we give up...Be strong, be realistic, and be an example of high ethics to others, as that's the key to personal survival in the storms to come, and to turning this country around...

Best of luck to you all,
Mark Lytle
Houston, Texas