The Stock Market is often used as a measuring stick of our nation’s confidence. This gauge not only reveals a great deal about our country financially, but it also pulls back the veil on how we feel regarding our national security and political leadership.

In recent months, we have witnessed a slowdown, a downturn, a grinding halt, and ultimately, a meltdown. Financial wizards have debated whether America was dangling perilously close to a recession, or whether we were literally slipping down the economic slope toward something far worse…perhaps even catastrophic. 

In the past several weeks, our national leaders have conjured, proposed, debated, and miraculously passed a nearly $1 Trillion dollar economic bailout and rescue. And despite the fact that Congress had done very little in regard to influential legislation for many months prior, it worked “without bias” and “across the aisle” to pass one of the single-most expensive financial projects in American history…in a mere matter of days.

The $700 Billion (+) package was intended to rescue our melting financial institutions. It was granted in order to prop them up and provide the vital cash flow they needed to cover their hedged bets and pump money into the pockets of the American public in the form of loans. Yet now, only a few weeks removed from the near-collapse of several of America’s most notable financial giants, we are bearing witness to a perversion of capital resources and the literal hijacking of our own tax dollars.

The sad truth is that the banks begged for the capital they needed for survival. They claimed that it was to be used to ward off financial ruin, lost jobs, and a meltdown that would impact the vast majority of Americans. They pleaded their case by claiming that their burdens would become America’s burdens, and their survival would insure our economic survival.

I do believe there was a great deal of merit to their case. However, I doubted (then, just as I do now) their sincerity.

The banks and financial citadels have since received their money. They’ve survived, literally by the grace and mercy of the government and the common taxpayer.

Yet in exchange, the common taxpayer has received very little in return. Sure, we’ve been blessed to take comfort in knowing that the banks will not fail, and that our deposits are protected against default…and hysteria.

But the money that was supposed to trickle south to the consumer remains frozen in the vaults of our financial institutions, disappointingly out of reach from those needing it most.

The banks received their rescue and their bailout…on our dime.

Yet, where is our plan? Where is our forgiveness upon the altar of interest?

The American people need a similar safety net. Families need a window for financial recovery, and our businesses need liquid capital, not frozen promises sitting in the freezers (vaults) behind the smoke-filled Boardrooms.

The banks got it. Why didn’t we?

Can you comprehend an American Bailout Plan? While the banks are covering their bad bets with our tax dollars, perhaps we should be allowed to cover our own.

How much would it do for the average American family if they were granted a 60-day grace window on all debts owed to any bank or institution that received money as a result of the bailout? Over the course of the 60 days, families could regroup and piece together workable budgets. They could pay off medical bills, make needed repairs that would improve property values, and create an emergency savings “cushion” for unforeseen circumstances. In turn, they would also have additional funds to pump back into the economy through spending and investing.

After 60 days, the bailout would end, and payments would resume without any accrued interest during the rescue period.

Sound crazy? Of course. Would it work? Probably not.

But giving banks billions of tax dollars to “save” them sounds even crazier, especially if those same banks have no intention of passing some of that grace around the table to the rest of us.

For the past few months, Americans have hedged their own bets on the “hope and change” as promised by Barack Obama. And now, just two business days after his election, where does that barometer of financial, security, and political confidence stand?

You crunch the numbers…

Tuesday’s NYSE Close:          9,625

Wednesday’s NYSE Close:     9,139            (-486 points)            (-5.04%)

Thursday’s NYSE Close:        8,695            (-443 points)            (-4.85%)

2-day Loss Since Election:                        (-929 points)            (-9.89%)

Do We Expect A Bull Market, Or Just A Load Of Bull?