One question that I've been asking myself is if the federal government really knows what is going on.  Allot of misinformation has been floating across the Internet and through households across the country.  I think part of it is that "what bleeds...leads..." and personally I think the media in general has this unconscious need to keep Americans in panic mode.

The reality is we're far from what is called the "NUCLEAR" option.  In other words, the Federal Reserve through the recently passed "bailout bill" or "TARP", has made great efforts to keep from nationalizing banks.  Despite the rhetoric you may hear from the far right, the government doesn't really want to nationalize the banking system.  And on the other end, we're not falling quickly into a financial depression, though some left leaning media types think that spreading this rumor is going to get their man elected president.

We're actually several steps away from this supposed "Nuclear" option.  There are several options  that the congress could and may take to stimulate the economy.  The one conservatives want to see is a reduction in corporate and individual income taxes.  This would stimulate investment once again into the stock market and would stimulate commerce between banks and businesses once again.  The reality is that this is only viable if the current "loss of confidence" is addressed and dealt with in terms of new regulation.  This regulation will take months if not years to move it's way through congress.  Plus a reduction in taxes are farthest from Democrat congress-men's minds.  If Obama is elected we'll probably see a massive increase in public spending.

And that leads me to another option in which to stimulate the economy.  One of the other nuclear options is for the government to finance major infrastructure spending bills.  I've been hearing for months now how the Democrats have discussed options that would federally fund massive spending on our freeways and waterways.  Couple that with alternative energy and you have a cornucopia of spending options.  Massive spending will result in massive employment needs for construction and energy related manufacturing businesses.  This on paper sounds great, but how much more do we want to jack up the national debt.  There is some truth to the Keynesian style economic professors that are making this argument, but what they don't tell you is that even though people we're employed during the Great Depression, the standard of living was not that great and it took 10 years longer to come out of that economic downturn.  For one thing has to take place with massive spending, it's called massive tax increases to the wealthy.  What most Keynesian economic guru's don't tell you, is that Europe recovered much faster after their economic collapses in the 1930's. Why, because they didn't tax their citizens into oblivion!  So unless you can keep the wealthy from moving their money to other countries, you may find that this crisis lingers for years.

I for one believe that we need someone with a deft hand at this juncture.  In other words, someone who isn't gong to politicize the issue.  In other words we need to stabilize the banking industry and if that requires some bailout money, then so be it.  The next step is to pass some serious regulation, ban hedge funds, ban derivatives or make them more transparent.  Then we need to reduce taxes, especially corporate taxes.  I'm not sure why Republicans are so bent out of shape about individual taxes, because they are at the lowest rates in history.  Plus, if your rich and corporate taxes are lower, there are way's to reinvest in your company and pay fewer taxes.  This is a win/win for everyone because it will bring in more job's in the long run.  Give tax incentives to wealthy individuals like Bo Pickens who want to build wind mills, solar panels or for other alternative energy resources.  In other words, cut the political rhetoric and get busy building America!

For this to happen, we all have to become more serious about the issues and who's making the decisions in Washington.  We need to put down the sports page and study up on economic and political issues.  The more we educate ourselves, the more we take responsibility for our own actions, the sooner this crisis is over.