The Bush administration, Teleprompter Barry, Fed. Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, SecTreas. Henry Paulson, congressional Democrats and others are scrambling to pump between $700M and $1T worth of money after bad to shore up the nation’s financial institutions.  What’s the first impact of that?  Oil jumping $25 per barrel in one day, a 25 percent increase.  Way to go, boneheads.  Meanwhile, John McCain is practically alone in expressing skepticism and caution about this bailout plan.

Last week, Steve Forbes pegged the problem with such policies:

“Long story short, in 2004 the Federal Reserve, then headed by Alan Greenspan, made a fatal miscalculation,” he said. “They underestimated the U.S. economy. They printed a lot of money because they thought the economy needed it, and the engine flooded.”

. . .

“So how did the Fed respond? Having gone on one drinking binge, it went on another: It cranked up the money press again.”

. . .

“If cheapening your money was the way to wealth, then Zimbabwe and Argentina would own the world,” he said.

Today, with the U.S. dollar being further devalued by this ill-conceived bailout plan, oil costs more not because its supply has decreased, but because our currency isn’t worth as much as it was yesterday.  This isn’t over and this cure may be worse than the disease.  Move over Zimbabwe and Argentina — HERE WE COME!!!

(Also blogging on this - The Right Wing Liberal)