Predatory lending was not the cause of the foreclosures, and the banking crisis. It was the Fairness in Lending Act that caused the foreclosures and banking crisis. Word of warning: be very wary when the government uses the word “fairness.” The wise economist Henry Hazlitt wrote “Government-guaranteed home mortgages, especially when negligible or no down payment is required, inevitably mean more bad loans than otherwise. They force the general taxpayer to subsidize the bad risks and to defray the losses. They encourage people to “buy” houses that they cannot really afford. They tend eventually to bring about an oversupply of houses as compared with other things. They temporarily overstimulate building, raise the cost of building for everybody (including the buyers of the homes with the guaranteed mortgages), and may mislead the building industry into an eventually costly overexpansion. In brief, in the long run they do not increase overall national production but encourage malinvestment.” A fairly dull and mundane observation, until you consider that he wrote that in 1946.

I called the President’s comment line today to tell him what my children want. As yet, he still hasn’t heeded their request to resign.

I am proud of the politics and posturing of Congress. It is by design. It is part of the process. It was the divine guidance of our founding fathers that gave us this system of checks and balances to limit the excesses of government. It is what American exceptionalism is all about. The sermons by Reverends Granberg-Michaelson, and Forbes, and Emma Jordan-Simpson’s “wonderful” letter are thinly veiled political pleas that do not address true justice. Where is the wonderful letter in support of a balanced budget? A balanced budget would do far more for the poor, the needy, and the unemployed, than the central planning of government bureaucrats.

I have addressed the stalemate around the federal budget, and I urge you all to do the same. Call your Congressmen, and Senators to support a responsible, balanced budget.

Also, don’t fall for statistics about the gap between the rich and poor. An increasing gap between the rich and poor is actually a positive economic indicator. It means there are greater and greater opportunities out there. Another misunderstanding about the percentiles that people fall into, is that it is not static. For example, the majority of the people that are in the bottom 5 percent, won’t be there in five years. They will have moved up the economic ladder, and be replaced by young people entering the job market, immigrants, retirees, etc. Just as true is that the majority of the people in the top five percent weren’t there five years ago, and won’t be there in five years themselves. The percentile groupings are in constant flux.