What I find most fascinating is that despite the fact that the financial services sector doubled their campaign contributions in the last 10 years, all their lobbying tactics could not put Humpty-Dumpty (or Lehman Brothers) together again. They were successful only when they incorporated grassroots strategies, including a widespread call to action from nearly every major business and retiree organization in DC (AARP, US Chamber, etc.)

To me, one of the big lessons here is that the “here’s my money, where’s my vote” approach to lobbying (which so many people think is effective) does not work or, at least, can’t trump good old-fashioned citizen outrage. Early in the week outrage worked against the bill — by the end, though, equally outraged citizens on the other side of the issue were able to turn it around.

My Senator, Barbara Boxer, responded to an email asking her not to vote for the bailout plan without considering more options. She said the primary reason she voted YES was because she heard from California the news that without the bailout California would not be able to ’sell voter-approved highway, school, and water bonds.’

Congress simply does not get that they not only have to do something, they have to do it right. What if there is a way to make everyone a winner?

Unfortuntely, I am old enough to recall previous decades. One recollection is of a time when all gasoline taxes went to the department of highways, both state and Federal. Before Congress moved these taxes to the general fund, my memory is we had little problems paying for infrastructure in our country. We were the world leader in expanding and improving roads. It makes me wonder why now we can’t keep California highways ahead of growth even with selling bonds.

Another memory is from the same era: when taxes collected for Social Security were earmarked only for Social Security, again, before Congress moved this money to the general fund. By correlating average U.S. salaries, cost of living, annual interest earned and cost of administration over the last thirty years, it is very clear that had Social Security money been kept out of the general fund it would today be, at worst, solvent and able to bear the increased demands placed on it by Baby Boomers. At best, assuming an investment return of 2% over prime, it would currently have an enormous surplus — enough to get us past the Baby Boomer demographic. It might be interesting for you to have someone run the numbers.

One of the reasons so many people opposed the bailout has to do with Congress, the institution. We may still have faith in our individual elected officials but Congress as a whole has provided so many examples of short sighted thinking, graft and corruption, and lack of intelligent thinking in the bills passed in teh last thirty years that the majority of Americans have a difficult time trusting the collective members currently sitting Washington.

Why not place $2,000 in every American citizen’s Social Security account (roughly $700 billion) and then loan the money to the financial institutions in trouble. Think about it.

Good luck, God bless,

Steve Peek