Nifty News on the Banking Crisis

Somewhere in the midst of the mass confusion this weekend over the "crisis"....some Democrats woke and realized that they could insert a new tax into this mess. It would of course cover the pretended costs of a $700 billion bailout.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would like for anyone to think that the fee would be assessed after five years if the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office determined taxpayers had lost money in the bailout. "If after five years ... the CBO decides that the American taxpayer has lost money in this, then there would be a fee on financial institutions," Nancy said.

The nifty part of this deal is that the banks and financial players would immediately run to their nearest congressman and senator, and offer up various incentives for the dimwits to write "credits" into future tax code.

My bet....if you were a political dimwit from Ohio....you could probably stand there while a Wall Street banker writes out a $100k check for your re-election campaign. Or you could be a senator from Alaska who will get some cheap options on real estate in Florida condo in exchange for your help in writing a tax credit.

So when Nancy says she's helping you.....she really isn't. And in five years.....if you did hope for $700 billion back....don't worry....you won't be getting it. Its just your hardworking congressmen and senators at work....helping themselves.

A Moment of Jennifer Lee Hampton

The cops apparently found the body of Jennifer Lee Hampton (from my hometown of Florence, Bama) on Saturday morning. It was in a creek or stream area just a couple of miles from the hotel she was staying at. I blogged this story last week when she went missing.

No suspects, and I would have doubts about anyone ever being brought to justice.

There will likely be obituaries written and kind words spoken over her. If you wander around the internet....they all describe her as hardworking and kind.

"She was real sweet," said a co-worker who worked with Hampton for three years but did not want to be identified. "She didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't party. ... She was always working."

She was a homecoming queen at her high school over at Waterloo.

What angers me mostly from watching this story....is that she might have lived another thirty years and contributed much more to life. So all we have is 21 short years that you have to review and paste on her life story. And the killer? He wanders around for maybe another twenty or thirty years.....drugged up, drunk, and really with no passion for anything. In the balance of life...she is owed something that we cannot repay or close the book on.

The curious thing is that anyone lives in the Knoxville region chats or writes about the "troubles" down by the interstate and this area of town. Drugs come and go. The cops do a general job of maintaining things but its not making much difference. Over the next week, another thousand folks will come to stop at the Days Inn there, and not know her story or the threat of danger associated with this area.

My brother chatted for a moment on the story....and this entire end of Tennessee which has crime troubles and cops who often are connected. Most locals who live up that neck of the woods avoid both the bad guys and the cops.

So I'll leave the story there. A wanderer from Bama sheds a tear and pauses over this story. There isn't much I can do or say.