* * * * *
                                        
                     How much money can I get with my vote?
                                        
> A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only
> exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from
> the public treasure. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the
> candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the
> result that democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by
> a dictatorship.
> 
> “Alexander Tyler” (presumedly [1])
> 

> There are two ways out of this: inflation or deflation. Either home prices
> drop until they return to their historical relationship to wages, or the
> price of everything except houses goes up as the Federal Reserve and
> Congress bail out “homeowners.” The Federal Reserve can do it with its
> current chief's money-dropping helicopters, or Congress can do it by using
> our tax money to pay off the bad debts of investment banks while pretending
> to “bail out homeowners who will lose their homes!” Either way, we
> taxpayers lose and banks win.
> 

“The coming mortgage bailout [2]”

Hmmm … democracy … or fiscal irresponsibility?

Yeah … democracy is overrated anyway.

Charge it! I won't have to pay for it! Woot!

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Tyler
[2] http://sfgate.com/cgi-

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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