The “brilliant” Charles Krauthammer got it wrong. Fox News talking head Fred Barnes provided insight with the same depth of understanding he demonstrates daily on Special Report with Brit Hume. Hugh Hewitt preached the bailout gospel with the same tenacity he usually reserves for good causes, like electing Sarah Palin. On the Left, Nancy Pelosi did not think $700 billion was enough so she threw in $150 billion of pork.

65% of the American people opposed the bailout, but the political and media elites on both sides of the aisle demanded “BAILOUT NOW!” When the House Republicans managed to block the bailout legislation on the first attempt and the markets reacted positively, Krauthammer explained that it would be a big mistake to assume that no bailout was necessary. Now that the bailout has been signed into law by the lame duck in the White House and the markets continue to collapse, Krauthammer and his fellow elites will no doubt argue that the bailout was simply not large enough. Read more >

Q: Why does a snake not bite a lawyer?

A: Professional courtesy.

As the Roman empire declined, the number of lawyers in the capital grew exponentially. The provinces discovered that they could sue for favors in Rome and the Romans learned that they could get rich pleading cases. Did the preponderance of lawyers cause the collapse of the empire? We’ll never know, but a similar thing seems to be happening today in the United States.

The instant share-prices of a company decline, for any reason whatsoever, the vultures swoop down to feed. They advertise for shareholders to join class action lawsuits designed to enrich the lawyers. Each individual action may or may not be frivolous, however, cumulatively, these lawsuits create a massive overhead cost to society. The end result is that billions of dollars are transferred from consumers, who buy the products and services of the target companies, to the lawyers.

As if Countrywide Financial Corporation does not have enough problems (caused primarily by macro economic forces), now the company has to defend a class action lawsuit filed by Shepherd, Finkelman, Miller & Shah LLC.
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