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HNN Hot Topics: Financial Meltdown (Oct. 16 to Dec. 31, 2008)

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Euribiades Cerrud II, Esq. - 11/22/2008

Why are we in this financial fiasco today and why is more not being done? Here is the short answer.

America cashed in on its noble laws for the social equality of opportunity. Capitalistic endeavors took purpose of those laws without the social responsibility through which they were endowed. And, after the fact is already patent, they continue to act with the same disregard when they make false promises so as to cause legislative action that may otherwise be used to better suit their interests and not those of the public (the bailout).

It is clear that this was the mother of all temptations - to mislead the public that it was ok to borrow under laws so poorly defined that their purpose was taken out of context as if it was a fire sale. Now, those responsible wash their hands and show that their abuse is not complete without further twist of words, smoking mirrors all, and posturing which only resulted in words and the empty promises they carry. You are correct to worry when you as about the government that we inherited from the genius of our forefathers. You should worry because it is up to the people to use those tools our forefathers created for us; you must realize that our forefathers provided a structure where ideas met with words were brought to reality by the brave will of free men. And this is where we have floundered.

Our forefathers through our Constitution gave us three branches of government to protect us from tyranny; the executive and its regulatory bodies, the judicial who must bring to justice those lending institutions and executives whose compensation was based on taking risk and pushing loans that should not have been extended abusing the ignorance of those dreaming that the American dream was theirs at last, and the legislature comprised of the Senate and House of Representatives who passed the laws to relax regulation and allow unqualified borrowers o receive loans they could not afford believing they had balanced the financial theater for those not favored by the salaries their jobs command.

And as free people we failed. We failed by being gullible and allowing the executive sentinel of the masses lay asleep enamored by the poisons provided through the empowerment of those not accountable to our judicial system; the results are the misguided efforts of a naive legislature befriended by the evil that provided the anvil which forged the means for the respective positions of power they occupy (Fannie, Freddie, hedge funds, and the companies who traded bad debt as good collateral and continue to lobby the legislature today to exert their will). This will continue to be the case even if we learn to trade the instant gratification of spending for a more stable future, because the problem is not that we do not know how to be frugal - the problem is that we were told we no longer had to be frugal and we were not provided the transparency necessary to challenge those conceptions. We trusted those who were 'blessed' by the executive, the legislature, and the judicial to say so.

If I may be so bold as to remind you of the words of our Declaration of Independence, the very same that demands that this remain the land of the free and the home of the brave as our National Anthem expounds where all men are created equal with equal rights to exert their thought to preserve their right to be happy - "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Be heard, be informed, be engaging, live, and be happy. We had forgotten the responsibilities enabling the comforts we all enjoy as free men and women. Come onto the action and do not allow the legislature to decide for you once again while you just watch the news and argue with a television. Do something and contact your legislature. The clock is ticking.