Bailout Plans Pit Americans vs. Congress

Our economic solutions must be tempered with both mercy -- and self-interest. A job loss could have happened to someone in your family, through no fault of their own. The statistic of 5 million out of work includes a lot of hard-working, loyal employees who never expected to end up in this spot.

If compassion doesn't move you, then self-interest should. Insisting on foreclosures when well-intentioned homeowners simply can't pay until jobs are restored is a self-defeating solution. The more foreclosure sales, the lower housing prices will fall. That means even those with jobs can't refinance to pay for college or sell a home to fund retirement.

Growth is the answer: Make no mistake, many of today's problems would solve themselves if the economy could move back to a path of growth:

• With profitable growth, there would be more demand for workers, less unemployment.
• With more people employed, there would be more demand for housing.
• With more income, there would be fewer foreclosures, and home prices would level off, and start rising again.

Sadly, economic growth requires more than a huge surge of taxpayer dollars into the slowest areas, like housing and autos, or even banking. The best stimulus is confidence.

But with the best of intentions, the administration's plans seem to introduce more confusion than confidence into the economy.

How can businesses have confidence about investing in the future, if they're unsure whether the next government ruling will produce more taxes, or more regulations, or more rules about layoffs or pay levels?

How can individuals feel secure in saving and buying decisions, if government money creation is likely to cause inflation? Or if the rewards of your diligence in saving and paying down your mortgage are offset by taxation that takes your labor to subsidize others who failed to plan?