James InHofe: Hated For His Good Sense

James Inhofe, outspoken (and outstanding) Senator from Oklahoma, rails again. This time it's about the bailout-- Inhofe says Congress was intentionally deceived by the Treasury Department, and we should demand our money back:

"It is just outrageous that the American people don't know that Congress doesn't know how much money he (Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson) has given away to anyone," the Oklahoma Republican told the Tulsa World.

"It could be to his friends. It could be to anybody else. We don't know. There is no way of knowing."

Inhofe is usually marginalized by the press. Yet I have never heard the man say anything except good sense and truth of matters.

Last week the Treasury secretary announced he was abandoning his plan to free up the nation's credit system by buying up toxic assets from troubled financial institutions. Instead, Paulson wants to take a more direct action on the consumer credit front.

"He was able to get this authority from Congress predicated on what he was going to do, and then he didn't do it," Inhofe said.

It's very obvious that this entire "bailout" idea is a smokescreen and is winding up to be more of a disaster for the American economy than allowing the entire structure to collapse (and build new). I still stand amazed that the thing went through, and that we Americans tolerated it.

What would happen if there was no bailout? What would we American peons do, if the government did not spoon-feed the corporations and banking industries anymore? Why are we so beholden to these industries? Why can't we just shake ourselves from the entire thing?