All the talk of the bailouts in the news lately has me thinking back to several articles I've read in Forbes.  The problem, aside from people borrowing things they could not afford to pay back and realtors and mortgage brokers all too willing to push people over that cliff, is that the Fed has allowed too much money into the financial system in the guise of keeping inflation down.  This has devalued the dollar, reduced the value of everything, and really contributed to this mess.  And now we want to entrust $700 Billion to the same people that got us into this mess in the first place - without them presenting a plan as to what will be done differently this go round so we don't have another bailout next year.  I don't think that sounds quite right.  On top of it all, this has the far left saying out loud "See - we told you that capitalism doesn't work!"  Argh!

New Gingrich has proposed a plan in 4 steps below (full story here):

1. Eliminate the "mark to market" accounting provision which is driving companies into bankruptcy unnecessarily.
   
2. Repeal the Sarbanes-Oxley law which failed in every case this year and which burdens new companies with a $3 million-a-year accounting fee.
   
3. Join China and Singapore in eliminating the capital gains tax and watch money pour into the system from private investors at no cost to the taxpayer.
   
4. Pass a strong energy bill to return at least $500 billion a year in energy money to the United States.

If congress really wants to get us out of this mess, I think they'd better take a look at these 4 things - particularly 3 and 4 - before signing off on a what will surely become a bureaucratic boondoggle that will only stifle the system and lead to more financial ruin down the road.