We would have much rather had an alternative plan, such as that which Dave Ramsey talked about at some length. Unfortunately, Dave Ramsey didn’t get the call. "Politics as usual" did, however. Just to get the bail-out passed, it got loaded down with pork. What a huge surprise that is...

Like many in the country, our first inclination is to tell Wall Street to stuff it. Forget about "saving" companies that probably have no right to be rescued. Let the chips fall where they may. Our second inclination is to get the various U. S. Attorney’s offices busy, and start investigating, and, where appropriate, start indicting people. Oh, yeah, we forgot. Since Obama can now fire all those U. S. Attorneys, as they serve at the will and pleasure of the president, they probably won’t be there to see such work through. In the don’t hold your breath department, don’t expect much fuss from Big Media if Obama does what Bill Clinton did–fired all 100-plus of the U. S. Attorneys except one, with nary a whimper from the media–even though Bush is "under investigation" for firing just nine.

We simply don’t believe the plan that passed was the "only" way to address this problem. What if we’d been told it needed to be 1.5 trillion dollars? Three trillion dollars? Pick your own number. Would the answer always be, "oh, we’ve got to do something"? No matter what the amount?

Regardless of the bill that did pass, we think the new Congress and President should with all due haste get the following adopted, as an "amendment" to the bail-out. Given who’s going to be in charge, we aren’t real optimistic of that happening, but it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t:

1. No pork in any shape, fashion, or form. Not a cent to ACORN or any other so-called "community" group. No exceptions. Since President Obama has down-played any relationship between himself and ACORN, he shouldn’t have a problem with that, should he? And, while we’re at it, not another tax dollar goes to ACORN or any other entity masquerading as a "non-partisan" community group.

2. Ditch the "mark-to-market" procedure which has made this situation worse.

3. No more golden parachutes for executives of failing companies– regardless of when they were hired. For starters, such golden parachutes are irresponsible and insulting to shareholders. Let the ousted execs make do with two weeks pay, which is the most that the majority of the rest of us can expect when we are given a pink slip or our employer cuts back or closes. That plus their usually huge stock holdings should get them through until their next executive position comes along.

4. For any company "bailed out" by the government: if the company stays in business, and starts making a profit, then the government–which means us, the taxpayers–gets paid back. These must be loans, not gifts. At least 60% of those profits go to paying back the bailout, and no employee is given a bonus any higher than two months salary in a given year until the bailout is paid back in full, with interest at the legal rate.

5. Any company bailed out by the government must have strict limits on executive compensation – no one makes a million dollars a year heading up a company which was headed for a nosedive, and save for the federal government, would be history. Not that a million should be the ceiling; that’s an issue on which a consensus can be reached (except possibly by the execs–but the recipients of the federal government’s relief don’t get to name the terms).

6. Any violations of no. 3 result in criminal charges of all involved and civil charges in double the amount of the ill-gotten gain, plus interest.

7. In cases where it appears that "funny" accounting methods have been used to "hide" or understate profits of such a bailed-out company, to negate paying back the government, then independent audits may take place, at company expense. If it is established that the books have been cooked, then criminal charges will result, and civil fines equal to double the amount of the hidden profits, plus interest, will be extracted from the assets of the offenders, including, but not limited to, the CEO. None of the fines mentioned in this column will be dischargeable in bankruptcy.

8. Curtail or end the practice of speculative buying of futures on "margins," which has contributed to, and some would say greatly so, to the sky-high rise of the price of oil.

9. Investigate just what has gone on at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and bring the appropriate criminal and civil charges against anyone who has violated the law and/or committed fraudulent or other wrongful acts. There is something inherently wrong, in our opinion, with executives of those entities making upwards of 20 to 90 MILLION dollars or more. These entities were created by the GOVERNMENT, for Pete’s sake. Their executives are not supposed to make more money than several millionaires combined!

10. We are not saying that anything criminal has occurred at those entities, as we don’t know, but we do know that level of compensation is outlandish–if there’s not a law against that, there must be one put in place, pronto. Two of President-elect Obama’s supporters are two of those former execs that made millions and millions.

11. NO campaign contributions or hiring of lobbyists may be made by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or any employee of either at a managerial level on up. The same rule goes for any other "quasi-public" entity or one created by the government, such as Fannie and Freddie. If anyone at any of these entities is caught "funneling" contributions or lobbyist fees through other persons or parties, then felony criminal prosecution will result.

12. While we are at it, let’s go ahead and outlaw "junket" trips by members of Congress courtesy of lobbying firms or the lobbyists themselves–or by related entities, including the companies they represent. If certain members of Congress think a trip to the Bahamas is in order, then let them pay for it themselves, out of their own pockets, like the rest of us have to, rather than being treated to such a trip by the outside interests.

13. The first violation of this law [no. 12] results in public censure by the house of Congress in which the offender is a member. The creative side of us says let’s also require the offender to post multiple billboards and buy big newspaper ads in his or her district or state with their picture prominently displayed, with the words, "I took a vacation paid for by lobbyists, and all I got to show for it was a Public Censure by the U. S. Congress. I have also paid back to your government a fine equal to twice the cost of the trip, plus interest. If I do this again, I will get kicked out of Congress, if you haven’t voted me out first."

The second violation results in criminal charges and a civil fine equal to triple the amount of the price of the junket, plus interest. If convicted, the offender loses their seat in Congress. In an effort to take the politics out of this, any member of Congress who brings a frivolous charge against another member that the above has occurred, which turns out to be bogus, that member gets a public censure. The second time that member does that, he or she is out the door, with the same criminal and civil penalties in place.

14. And here’s one that too many will think isn’t related to 1-13 above...Secure our borders, keep the eavesdropping program and the Patriot Act, don’t abandon tough interrogation of prisoners ("tough" does not mean "torture"), and stay vigilant with the war on terror (yes, it is a war, not a bumper sticker...they want to kill all of us). If we don’t do those things, it makes "the economy" and "investment strategy" basically irrelevant.

If suicide bombs are going off on Main Street, USA, it won’t matter what they are doing on Wall Street.

We don’t pretend that the above takes care of all the problems we face at this time. However, in our opinion, some form of these needs to be implemented, and have teeth enough to take hold and monitor the situation.

Our country does not need to play economic roulette with its future. We hope President-elect Obama and the new Congress take this very seriously, and take on the problem with a resolve to properly address it, and not play politics as usual. When the so-called "bail-out" that did get passed, with the blessings of many in both political parties, is loaded down with pork, we know that the problem wasn’t properly addressed.

The shell games need to stop. The new President and Congress should do something really novel, instead of just playing politics. Call Dave Ramsey. Put him in charge of fixing this mess. Some "tough love" would be a lot better solution right now than the "free money to all" mentality that carried the day with that "bail-out" bill.