Do the New Math, Less income, less spending, equals a bigger and bigger slice goes toward Interest Payments.

If person A has 1,000 dollars in bills, and 900 dollars in earnings, they must borrow a 100 dollars to break even, and on that 100 dollars they must pay interest. If Person A's income drops to 500 dollars, and they manage to drop their spending to 600 dollars, the net effect is they still must borrow a hundred dollars, but now the percentage of money they are borrowing versus the total amount they are making has DOUBLED.

The government and the banks probably realize that the fastest and most responsible way out of the projected worldwide economic downturn is to stop charging interest to anyone who is responsibly paying down their debts, otherwise, as income and expenses both decrease, the percentage each person is paying towards interest will continue to increase, and continue to strangle the masses.

So the bailout basically took all the money that the consumer lost in home equity, and gave it back to the banks, who in turn will charge interest on it before "sharing" it with the people who it was taken from.

What will fix the Stock Market? How about the government admitting that they and the banking community have gutted the consumer beyond recognition.

George Bush will speak AGAIN this morning and once again I will be reminded of the musical quartet playing on the deck of the Titantic as the Titantic sank. I feel as if George Bush is simply there to ease our minds while the economy tanks.

What would fix the stock market?

An acknowledgement by the government that between their level of taxes and fees, along with ultra high interest rates by the banks on unsecured credit, the consumer does not have enough spendable income left. If President Bush would just admit this, and agree something needs to be done about it, this would actually encourage wall street. New investments in products and goods by businesses would be spurred by the belief that the consumer will be able to afford new purchases at some point in the near future.

However, something else has to happen, and I'll devote my next article to that key issue.