What About a People's Bail-out

Dear Editor, Letters Richmond Times Dispatch.

A year ago the Richmond Times-Dispatch was kind enough to publish my letter, first denouncing Beltway economists and then recommending government give citizens their money to let them decide who gets the bail-outs.  Simple concept, let the citizens spend their money as they like and not the winners and losers chosen by politicians, many of whom are owned by special interests.   After the election of '08 the people wanted change Washington, yet it's "still business as usual", only worse.   Take for example that assurances that bonus payments would not go to executives in bailed out companies. We've yet to staunched the flow of bonus money to the clowns who screwed up in the first place.  Additionally, stimulus monies have not "created" not or saved enough jobs to reduce the number of unemployed persons.  Talking about the unemployment rate at this point is meaningless. In October '09 there were 15 million unemployed and it's only worse now.
Sadly, government has borrowed trillions and has little to show for it, except possibly more federal jobs.  Fraud has stolen billions.  The only consumer oriented bail-out "cash for clunkers" went primarily to foreign automakers and not the government owned General Motors, for which it was intended.  Tell me again why we own an automobile company?   So, if we're going to borrow on our collective futures let's have a fling that will go down in history books.  Give the money back to the people.  This last waltz will jump start the economy and will certainly stimulate businesses large and small.   If that stimulus fails, we're in far more dire straits than anyone can imagine, and I know that we're already entering into the Enron style of accounting.  The worst that can happen is a reset of the entire economy, which may happen anyway, when the Chinese call our debt. 
Perhaps a reset will ultimately force us to rediscover the idea of self-reliance, the importance of family, civic and social virtue and even religion (you fill-in which).  We may rediscover that there is more to life than making a buck.