The Gift Givers...

Proverbs 19:6 "Many will entreat the favor of the prince: every man is a friend to him that givith gifts."

Do you remember the story of Hansel and Gredel? They were led along by the good gifts. How about Edward in, "the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," being given the good gifts "turkish delight" by the witch. Now we have the US Government giving the good gifts of money. Are we becoming the friend of the gift giver?

President Bush last spring gave his friends, the American people, a gift. He with the permission of congress gave each of us about $600. That was very generous. He just went to his buddy Bernanke and said get the printing presses ready, "I'm fellin' generous." I became a friend of the gift givers.

My neighbors are behind in their mortgage payment and their house is upside down, meaning they owe more than it is worth. This makes them eligible for a little help from their friends. The gift givers want to forgive them the difference between what they owe and what the value of their home is now plus give them a new loan with an affordable new payment. Isn't that nice! They want to be friends of the gift givers.

As far as I can tell Morgan Stanley, who was the first recipient of the TARP money, is going to help out Citibank, another recipient of TARP money, by taking off it's hands Smith Barney, Citibanks brokerage arm for a mere $10 billion. That's right...Citibank was the one who, with the gift givers backing, was going to buy Wachovia bank. What tangled webs we weave. Morgan Stanley was on the verge of bankruptcy last fall as well. Now they are brokering deals with the help of their friends the gift givers.

I read the other day that the porn king (Larry Flint) and his friends were asking the government for their share (5 billion) of the TARP funds, citing that the economy has affected their industry also. They would like to be the friends of the gift givers.

Once we get fattened up by the gift giver will we be in any position to resist anything that they want to push upon us?