Dear Editor,

There’s no doubt that everyone is being hit hard by the recent recession, but who’s to blame? Most average American citizens are unanimous when stating who they think caused the problem: Wall Street and those greedy banks. It’s true, those two scapegoats made risky loans, stretched themselves farther than possible, and made terrible investments with their clients capital. Their lending and investing practices were largely out of hand and irresponsible. Practices such as spending more than you bring in by taking on large amounts of debt is a recipe for disaster.

But what if I told you that there was a firm that lost more money than every bank in the U.S.? What if I told you that this firm has been spending nearly two dollars for every dollar it takes in? What company would you guess it is? Citigroup? Bank of America? General Motors? Turns out it’s not a company at all. Yet worse, it doesn’t squander the capital of investors, but rather decides to take your money and lose it. To find the culprit, all you need to do is turn on CSPAN and watch the Federal Government in action.

The Federal Government has been running deficits all throughout the Bush era, and President Obama plans on continuing it. Although Obama’s plan is slightly better than President Bush’s (spending three dollars for every two coming in), a toddler could tell you that it’s not sustainable. Unlike banks, the government has no safety net, as it has no spending limits and can simply print money to fund new endeavors.

Obama’s new budget calls for a $3.7 trillion spending plan for 2010. So how will this affect our budget a decade from now? It’s hard to tell as the Senate Budget Committee dropped the practice of laying out budget numbers for the next 10 years. Instead, they have adopted a 5 year budget span, severely clouding the budgets affect on our future, including the fact that the budget may balloon after the 5 year time span. These are the same people who want the banks to provide more transparency to the American people?

The hypocrisy of the U.S. government is sickening. They sit back and play the good guy, scolding Wall Street CEOs for not taking pay cuts when their firms lost money. Where’s Congress’ pay cut?

The U.S. government’s TARP investment fund lost 50 percent of its value in a matter of months. They have been spending out of control for almost a decade and have proposed little to help us get out of this mess. One of their largest rescue plans calls for increases in what caused this mess: Out of control spending.

I say government representatives should take 50 percent pay cuts until the government starts turning a profit. It’s only fair since they have imposed pay restrictions on banks receiving bailout funds. It’s time for our government representatives to listen to their own complaints, and work together to fix themselves before they try to fix the economy.

You would never tell a plumber how to plumb if you couldn’t. You wouldn’t teach someone how to fly an airplane if you couldn’t. Where does Congress get the right to tell Wall Street banks how to do their job, when they themselves are some of the worst in the industry?

Ryan Vanzo