A fixer for the hangover

Alcoholics know the drill: Take a fixer for the hangover. Matt Frey of the BBC in Washington has suggested that the US is suffering from a huge financial hangover because of a 15 year financial binge. Now the President, Mr Bush, has prescribed a fixer. He should know - his turbulent youth provides ample experience of binging. The stimulate package for the US economy sounds more like a fixer than a fix. Spend your way out of your overspent situation. That must be Bush logic to take the biscuit.

The US is over its ears in debt. National debt runs into tens of trillions of dollars, depending upon who does the actuary calculus and the spin. The national deficit is at three trillion dollars. Personal debt has landed the country and the world in the current financial melt-down through reckless personal credit at the bottom of an equally perilous pyramid of financial instruments. Living too high means falling very far.

Instead of proposing an austerity package to turn the page from overindulgence and extravagance to a more moderate live style, the President thought it good last Friday to prescribe further indulgence. In fact, it is quite amusing amidst the dismay. I wonder if there is an Alcoholics Anonymous for Financial Gluttons.