Republican Senator's Solution To Bank Crisis Is To Withdraw Funds And Hide Them In A Mattress

North Carolina's Republican Senator Richard Burr's solution to the banking crisis this past fall was to withdraw all his bank funds using an ATM machine and probably put the cash in a mattress or something. While the Obama White House economic advisers currently work to restore vital portions of the economy such as the banks, a major Republican's solution is to help to spur panic in the banking industry and threaten the safety and security of the banking system by encouraging panic cash withdrawals. If Burr was a far better legislator, then maybe he'd be on the same page with the Obama Administration and working to restore faith in the economy with the voters instead of working to fuel bank panic.

Here's the actual quote from Burr:"On Friday night, I called my wife and I said, Brooke, I'm not coming home this weekend. I will call you on Monday. Tonight, I want you to go to the ATM machine, and I want you to withdraw out everything it will take. And I want you to tomorrow, and I want you to go Sunday. "I was convinced on Friday night that if you put a plastic card in an ATM machine the last thing you were going to get was cash".

Now isn't that special. Burr could have voted in favor of the Obama economic policies to strengthen the banks and to strengthen the economy. But, no. Instead a Republican senator like Burr chooses to withdraw all his money out of the banks, fueling a bank panic mentality.

The only solution to the current economic crisis is to work through these problems issue by issue. And interestingly, Burr attempted to straddle this issue with the voters of his own state with a positive sounding note of cooperation for this past week's economic address by President Obama, while continuing to oppose the specific White House efforts to revive the economy.

This is part of the problem with Burr. He knows full well that a majority of voters in his own home state voted for President Obama. So Burr will attempt to hop on that popular bandwagon when it serves his benefits, but then will vote for Republican economic obstruction when given half the chance in the senate.

It is hardly surprising that Burr is trailing Democrat Roy Cooper, the Attorney General, in current polls for the 2010 senate election in North Carolina. Burr is yet another ineffective legislator facing possible defeat in 2010 as Democrats go for a three-peat in the national elections.

The Republican Party has a long way to go to become a really effective national party when one of it's leaders simply encourages withdrawing bank funds and stuffing them in some mattress or something as an economic solution. Pathetic indeed.