After dire warnings of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and other blunders, I'm finding it hard to believe Bush's latest plea for a $700 billion bail out of Wall Street. Plenty of Joe Lunchbuckets out there are downright furious at the notion of the taxpayer shouldering the burden of rescuing wealthy investment bankers from their poor business decisions and rightfully so, when so many of them have lost homes and jobs as a result. Why should we have to pay for the mistakes of guys who sip lattés and drive BMW's and live in upscale Manhattan penthouses when most of us are hard pressed just to drive a decent car, pay our mortgages on our modest homes or rents on our apartments and pay plenty for a cup of decent coffee at the local Dunkin Donuts? How are we to believe this President who has cried wolf one too many times and wants Congress to rush through this bailout bill without more thorough vetting of whether or not it will work to begin with? This is the same President who rushed us into what has now become a war where we are left holding the tiger by the tail - we can't let go but we can't keep holding on, either, because either way, we're going to get bit. This President's credibility is at an all time low and frankly, I don't think that people are going to go along with this thing very easily. Even Congress is asking some very tough questions of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. As well they should, given that they are coming to Congress with their hats in their hands begging for a whopping $700 billion from the taxpayers. That's more money than we've spent in all the years we've been ensnared in Iraq! On top of all this, we've got record budget deficits that our grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren will still be paying for generations from now. It almost makes me feel a tad guilty as a member of the Baby Boomer generation, because it's our generation that has so badly fowled things up by insisting on living beyond its means instead of observing our Greatest Generation parents ways of thrift, sacrifice and savings.
So now we're being asked to shoulder a $700 billion payout to Wall Street tycoons who got us into this mess in the first place? No, thanks. That's going to saddle the next President with being unable to put forward any domestic agenda because there won't be any money to do so. I half wonder to myself if this is being done on purpose to hamstring the next President, which could quite possibly be a Democrat. Is this more partisan wrangling from Washington meant to screw the other party? Why do I smell a rat in all of this? Something just doesn't seem right in this "hurry up and pass this bailout bill" plea from Bernanke, Paulson and Bush. Given how much money that is, I would caution Congress and the government to take a closer look at what they are doing with our hard earned tax dollars. I don't want my money thrown down another sinkhole or wasted on some golden parachute for some billionaire banker to help maintain his lavish lifestyle while I struggle just to pay basic bills. I know that I am not alone in this thinking. Of course, Bush promised in his address to the nation last night that there would be no "golden parachutes" as a part of this package, but he seems so disingenuous when he speaks that I find it hard to believe anything that comes out of that man's mouth anymore. He's a serial liar who has spent his entire life doing just that, lying. Lying to himself and everyone around him. So why should I believe him now? Why should I believe that he has had a sudden change of heart and is all for taking golden parachute money out of this rescue package when up until yesterday, he had no desire whatsoever to do that? Is he, in his waning months as President, suddenly wanting to cozy up to the Democrats and work with them instead of trying his level best to screw them? Why don't I believe that when I know that Karl Rove still lurks in the picture even though he is no longer a part of Bush's staff? Rove is still as much a part of the Bush inner circle as he's ever been even though he doesn't directly work for the President anymore. So I still find anything that Bush says to be hard to take seriously. He's so damaged his already dwindling credibility that whenever he makes these kinds of dire warnings, he may as well be crying wolf, for all that it's worth. I think that the American people have wised up to his tendency to do this and refuse to believe in him anymore. Even if this time, the wolf cries are true and the rescue money is indeed necessary, he's already blown his ability to be taken seriously. He's nothing more than a badly damaged lame duck President who is probably biding his time until his administration is over. And I wouldn't put it past him to stick one more knife in the back of his opponents just to screw them one last time before he goes. He strikes me as the bully type who just can't leave well enough alone and always has to get in that last kick. This $700 billion is probably just that, one last way to get back at those who have mocked him all these years. But he's deserved every bit of that mocking.
After dire warnings of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and other blunders, I'm finding it hard to believe Bush's latest plea for a $700 billion bail out of Wall Street. Plenty of Joe Lunchbuckets out there are downright furious at the notion of the taxpayer shouldering the burden of rescuing wealthy investment bankers from their poor business decisions and rightfully so, when so many of them have lost homes and jobs as a result. Why should we have to pay for the mistakes of guys who sip lattés and drive BMW's and live in upscale Manhattan penthouses when most of us are hard pressed just to drive a decent car, pay our mortgages on our modest homes or rents on our apartments and pay plenty for a cup of decent coffee at the local Dunkin Donuts? How are we to believe this President who has cried wolf one too many times and wants Congress to rush through this bailout bill without more thorough vetting of whether or not it will work to begin with? This is the same President who rushed us into what has now become a war where we are left holding the tiger by the tail - we can't let go but we can't keep holding on, either, because either way, we're going to get bit. This President's credibility is at an all time low and frankly, I don't think that people are going to go along with this thing very easily. Even Congress is asking some very tough questions of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. As well they should, given that they are coming to Congress with their hats in their hands begging for a whopping $700 billion from the taxpayers. That's more money than we've spent in all the years we've been ensnared in Iraq! On top of all this, we've got record budget deficits that our grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren will still be paying for generations from now. It almost makes me feel a tad guilty as a member of the Baby Boomer generation, because it's our generation that has so badly fowled things up by insisting on living beyond its means instead of observing our Greatest Generation parents ways of thrift, sacrifice and savings. 
So now we're being asked to shoulder a $700 billion payout to Wall Street tycoons who got us into this mess in the first place? No, thanks. That's going to saddle the next President with being unable to put forward any domestic agenda because there won't be any money to do so. I half wonder to myself if this is being done on purpose to hamstring the next President, which could quite possibly be a Democrat. Is this more partisan wrangling from Washington meant to screw the other party? Why do I smell a rat in all of this? Something just doesn't seem right in this "hurry up and pass this bailout bill" plea from Bernanke, Paulson and Bush. Given how much money that is, I would caution Congress and the government to take a closer look at what they are doing with our hard earned tax dollars. I don't want my money thrown down another sinkhole or wasted on some golden parachute for some billionaire banker to help maintain his lavish lifestyle while I struggle just to pay basic bills. I know that I am not alone in this thinking. Of course, Bush promised in his address to the nation last night that there would be no "golden parachutes" as a part of this package, but he seems so disingenuous when he speaks that I find it hard to believe anything that comes out of that man's mouth anymore. He's a serial liar who has spent his entire life doing just that, lying. Lying to himself and everyone around him. So why should I believe him now? Why should I believe that he has had a sudden change of heart and is all for taking golden parachute money out of this rescue package when up until yesterday, he had no desire whatsoever to do that? Is he, in his waning months as President, suddenly wanting to cozy up to the Democrats and work with them instead of trying his level best to screw them? Why don't I believe that when I know that Karl Rove still lurks in the picture even though he is no longer a part of Bush's staff? Rove is still as much a part of the Bush inner circle as he's ever been even though he doesn't directly work for the President anymore. So I still find anything that Bush says to be hard to take seriously. He's so damaged his already dwindling credibility that whenever he makes these kinds of dire warnings, he may as well be crying wolf, for all that it's worth. I think that the American people have wised up to his tendency to do this and refuse to believe in him anymore. Even if this time, the wolf cries are true and the rescue money is indeed necessary, he's already blown his ability to be taken seriously. He's nothing more than a badly damaged lame duck President who is probably biding his time until his administration is over. And I wouldn't put it past him to stick one more knife in the back of his opponents just to screw them one last time before he goes. He strikes me as the bully type who just can't leave well enough alone and always has to get in that last kick. This $700 billion is probably just that, one last way to get back at those who have mocked him all these years. But he's deserved every bit of that mocking.
1 comment:
GWB never headed an organization he couldn't bankrupt and expect someone else to bail out.
To heck with drafting the Bush twins to serve in Iraq - I'd like to see GWB sell off the Crawford ranch and the rest of his assets, resign his lifetime pension and health insurance benefits, and try to get by like the rest of us.
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