So Uncle Sam is coming to the rescue of Wall Street and bailing out institutions that spent years binging on greed and risky investments. Wow, what a gift they've given us - yet another tax burden to shoulder. Glad the Feds think we have so much money to spare. Where'd they get all that money anyway - from China or the Saudis? I mean, sure, letting venerable blue chip financial institutions fail under the weight of all of their bad debt would send the economy into a very deep slump akin to the Great Depression, so I suppose this bailout will ultimately save us all. But still, the idea of government takeovers of failing financial institutions that fell under their own weight of bad debt just doesn't somehow sit right with me. It almost seems to reward them for screwing up by galloping to the rescue, and I'd be willing to bet that their CEO's got a golden parachute on which to bail out of the whole mess and are sitting pretty on multi-million dollar "severance bonuses" while the rest of us try to figure out how, month to month, to pay our bills. I read in this morning's paper that some of these CEO types are making as much as $17,000 an hour! Seventeen
thousand - an hour! I mean, that's almost as much as I make per year! That's just obscene in my opinion. Sure, these guys are titans of Wall Street, people who run mega-corporations that keep our economy and that of the rest of the world afloat, but still......to make that kind of money somehow just defies logic. That kind of cash could be well spent feeding hungry people, providing health care for the uninsured or underinsured, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, retooling our schools to meet 21st century educational demands and more. All of this happened, quite simply, because the Republicans have so long favored deregulation of just about everything, and all that's resulted in is a complete total mess. Oh, but wait - suddenly they are in favor of regulation again! John McCain is sounding a downright populist line about wanting to swoop down on Wall Street and regulate things that up to now, he's been staunchly in favor of deregulating! Funny how this financial crisis has made him sing a new tune about regulation when he's been a longtime champion of deregulation and free market philosophy. Why, he's sounding almost like Dennis Kucinich these days, much to the chagrin of his more conservative constituency, and in a speech in the past few days where he vowed to clamp down on Wall Street, some Republicans walked out on him because they apparently still admire these business titans who are screwing them royally behind their own backs. Why people vote against their own financial interests is quite beyond me. I always thought that people voted "pocketbook first", but these days, it's different.
Religious voters are trumpeting "moral values" as being their primary voting, although I don't know as the Religious Right is as powerful as it's been in past elections. I suspect that, given the scare on Wall Street this week and the rising tide of anger at other economic and financial issues, that the economy will probably be Issue One in this year's Presidential election. If Wall Street continues its see-saw swing that it's been on all week and fails to inspire confidence in the federal bail out to save it, then things could get downright ugly. I still worry about Obama's chances vs. McCain because of the race issue, and I suspect that this will be a silent but underlying issue in the election as things get down to the wire. Blue collar "Joe Lunchbucket" guys are not likely to vote for Obama because he's got a funny name, is black and people still think that he's really a Muslim bent on destroying the country (too many people listen to right wing screeds like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Michael Savage and they buy into what they are saying as the gospel truth, sadly.....never underestimate the stupidity of the American people......). I also think that the Democrats need to learn how not to clutch defeat from the jaws of victory as they've done so aptly in recent elections. I don't know if it's just downright ineptness, a prevailing pessimism at being the minority party for so long or what, but these past two Presidential electoral cycles showed that candidates who, in effect, could have and should have won the Presidency didn't. As a result, we've been stuck with 8 long and grueling years of failed policies, a massive run-up in the federal debt, an illegal invasion of a sovereign nation that did not threaten us, a crumbling infrastructure, increased poverty, lowered lifespans due to lack of access to health care and a host of other failures that the Republicans brought on, including creating deep divisions in our country the likes of which have not been seen since the Civil War. So now the Feds are trying to clean up their own mess - at taxpayer expense. That's right, folks, once again, it's Your Tax Dollars At Work! Thanks, Uncle Sam, for more financial burdens that will be put at the feet of the nearly extinct Middle Class! Once again, ineptness rules!
So Uncle Sam is coming to the rescue of Wall Street and bailing out institutions that spent years binging on greed and risky investments. Wow, what a gift they've given us - yet another tax burden to shoulder. Glad the Feds think we have so much money to spare. Where'd they get all that money anyway - from China or the Saudis? I mean, sure, letting venerable blue chip financial institutions fail under the weight of all of their bad debt would send the economy into a very deep slump akin to the Great Depression, so I suppose this bailout will ultimately save us all. But still, the idea of government takeovers of failing financial institutions that fell under their own weight of bad debt just doesn't somehow sit right with me. It almost seems to reward them for screwing up by galloping to the rescue, and I'd be willing to bet that their CEO's got a golden parachute on which to bail out of the whole mess and are sitting pretty on multi-million dollar "severance bonuses" while the rest of us try to figure out how, month to month, to pay our bills. I read in this morning's paper that some of these CEO types are making as much as $17,000 an hour! Seventeen thousand - an hour! I mean, that's almost as much as I make per year! That's just obscene in my opinion. Sure, these guys are titans of Wall Street, people who run mega-corporations that keep our economy and that of the rest of the world afloat, but still......to make that kind of money somehow just defies logic. That kind of cash could be well spent feeding hungry people, providing health care for the uninsured or underinsured, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, retooling our schools to meet 21st century educational demands and more. All of this happened, quite simply, because the Republicans have so long favored deregulation of just about everything, and all that's resulted in is a complete total mess. Oh, but wait - suddenly they are in favor of regulation again! John McCain is sounding a downright populist line about wanting to swoop down on Wall Street and regulate things that up to now, he's been staunchly in favor of deregulating! Funny how this financial crisis has made him sing a new tune about regulation when he's been a longtime champion of deregulation and free market philosophy. Why, he's sounding almost like Dennis Kucinich these days, much to the chagrin of his more conservative constituency, and in a speech in the past few days where he vowed to clamp down on Wall Street, some Republicans walked out on him because they apparently still admire these business titans who are screwing them royally behind their own backs. Why people vote against their own financial interests is quite beyond me. I always thought that people voted "pocketbook first", but these days, it's different. 
Religious voters are trumpeting "moral values" as being their primary voting, although I don't know as the Religious Right is as powerful as it's been in past elections. I suspect that, given the scare on Wall Street this week and the rising tide of anger at other economic and financial issues, that the economy will probably be Issue One in this year's Presidential election. If Wall Street continues its see-saw swing that it's been on all week and fails to inspire confidence in the federal bail out to save it, then things could get downright ugly. I still worry about Obama's chances vs. McCain because of the race issue, and I suspect that this will be a silent but underlying issue in the election as things get down to the wire. Blue collar "Joe Lunchbucket" guys are not likely to vote for Obama because he's got a funny name, is black and people still think that he's really a Muslim bent on destroying the country (too many people listen to right wing screeds like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Michael Savage and they buy into what they are saying as the gospel truth, sadly.....never underestimate the stupidity of the American people......). I also think that the Democrats need to learn how not to clutch defeat from the jaws of victory as they've done so aptly in recent elections. I don't know if it's just downright ineptness, a prevailing pessimism at being the minority party for so long or what, but these past two Presidential electoral cycles showed that candidates who, in effect, could have and should have won the Presidency didn't. As a result, we've been stuck with 8 long and grueling years of failed policies, a massive run-up in the federal debt, an illegal invasion of a sovereign nation that did not threaten us, a crumbling infrastructure, increased poverty, lowered lifespans due to lack of access to health care and a host of other failures that the Republicans brought on, including creating deep divisions in our country the likes of which have not been seen since the Civil War. So now the Feds are trying to clean up their own mess - at taxpayer expense. That's right, folks, once again, it's Your Tax Dollars At Work! Thanks, Uncle Sam, for more financial burdens that will be put at the feet of the nearly extinct Middle Class! Once again, ineptness rules!
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