When the taxpayers are left holding the bag for $1 trillion this time around, it's hard to believe it's any sort of accident. This is intentional, by men who were willing to plunder the economy for their personal greed and ideology, and who had every expectation that they can plunder the system again and again, while the taxpayers pick up the tab.
Congress shouldn't tinker on the edges of the administration's bail-out proposal. Their substitute plan should put the pain on the pin-striped grifters where it belongs, instead of on those Americans who have been repeatedly victimized by them.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
The financial market meltdown
John McCain's former economic adviser is ex-Texas Sen. Phil Gramm.
Last February, Fortune Magazine called Gramm "McCain's Econ Brain." Gramm lost the official title of economic adviser for making an impolitic remark about this being "a nation of whiners." But Gramm's belief in letting speculators do as they please was never an issue. And even after he left the campaign, Gramm had been mentioned as a possible treasury secretary in a McCain administration.
On Dec. 15, 2000, hours before Congress was to leave for Christmas recess, Gramm had a 262-page amendment slipped into the appropriations bill. It forbade federal agencies to regulate the financial derivatives that greased the skids for passing along risky mortgage-backed securities to investors.
And that, my friends, is why everything's falling apart. That is why the taxpayers are now on the hook for the follies of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and now the insurance giant AIG to the tune of $85 billion.
Reuters, estimates that when you combine all of the bailouts and other rescue deals orchestrated in the past year, taxpayers could be on the hook for up to $900 billion, or about $6,500 from each and every taxpayer (not including interest, of course).
I don't think conservatives have truly grasped what this means for the big picture. The fact federal authorities had to essentially nationalize the largest mortgage companies and the largest insurance company within weeks makes the government's role in our financial markets unprecedented. This is not the Republican party I grew up with.
Last February, Fortune Magazine called Gramm "McCain's Econ Brain." Gramm lost the official title of economic adviser for making an impolitic remark about this being "a nation of whiners." But Gramm's belief in letting speculators do as they please was never an issue. And even after he left the campaign, Gramm had been mentioned as a possible treasury secretary in a McCain administration.
On Dec. 15, 2000, hours before Congress was to leave for Christmas recess, Gramm had a 262-page amendment slipped into the appropriations bill. It forbade federal agencies to regulate the financial derivatives that greased the skids for passing along risky mortgage-backed securities to investors.
And that, my friends, is why everything's falling apart. That is why the taxpayers are now on the hook for the follies of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and now the insurance giant AIG to the tune of $85 billion.
Reuters, estimates that when you combine all of the bailouts and other rescue deals orchestrated in the past year, taxpayers could be on the hook for up to $900 billion, or about $6,500 from each and every taxpayer (not including interest, of course).
I don't think conservatives have truly grasped what this means for the big picture. The fact federal authorities had to essentially nationalize the largest mortgage companies and the largest insurance company within weeks makes the government's role in our financial markets unprecedented. This is not the Republican party I grew up with.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Wishing for Tim Pawlenty
Readers of this blog will know I can't stand Tim Pawlenty as a governor. He sold out the welfare of this state for a stupid promise to the noTaxpayers League. He's a lying, cheating, conniving politician who will do almost anything to get ahead. I completely disagree with most of his policies.
But he's not ignorant, and he's not rash, and he's not a religious nutcase.
Sarah Palin is all of those.
So here I am wishing that Tim Pawlenty would have been John McCain's pick for VP. At least then when McCain was elected, we would have VP who would have a Clue. As much as I might disagree with Pawlenty's ideas, they would be much more carefully considered, more fully informed and a whole lot safer for the country and the world than anything Palin might do.
But he's not ignorant, and he's not rash, and he's not a religious nutcase.
Sarah Palin is all of those.
So here I am wishing that Tim Pawlenty would have been John McCain's pick for VP. At least then when McCain was elected, we would have VP who would have a Clue. As much as I might disagree with Pawlenty's ideas, they would be much more carefully considered, more fully informed and a whole lot safer for the country and the world than anything Palin might do.
Sarah Palin, nitwit
The thought of Ms. Palin sitting across the table from the likes of a Mahmoud Ahmadinejad chills me to the bone. It is quite possible she could be the President of the United States of America. She really does not have the experience in the international arena.
Ok, let me hear it -- "neither does Obama." Let's compare!
Obama spent 3 years as a community organizer, became the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, created a voter registration drive that registered 150,000 new voters, spent 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spent 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, became chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spent 4 years in the United States Senate representing state of 12.8 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees.
Sarah Palin's resume is: beauty queen, local sports girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people. Then she's qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive? Not.
Ok, let me hear it -- "neither does Obama." Let's compare!
Obama spent 3 years as a community organizer, became the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, created a voter registration drive that registered 150,000 new voters, spent 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spent 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, became chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spent 4 years in the United States Senate representing state of 12.8 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees.
Sarah Palin's resume is: beauty queen, local sports girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people. Then she's qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive? Not.
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