“I read the other day that Sen. McCain likes to gamble.
He likes to roll those dice. And that’s OK. I enjoy a little friendly game of poker myself every now and then. But one thing I know is this: We can’t afford to gamble on four more years of the same disastrous economic policies we’ve had for the last eight.”
Congress was to vote on a bailout of the financial industry,
Sept. 30, 2008
Amen to that sentiment. But in reality conservative-Republican “voluntary regulation” for Wall Street lunacy isn’t a gamble, it’s a con job. It’s paper-thin cover for doing nothing. Obama and everyone should be clear about that and call it for what it is.
Only a complete idiot — or someone perversely evil — would let prisoners control a state penitentiary or put gang bangers in charge of parking-lot security at a major sporting event.
Yet that’s the Bush administration’s approach to seeing to it financial-industry big time operators behave with due regard for everyone’s economic safety and security. As if those big-time operators don’t have a long track record that makes clear how prone they are to excesses of greed and selfishness.
on Sep 29th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
A mixed economy of socialism and capitalism is not such a bad idea. I don’t understand why some people complain bitterly about social welfare, but insist that something must be done immediately when it comes to corporate welfare. Both social and corporate welfare are needed to some extent because free market capitalism is not a perfect system. The Great Depression proved that.
Many Republican politicians are claiming they won’t vote for a taxpayer bailout. These are some of the same politicians who continue to say the market needs to be less regulated (and they have voted accordingly). They stubbornly refuse to fix a problem they helped create.
Spending and taxes are not bad things per se. It’s wasteful spending that needs to be reformed. And there is plenty of blame to go around for that. I think a spending freeze would be a disaster in a capitalist society whose market fluctuates on a dime. Just like today’s market dropping 778 points on news that the bailout failed.
Like Biden said paying taxes is patriotic. I don’t mind my tax dollars going to bailout someone or something as long as that person or organization is held to some standard of accountability. I would hope someone would bail me out if I were in a crunch (even if I was partly to blame). It’s called social responsibility and it’s what makes the world go ’round.
And it’s strange how many Republicans seem so concerned about saving a fetus, but do very little to help the child once it’s born. Hell, they are notorious for cutting childcare programs. It’s also strange how many Republicans seem so concerned about fighting wars but consistently cut funding for veterans.
Sorry for ranting.
on Sep 30th, 2008 at 11:54 am
TA, that was an excellent comment. Thanks for expressing so many truths and good ideas.
on Oct 1st, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Good analogies — prisoners running the jail; gangbangers in charge of parking lot security. This madness has to end.