Bush Announces Massive Government Bailout
By SilentPatriot Thursday Sep 18, 2008 2:26pm
Corporate welfare at its finest.
This is a pivotal moment for America's economy. Problems that originated in the credit markets -- and first showed up in the area of subprime mortgages -- have spread throughout our financial system. This has led to an erosion of confidence that has frozen many financial transactions, including loans to consumers and to businesses seeking to expand and create jobs. As a result, we must act now to protect our nation's economic health from serious risk.
There will be ample opportunity to debate the origins of this problem. Now is the time to solve it. In our nation's history, there have been moments that require us to come together across party lines to address major challenges. This is such a moment.
America's economy is facing unprecedented challenges, and we are responding with unprecedented action.
Paul Krugman details what happened and says:
The unthinkable - a government buyout of much of the private sector's bad debt - has become the inevitable.
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what was mccain saying about the fundamentals
of the economy a few days ago?
They can't help people who are losing thier homes but they got billions for corporate bailouts.
GAAAAHHH!!! This is why I left the Republican party years ago. They are so f3cked up!
McCain to Quit GOP, Continue Campaign as a Socialist
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=3283
Bush Announces Massive Government Thievery.
Republicans give high fives to one another for coming up with an innovative way to steal more money from American taxpayers.
"Nobody anticipated" this.
is mccain still planning on 'firing' the SEC commisioner
christopher cox(republican)?
Socialization of losses. It's The Law.
Meanwhile, the well-heeled thieves have by now parked their winnings offshore and out of reach.
a disaster is created by massive profit taking, as old folks lose their pensions.
and when the disaster is at it's height, they get bailed out.
they get paid twice.
we get soaked twice.
america
keep watching buffy!!
Speaking of the government and how it spends our money
Somehow i missed this........
Palin now says she's going to bring accountability and transparency to Washington by passing a law that Obama has already put in the books. Ugh.
Yes, this is the same Obama who she says has "ZERO" leglislative accomplishments.
CNN:
... Palin might also have noted that her running mate, John McCain, was a co-sponsor of the 2006 transparency bill that became law.
Welcome to the USSSA - Unitary Socialist Surveillance State of America
The crash of 28 led to runs on financial institutions by the people. The financial crisis of 08 is leading to runs on the government (we the people) by the financial institutions.
Who do you think is inevitably going to be paying for these trillion dollar bail outs? It's almost as if this has been engineered so that whoever wins the election will be forced to raise taxes across the board.
Note he also said short sellers would be "caught and persecuted"
He's the decider. He decides who gets persecuted and who gets prosecuted. That's his strategery.
The Shit Sandwich Theory of Life - "The more bread you got, the less shit you gotta eat."
And, of course, the dessert comes in the form of lots of now distressed but otherwise viable assets for snapping up at fire-sale prices.
So do we now own these companies? And are they just going to sell them back to the rich boys when we bail their asses out of the fire? I say we socialize these companies, so we the people will profit from them.
Jon-Marc @ 13:
I just caught that. What a total f'ing dumb ass.
Is it me or does he seem like today and yesterday he looks drunk?
remember this video....mccain i'm very well versed
in the economy.....he lied then about his knowledge
about the economy.... he doesn't want bailouts now
he supports bailouts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OunCv-7qvA
Just heard McSame railing on TV about how the financial meltdown is actually all Obama's fault, 'cuz he's been "gaming the system."
LMAO!
FUCK YOU DUMBASS.......YOU BAILOUT!
They're lining up for all those new homes, in tent cities.
http://cabdrollery.blogspot.com
We sure haven't much from the 'free marketeers' crowd lately?
Acronym Jim @ 12:
Almost?...
Both mccain and Obama described the economy
environment as 'recession' but bush denies it.
>Note he also said short sellers would be “caught and persecuted”
Waterboarded?
So with the Execs who ran these companies into the ground be forced to return their "bonuses" for doing such a "great job"? Perhaps we can begin with McCain's spokeswoman, the one who has conveniently "disappeared."
So, the GOP can't run the US or foreign countries - what can they do besides complain about preserving "life" before birth and taking or merely sucking the life out of life after birth.
The most crucial part of Krugman's analysis is the following
Alas: I am afraid that between Bush, the foot-dragging GOP, and the financial lobbyists, this is exactly what we're going to get: the federal government rewarding financial investors for their own greed and stupidity, with taxpayers paying the ultimate price for decades to come. Kiss your social security/accessible health care/education reform/alternative energy future goodbye, folks.
Hopefully the American people will realize that, when all is said and done, the greedy and fraudulent credit industry was allowed to perpetrate these atrocities on us largely because of Republican corruption and cronyism, and carry them out of the Federal government on a rail.
Obama/Biden '08-The change We the People deserve.
Yeah, socialism SUCKS until it's convenient for cleaning up YOUR messes, right repukes? You make me sick.
Now I'm talking to the republican constituents and not those scum-sucking GOP politicians and their money-grubbing lobbyists and cronies:
Why, why, WHY are you still a part of this ridiculous party? WHY?
Jon-Marc @ 13:
English has never been Chimpy's best language.
I think he meant to substitute "average citizens" for "short sellers"...
Obama/Biden'08 the bridge to the future.
mccain/palin the 'bridge to NoWhere'
By the way, I recommend that everybody start donating the maximum amount of money to the Obama campaign as soon as possible, while the dollar is still worth more than the Peso.
Why isn't this man in jail right now. He has no business speaking to us about anything.
Now Bush is calling for help from across the aisle? Loser. He needs our help to fix it now so the Repugs don't lose even more seats in November. I say F'm.
"There will be ample opportunity after the election to debate the origins of this problem."
I've got an idea: put a moratorium on foreclosures and allow homeowners to apply for financial aid. It would cost just a fraction of what it takes to bail out an entire international finance system.
Hey Man - as long as they don't raise taxes!
give me a break.
Corey Carroll @ 16:
As someone with only about two weeks of sobriety myself, I'm no expert, but I'd have to say, Hell yes!...
I'd drink a lot too if I put this country into the pit he has.
I'm just a dumb guy but how is it this market is still above 11,000 points. What the f is keeping it so high? There is nothing left to crash or is there?
Where is all this money coming from? Besides the whole thing is a house of cards. There are $500 trillion worth of derivatives out there which some say may be as high as a Quadrillion (a thousand trillion - I had to look it up). So there will be more coming. If the dollar doesn't go into the toilet with all this it's because the whole world finance structure will go down with it. Expect the world's bailiffs to be showing up at America's doors anytime soon.
what happened to reagan's thought: govenrment is NOT
the solution to our problem(s)...it is our problem.
Corporate welfare at its most obscene. They send our jobs to cheap labor shitholes and then expect the same people they screw over to pay for their bailouts for failures caused by greed. Fuck you smirk! I hope they kick your ass in Paraguay.
Actually, the time to solve it was years ago.
Say what you will about this bailout, it may have averted a second Great Depression.
Just saw a freaky article in the NY Times:
Congressional Leaders Were Stunned by Warnings
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: September 19, 2008
WASHINGTON — It was a room full of people who rarely hold their tongues. But as the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, laid out the potentially devastating ramifications of the financial crisis before congressional leaders on Thursday night, there was a stunned silence at first.
Mr. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had made an urgent and unusual evening visit to Capitol Hill, and they were gathered around a conference table in the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“When you listened to him describe it you gulped," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.
As Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, put it Friday morning on the ABC program “Good Morning America”: “The congressional leaders were told “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications here at home and globally.”
Mr. Schumer added, “History was sort of hanging over it, like this was a moment.”
When Mr. Schumer described the meeting as “somber,” Mr. Dodd cut in. “Somber doesn’t begin to justify the words,” he said. “We have never heard language like this.”
“What you heard last evening,” he added, “is one of those rare moments, certainly rare in my experience here, is Democrats and Republicans deciding we need to work together quickly.”
Although Mr. Schumer, Mr. Dodd and other participants declined to repeat precisely what they were told by Mr. Bernanke and Mr. Paulson, they said the two men described the financial system as effectively bound in a knot that was being pulled tighter and tighter by the day.
“You have the credit lines in America, which are the lifeblood of the economy, frozen.” Mr. Schumer said. “That hasn’t happened before. It’s a brave new world. You are in uncharted territory, but the one thing you do know is you can’t leave them frozen or the economy will just head south at a rapid rate.”
As he spoke, Mr. Schumer swooped his hand, to make the gesture of a plummeting bird. “You know we’d be lucky ...” he said as his voice trailed off. “Well, I’ll leave it at that.”
As officials at the Treasury Department raced on Friday to draft legislative language for an ambitious plan for the government to buy billions of dollars of illiquid debt from ailing American financial institutions, legislators on Capitol Hill said they planned to work through the weekend reviewing the proposal and making efforts to bring a package of measures to the floor of the House and Senate by the end of next week.
Lawmakers in both parties described the meeting in Ms. Pelosi’s office on Thursday night with Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke as collaborative, and that they were prepared to put politics aside to address the needs of the American people.
While Democrats initially said after the meeting that they planned to use the administration’s proposal of a huge rescue effort to win support for an economic stimulus package, they pulled back slightly on Friday morning, saying that their top priority was to help put together the bailout package and stabilize the economy.
But it was clear they continued to examine ways to make clear that the government was stepping up not just to help the major financial firms but also to protect the interests of American taxpayers and families by safeguarding their pensions and college savings, and by preventing any further drying up of consumer credit.
In addition to potential stimulus measures, which could include an extension of unemployment benefits and spending on public infrastructure projects, Democrats said they intended to consider measures to help stem home foreclosures and stabilize real estate values.
Among the potential steps Congress can take include approving legislation to allow bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of primary mortgages — authority that the bankruptcy laws do not currently allow and that the banking industry has strenuously opposed.
But the Democrats said it was too soon to discuss such details, and that they were awaiting a draft of the proposal from the Treasury Department.
“We have got to deal with the foreclosure issue,” Mr. Dodd said. “You have got to stop that hemorrhaging..If you don’t, the problem doesn’t go away. Ben Bernanke has said it over and over again. Hank Paulson recognizes it. This problem began with bad lending practices. Those are his words, not mine, and so this plan must address that or I’ll be back here in front of a bank of microphones at some point explaining the next failure.”
Even before the drafting of the plan was complete, the Bush administration and the Fed began efforts to sell the idea of a huge rescue to potentially skeptical rank-and-file members of Congress. Mr. Paulson and Mr. Bernanke held a conference call with House Republicans to explain their thinking.
Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Senate banking committee, said in a television interview that cost to the government of purchasing bad debt could run to $1 trillion — a potential warning sign since Mr. Shelby is a longtime skeptic of government intervention in the private market.
Until Mr. Shelby was interviewed on Friday morning, officials on Capitol Hill had been careful not to discuss specific figures, though the rescue envisioned by the Treasury Department clearly entails a government appropriation of hundreds of billions of dollars.
Hey we're only a few months away from the last Bush Presidential Pardons and he's starting now with the Wall Street Pardons. The Great Bush Depression. I'm sure that Bushco has already bought their islands and are ready for their after-lives.
Who, besides me, thinks that a rushed "solution" like a taxpayer bailout is more than dangerous? What if it only delays the inevitable because somebody forgot a vital element in the rush to save Wall Street and apparently the life savings of innocent Americans? It's really time for the government to collect more taxes -- we have the Iraq war debt looming and now this. We'll need to see if Congress insists on strict oversight along with the bailout -- the Republican refusal to permit oversight/deregulation is the primary cause of the disaster. When will we ever learn that unfettered power, financial OR political, is NEVER self-governed by those who are not held to limits by others. It's Republican stupidity that has brought us to this pass.
Additionally, I think lawmakers should call for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Bush's voluntary Iraq war to stop that bleeding of funds.
Since Wall Street gets Universal Bank Care, why can't I have Universal Health Care?
cobsjo@10:
Good one. I hadn't heard about that. It's funny that Palin would talk about transparancy in govt while doing all she can to stop that investigation into her own misconduct in Alaska. But it's OK because she's initiated her own investigation. I wonder if she'll find that she has done nothing wrong?
let's see if the congress leadership will be recognized
instead of being blamed for the bush administration.
this current congress has seen a record number of
filibuster and signing statements.
Well...that's just fucking great...1 TRILLION dollars...taxpayers to the rescue of the wealthy bastards once again.
It looks like it's going to take a lot more than "earmark reform" to dig us out of the budget deficit we're going to be in after this one, doesn't it McSame? I'm SO hoping Lehrer asks him about this in the debates...
Lehrer: "Senator McCain, Secretary Paulsen has estimated that the proposed federal buyouts of bad credit debt could drive the federal budget deficit over $1 trillion. How can you reconcile such a monumental debt with your plan to continue cutting taxes for the top 1% of income earners?"
McCain: "I, um- But Senator Obama, uh- There's no... MAVERICK! REFORM! CRISIS! EVIL!! .... Oops, I crapped my pants."
Where is all this money coming from? Besides the whole thing is a house of cards. There are $500 trillion worth of derivatives out there which some say may be as high as a Quadrillion (a thousand trillion - I had to look it up). So there will be more coming. If the dollar doesn’t go into the toilet with all this it’s because the whole world finance structure will go down with it. Expect the world’s bailiffs to be showing up at America’s doors anytime soon.
house of cards - exactly right, put all the money into you want it will crash anyway.
gee...didn't Ralph Nader thell them this was going to happen a few months ago? glad to see they listened to him
===========================
Letter to Senator Dodd and Congressman Frank
July 23, 2008
Senator Chris Dodd
U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
448 Russell Building
Washington, DC 20510
Congressman Barney Frank
House Committee on Financial Services
2252 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Senator Dodd and Congressman Frank:
I write today to suggest that you jointly hold hearings on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s ability to deal with potential bank failures in the next several years.
In a March 10, 2008 memorandum on insurance assessment rates, Arthur J. Murton, Director of the Division of Insurance and Research for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) stated:
While 99 percent of insured institutions meet the “well capitalized” criteria, the possibility remains that the fund could suffer insurance losses that are significantly higher than anticipated. The U.S. economy and the banking sector currently face a significant amount of uncertainty from ongoing housing sector problems, financial market turbulence and potentially weak prospects for consumer spending. These problems could lead to significantly higher loan losses and weaker earnings for insured institutions.
Indeed, the recent failure of IndyMac highlights the need for tough Congressional oversight. Banking experts have indicated that the cost of the collapse of IndyMac alone will be between $4 billion and $8 billion. The FDIC has approximately $53 billion on hand to deal with bank failures. This amount may not be adequate given the cost of IndyMac and given the approximately $4 trillion in deposits the FDIC insures.
Several questions should be presented to FDIC officials such as:
1. Was IndyMac on the list of “Problem Institutions” before it failed?
2. Were the other banks that failed this year on the FDIC list of “Problem Institutions”?
3. What is the anticipated cost of dealing with the failures of the other four banks that failed this year?
4. As of March 31, 2008 the FDIC reported 90 “Problem Institutions” with assests of $26 billion. What is the current number of “Problem Institutions” and what are the assets of these “Problem Institutions”?
5. How many banks are likely to fail in 2008 and 2009 respectively?
6. What is the estimated range of costs of dealing with the projected failures?
7. What will the effect of higher losses than those projected be on the FDIC’s estimate of the proper reserve ratio?
8. What are the FDIC’s projections for reserves needed and potential bank failures beyond 2009?
9. Is the FDIC resisting raising the current rates of assessments on FDIC insured banks so that the cost of any significant bailouts will have to be shifted to the taxpayers?
10. Does the Government Accountability Office (GAO) believe that the existing rate schedule for the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) is set at the proper level?
The Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 requires the FDIC to set a Designated Reserve Ratio (DRR) for the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF). This law also eliminated the fixed DRR of 1.25 percent of insured deposits and allows FDIC to set the DRR within a range between 1.15 percent and 1.50 percent. It is time to for Congress to revisit the FDIC’s current approach to setting reserve ratios.
The FDIC is not likely to address its own inability to clearly assess the current risks posed to depositors and taxpayers by the high-rolling banking industry.
I hope you hold hearings sooner rather than later on this important matter. I have attached a column I wrote on March 2, 2002 titled: “FDIC Insurance Scam” for your review. Sincerely,
Ralph Nader
Corey Carroll @ 16:
I caught that too!
Do you think it'll be along the lines of:
Bad bad investor!
It more like corporate blackmail not bailout.
Uncontrolled mergers with no oversight to prevent near monopolistic conditions gives corporate America a stranglehold on democracy .
Five oil companies is a monopoly, six media giants is a monopoly.
There were laws made by better and more experienced minds that are now running the show but they got in the way.
Unregulated, capitalism ultimately destroys itself and those tied to it.
Welcome to the new Dark Ages America.
some people want mccain to be president. this same person said the 'economy has strong fundamentals' just
this week.
short video of mccain economy lies.
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/53564-more-mccain-economy-lies
Jeez. What a cakewalk this is for W.
George Bush is like those guys who starts fires so they can put them out and be called a hero. It's amazing to watch.
Socialist Republicans! Socialist Banks! Socialist Savings and Loans! Socialist Wall Street!
What return can we expect on our trillion dollar investment?
Would somebody give me a job? Seriously.
privatize the profits
socialize the losses
The Chimp speaks. Look for another 500 drop in the market.
This isn't just Corp Welfare- it is another example of BushCo rewarding monumental failure and criminal negligence, the hallmarks of his administration.
How are they going to persecute violators? Point at them and yell, "Nya nya nya, you're a bad boy?
Quick, repeal all Alaska earmarks and let them pay for all their projects with oil excess profits that she's buying off the voters with!
This should save the U S taxpayers a small part of 1% of the debt.
The reasons to vote Republican...otherwise known as the Gangster Ticket...are piling up.
lj @ 63:
Nationalize all energy sources.
Barney Frank on Thom Hartmann Show today:
"If it's too big to fail, it's too big."
How many "welfare queens could drive a Cadillac" for a trillion dollars?
Bush said "violators will be caught and persecuted". Guess that means that torture is coming to Wall Street.
fastfeat @ 65:
I think that was Bernie Sanders.
fastfeat @ 65:
Make that Bernie Sanders.
Sorry.
Ron @ 64:
Now that is not a bad idea. Other countries do it and the citizens have free health care, free education etc...
See, 60 some comments so far and all you can do is whine about the bailouts, Graham crakker was right.
Here's the scenario: 'George. it's for you"
"O-Hi dad...You what?...stop yelling, I can hear you..."
Sr."I don't care about your peon friends, you get my money back or you are banned from Kennebunkport FOREVER"
"Gee dad, I didn't know, I always thought you were one of the freemarketeers. Don't you love capitalism?"
"I can't take this dumbass act anymore. Get Dr. Sewage on the phone, He'll beat the ADD out of you. Don't ever call me again!.
"Laura! GET ME A DRINK!"
Cats r Flyfishn @ 70:
I think it's a damn good idea and long overdue.
Neil Bush screwed the American taxpayers in the Silverado Savings and Loan scandal in the 1980's to the tune of billion dollar bailout. As long as their is a Bush and other so called "fiscal conservatives" in a position of power our economy will always remain on the brink of collapse.
I like the way he talks about the current economic crash as though it just came out of the blue, like people who suddenly find themselves pregnant. As if they have no idea how it could have happened.
Now let's sit back and see how the "personal responsibility conservatives" and Rethuglican scapegoaters can pin this on a "Democrat Congress" of 2 years in power.
Ron @ 64:
I bet if someone even hinted at that, things would really fly! Communist take over etc. but it would be a lot better than hoping that the Iraqis will pay off their debts (the we caused).
To hell with coming together across party lines. Let no one forget that when these fuckers were in complete control of Washington, they shut the Dems out of committee after committee and tried to do away with the Democratic Party altogether. Now that they're about to get their asses handed to them in this election, they want to "all just get along." I say to them, "FUCK YOU!!!!"
They are to blame for this shit and they know it. Once again, conservatism has caused a economic meltdown and once people start to see it, they're done. I have no desire to get along with them. I only want to see their party cease to exist. Period.
Eh, it won't take long, let's do it now....how about for starters the opposition by Republicans and the Bush Administration to any type of regulation of the banking industry? To the point of even preventing states (no really, they believe in states' rights...) from enacting their own laws designed to prevent the predatory lending practices that led to this mess. But now that they've destroyed our nation and it's economy, it's time to "solve" the problem...right.
And not to burst anyone's bubble , but this "solution" solves nothing, as far as the average American goes. Things are still going to get worse, it's just that the people who really matter to our government won't lose so much money. Enjoy, and don't forget to vote Republican, early and often!
Rob Jensen @ 45:
Exactly my thoughts...This poor excuse for a Presidential Administration can use the The Peoples money, OUR money, to not only conduct an ongoing illegal war and occupation of Iraq...NOW they want to use it to bail Wall Street out of a mess in which they are responsible for...and they can't give us universal health care?
This country is sooooo doomed on every level imaginable.
"There will be ample opportunity to debate the origins of this problem" oh really? When? Can we set that date now? Would it really be a debate?
Nada @ 75:
Well, it's not that surprising when those people never received proper sex education, is it?!
I how can we afford more BUSH tax cuts. the same
BUSH tax cuts that mccain opposed before he
agreed with them. check his senate transcript
he was totally against it.....then he added nuances
to pander to his base. liar.
We need tax cuts to the RICH! Enact the GOP economy! The rich need to buy more BMWs so they can trickle on the rest of us!
That's my money! I am going to take it all back before you start handing it out to Wall Street ya Biatches. Why do I even pay taxes?
So -- who's going to prison for this?
/crickets
That's what I thought.
BAILOUTS TO FAILOUTS: A NEWS AND VERSE EXTRA
A guide to contemporary use
BAILOUT=Rescue, by government, of important economic entity
AILOUT=Rescue of healthcare industry
ALEOUT=Rescue of Bennigan's
BALEOUT=Rescue of Columbian or Jamaican economy (see also: cotton, hay)
BRAILLEOUT=Rescue you can't see coming
DALEOUT=Rescue of NASCAR (see also: Roy Rogers)
FLAILOUT=Rescue by FEMA
FRAILOUT=Rescue of an elderly presidential candidate
GALEOUT=Rescue of Jim Cantore (see also: HAILOUT)
GRAILOUT=Rescue of Michael Palin (see also: Monty Python, Indiana Jones)
NAILOUT=Rescue of construction firm (see also: Asian salon, Press-on)
MALEOUT=Rescue of sexist political candidate
MAILOUT=Rescue by white, powdery substance (see also: FBI)
EMAILOUT=Rescue of Gov. Palin's Yahoo! account
BLACKMAILOUT=Rescue by extortion
BLACKMALEOUT=Rescue by Dem. Presidential candidate
PAILOUT=Rescue by trickle-down economics
PALEOUT=Rescue by goth
QUAYLEOUT=Rescue of any unqualified Vice-presidential candidate
SALEOUT=Rescue of pandering political campaign
SCALEOUT=Rescue of Weight Watchers (see also: America's Biggest Loser)
SHALEOUT=Rescue of oil company (see also: Gulf of Mexico, ANWR)
SNAILOUT=Any rescue involving US Postal Service
STALEOUT=Rescue of lipstick jokes (see also: Pigs, Pit Bulls, Estee Lauder)
VEILOUT=Rescue at the altar
VAILOUT=Rescue of anyone who pays $100+ to fall down a mountain
SURVEILOUT=###REDACTED BY HOMELAND SECURITY###
ZALEOUT=Rescue of cheap wedding rings
FAILOUT=Destiny of most bailouts
www.newsandverse.com
...ripped from the headlines
Wow, usual MO of the assholes that run on a platform of "personal responsibility." It is never a good time for them to point fingers after they fuck up...
Anyways, how can you solve something that you don't know how originated?
George Bush has now secured his place as the worst businessman and the worst President that history has ever seen.
I am concerned that the corporate media will manage to lay the blame of this economic mess equally on all parties without distinction. Where the Democrats have indeed been enablers and have not defended the safe guards that came from the Republican depression of 29 near as strongly as needed. It is the Republicans that have run on the mantra of Milton Friedman, Chicago School of Economics, World is flat, Government is the problem, deregulation, low corporate and top end taxes horse shit for 30+ years. I would hope with just a little bit of honesty this mess would put an end to trickle down economics and the blame put exactly where it belongs. Ronald Regan, George H Bush, Alan Greenspan, Milton Friedman, and George W Bush are 90% to blame and Bill Clinton and Democrats mostly the DLC come in at 10%
"The SEC is also requiring certain investors to disclose their short selling, and has launched rigorous enforcement actions to detect fraud and manipulation in the market. Anyone engaging in illegal financial transactions will be caught and persecuted." oh I would disclose, but you see I shredded those documents a long time ago. Bye now - I have to catch a flight to my island in the Bahamas.
Why isn't anyone interviewing Milton Friedman. Surely he can write down a solution to this problem on the back of a napkin.
Liberal AND Proud @ 89:
x 2
Ruthless People @ 60:
The market closes at +368.75. They have been bailed out.
We are bailing out the gamblers. They are back in business. We have just given them a new credit card.
A TWO TRILLION DOLLAR CREDIT CARD.
We are rescuing the financial industry from the consequences of its own greed, to paraphrase Paul Krugman.
Before today, the war in Iraq was the greatest swindle in the history of the world.
Bush may have outdone even himself with this.
He is the Swindler in Chief.
I cannot wait for his sorry ass to be out of there. Too bad we can't cut off his head to keep as a souvenir.
"princetonpdx Says: “The SEC is also requiring certain investors to disclose their short selling, and has launched rigorous enforcement actions to detect fraud and manipulation in the market. Anyone engaging in illegal financial transactions will be caught and persecuted.” oh I would disclose, but you see I shredded those documents a long time ago. Bye now - I have to catch a flight to my island in the Bahamas."
What are they gonna do...issue...subpoenas? LOLOL!
"I'm a CEO...I have executive privilege...I don't respond to no stinking subpoenas!"
Liberal AND Proud @ 89:
Woo Hoo...
Too bad he couldn't be the worst human being ever... then he would have had his beloved tri-fecta!
George Bush For The Win!
This is truly pissing me off. These shits, including McCain, directly contributed to this mess by deregulating financial insitutions. McCain was instrumental in removing barriers between regular banks and investment banks. It led to a flood of high stakes lending because high risk means high return. Sorry, with billions on the table, the market does not behave rationally because it is being run by people who by definition will behave irrationally with that kind of cash around. Remember the junk bond fiasco? This is the exact same thing but it was done with home loans. And now we, the very folks who thought this was a dumb idea in the first place, get stuck with the tab and they try to blame us for it happening??????
We turned the country over to a bunch of finacial rapists and we got fucked. And guess what, this is how superpowers fall. And, the "terrists" understand that, which is why they have been simply chipping away at us just enough to keep Bush fascinated on the small shiny object of war. Our economy was on the brink because of all the off-books spending in Iraq driving us deeper and deeper into debt and all it took was a push to send it into a complete freak show free fall.
These pricks should be prosecuted, er, I mean persecuted.
CHARGE AND SPEND REPUBLICANS. Better hope there is no Hell.
Well, surely, surely this puts the final nail in the coffin of the 'free'-market free-for-all. Turns out it ain't free for most.
What ever happened to 'pull yourself up by the bootstraps'?
Maybe these corporate criminals need a whole lot less bootstrap and a whole lot more boot.
There needs to be a revolution to stop (indeed, reverse) the huge transfer of taxpayer money (including taxes yet to be collected and SS benefits yet to be reduced) to the top 0.1%.
The problem is systemic.
The only solution available to Americans is not to vote en masse in protest.
Don't vote. Fuck 'em all. They're all to blame. Let the crash begin.
THe fundamentals of the economy are strong, if you are a senator who own 9 houses and a private jet. The government will pick you your investment losses and pay for your health care. Hooray for Rich people!
Alice X - (Chomsky Nader) - status quObama - change you can pretend in - @ 94:
I'll bring the pike
"With this influx of new regulation...which I was against before I supported it...and the Federal government bail out of investment banks and insurance companies...which I was against before I supported it...I can now say...the economy is now fundamentally sound. Now we need to rebuild...so I am calling again for the Bush tax cuts to be made permanent...so that our entrepreneurs can prime the economic engine, and then we need to deregulate, so that government can stop being a problem for private enterprise and a hindrance to growth." - John McCain.
Actually part of the fault resides on our very own apathetic asses.
The American tax payer should be out there on the streets, a massive general strike, and riots taking over WallStreet.
This is not our government, period. So let's stop the charade... if laws and consequences do not apply to the upper class. Then it is the duty of us in the populace to remind them that it is OUR money they are stealing and that there is accountability.
I want to be bailed out. What office do I go to apply for my bailout? About $500K would do me quite nicely.
Rice just piped in, "No one could have known that Wall Street bankers would have used mortgages as weapons?"
VietVet8666 @ 100:
Not voting is stupid.
If you really want to make a point: massive general strike. Let the rich figure out how to make their own money. And massive tax revolt. Period, if half of the population refused to pay taxes, what is the IRS going to do?
Oh, and make sure we take back our democracy, so that we are not force fed to chose between the less stinky part of the shit.
The 'Family Values' party strikes again. Gosh, it must be so easy for families these days, $4 gas, the house worth shit, hard to find low paying jobs... But! rejoice! No one has potty mouth or is engaging in anal sex, LOL. 'Free Market?' Anyone got
$5 million to enter a hedge fund? I do wonder if people are aware they were screwed when their jobs went overseas, screwed when they bought into, in my opinion, an engineered housing market, and now being figuratively screwed in the ass by having to pay for the whole mess after the fact! Or maybe, they really are,
as some people say overseas 'Stupido Americanos'...
Praedor...you are absolutely right...katrina, couldn't be foreseen, 9/11, couldn't be foreseen, financial crisis....I know I'm missing a few.
VietVet8666 @ 100:
Don't vote? Whoops! Someone's off his meds again.
Rufus Says: "I want to be bailed out. What office do I go to apply for my bailout? About $500K would do me quite nicely."
No shit, right? I'm not really in debt too deep (I try to stay away from credit) but if they're giving away money....
Tyler Durden @ 107:
What we need is a global fight club. I want to piss in Cheney's clam chowder
Tyler Durden @ 107:
It's NOT stupid if you consider both parties are bought and sold by a small number of very wealthy, powerful, evil fucks, who don't give a shit who's elected, just as long ass Americans keep supporting the charade. To think the upcoming elections really matter is to blind oneself to stark and plain reality.
So, with the crisis now solved, I assume the President went on vacation.
So now it is done. Let the rampant inflation and higher taxes begin. This will be the end result of the Bush Administration's plan.
"Joe O. Says: So now it is done. Let the rampant inflation and higher taxes begin. This will be the end result of the Bush Administration’s plan."
Once again...the GOP sponsors a party for the rich...and sticks the public with the bill.
VietVet8666 @ 113:
Again, not voting will change shit.
If you want to make a point: use your purse... that is the only way things are going to change. The elites give a rats ass about you and me as long as we are good idiots and work our lives away supporting their asses. Like is supposed to scare them if they get less votes, woohooo... yeah that will show them!
Liberal AND Proud @ 116:
And then watch the toothless inbred hicks in the South and Midwest come out in droves to vote for the people just screwed them. Because, it seems some idiots in this country would rather be fucked up the ass than having to live with a black man in the White House.
Idiots....
Tyler Durden @ 88:
Or that isn't really happening. Remember, it's a mental recession. Anyone who doesn't believe it's a recession is mental.
Tyler...the blowback hasn't even begun.
There is more pain to come. We have only bought time. The estimations that I am being told is that it will take roughly five years to ring all the bad securities out of the system.
It took 3 years to wring the shit out of the economy from the S&L crash.
Ron @ 68:
Ron--
Thanks for doing my thinking. If only you could do my typing...
Tyler Durden @ 117:
In principle, I agree that refusing to pay taxes would be the best citizen response. Unfortunately, refusing to pay taxes is not available to wage earners, because of withholding at the source. A massive refusal to vote, at least, would end the charade and set the stage for further citizen action.
We must protect the country's wealth(y).
Punish the poor! (W)e (A)re (R)ight on the poor!
Liberal AND Proud @ 120:
I know...
This shit needs to stop. The average American is being treated like a prostitute by the moneyed class: Except that we are too stupid to know that the prostitute is not supposed to be the one paying for the screw.
"Barney Frank on Thom Hartmann Show today:
“If it’s too big to fail, it’s too big.”
That also applies to the media consolidation that has been allowed with the change to the communications law. There is too high a concentration of media control in too few hands. This has led to the bankruptcy of ideas in our nations. It has allowed only the loudest, but not necessarily the smartest, voices to be heard.
It applies to the airline industry...which has seen more consolidation from de-regualtion than competition...it has caused less safety, less service, less maintenance.
It applies to energy...where it has led to brownouts and blackouts driven by market conditions and not structural problems. It has left American citizens in the cold and dark.
VietVet8666 @ 122:
My fear, is that a massive refusal to vote will just be spin as a low turnout and be done with it.
However a few tens of millions of people not paying their taxes, how are they going to enforce that?
And these people only care about money, not votes... political points will never make a single dent in the status quot. Economic points, however, once made will make them listen (afterall that is their native language: money)
newsandverse @ 87:
Thanks for the humor!
I personally do nor know if the bailout is the right or wrong thing to do, but the thing I am sure of is that they companies who do get bailed out, it cannot be buisness as usual.
The corporate porkers should not get away with this unpunished. As part of the bailout any company that takes the bailout upper management should:
1) Not be allowed to take any executive bonuses for five years, even if they go to work for any other company.
2) Have their salary capped by the Feds to five time the maxium hourly employee of any company they work for.
3) No stock options for the same period.
4) No "golden parachutes" for the same period.
5) Any violations will be a tens time penalty.
Let them suffer like the rest of us. Hit them in the pocketbooks, that will get there attention. Fuck them if they do not like it. Let them get a real job like the rest of us.
I just posted 2 Bush ads from the 2004 campaign, one of them on the economy.
Watch them and tell me they do not remind you of McCain '08.
In one ad, Bush touts that he wants to strengthen social security and develop alternative energy sources. They always want to sound like Democrats, until they win...
http://scootmandubious.blogspot.com/2008/09/bush-2004-political-ads-soun...
Tyler Durden @ 107:
I am absolutley with you.
Liberal AND Proud @ 89:
Yet he leaves office a rich, free man.
Mission indeed accomplished!
scootmandubious, that's because they are LIARS.
scootmandubious, that's because they are LIARS.
Habitual, chronic, built into their DNA...LIARS.
Jesus Christ, I could use some of that bailout money. I don't need billions just a few million will do. Thanks!
fastfeat Says: Liberal AND Proud @ 89:
George Bush has now secured his place as the worst businessman and the worst President that history has ever seen.
Yet he leaves office a rich, free man.
Mission indeed accomplished!
These people only care about legacy. He may not go to prison, but he will be punished in a worse way.
He was always competing against his old man. Well, he accomplished one thing. He has blackened the Bush name.
It will be a cold day in hell, before you see a Bush elected to anything.
bigmike601 @ 128:
They should do like they do in Europe: no bailouts, but nationalization.
The main difference is that the the people get to own the business, not just the debt. Thus the profits if the company gets turned around also pass on to the public coffers.
Notice that the princess is nowhere to be seen.
Like roaches, they hide from the cold, harsh light of reality.
VietVet8666 @ 122:
Good God Almighty! Don't you use that thing on top of your neck for anything except a hatrack? Do you read? Not voting is exactly what they want from us. They WANT a lazy, uneducated citizenry. AND THEY ARE WINNING!!!!!
Voting should be mandatory to receive a driver's license. Voting is the civic responsibility of all citizens. There should be laws to make voting easier but there aren't. DO YOU KNOW WHY?? Because they don't want to make it easier. They fight every get out the vote initiative, every idea to hold elections over 2 days or weekends.
Geeze! Get with it!
Nada @ 119:
VietVet8666 @ 122:
Seems to me that a massive refusal to vote would allow them to appoint whoever they want for however long they want.
Where is the American Cadaver and the Stepford Candidate today?
Nothing to say? What's he doing...trying to figure out if he's going to use GOP or Democratic talking points today?
30 years ago our national leaders bought into the economic theories of one Milton Friedman (U. of Chicago) often called "trickle down economics", which says: (1) privatize government functions and assets, (2) set policies and practices that shift wealth upward to the powerful elite corporations and away from working folks, (3) de-regulate business and operate as a so called "free-market" economy, and (4) take advantage of "disasters" to frighten folks, and if none occurs, then create them.
Confidence, fucking confidence, you fucking idiot! That's the one thing you can't instill in the American public, you fucking moron. We don't trust you. Your eight years of your so called leadership, simply trashed this nation. So, you dropped your travel to monitor the economic developments. Oh whoa! Confidence. Now we feel better. Can't wait to see you pack your fucking baggage and get the fuck out the White House. Confidence! What a fucking joke!
Liberal AND Proud @ 136:
Yeah, that will show the Bushes!
You are wrong in assuming these people have a conscience. Looking at Prescott, Poppy and Son, the only logical explanation is that sociopathy can be transmitted genetically. Their psychosis means that unlike you and I, the Bush clan lacks a conscience, which in their point of view rids them of a handicap.
fastfeat @ 140:
Freddy Knuckles @ 112:
Fortunately, me and the wife have only one debt: our house. But it is STILL a debt. I want our bailout. If thieves on Wall Street deserve to have their golden parachutes protected by the taxpayer, then those of us who have played by the (sucker) rules certainly deserve a bailout.
I want to see everyone who is in danger of losing their home because of medical bills also get their bailout.
fastfeat @ 28:
Or those not making their mortgage payments.
Prison = a roof over your head + three meals a day!
America is completely fucked now. That's all there is left to say.
fastfeat @ 146:
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