Friday, September 26, 2008

Chew Gum & Debate


The bailout is coming, it just might not look like the original package of $700 Billion. These politicians have to go back home to their constituents and ask to be voted in for another term and they know that a $700 Billion dollar pill may not be so easy for the electorate to swallow. So, as is usually the case, they will break it up into pieces and put whipped cream on top of it so the people don’t really get a good look at the golden pie the guys that screwed up are getting.

But, it seems like there are a lot of economists that do not like this bailout and they are writing and speaking up. Perhaps we will see some corrective action along with the bailout. But, believe me, just as I write this and you read it, there are people still pushing the philosophy of deregulation of the banking and securities business. These people are called lobbyists because they talk to the politicians in the halls of congress. And believe it or not they still believe that deregulation of the markets and putting aside the securities laws is the best way to go. Why are we not hearing from former Senator Phil Gramm? He wrote the law that did away with the Glass-Stegall Act.

Deregulation and lack of enforcement got us into this mess. It will be interesting to see how many politicians have their head on straight and understand this. The Republicans who have been pushing for deregulation since the ink on the New Deal was just dry, have now seen first hand what deregulation and soft enforcement brings. I would like to have hope, but today the TV will carry any lies spoken and leave them alone. The Republicans will talk shit and no one will call them on it.

Now for the debate tonight.

This is the classic Republican strategy: go after your opponent's strongest suit and try and make it his weakest. Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, was as they say Swift boated. The guy he ran against never saw Vietnam during the war, yet Kerry was vilified for his service.

Obama can think on his feet, but McCain can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. Answer, cancel the debate. What a crock of shit. I sure hope even the most red (neck) Republican can see through this and ask himself, what gives, can’t this guy McCain even stand up to this guy and debate? Well, we will see.

Stay tuned.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

McCain won't debate. Palin won't submit to interviews. And GW is telling everybody to get on the bandwagon before the wheels fall off.

Just what are the Republicans up to?

moneythoughts said...

We will see something done on the rescue plan.

McCain not wanting to debate Obama should be no surprise to anyone. This is pure Republican politics.

Palin is not ready to be VP. Everyone knows this, but TV is trying to bend over backwards to be nice. She isn't even in the ball park to be VP. This is a sick joke on the American people. On a clear day you can see Russia from Alaska? So What.

winslow said...

I was stunned at the "swift-boating" of Kerry, someone that put his LIFE on the line for his country and his beliefs. Any true patriotic American (I'm talking the Republicans here)would have seen this as devious and renounced such a tactic loudly. I surmised at the time, these indiduals were not patriotic and would lie, cheat, and steal to get what they wanted. I'm afraid I was 100% correct in my analysis. The Republican party has lied and cheated for the last 8 years. For any Republican that still doesn't see this, I can only agree that the US is in worse shape than ever before in our history. We see how this is the "only" way to get ahead (recently, Stevens from Alaska, had no idea his "cottage" cost over $250,00 to remodel with the help of a lobbyist).
I used to keep a list of unethical and probably illegal situations by Republicans, but I abandoned this after I reached 150 instances.
When does it end?? With the end of the US as we know it?

moneythoughts said...

Winslow,

Thanks for your comments. As for bad behavior in Congress, I think we can find examples from both sides. The big issue for me is regulation, oversight and (now the new one) transparency. We need to understand that people will not always take the high road in business. They don't always take the high road in politics either, and this is my point. Without business regulation and enforcement, we will continue to repeat the same mistakes in the future. People once sold snake oil, so they created a Federal Drug Administration. We also created a Securites & Exchange Commission, but if it is not used for the protection of investors, both individual and institutional, then we will continue to go down this same road.

Justpeachy said...

Deregulation of any sector that can move big piles of money around has never seemed to work in the past, but they just keep trying, don't they? I'd like to believe that people in office make decisions because they are "touched by the better angels of (their) nature" and not because some lobbyist offered to put mahogany paneling in their den.

On another point you made in your reply to Iceel, you said that TV is bending over backwards to be nice to Palin and I think that may be because they treated the last female to run for executive office so badly that they are afraid of losing my demographic group.

I don't think McCain tried to avoid the debate because he wasn't prepared, I think he was trying to push everything back so that they would run out of time and not be able to have the vice presidential debate. I sometimes listen to conservative talk radio and listeners are calling in and saying they think so much of Palin as a political force that they think she would make mincemeat of Obama in a debate-they don't giggle after they say this either, so apparently they are serious, at most she is a very competent city council member and her "speechifying" would get her elected head of student council, but she hasn't been held back by any of that and has become a media darling because she is twice as attractive as the last female candidate, even if she is only half as smart-using women as accessories, the Republicans should hang their heads in shame and the women who fall for this should have to turn in their uteruses.

moneythoughts said...

Thank you for your comments Justpeachy. I think you made some good observations.