I’ve tried to keep track of the growing amount of bail out dollars since I realized that the corporate media was focused only on Bush’s Bailout. Little attention is being paid to what was given to AIG or Bear Stearns or Fannie/Freddie or … the list does go on. Most of them garnered a small piece of attention when first announced, but I haven’t seen much in the way of keeping track of the total or more importantly what that total bailout means for the U.S. economy. Others are doing a better job than I of keeping track and I will use them as a source. One of my daily visits is to bonddad’s blog. He notes that CNBC is his source of the following: the Bailout total is $3.8 Trillion.
The biggest heist in history is going on right now. It is being perpetrated by George Bush and his gang of cronies. What will happen to the U.S. economy as a result? How long will it be before the U.S. defaults? Will the Cons receive the blame they so richly deserve?
Worshippers of the free-market religion have found themselves racing to defend their beliefs in the face of overwhelming evidence that their “free-market” doesn’t work.
First, the latest economic numbers. Jobless claims jumped to the highest level since just after the events of 9/11/01. 516,000 claims were made last week. As corporations try to keep their profits and executives try to keep their obscene compensation flowing, millions of Americans are going unemployed.
Which leads to Americans being unable to afford their homes. Foreclosures continue to set records. A couple of statistics bear watching: there were 25% more foreclosures this October compared to last October, which was higher than the October before. 279,500 homes received at least one foreclosure notice last month, 5% higher than those issued in September. More than 84,000 properties were reposessed last month. That’s 84,000 families that just lost their homes before the holiday season. How many of those folks lost their jobs earlier this year because executives wanted their multi-million dollar incomes? That’s what the “free-market” generates. Programs are being enacted to help homeowners stay in their homes. Not surprisingly, it’s been the banks that have initiated those programs. Bush’s government continues to drag its feet – the “compassionate conservatives” don’t care if thousands of Americans lose their homes. Their motto: “You’re on your own.”
There was a lot of news and commentary this weekend after Bush’s Bailout was passed and Sarah Palin demonstrated just how unknowledgable she is about important domestic and foreign policies. The economy has been bad for average Americans for years and this election is critical. So I’m going to stay on top of both issues by pointing to aspects of news and commentary I found. I’ll update this post throughout the day due to the volume of material I want to cover.
1. Democratic Rep. Mark Udall and Republican Bob Schaffer were profiled in the Rocky Mountain News. Here’s a short bio on both: Rep. Udall has spent a good portion of his career trying to improve our energy policies – in Colorado first, and then nationally. There is a long road to walk until we have a renewable energy-based society, which is needed for a healthy climate and national securtiy. Mark Udall will make a decent Senator (note I didn’t say good or great. I have real problems with his centrist approach in general and his recent vote to retroactively immunize telecom corporations who illegally wiretapped domestic traffic). Bob Schaffer used to be a Jack Abramoff yes-man. His actions tell us he is in favor of forced abortions, sweatshops and fossil fuels. His past is well-paved with corruption and Colorado can’t afford to have a 20th century fringe CONservative blocking work to move forward in the 111th Congress.
2. Bush admitted on Friday as he signed his Bailout that the legislation is just “the beginning”. Really? The beginning of what, exactly? The beginning of more taxpayers Bailouts of immoral corporate gambling? Overall, Americans recognized this Bailout is just that. There is no part of the legislation that addresses the actual problems in the economy. No homeowner assitance. No path towards more jobs. No increase in income. The Bush administration will not prosecute the fools that set up this economic collapse. The bottom line: trickle-down (voodoo) economics does not work. Dumping larger sums of money at the top will not make any more fall to the bottom.
3.The Bailout passed because of the tax breaks attached to it. There are many reasons why that fact is odious, but I’ll focus on one for now: all of them already exist. That’s correct: the tax breaks were merely extensions! Entities like the Denver Post, in fact, spent more time opining about the tax breaks than they did about the underlying Bailout. The Senate hadn’t extended any of the tax breaks all year, but managed to stick it on the Bailout so it would pass. Oh, the corporate media also hasn’t reported the reason those extensions hadn’t passed all year: a CONservative Senator from Oklahoma issued a record number of filibuster threats this Congress. One person alone managed to hold up about 100 necessary bills. All so the CONS could run ads saying Congress didn’t do anything all year. CONS put all their focus on elections and none of their focus on governing.
One of my pet peeves in the arena of politics is pollster’s phrasing of questions. More often than not, they’re phrased poorly. Case in point today: a Pew poll asking about Iraq, specifically the Iraq “war”. The problem I have is with the larger message. Are we battling the Iraqi government and military today? No. Our military is fighting against guerilla elements, only some of which having an association with the Iraqi government. No, the United States is occupying Iraq, against their will and against the will of Americans. Nobody in the corporate media and its lackeys is willing to admit to this, however.
And here is why it matters: if the debate about Iraq centered around our occupation and not a war against its forces, more Americans would demand an end to that occupation. Admittedly, a majority of Americans continue to think the Iraq invasion was a bad idea and a majority also want American troops to come home. In the face of Bush’s Bailout, which could cost $700 billion or more, Americans would be quite adamant about returning troops stateside, recognizing the continuing costs of occupying Iraq are too much to handle.
The quixotic wording of Pew’s questions has led to 58% surveyed saying the Iraq “war” is going well and 58% saying the U.S. is winning. It’s the winning question that really gets to me. We won the war, a very, very short time after we invaded. Since Mission Accomplished, U.S. forces have been occupying Iraq. The Iraqis continue to have no successful political progress, despite the escalation Bush ordered last year. As such, how is America winning the occupation? What is the end goal of that occupation that America is theoretically moving toward? Organizations like Pew won’t ask those questions. And this country continues to bleed $12 billion per month as well as more servicemember casualties because of it.
