We Knew This Was Coming…
For those of us who knew the Wall Street bailout package rushed through Congress last week was going to be a huge, unilateral gift to the same wealthy scumbags who screwed up in the first place, proof of our suspicion is already emerging. This is what happens when you don’t stop and ask questions about just how $700 billion will be managed. And you don’t stop and ask questions, of course, if you are foaming at the mouth with excitement about handing your rich backers a huge gob of taxpayer money to play with.
From the London Telegraph:
But the US Treasury does not have the staff to make the decisions about which banks and which debts to buy up and will instead spend the next few weeks hiring Wall Street experts to do the buying for them.
Experts warned the approach is laden with financial pitfalls, since it may be impossible to find independent contractors who do not have a vested interest in which debts to buy and the price at which they buy them.
The companies hired to identify and buy the bad debts will have to make decisions that affect the same firms whose shares they own. In some cases they might effectively be buying up their own bad debts.
This is quite possibly biggest domestic crime in US history, and they’re doing it right in front of our noses. The corporate media and the politicians don’t give a shit what we think. They’re not afraid of us, because they know their “democratic” system insulates them from our wrath while offering us the illusion of control.
Now our leaders have eagerly doubled down on our behalf, placing one more bad bet — this time with public money — on the very same dirtballs that got us into this conundrum.
If you aren’t outraged, you definitely aren’t paying attention. (Or maybe you’re a dick.)
Holy shit.
For $700 billion we could just invent a Time machine and go back and stop the crisis from ever happening.
–Mike Church
People from both ends of the political spectrum should be outraged at this blatant rape of the American taxpayer!
We are going further and further down the rabbit hole.
Did anyone see that some European countries are having similar crises? An article written by Associated Press journalist Matt Moore states that Germany is bailing out Hypo Real Estate to the tune of $69 billion and other countries are facing financial woes. It was in our local paper today.
It is still Bush’s fault, Mary. So is my inability to impregnate my wife.
unca junk Reply:
October 7th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I assume you mean that every time you think of Bush you find him so repulsive that you lose all desire for conjugal relations?
Wow, where is this country going? We ahve McCain and Palin trying to incite hate at thier rallies? All this BS talk of terrorist ties, which have been debunked by CNN, is horrible. I mean it sounds like a KKK rally out there! You have people yelling “kill him”, and callng Obama a terroist. With no comment from McCain or Palin. What is going on? In my own community my day care provider and two other women told me that they will not vote for Obama becasue he is black. They said if he was elected that ‘the blacks” would thing they were “all that”! These are mid 40’s women who teach Sunday school and watch children for a living! I was not around in the 60’s during the civil rights movement but I think I just caught a glimpse. God help us all.
steve, jasper Reply:
October 7th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
This is literally sickening and makes me truly afraid for this country!
John from Cleveland Reply:
October 8th, 2008 at 9:28 am
I agree that this is sickening, but I feel the same way when people call the current president a child murderer.
Big Brother Reply:
October 8th, 2008 at 11:54 am
You do realize that this president has ordered actions that have lead directly to the deaths of thousands of children, right, John? So labeling him a child murderer — which he technically is — might be a little different than shouting “kill him” about the man, which I’m sure has been done re Bush more by liberals than re Obama by conservatives. Now it’s time to give Obama a chance to become a child murderer and to catch up on the number of times his detractors call for his untimely death. Fair’s fair.
John from Cleveland Reply:
October 8th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Then Truman was a mass murderer (2 nuke bombs), FDR was a mass murderer (fire bombing Dresden/Tokyo, every president who authorized the western expansion in the US is a mass murderer (kill those injuns)… Should I continue?
Teddy Roosevelt went to war with Spain over bad intel. Maybe we should chisle his face off of Mount Rushmore!?
Big Brother Reply:
October 8th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Now you’re talking, John. Do you actally disagree with what you wrote above? Do you think killing innocent people en masse makes a president anything less than a mass murderer? The events you list are examples of terrorism, in fact. So I’d add mass-murdering terrorist. In each case, the actions were carried out largely against noncombatants in order to influence the decisions of leaders — the very definition of terrorism. Thanks for the help, Johnny!
John from Cleveland Reply:
October 8th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Well, don’t make the current president out to be such a horrible person. He appears to be continuing with the status quo. Be consistent.
Should I add the 3 presidents who had no problem dropping napalm and/or cluster bombs on Vietnamese?
I don’t disagree, necessairly. I just want to point out that some of our “greatest” presidents had no problem killing non-combatants.
Big Brother Reply:
October 8th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
I feel like you are skipping Bush I and Clinton for some reason. No need to pussy-foot! They belong right there on he list. Hell, they maintained sanctions against Iraq that killed a million people, half of them kids. Not to mention their own various forays into death from above.
Makes you wonder if we really had any “great” presidents, or if that’s just another oxymoron.
steve, jasper Reply:
October 8th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Yes, anytime innocent civilians are killed, be it during war or not, it is murder pure and simple.
To call it anything else is to do a great disservice to those killed, their families and humanity in general.
One can debate all day whether the murder was justified for the greater good but, it’s still murder!
I just can’t wait to find out when I’ll get my bailout check for all the retirement money I’ve lost & my pension funds are continuing to lose! What an exciting day that will be for those of us who worked hard all our lives so we could enjoy our “golden years”! I know the Bushies & the Fed & the Congress would never forget about the “little people” in their efforts to stave off a complete economic collapse by further enriching those who are already rich & who brought it about through their attempts to get even richer. That wouldn’t be fair now, would it? Oh, & speaking of unfair, what about the kids in our schools who will have to do without some of the basics because the state budgets are billions of dollars in the hole–an additional $7 billion in California, according to the Governator–like books & desks & uncrowded classrooms & teachers who can give them lots of individualized help? Hey, no biggie! What doesn’t kill us will only make us stronger, right? Check with the remaining few from the generation of the Great Depression for further details about how that one works!