It's early, early morning on Friday, and I'm reading the tea leaves about this proposed "solution" to the financial crisis that dominated the news on Thursday and sent the market up almost 200 points. I take some hope from a post in Daily Kos that says the evening negotiations on this thing have broken down. Good. According to this writeup, the House Republicans are the stumbling block. Know what? I don't care who's responsible for running this so-called "plan" into the ditch. Just so long it gets torpedoed in some way.
As far as can be measured, the American people are decidedly against the deal congressional leaders and the administration embraced yesterday. I don't often laud the collective wisdom of the American people--hardly ever--but in this case God or some equally beneficent force has endowed them with the wisdom to say hell, no! to this swindle being foisted upon them.
How can it be that all those worthies in Congress have essentially gotten on the same bus with Bush on this thing? Make no mistake: the essential element of this plan is the free pass (free billions) that Wall Street gets in this "solution." This is what Bush wants, and this is what Bush says must be passed right now. Now, what's wrong with this picture?
For anybody out there who may be half or fully brain dead, let me spell this out. This bailout plan sucks for the following reasons:
1. It's the Bush administration's solution and therefore suspect by definition. We're being asked to trust George W. Bush and his servants. Who in their right mind would even consider doing such a thing at this juncture?
2. It rewards the malefactors of great wealth on Wall St. and puts all the pain on the taxpayers when it should be just the opposite.
3. It's being jammed down our throats, as in, do it now or the sky will fall on us. Remember the same urgency with the Iraq war? Look where that got us.
4. It's being jammed down our throats 40 days before a presidential election. No matter who's elected, he's going to have to live with a fait accompli that from all indications the American people hate. Why aren't both candidates raising hell about this?
5. It has not had nearly enough debate. Alternatives to this so-called solution have not been given even a cursory hearing. Where's the debate? Are these clowns in Congress serious? Lay a $700 billion burden on generations of Americans after only a few days consideration?
6. There's been no public input to this process. Nobody's shouting at the top of their lungs: "Hey, time out! Let's think about this." Hell, there ought to be a stream of experts trooping up to Washington and testifying about alternatives to this for several weeks at least.
I don't care who stops this madness: Republicans, Democrats, or Visigoth hordes, and I don't care where they come from: the House, Senate, or woodwork. I just want it stopped cold till we've taken the time to air this whole thing out. We're talking about over a trillion dollars here!
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