Our Morons
Yesterday I posted on how cheaply Democrats can be bought. They voted for the bailout of the Wall Street robber barons to the tune of 700 billion dollars without exacting any real concessions. Oh, we got a mental health insurance bill that was long overdue and could very well have passed on its own merits and a few other little gifts that might look good on some congress critter's resume, but we got nothing in the way of relief that might have made a difference for the rest of us.
Just how pathetic was this give-away? Well, our Senate Majority Leader couldn't even get a vote on extending unemployment the same week that showed that a record number of people had to file for those benefits. From today's NY Times:
After the Senate approved the $700 billion bank bailout, the majority leader, Harry Reid, tried to persuade his colleagues to address another economic calamity before they left town for the long election recess. He urged them to extend unemployment benefits for 800,000 jobless Americans. ...
Of the 9.5 million Americans now out of work, two million have been jobless for more than six months. Nearly 6.1 million people are working part time because they cannot find full-time work or because slack business conditions have led to fewer hours — and less pay.
Cutbacks in hours and pay are especially pernicious because for most of the Bush years, wage growth has lagged behind worker productivity and prices. As Americans have worked harder they have fallen further behind. The only good news — if you can call it that — was that credit was easy.
As a result, many Americans today have no savings and are deep in debt. That means they are even less prepared to take care of themselves and their families when they lose their jobs. [Emphasis added]
It's clear to everyone in the world that the administration and every busted gambler in every Wall Street office was going through Depends at an unholy rate. The deal needed to be closed NOW (or, preferably yesterday). The Congressional leadership held all the cards and they sold out for peanut shells. Oh, yeah, Hollywood got a few tax breaks, but the rest of America is on the verge of living in the cars they can't afford to fuel. Didn't it occur to anyone to add some really substantive provisions to the give-away, provisions that really would have helped out those who were caught in the disaster?
Obviously not. Those who will suffer don't make big campaign contributions and don't have lobbyists hosting lunches and dinner with a few major sporting events tickets thrown in as dessert.
Pitchforks and tar would be too humane for the Democratic leadership. I think we need to hasten their own unemployment. And if not this cycle, the next. That means we have to get busy identifying people who actually understand how we've been sold out by our own, fund their campaign, and hit the streets for them.
Just how pathetic was this give-away? Well, our Senate Majority Leader couldn't even get a vote on extending unemployment the same week that showed that a record number of people had to file for those benefits. From today's NY Times:
After the Senate approved the $700 billion bank bailout, the majority leader, Harry Reid, tried to persuade his colleagues to address another economic calamity before they left town for the long election recess. He urged them to extend unemployment benefits for 800,000 jobless Americans. ...
Of the 9.5 million Americans now out of work, two million have been jobless for more than six months. Nearly 6.1 million people are working part time because they cannot find full-time work or because slack business conditions have led to fewer hours — and less pay.
Cutbacks in hours and pay are especially pernicious because for most of the Bush years, wage growth has lagged behind worker productivity and prices. As Americans have worked harder they have fallen further behind. The only good news — if you can call it that — was that credit was easy.
As a result, many Americans today have no savings and are deep in debt. That means they are even less prepared to take care of themselves and their families when they lose their jobs. [Emphasis added]
It's clear to everyone in the world that the administration and every busted gambler in every Wall Street office was going through Depends at an unholy rate. The deal needed to be closed NOW (or, preferably yesterday). The Congressional leadership held all the cards and they sold out for peanut shells. Oh, yeah, Hollywood got a few tax breaks, but the rest of America is on the verge of living in the cars they can't afford to fuel. Didn't it occur to anyone to add some really substantive provisions to the give-away, provisions that really would have helped out those who were caught in the disaster?
Obviously not. Those who will suffer don't make big campaign contributions and don't have lobbyists hosting lunches and dinner with a few major sporting events tickets thrown in as dessert.
Pitchforks and tar would be too humane for the Democratic leadership. I think we need to hasten their own unemployment. And if not this cycle, the next. That means we have to get busy identifying people who actually understand how we've been sold out by our own, fund their campaign, and hit the streets for them.
Labels: Corporate Welfare
posted by Diane at 1:00 PM
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