“I’m going to suspend my campaign…” = My campaign is now based in Washington. NOTHING stopped. Not fundraising, not advertising, not anything…except he was in DC.
“No debate until a deal is struck” = We need to push through the most mind-blowing bailout in the history of America in approximately 48
hours. We spent more time talking about steroids in Baseball than we have about the most landmark piece of legislation…well, probably
since the Patriot Act.
“I’ve decided to go to the debates” = My idiotic posturing didn’t work.
If you don’t understand what the whole mortgage crisis is all about, take in the video below. It will explain it perfectly (and humorously to boot):
The problem with the whole AIG bailout is that it will crash the dollar. That means that the dollar will be worth even less than it is right now versus the Euro, Pound, etc. And let me tell you from traveling abroad, it ain’t worth much as it is. And this would be disastrous.
I understand things would be bad. Things are bad either way. But the alternative is to keep the broken system afloat. I understand no one wants to be the bearer of bad news. Bush would love to blame Democrats on what will be, most likely, the second great depression, and Democrats, honestly, I don’t think want to clean up the mess. It’s easier to say that you will just pump some money into the thing and band-aid it, reward those idiots who bought and sold mortgages while not knowing a) the value or b) the likelihood of those loans being repaid, and as the dollar crashes around the world (such as the recent crude oil price spike in reaction to the news). When our dollar is worth less, that makes everything worth less, including people’s life savings.
If we save AIG and crash the dollar, inflation will demolish the market. Social Security, while bad enough, won’t be able to afford anything. Groceries will continue to rise, sometimes in drastic amounts.
I know it sounds doom and gloom, but the fact is some people fucked up big time. And I’m absolutely ecstatic that Senator Leahy said hold your horses on the bailout deal. This is $700 BILLION dollars that Bush wants to give the head of the treasury department to do whatever the hell Mr. Paulson wants to do with it.
Can you believe this is actually in the bill? This is word-for-word:
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
Is this not absolute lunacy? Non-reviewable? May not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency? Are you fucking serious here? Is this America? Is this the country that we’ve got now? Where you put your get-out-of-jail-free card right in the bill?
This is insane. Not only is it insane, it’s obscenely stupid. In Washington, it must be tangerine trees and marmalade skies up there. They’ve gone completely fucking mad.
Here’s a choice quote:
…[the bailout] effectively puts taxpayer money at risk while protecting bad investments made by A.I.G. and other institutions does business with.
That’s exactly right. I’m not a right-winger, I’m a die-hard liberal who thinks that healthcare should (immediately) be socialized. But I do not, in any way, believe that businesses should be. If you run your business into the ground, that is your fault. I certainly believe the government should help you in creating new businesses. But if you screw yourself, you shall remain screwed until such a time that the screw unwinds. If that means financial markets failing, the alternative is worse.
But that’s exactly why they bailed A.I.G out: They didn’t know how bad it could get. Well, they sure as hell made it worse.
Here we are, as taxpayers, basically approving of the stupid overinflating of their mortgage holdings, of their bad loans, of their bad investments, of their bad everything. This puts us in direct responsibility for these people’s mistakes.
Here’s how it works, as explained to me in a brilliant audio podcast whose link I can’t find: What this basically says to the lender is, you don’t have to worry about the debtor paying you back. Because the government always will. So how will the government pay back $X that it now owes to these lenders because the loan defaulted? Well, it will have to print money. As you print more money, existing money becomes worth less. (heh)
I simply don’t know what in the world these people were thinking. Well, I guess the prevailing thought was: We’re going to go broke. The Washingtonians, their friends, their investor buddies.
I mean, let’s face it: I will probably never have to worry about ‘invested securities’ and millions of dollars worth of stock. But those who do are sure as shit not going to let the ship hit the iceberg if they can help it.
Story Time
The iceberg was the mortgage crisis. The boat was A.I.G. The savior was the government. They alerted the ship and averted disaster…by setting the boat on fire so they could see what was in front of them. As that fire burns (work with me here), it appears that “Man, we can see so far ahead of us! This is awesome!” and slowly, ever-so-slowly, they realize that the front of their ship just fell off. Well, shit.
The End.
This whole bailout situation is just ridiculous. There should be nothing “too big to fail” unless it’s the government itself. Then…well, I guess we won’t own 80% of a poorly-run company, now will we?
You have to be kidding me. I can’t believe anyone who wants to, you know, actually afford their healthcare to be behind these two. I hope you enjoy valuing your Roe v. Wade over your frickin healthcare. Read the article here.
For starters, the McCain health plan would treat employer-paid health benefits as income that employees would have to pay taxes on.
“It means your employer is going to have to make an estimate on how much the employer is paying for health insurance on your behalf, and you are going to have to pay taxes on that money,” said Sherry Glied, an economist who chairs the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
My question is, why isn’t Obama jumping all over this? He’s giving tax breaks to the middle class while McCain is wanting to tax our benefits. This is insane.
Just another example of the Republican You’re-On-Your-Own thinking. The rich? They couldn’t care less. The ‘middle class’? (You know, those struggling along at 4.9 million) They wouldn’t care either.
Only in America can a man who owns nine house (yes, nine, not seven) who has been privileged his entire life, married to an heiress, could say that the guy raised by a single mom on foodstamps is ‘uppity’ and ‘arrogant.’
Here’s hoping that the populus isn’t buying what McCain / Inexperienced is selling.
Check out this video over at Crooks and Liars when you get a chance. The scariest thing you’ll watch today, I’m sure.
No, it’s not a horror movie. It’s Mort Zuckerman, publisher of US News and World Report and the NY Daily News, discussing the Fed’s bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and what that means to the U.S. Economy. I know this is Boring Shit You Don’t Care About, but for a moment I would take the time to appreciate that our entire economy is driven by the fact that our homes have value, and the companies who have liens on them (Freddie/Fannie) therefore have value, and so people borrow against the value of those companies, and when the stuff those companies have (i.e., the homes) begin to depreciate at a ridiculous rate like they are now…
…then we’re fucked.
And rest assured, something bad is happening. This is a piece of pure financial greed in action.
“The shareholders took the gains when they were the gains, and now the public takes the losses when they are the losses.”
This means that to keep our economy afloat, and to make this buyout happen, we will need to, of course, pay for this buyout. With tax dollars. That is, we must raise our taxes to pay for this ridiculous shit, along with our insanely out of control spending on things like, I don’t know, a war, or the U.S. credit rating will tank. And that’s bad for us, and many parts of the world, in ways that are hard to describe. It’s like saying “it burns when I pee” instead of explaining just how a grenade went off in your crotch.
However, the most telling and important piece of video is the fact that lobbyists (of course) shot down each and every possible regulation that could be imposed on this kind of financial scheme.
And, for what it’s worth, note that Republicans just love them some deregulation. It allows for monopolies, and for hairbrained schemes like these to happen.
“this problem is still not measurable, we still don’t know where the bottom is”
That’s all I gotta say. It hit the right notes, it made the right jabs, it just felt fantastic. It felt like we had an actual leader up there, not just a guy with catch phrases and talking points.
And I’m tired of apologizing and defending my optimism for a president who can inspire us to do good. And for his credit, Obama threw down the gauntlet: No foreign oil in 10 years. There’s some leeway in that statement (remember, we import the most oil from Canada, not the middle east as some would have you believe), but the statement stands as a bold move that I would never in a million years hear from McCain. Why? Because ‘the market can fix it’, the Republicans cry. ‘Drill here, drill now.’ Same ole, same ole. Somehow, at the bottom of the oil well, and behind those tax breaks for the oil executives, there’s renewable energy. They’re just sure of it.
McCain and crew also cry that government should ‘get out of the way’, giving more control of government programs to private businesses (Blackwater, Haliburton, etc) which essentially gives you a smaller government by letting businesses run it instead. Sure it gives you smaller government, but at what cost? Obama responded by calling this “Ownership Society” what it was: A ‘You’re On Your Own’ society. It’s not that we can’t help ourselves, Obama explains, but that government should provide you the tools to do so.
Can you imagine being able to buy the same health insurance that those in Congress have? It’s funny that people don’t equate this to GEICO, because it’s the exact same thing (remember, GEICO = Government Employee Insurance Company). I would love to have insurance that doesn’t give me shit when I need an operation. I’d prefer, believe it or not, to have a president in office who knows what it’s like to haggle with an insurance company over something as basic as healthcare. It’s sad that you have to prove this point to others. Yet the line is, “We’d never pay for it,” when we currently do. Emergency Rooms around the country feel the strain of the uninsured, but it’s not the uninsured who hurt. The insured hurt as well. You messed up and forgot that minor surgery on your insurance signup forms? Guess what, that half million dollar operation they paid for last week suddenly isn’t. People are paid to find these loopholes, because these loopholes go toward the bottom line. Profit. If you had found that loophole, you would’ve just ’saved’ the company a half million bucks. Healthcare for profit does not work. We are the only country with personal medical debt. I could go on. And while I’m sure we’re stuck with Healthcare for Profit(tm) for awhile, at the very least the ability to buy government insurance is a start.
All I can say was, it really felt historical. I felt the rush of blood and gooseflesh as Obama accepted his nomination, as he stood there ready to lead the nation and subsequently the world. He’s loved the world over because he really is the face of change. He isn’t an old white man. He is a black man from a middle class family who has the ability to inspire. This is rare. It was a moment I could imagine describing to my grandchildren one day.
It makes me sick when I hear people dismiss leadership as arrogance and big ideas as wistful, foolish whims that can never come true. Those who don’t support Obama tend to do so on platitudes and marketing and hearsay. He’s a muslim, they cry. He’s a tax and spend liberal. He’s a celebrity. He’s untested. He’s not right for us.
And all I hear is: Instead of someone who inspires hope in all of us, they’d rather have another administration just as dead-set against global warming and as corporate-friendly as possible. Four more years of the same ole bait-and-switch. Do you really think it’s going to get better with McCain in office? Seriously. Seriously.
It blows my mind that people will actively vote against their own financial interest. But they do.
So this is my little blog post to commemorate what I believe will go down as a historical moment. Never have 75,000 people gathered to hear a candidate. Never have I seen a candidate so deftly maneuver his way through policy descriptions, jabs at his opponent and the administration, and weave it through the theme of promise, hope, and inspiration before.
Go ahead, be cynical. But I like to think we’re better than that, some of the time. I hope this November 4th is one of those times. I honestly believe it’s possible now.
This cover is so atrocious it makes me sad. I understand now that he’s mirroring the Spitz cover (which gives me my oh-so-witty pun for the title of this post), but was that stupid-looking goofy-ass mega-smile really necessary?
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here, for a variety of reasons. The main one is that blogs are very tough to both begin and end. When you stop blogging, every day that passes makes it harder for you to post something. It gets a little more awkward, a little more intimidating. Not sure why, but I’m here and let’s delve into opinions, shall we?
On Politics
I am fed up with the sheep that live in Washington, DC. And by sheep I mean Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. I’m a pretty hard-core liberal, and this “Impeachment is off the table” bullshit is ridiculous. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Dennis Kucinich, a congressman whom I have infinite respect for, actually took a stand and brought 35 counts of impeachment against President Bush. Bush has systematically made congress irrelevant with his signing statements that circumvent laws and his super-secret dealings via Cheney and crew.
I’m frustrated and tired of it. I’m tired of them not voting for environmentally friendly initiatives, I’m tired of them using gag orders to stop investigations, and most of all I’m tired of us getting Democrats in power to only watch them bend the will of the president in his idiotic war that was based on bad intelligence (at best) and is more than likely based on the outrageous ideology that we can force democracy by the barrel of a gun.
There comes a time when people (i.e. the Middle East) who are shit on, no matter how shit on they may be, actually choose and approve of said shitting. They adore their power structure, which generally puts men above women in every sense and hide behind religious reasons when questioned. There is nothing we can do to ’save’ the middle east. They are too fervent, they are too ideological (far more than Bush and Cheney ever realize) and they will not ‘let it go’ and accept Jesus Christ as their pers–er, I mean, accept democracy.
And McCain, God help us all if that guy gets into power. I personally don’t think he has a shot in hell of winning anything, let alone the presidency. Let’s face it, if the man were running for anything but Bush Term #3, we may actually have a real debate. But voting with Bush 95% of the time last year, in right and wrong, makes you wonder. He wants to double the tax cut to the wealthiest Americans, who don’t need it and didn’t ask for it. Call it a political talking point if you wish, but it’s true.
Better yet, how is he going to pay for said tax cut? He doesn’t know. There are no answers here. “The market will just make it work,” the campaign says. Or they’ll double or triple our existing debt into the 5-7 Trillion range. Yes, with a T.
Another Republican talking point is on Universal Health Care. We need this. We NEED it. It’s not an ‘if’ proposition, it’s a ‘when’ proposition. And, if anything, in twenty years when it is in place, it will be a non-issue. Have you seen Sicko? You should. In it you meet people in the ‘Conservative’ party of other countries, and they are all for taking care of those who can’t take care of themselves. But you can’t mention something about free health care (or, at the very least, affordable insurance from the government) without the Bill O’ Reilly’s of the world flaunting the most heinous examples of how it will destroy America or whatever. “I’m not going to be paying for some drug addict to blah blah blah.” Give me a break.
The funniest argument to me from Republicans is “we want families to make their own choices.” You know what I want? No medical debt. No health care for profit. No doctor ever being denied to perform a procedure or a treatment because it is deemed too expensive (and by too expensive they simply say it is ‘too experimental’ or ‘let’s try other (cheaper) avenues first’). What they don’t understand is, I don’t really give a damn if I have to go see Doctor A instead of Doctor B. If that means I don’t owe $500+ when it’s over, I think I can deal with that.
The simple answer is this: John McCain has never had to pay a medical bill in his life. He’s never had to pay for his own education. He owns many, many houses and is more wealthy than every person who ever reads this post–combined. He doesn’t know what it’s like to have bill collectors call his home.
Think about this, my dear Republicans: How many of you are a horrific car accident or heart transplant away from bankruptcy? Because other countries absolutely fall out of their chairs laughing about this. Medical debt is a punchline in other countries, while my own family stares down thousands of dollars in bills from years and years ago; bills that I generally pay off just as the next medical emergency hits. Having a kid should not come with a $5,000 bill attached, and that’s with freakin insurance, not without.
I can’t even fathom why someone would vote for McCain any longer. Regardless of whether Barack takes Hillary as his VP running mate or not, the man has a history that is far more in line with the majority of Americans than that of McCain. A single mother who was on food stamps at one point? Can you fathom McCain ever worrying about money?
And you wonder why he has no idea how the economy works? It blows my mind that people will actively vote against their own economic interest. This man doesn’t give a damn about your wage or your taxes. He’s supported this over-the-top administration that has shit on civil liberties, created secret prisons where inmates don’t get trials, and frankly just duped the entire country into a war that we’re now stuck in, and one that McCain wants to continue until God knows when.
Republicans who support the war are in the constant chicken-and-egg scenario for explaining why we are staying there: We’re staying there because the violence is so bad, or, if the violence is down, then we’re staying there to keep the peace and get the Iraqis to run their own show. Good luck with that, because 4,000 dead soldiers have now lost their lives for the ideology of one man, and the whims of Vice President Cheney.
I don’t know all of the political answers, but I do know that Change (capitalized, natch) is what will not come from a McCain administration. The secret dealings among administration officials, the trampling of civil rights, the disregard for Congress, this will continue. Voting for McCain is saying that you approve of these actions, and I just can’t imagine why you would ever do so.
Wow, have you read the reports of Gary Lamb’s venture into hel–er, I mean, his Easter Egg Drop? Revolution Church decided to drop 50,000 eggs from a helicopter and include various prizes in the eggs, such as an XBox, to boot.
Basically, the thing turned into a huge clusterfuck. I don’t know how else to describe it.
(One of the little things that makes me happy about not being religious is that I can happily use the word clusterfuck to describe clusterfucks. I’m not burdened with the guilt of an invisible man, you see.)
Anyway, this is a fascinating look into human nature. I can’t help but laugh at both the audacity and the ridiculousness. The best part was that I was actually going to try and make it, to help support Gary in this wild venture. But as soon as you see the word ‘free’ and ‘prizes’, people just come out of the woodwork.
Reading over the plan, as they had devised it, the problem was this: They expected parents to honor their wishes in spite of the shiny toys they could watch some 3-year-old walk away with. This means that as soon as one parent stepped in to ‘help’, then another would feel like they had the right to as well, because, what if that parent’s “assistance” turned them into winners? The only option I could see for Egg Drop Part Deux, if they wanted to hold it much like this one, would be to separate the kids from the parents. But who wants that? And if you thought their horrible stories of people looking for their children were bad this time…
I don’t think there’s a good way to do this. If you were to anticipate 12,000 people, where would you put them? What space would you need? What PA system? It would have to be massive, and I’m talking football stadium sized. That would be the only place large enough and with enough accommodation (parking, restrooms, etc) that I could think could support this.
As for their ‘goals’ per se, I’m cynical as hell, but let’s take this quote from the woman’s blog post above:
And we certainly did not expect almost 90% of you not to listen to instructions given.
This is 100% nievete in hindsight, and I can only imagine that there were at least a few there that weren’t quite so shocked.
You know what went wrong with this whole Egg Drop business? The prizes. The prizes were too good. They cause people to do stupid things. If it had just been candy in the eggs, I would bet there would be at least 50% less problems (and probably 50% less people, too).
The spectacle was not the prizes given away, but the fact you were dropping all those eggs from the helicopter. Why would parents crush each other for some candy? They wouldn’t. But would they trample over someone else for a $300 XBox? You bet your ass they would.
If your message is all Jesus all the time, don’t give people an opportunity to monopolize and/or profit from your event.