I had been anticipating the passage of the bailout by writing an[other] impassioned screed, a call to arms to punish representatives who voted away our future for a few extra points on the Dow. I have become so used to Congress bowing to corporatist rule that I never expected that it could be voted down, but it was. So let's take a moment to celebrate: for the moment, you've escaped an additional personal debt load of $2,300 that would have gone right into the balance sheets of companies that have well and truly wrecked our economy.
Now that the bill is dead (for the moment) a lot more details are coming out: it turns out that the "assurances" and "compromises" on the bill were window dressing. The full $700B would have committed immediately, the executive compensation measures were meaningless, and the oversight provisions were toothless. Basically, the bill got a lot longer last week, but it never got any better.
Very rich and well placed media figureheads, investors, and politicians are tut-tutting this sad state of affairs, saying "people just don't understand the magnitude of this issue." Oh, but darlings, we do understand. We understand far too well what happens when we spend far more than we take in for far too long, we understand bad investments and cutting our losses, and we're maybe starting to understand when we're being manipulated. And maybe, just maybe, we're starting to resist.
I wrote my congressmen every single day last week. I wrote them again today, and I'm going to keep up the pressure. My house representative, Hank Johnson (D-GA-7th) voted against the bill so I sent him a nice campaign contribution as a thank-you note. If your representative voted for the bailout, you can ask for a change in the next vote, as there almost certainly will be one.
2 comments:
Two links for you:
1. Nice to see some rational thought in a mainstream media article:
Time: Let Risk-Taking Financial Institutions Fail
2. Though I know you're no fan of Ron Paul, and I think this movie tends a little too far toward conspiracy theory at the end, there are still some interesting and troubling issues raised in this film. Watch it when you have time. It was made over two years ago, yet has ominous undertones for what is happening today:
America: Freedom to Fascism
Good articles. Corporate media is made up of corporations, and they want a bailout because they don't want their stocks to tank. They're acting in their enlightened self-interest, and so should we.
I'm certainly not a Paulista, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. As far as conspiracy theories go, you're not just paranoid if people really are out to get you. I can think of a trillion reasons why a lot of people would be lying through their teeth right now.
Post a Comment