Friday, October 03, 2008

We Have To Do Something.....Anything....Even If It's Wrong!

Listening to the pundits on radio and tv, these past few day's, both before and after the already infamous vote to (further) socialize America's financial system, a number of things became painfully clear.

First and foremost, the overwhelming image scampering out of Washington DC is of "the blind leading the blind." The vast majority of those elected into national office, including the President, have no bloody idea what they're doing.

The conspiracy theorists among us would say that they're mere puppets, their strings being pulled by shadowy characters in ancient European castles or in hyper-exclusive upstate New York and New England country clubs. I have no way of knowing whether this is true, but the level of economic incompetence leads me to prefer the notion that they're just stupid.

It started with talking points: "It's not a bailout of Wall Street, it's a rescue of Main Street." This sentence, word for word, has been repeated by virtually every scatterbrained congressman and Senator; every media reporter and talking head for several days now. After the House rejected the measure the other day, the chorus that something must be done, NOW! became so intense that it could be heard with the radio and tv off.

The utterly irrelevant George Bush appeared on the air in a state of panic that far surpassed his stridency when trying to justify his screeching, skidding left turn into Iraq in the middle of his supposed search for the evil Osama bin Llama.

The Senate passed the bill, led by the very individuals who were most instrumental in the causing of the problem, and those who have embarrassing videos locked in the safety deposit boxes of other Senators.

The Siren song of doing something before the election--just to say something was done--proved to be too strong for many of the Congressfools who voted "nay" the first time, their fear of being turned out of office exceeding their desire to do something effective.

Now that the bill is signed (hand of Satan himself holding the pen), everyone starts the new chorus, saying that this bailout will not solve the problem, but will give Washington the financial world some breathing room until reform can be put together.

Say, WHAT?!

Shades of Atlas Shrugged!

.....And we all know that once the election is past, the whole thing will be forgotten and Senators Frank, Dodd, Schumer and all their cronies will still be receiving big campaign arm twistings which will somehow cleverly trickle into their personal bank accounts, and we'll have another big, earth-threatening crisis in a few years.

Nothing that will actually reflect sound economic policy will be considered.

I declare, I wonder where all this cynicism comes from!!

Remember: VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Remember: VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

That and if your congress whoor voted for the theft package that passed today, be sure to send him a note letting him know that he(she)is fired.

sasob

Anonymous said...

Like I said elsewhere, given the choices presented, we would have been better off just giving it all to Paulson. :-)

Now bankruptcy judges can change interest rate, principle and 'other stuff' so as to 'accomodate' the borrower. If you buy a $1 million dollar mansion, don't pay any payments for 17 months, declare bankruptcy, you can get your principle and monthly payment taken down to within your hamburger flipping job's pay. And don't think this won't be tested.

The effect will be similar to rent control - a shortage of housing units, where landlords are held hostage to bad laws, but in this case it will be banks/lending institutions.

Anonymous said...

Col.,

Another thing about 'selling' the bill. Like you said - they say bailout of the middle class and not allowing the greed of businesses, yet almost all accounts that I heard today on the floor was that businesses were calling their congressidiots to tell them they couldn't get loans to do x. In a nearby district, a congressman said that callers and emailers were against it at a 90 to 10 ratio - he voted No ;-) Even Shaddeg (R-AZ) said that most of the responses were against it but a farmer said he couldn't buy chemicals for his crops (that must have pained the ecolibs) and so he voted for it.

Anyway their rhetoric doesn't match up to their actual accounts of what's happening in their districts.

T. F. Stern said...

Just makes me sick to see what congress has done with all the pork and bs tacked on helter skelter in order to pass yet another bad piece of legislation; one that does not address the cause of the problem and only throws money down the toilet.

Anonymous said...

t.f.

It's just amazing. It would be like asking a fireman as he's entering a burning house, to change the cat litter, paint the hallway, vacuum the floor and fix the toilet, oh, and help yourself to the Rum, while you're in there.

The audacity of politicians!

Anonymous said...

Rum? The man said rum. And the cabinet is where? Glasses?

MathewK said...

They can remain ignorant of what caused this and not learn from it because the voters let them get away with it. Often the government we get is the one we deserve.

Col. Hogan said...

Kent,

I'm watching a Fox News report on the background leading up to the crash. Interesting. Republicans may have been involved, but Democrats were the drivers.

I heard Shadegg's whimpering excuses as to why he changed his vote. They were pretty much aligned with what you wrote. He could lose his seat over this.....

Col. Hogan said...

TF,

This pork nonsense is angering many. Except, no doubt, the recipients....

I've thought that Congress should be restricted to one bill, one subject. If any amendments are needed--new bill. It doesn't really cure anything, but only makes the theft more difficult.

Col. Hogan said...

MK,

Saying "we" get the government we deserve points up the evils of democracy. Our Founders never meant America to be a democracy....We're a Republic, which restricts severely those things that can properly be put to a vote by Congress.

The problem? Too many of us don't realize this (thanks in part to children's prisons) and keep voting based 'pon what they say they'll give us.

Anonymous said...

Col. said Saying "we" get the government we deserve points up the evils of democracy

That's true. 49% of a population, in America's case, that's 150 million undeserving people can suffer because of the votes of the other 51%.
Why can't the smart ones just get on a boat and sail off to create our own island?
Re: the current crisis, I can't believe that this mess was the result of stupidity. There are far too many clever people out there; brains as sharp as ours and sharper, brainstorming and strategizing. Hillary Clinton, for example, is a statist so what's going on now with the grinding down of the market suits her down to the ground.

Col. Hogan said...

Aurora,

The thievin' bastards who are involved in this are "smart" to the degree that they find ways to filter money out of any bureaucracy and into their own bank accounts, in the knowledge that if caught, they probably won't be punished, but I don't see evidence of a grand conspiracy.

They're picking the carcass that once was America clean--getting theirs while the getting is good.

I think a group of elite conspirators would have the good sense to take it a little easier, so that the parasites don't kill the host.

I recognize that there's a fine line there, and it could go either way. Americans have fought their way out of crises like this many times before, but one of these times will be the last.