Adding Another Voice to the Bailout Chorus
I do not pretend to understand all of the ins and outs of Paulsons $700B bailout; nor do I claim to have a wealth of knowledge about every shady business practice, every corporate tax break, every financial policy misstep that led us to this point (and I am a CPA). My first thoughts on this mess as of this morning are these: why is it that these mega-million-dollar financial institutions are getting this free pass? What about the low-middle class American citizens who are facing foreclosure? Where is their bailout package?
This is but one more example that that the current political climate directed by this rotten executive branch and its inept appointees places more value on the welfare of capitalists and corporations (and their ability to make purse-busting donations) than the welfare of individual citizens.
A few quotes I found poignant:
From William Greider:
If Wall Street gets away with this, it will represent an historic swindle of the American public -- all sugar for the villains, lasting pain and damage for the victims.
From my senator, Richard Shelby (R-AL):
We don't know the endgame in this. And I'll tell you what bothers me about this: that I believe that the chairman of the Fed and the Treasury Secretary Paulson, with all due respect to them, they've been staggering from crisis to crisis and they haven't even said today that this will end the crisis. He said this will lubricate the financial markets if we take the financial sludge, as we call it, off the books of the banks. But as Congressman Frank said, this doesn't do anything for the homeowner. This is doing something for the banks. And if [homeowners] get any relief, it'd be incidental (CBS Face The Nation).
From a Diane Rehm Show listener:
How is it that socialized medicine is so bad but socialized financial systems are okay?
Indeed.
Cross-posted at Daily Kos
Originally published at Warum Ich Bin v3.0.