(no subject)
Well, things are all geared up for a Democratic slaughter come November, with the GOP taking the reins once again all because, you know, jobs. A lot of people don't have one. A lot of other people are wondering if they're about to lose one. And the reason that lots of people have lost a job or are uncertain about the stability of the one they have works out like this:
Several years ago, financial regulations were dismantled, allowing financial banks to become investment banks at the same time, writing bad loans that they knew would be defaulted on, and packaging them up and selling them off so they became someone else's problem. And boy, did they ever become someone else's problem. Namely, they became my problem, and if you pay taxes in in the United States, they became your problem, too. Tax dollars went to bailing out the banks and assorted financial firms, since they were "too big too fail." Even firms that didn't need bailing out because they prepared for such an occurrence, like Goldman Sachs, got bailed out. It cost us, the taxpayers, almost $1,000,000,000,000. That's a lot of zeros. Worse, that's a lot of zeros that we probably aren't going to ever see again.
Predictably, this bail out didn't stop the American economy from diving into depression. People started losing jobs, and not just a few here and there. We're talking millions of jobs. Even two years after the crash, in 2010, there have consistently been nearly half a million new jobless claims every month. Financial reform has been a joke. Tougher regulation has been a joke. And health insurance reform, which would have not only saved the country money, but would also have given people peace of mind because even if they didn't have a job, their medical bills would have been paid for, is a joke (because it is effectively the exact same mess it's always been, and will be for several years to come).
I want to be absolutely clear here. Fingers have been pointed at the Democratic Party in general and President Obama in particular. But while fingers do need to be pointed at them for not doing enough to fix the mess they were handed, the deregulation that created the mess was enacted when the Republican Party was in control. In other words, the assholes that we are probably going to vote for in November are the same ones that bent us over the sink and fucked us in the first place.
The point I'm driving at is this. If your incumbent Senator or Representative is up for reelection and is a Republican, vote their ass onto the street.
If your incumbent Senator or Representative is up for reelection and is a "Bluedog" Democrat, vote their ass onto the street.
If your incumbent Senator or Representative is up for reelection and is not a "Bluedog" Democrat but sided against health insurance and financial reform, and the numerous bills that would have created millions of jobs, and who stood up for deepening our involvement in one or more wasteful, ineffective wars, vote their ass onto the street.
If your incumbent Senator or Representative is up for reelection and is a progressive, and who stood in favor of health insurance and financial reform, who stood by bills that would have put millions of Americans back to work, who stood against deepening our involvement in a conflict we should never have been in and one we should have gotten out of years ago, both of which together have cost us over another $1,000,000,000,000 that we are never going to see again, cost the lives of thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, and the lives of ten of thousands on indigenous noncombatants who only made the mistake of standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, vote them back into office. Or, if they are not the incumbent, vote their opponents onto the street (don't worry, they have enough in corporate bribes to live comfortably for a long time).
I've had enough of this change "we can believe in."
It's time for change we can see.
Several years ago, financial regulations were dismantled, allowing financial banks to become investment banks at the same time, writing bad loans that they knew would be defaulted on, and packaging them up and selling them off so they became someone else's problem. And boy, did they ever become someone else's problem. Namely, they became my problem, and if you pay taxes in in the United States, they became your problem, too. Tax dollars went to bailing out the banks and assorted financial firms, since they were "too big too fail." Even firms that didn't need bailing out because they prepared for such an occurrence, like Goldman Sachs, got bailed out. It cost us, the taxpayers, almost $1,000,000,000,000. That's a lot of zeros. Worse, that's a lot of zeros that we probably aren't going to ever see again.
Predictably, this bail out didn't stop the American economy from diving into depression. People started losing jobs, and not just a few here and there. We're talking millions of jobs. Even two years after the crash, in 2010, there have consistently been nearly half a million new jobless claims every month. Financial reform has been a joke. Tougher regulation has been a joke. And health insurance reform, which would have not only saved the country money, but would also have given people peace of mind because even if they didn't have a job, their medical bills would have been paid for, is a joke (because it is effectively the exact same mess it's always been, and will be for several years to come).
I want to be absolutely clear here. Fingers have been pointed at the Democratic Party in general and President Obama in particular. But while fingers do need to be pointed at them for not doing enough to fix the mess they were handed, the deregulation that created the mess was enacted when the Republican Party was in control. In other words, the assholes that we are probably going to vote for in November are the same ones that bent us over the sink and fucked us in the first place.
The point I'm driving at is this. If your incumbent Senator or Representative is up for reelection and is a Republican, vote their ass onto the street.
If your incumbent Senator or Representative is up for reelection and is a "Bluedog" Democrat, vote their ass onto the street.
If your incumbent Senator or Representative is up for reelection and is not a "Bluedog" Democrat but sided against health insurance and financial reform, and the numerous bills that would have created millions of jobs, and who stood up for deepening our involvement in one or more wasteful, ineffective wars, vote their ass onto the street.
If your incumbent Senator or Representative is up for reelection and is a progressive, and who stood in favor of health insurance and financial reform, who stood by bills that would have put millions of Americans back to work, who stood against deepening our involvement in a conflict we should never have been in and one we should have gotten out of years ago, both of which together have cost us over another $1,000,000,000,000 that we are never going to see again, cost the lives of thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, and the lives of ten of thousands on indigenous noncombatants who only made the mistake of standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, vote them back into office. Or, if they are not the incumbent, vote their opponents onto the street (don't worry, they have enough in corporate bribes to live comfortably for a long time).
I've had enough of this change "we can believe in."
It's time for change we can see.