What a bunch of self-serving cocksuckers these people are. The deal was done, they were on board to pass it, then harpy-in-charge Pelosi gives the Republicans a gratuitous lecture about how fucked up George Bush is, and they retaliate by tanking the vote. In the meantime, McCain’t once again steps on his dick by prematurely taking credit for making sure the bailout succeeded, which just proves that his “trip” to WDC was a sham designed to make him look like a knight to the rescue. I can’t figure out who is the bigger fuck-up in this whole scenario, but I can tell you who gets thrown off the cliff: all of us. What a bunch of stupid motherfuckering inbred droolers. The largest point drop in fucking history (if not the largest percentage) and these goat felchers are playing politics with people’s lives and pointing fingers at each other. I would at least like to get a reach-around while being fucked up the ass.
Then McCan’t turns around and blames Obama. Chutzpah?
Uh, John, the majority of Democrats voted for it. The majority of Republicans voted against it. Disconnect, anyone?
Your Republican friends don’t like Bush, you or Paulsen and don’t want to play ball. Well guys, sometimes you have to drink your poison.
I just wish there was some way that Barak could take this and pound it down McCain’s throat.
You actually accept that their little feelings were hurt so they were willing to take down the economy. You find a way to blame the dems. The truth is the emails ,letters and phone calls were about 1000 to 1 against. The people did not want it and they spoke.
For a discussion on Macro-economics, this is getting waaay too Homoerotic!
The “people” don’t understand this.
But yes, I agree we were thrown under the bus today.
The “people” really can’t comprehend the magnitude of the crisis and how it will impact their lives, their jobs, their ability to borrow money for homes, cars and college educations. The elected representatives have an ethical and moral obligation to rise above that. One Republican Representative said that even if it cost him his seat he would vote for it because something needed to be done.
This thing is distasteful to almost everyone. You can’t be like the Christian Scientist that says out of religious beliefs that they won’t get cancer treatment for their child.
It’s been my experience that “the people” are mostly [del]idiots[/del]uninformed souls whose understanding of economics ends at their credit card bill.
Interesting how many Congresspeople (Dems & Reps alike) voted against this bill only because they feared it would threaten their re-election chances in November. I wonder how many of them will now lose their seats as a result of this debacle??
We all saw this economic crisis coming, a long time ago. Part of me is actually enjoying this, and I can’t help but sadistically think “BURN BABY BURN!” whenever I turn on the financial news.
But seriously, this whole situation really fucking sucks.
Luckily, you and others are here to tell us how this will for sure solve all of the problems, right?
Except it might not. In fact, all it may do is to prolong the painful decline.
I’m not smart enough to know one way or the other, and to be honest, I really don’t think anyone can predict the future like that. I’d prefer that we take our time and wait to see. Anytime someone tells me I need to decide “Now, Right Now, 3…2…1… DECIDE!” I figure they’re trying to sell me something I don’t need.
I blame the whoring press. I saw lots and lots of articles about $700 billion bail-outs for Wall Street!!!. Only one sad-ass attempt to explain the impact to the average person’s pocketbook if the bailout didn’t pass. One page three of the Money section in my local paper. *The press has an obligation to explain these situations in a way an average seventh grader can understand. *But it’s more fun to pillory fat cats (not that they don’t deserve it, the greedy sonsa-bitches). This whole thing is a cluster-fuck of astounding magnitude, involving seemingly everyone - Congress, Wall Street, banks, brokerage houses, instant-gratification-addicted homebuyers, idiots of all kinds, and the media.
Kids, let’s make this clear. Just from a political view:
The people don’t NEED to understand this That’s not their job.
Congress is given enormous money/power/influence/perks to represent the will of the people. There’s nothing special about most of them except the ability to convince more voters to vote for them than the other guy. Nothing at all.
They get the money/perks/bennies/influence/etc to not only do the will of the people but to do it in a way that will also benefit them.
From the fucking beginning this damn bill was sold poorly. Initially pitching it as a ‘bailout’ was a horrible piece of marketing by both the White House and Congress. Once that and the figure $700 billion got out there the bill was in trouble. Continuing to use that language AND pushing for a rush decision was a sure fire means by which to bring the American people against it. Once the lack of oversight got into the zeitgeist the phone calls began and that pushed it to the edge.
Christ above, pitch it like this:
- It’s an investment. The money will come back at a profit, probably, when the market turns around.
- There’s no firm number for the dollar figure but we’ll try to keep it as low as possible.
- Oversight will be stringent and strong.
- Throw the bankers and finance guys under the bus. The people want blood and it’s them or you guys in government. We chose them.
Try THAT on for size and see if it’ll pass. But as it was presented to the public it was a semi-non-starter from the getgo.
I hate John McCain as well. But Ed Pastor (D-AZ) voted no.
I’m calling all my Senators and Congressman Pastor tomorrow.
Sorry, but I heard Barney Frank’s response, and if HE is willing to be ‘uncharacteristically nice’ to any one Republican, never mind twelve, you can’t blame Democrat partisanship.
He was right. “You hurt our feelings so we are going to destroy a venerable New York institution and Middle America’s confidence in the country” (… wait, that sounds familiar … another September, not too long ago …) is not the most reasonable response.
Look, it was a gun-to-the-head bad bill, and enough members of the House (D and R) managed to pull their heads out of the sand in time to stop it.
Everyone’s been playing chicken. Tomorrow by noon we’ll see who swerves first.
I never said that nor did I infer it. Fiddling while Rome burns didn’t prove to be a good policy in the past. We can fundamentally disagree but I think that action is better than no action. In the past the hardcore conservatives railed against the bailing out of NYC, bailing out Chrysler, and the Mexican bailout. As time has shown, with a little better management and a bridge loan, all could live to see a better day.
I knew a guy that worked for the FDIC during the S&L crisis. He worked on the liquidation of Freedom Savings in Harlem. He told me that the place was fundamentally a good institution and the Fed let it fail. It had a solid base in its neighborhood and all it needed was a bridge loan. Instead the Fed shut it down and spent $1/4 million prosecuting a guy that was already in jail. This friend of mine was a conservative, ended up hating the government and moved to Brazil.
The American economy is huge. Maybe we just have to swallow the bitter pill and help it over the hump rather than watch it strangle itself. I’d much rather spend $1 trillion saving our system than $1 trillion in the rat hole called Iraq. Yea, it would be interesting to watch Doomsday but I’m not ready to bring it on.
Oh yeah. Oh hell yes.
And unfortunately it was presented as a the-sky-is-falling-crisis right from the beginning. Add McCain’s ludicrous campaign hot dogging–sorry folks, but he just roiled already mucky waters–to the public’s justifiable distaste for shelling out money to bail out badly mismanaged companies and what a fucking suprise: it failed.
I’m pretty pissed at all of them. Pelosi chose exactly the wrong moment to preach. Yeah, yeah, years of hearing how government has no legitimate role in business, blah, blah, blah. A nearly irresistible set-up for a punch line that she should have fucking resisted anyway because it just wasn’t the time for it.
I blame the hell out of House Republicans for spinning this onto Pelosi and the Democrats, though. They didn’t have the votes. Period. His grand-standing aside, I don’t blame McCain for that either; he’s not a House critter, probably not the same depth of contracts. Better Republicans just admit it than claim 12 of them changed their votes in a huff. Swell, just fucking swell. Get your feelings bruised in politics–rare, that–so shit on the country by way of revenge.
Hell, talk about arrogant tone deafness. “They were mean to me so I took my bat and ball and went home.” Please. Short some votes, representatives catching hell from constituents, would have left them better room to present the bill in better terms. A delay, but understandable. This way…sheesh.
What a clusterfuck.
Sometimes it is the job of an elected representative to do the right thing at the cost of job. I deplore that the bill doesn’t do enough to protect the little guy. I’ve always detested welfare for the rich and tax relief that is essentially only for the rich while wages lose ground against inflation, and I think all of trickle down economics is evil and doesn’t work except to shift taxes to future generations of the poor and middle class. This bill is like having a gun pointed at my neighbor’s head and hearing sign or I’ll shoot. It stinks. But I believe the guy is gonna shoot, I believe if we don’t do it the economy will go to hell, and frankly, I’ve read too much about the Great Depression to believe that this bill being defeated is anything but a prelude to the end of the modern world as we know it. I’m calling Pete Stark and Barbara Lee tomorrow to let them know that some compromise has to be worked out, even if it is only Dems voting for it.
Wow, sounds like librul elitism is contagious.
Take two licks of Ann Coulter’s adam’s apple and call elucidator in the morning.
-Joe
Barney Frank is usually right, but not as right as he was this time. Get Dick Fucking Cheney on the phone to those Republicans to remind them that he is the shadow president for another four months and he will fuck them up. Shit, this is the end of modern civilization, and someone completely evil might come in handy to bust some heads. Never thought I’d ever have something useful to do with Cheney.
Kind of sounds like Newt Gingrich when he thought that Clinton dissed him. “Well, if I have to sit in the back of the plane I’ll just shut down the government. That’ll show 'em!”
Geez, you watch Washington operate and it’s like a bunch of little boys in a sandbox. No wonder we’re in trouble. Putin and China are sitting there plotting ways to exploit the situation. What worries me it that they just may be figuring it out.