Remember this kid's game? They seem to have upgraded it from my days. No more dangerous pins. But if you watched the Sunday talk shows you will probably have noticed it has become an adult game.
The object of the game (especially if you are a Republican) is to find a Democrat to blame the whole economic mess on. This began under GW's watch and because of his deregulation and the first TARP funds were asked for by him, voted on my the Republicans that held both houses at the time, and doled out by Paulson with no strings.
All that said, it matters only whose fault it is to the extent we don't do whatever stupid thing they did again.
I was about to turn off my stream videos of economic panels when someone finally said something that made a great deal of sense: "Too big to fail. Ergo to big to be managed."
We got in this mess because GW said AIG was too big to fail. Too big to go the Chapter 11 bankruptcy route which would have negated all those contracts for huge bonuses. And why did AIG and the other mega banks like Citibank and Bank of America get too big to fail? Because the Republicans, wanting free trade, deregulated the industry and allowed them to gobble up lessor banks untill they became slugs unable to move and adjust quickly. Sort of financial Jabba the Huts from StarWars.
This is not capitalism or even free trade this is blackmail by legal mobs of CEO's. When three CEO's can meet on a corporate jet and decide on how they are going to rape customers we are talking financial mafia. Why else with deregulation would all credit card fees and rates and excesses be the same across the board?
And the banking industry is just where it has currently shown up. Here you really notice it in gasoline prices! No individual station can charge a lessor amount or their supply of gasoline gets cut off. Or how about electrical utilities. I live on a coop but we have to buy our electricity form Plains Electric. They and every other electricity producer doubled and tripled their rates in the middle of winter. Remember Enron? They even did rolling blackouts to convince buyers of their power they had to pay more and more and more.
Then there are current food prices. They raised prices because of gas prices in 2008. Well, gas is half that price now. Corn and other grains which were going into ethonal are way cheaper now, but have we seen a cut in prices? No! They retool and redesign packages to sell us less at more but simply lower prices or stop excess packaging? No!
The mob mentality developing around AIG bonuses is not going away because they are merely the tip of the iceberg. The American consumer has been treated like the Donkey's Ass for so long we can no longer sit down comfortably. This shit has got to stop.
PS: The blame game isn't working. You can spindoctor this all you want. We don't care who did it. Fix it.
Well written article with which I
ReplyDeletetotally agree. The Donkey's Ass is
an simile!
Agreed. Too big to fail? Crap!
ReplyDeleteWhy bother managing them? After all, GWB knows all about the business world, you can trust him.
ReplyDeleteI tell you what - take away GWB's pension and make him pay for his own postage and security detail.
re: credit cards - they have us by the tail. Keep raising rates, and then no one can pay off their balance. Oh sure, we could try to get government to act, but the credit card ceos have lawyers and all they have to do is wait a few presidential terms.
RYN: I agree that we are in danger of medicating away a lot of our artists. The pursuit of "normal" is not always wise. Then again, the poor man must have been miserable.
Clever how food prices haven't come down and how they repackage things to sell us less at higher prices. And how is it that there is so much of a surplus of oil that it's being stored on tankers sitting offshore because there's nowhere else to store it, and yet, we're paying higher and higher prices for gas?
ReplyDeleteAnd how is it that these big corporations are allowed to use federal bailout money to pay their execs big bonuses? Where is the regulation? Where are the strings that ought to be attached to these monies? And didn't Teddy Roosevelt pass laws against monopolization as well as gerrymandering? Whatever happened to those?
What we need now is not another Lincoln. What we need now is another T.R. He's the real hero that Obama ought to be trying to emulate. It was T.R. who brought about an end to the Gilded Age. We need that now, as we're living in another Gilded Age, and yes, we can no longer allow ourselves to be treated like donkey's asses anymore.
Oh, and one more thing: Isn't it galling that Republicans are being so critical of Democrats for trying to create "big government" when it was they who so greatly expanded the Federal Government, primarily by creating the dysfunctional and overly bloated Department of Homeland Security? (And remember, it was the Nazis who referred to the "Homeland", which is why I don't like that word!)
Yes, SallyB, I certainly agree with the gas issue among other things. These companies continue to want to gouge us. Here gas has gone up to $2.19 a gallon. some of the highest in the nation while the price per barrel of crude continues to go down.
ReplyDeleteAnd it just means that I do not drive as much. Since I am self-employed I just stay home. Gasoline is one of my best places to cut expenses. The dogs and me have to be fed but I don't have to drive except infrequently to the store to get food.
I cut out dog treats made in China and am currently drying hot dogs as treats for them.
And on the news this morning they mentioned FDR's get tough attitude against the opposing party. We know the Republicans are good at spindoctoring. Obama needs to shut them down. He gave them an opportunity to be nice. They aren't so the hell with them. They made this mess.
Oh, and it was the Republicans that undid all those regulatory laws in the interest of a Free Market economy. They have shown they cannot play well in the sandbox with others so restrictions have to go back.