Obama, Congress, pundits, “reporters” – talk all you want about “grownup conversation,” taking a scalpel not an ax to the budget, and how entitlements are dragging down the economy.
Entitlements? Oh, you mean, Social Security taxes we all pay with a portion of our salaries — in good faith that it will be there for us when we need it, as stated by law? How is that an entitlement? I think it should mean that we’re entitled to hold our government to its words and laws.
Why is no one – except for Donald Trump, who called Obama the biggest war monger of all – talking about the enormous budgetary expense of being in TWO, yes, TWO WARS for ten years that have cost us, that is, just the US not counting other countries: one trillion, one hundred fifty-two billion, eight hundred million dollars? Now how does that make sense? A big ole killing machine while our citizens go without jobs, are forced to leave their homes, do without simple necessities or food. This expenditure has increased by one million dollars in the short time that I’ve been writing this post.
The enormous war elephant stands in the middle of the room. Shhh, let’s cut the programs that help people get on their feet in these “troubled economic times” and the suffering populace won’t say a thing if we don’t….
Obama is giving us a clue as to how his ideology will target the coal mining industry, regardless of how we actually currently get our energy as a country. In September 2008, in San Francisco, he declared that he will bankrupt it. [h/t Gateway Pundit.]
I definitely want alternative energy development to take priority, but it needs to be done responsibly, with care to those currently earning their living via coal, and with alternatives being eased in to the mix. Instead, we have a preview of his slash and burn approach, but we need to have the other systems in place before cutting one out completely.
Heads-up Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Indiana! Obama’s coming for you!
I need to ask you to support an urgent and important business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.
I am Ministry of Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had a crisis that has caused the need for a large transfer of funds of $700 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.
I am working with renowned Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of Treasury in January. As a Senator of my blelegeaured and beautiful country, you may know him as the dear leader of the American banking deregulation movement of 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.
This is a matter of great urgency. All you must does is send a blank check. We will be receiving the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.
Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive you’re information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.
Wonderful salutations to you cherish friend from Republic of America.
I absolutely agree with Senator McCain, who canceled his participation in Friday’s long-awaited debate. McCain is also suspending his campaign, his fundraising, and his advertising to return to his Senate post in Washington, DC, in order to help handle the US financial crisis. Both Presidential candidates should suspend the debate and be part of a leadership council to solve it, as McCain has suggested.
All of Congress is supposed to adjourn on Friday for the year in order to go home and work the campaigns. Big guess as to why Paulson’s alarm rang only last week. Gee, all of a sudden we have an emergency, folks. Hurry, pass this $700,000,000,000 no-strings-attached rescue package. As has been noted in the media today, George Bush and Co. used the same fear tactics to get us to go to war in Iraq.
I am not doubting the seriousness of the situation. However, the public is in no way buying this giveaway, lock, stock, and barrel — neither Democrats nor Republicans. Even the most staunchly conservative Republicans, who are catching holy Hell from their constituents about placing all power in the hands of the Fed, are giving Paulson and Bernanke the cold shoulder in both houses of Congress.
Obama is accusing McCain of playing politics with the situation and not being able to multi-task. But actually, baby O’s the one who’s whining and playing politics. Aww, he practiced his speech and can’t change his plans midstream. (Don’t tell me they canceled the test!)
To me, the mark of leadership is being able to turn on a dime when an emergency strikes. Anybody in the press or blogosphere who’s saying that McCain is running the other way must have no memory of him repeatedly pleading with Obama to have townhall meetings since JUNE!!! They must needs get a grip! The mainstream media is slamming McCain, saying he’s just being expedient, running like a chicken, trying to get out of the debates, and creating a diversion, because he’s down in the new polls. The press is interpreting the economic crisis as better for Obama in the polls, but McCain’s leadership will prove them wrong.
McCain has advocated for oversight from an independent panel of experts, with no golden parachutes for executives. Democratic leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi gave McCain’s suggestion to return to DC the big brushoff, saying they were making good progress and that it would “not be helpful.” Ahem, you are potentially talking to the next POTUS! Doesn’t their behavior remind you of how they treated Hillary during the primaries, especially when they were forcing the Superdelegates to declare for O-boy?
And . . . in a bizarro political party reversal, isn’t Obama’s deer-caught-in-the-headlights immobility during a crisis showing us that he can’t react on-the-spot? Isn’t that just like George acted when he continued reading the story of the goat after being informed that our country was under attack on 9/11?
Obama thought cloud: (stomping his feet) I want to talk on TV to my public to win votes and influence people instead of heading back to Washington to solve the nation’s biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression! I don’t wanna play with the other kids. (tilting chin up) I’m talking to them on my phone every minute. All of them: Nancy and Harry and Ben and Henry. See? (pointing to cell phone)
(aside, sternly) You’re all fools! You’re making me very angry that I have to take time for such trivialities. Hmpf…
Obama first phoned McCain this morning and left a voicemail, suggesting that they release a joint statement about the economy. However, it took McCain six hours to call him back. Don’t cha know, they were strategizing like Hell. At that point, McCain called him back to announce his plans.
Poor, baby, O-bobo, he just can’t lead. Aww, let’s rock him to sleep. Boo hoo!
Breaking: ABC New’s Senior National Correspondent, Jake Tapper, reports at Political Punch, that George Bush called baby O, and “invited him” to DC to work! George is inviting Obie to WORK!!! I must be dreaming. Tapper ends his article by saying that: “Obama still intends to attend the debate Friday evening.”
The little kid in Presidential nominee’s clothes is still playing follow the leader.
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[h/t to Murphy and to DancesWithPumas for her fantastic graphic!]
On September 18, 2008, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) spoke on the Senate floor in grave and stringent tones about the state of Wall Street, the bailout, and serious fiscal challenges of New York State and its workers. She decried the lack of transparency during the Bush Administration, and how it turned a blind eye toward what was happening toward the economy, and toward middle class families, who saw their wages decline, their mortgage rates balloon, and their employers’ tax rates dwarf their own.
Hillary’s ideas to help homeowners stay in their homes, with the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) model, is a new version of a program that was first implemented during the Great Depression. It sounds so obvious to anyone who owns a home, has lost one due to rising rates, or is on the verge: We lower their rates. Again, Clinton shows she thinks about People. (Read: DNC = fools for selecting a self-indulgent candidate instead of one who actually cares about the middle class and can clearly articulate the problems we face and the common sense solutions we can implement. But really, I’m so sick of saying the same thing for the last eight months.) I don’t pretend to know anything about the economy or understand economic policy. I do understand concern for people. Read the transcript of her speech, plus outlined points on her website.
As far as my understanding of the housing market, I only had to look at my neighborhood. I bought my own very first home in Northern California when the internet-boom-fueled market had just begun to rise. I sold it at a profit before the market tanked. I knew I was moving across the country and had been asking my respected advisers if I should sell in Spring 2005? Over the period of a year, I was told that the market was strong and yet, one by one, I noticed the “For Sale” signs popping up. I’d ask, “Are you sure?”
If I had followed my own instincts, I would have profited an estimated 25 percent more, and sold it more quickly, according to comparable sales in my area. As it was, the first buyer, who made an offer within the first three weeks, fell through. The final sale took four months, during which time I was paying both my mortgage and my NY apartment rent, and I had to drop my price three times — however, thanks to a dynamite agent, I came out ahead. I was lucky. My main indicator was: the number of homes that had sprouted up in my area as compared to several years previous, when there were absolutely NO homes for sale. During that time, homeowners were swamped with multiple offers from buyers that often included bonuses of vacations, time shares, and cars to seal the deal! Buyers were crafting touchy-feely bios with photos to sell the sellers on that they were worthy of the purchase beyond just their cash.
My point is, forgetting about our brain-dead President for a moment, don’t our legislators actually live Somewhere? What exactly about driving down [name any street] and seeing “For Sale” signs was not obvious to them, too? And what about shop after shop on “Main Street” going out of business over the last two years was also not obvious? That doesn’t take a hearing or a meeting, just peeping out of your eye holes and listening to your struggling constituents.
I’m not letting either Party off the hook. Riverdaughter weighs in about the greed, and points to Anglachel. Where was our government’s concern when the housing market began turning downward and the sell offs began in 2004 and 2005? The fire sale, the fire? It takes millions of foreclosures to get them off their dime and bail banks out to the tune of $700,000,000,000 before we’re in certain doom? No accountability for Treasury Secretary Paulson? As McCain said this morning, he has deep concerns about letting one trillion dollars rest in the hands of one person.
Here, McCain is showing that he’s no George Bush.
This morning McCain weighed in about the economy at a town hall meeting in front of Irish Americans in Scranton, PA. He recommends a bi-partisan oversight board to establish accountability criteria and determine who gets help and who doesn’t. He suggested Warren Buffet who supports Obama, Mitt Romney who supports McCain, and Michael Bloomberg, an independent would be ideal potential members of this board.
McCain decried golden parachutes, as in Lehman Brothers top executives asking for $2 billion in bonuses after they ran the company into the ground. He stressed that they must have transparency, we must know which companies will be helped, in what manner, and have this information available online for public scrutiny. He proposed to fix the Wall Street mess, reform Wall Street, and create an economic plan to provide jobs and put our country back on track. He said we need to put our country first and focus on what’s best for Main Street, iterating that we must keep people in their homes and keep college students in school.
Among Democrats, Senate Banking Committee Chairman, Chris Dodd has voiced confidence in Paulson’s plan, but Barney Frank has advocated for exercising caution before approving a no-strings-attached plan. According to OpenSecrets.org, the Center for Responsive Politics, who looked at which politicians benefited most from contributions from the failed mortgage institutions Freddi Mac and Fannie Mae since 1989, Obama ranks second, only to Dodd. They list Democrats as the top three recipients, including the Presidential nominee, who racked up his totals in only three years.
Dodd, Christopher J S CT D $165,400 $48,500 $116,900
Obama, Barack S IL D $126,349 $6,000 $120,349
Kerry, John S MA D $111,000 $2,000 $109,000
In fairness, as I was about to complete this blog, Obama also gave a compelling speech in Green Bay, WI, about making Wall Street accountable. A major problem I have with Obama is his slash and burn style of slandering his opposition, while failing to be responsible for his own actions. How about the Democrats who came to office in 2006 and promised to stop the war, cut off war funding, create jobs, and forward environmentalism? How about Obama’s votes for the Bush/Cheney energy bill? How about his flip-flops on every significant liberal issue: FISA, war funding, campaign finance reform, abortion, gun control? How about 130 votes “present”? That’s all in addition to the despicable way he treated Hillary Clinton throughout his primary campaign. Oh, and let’s not forget caucus fraud, Florida and Michigan. And Israel. Soft stance on Ahmadinejad.
How can I trust Obama in any way to take a strong stand or do what he says he’ll do? I cannot. Do his expediency and greed not equate? They do.
Call your representatives and demand that they don’t bail out Wall Street with a no-strings-attached blank check! Demand accountability and transparency.
Hillary has always put women and children first, which is reflected in her plan to help West Virginia parents. Here’s a plan sent out in the morning briefing. Actually, it’s my abridged version without the Mothers’ Day intro, containing a few edited out Hillaries and more compound sentences than the original. I took the liberty to condense it, so you might actually read it, and do so without a bunch of ellipses breaking it up. It’s still darn long, so kudos if you can get through it. The point is, she is thinking about this, has fleshed out her ideas which are based in compassion, and has some proposed solutions. (I’ll link to a full version if they post one on the HRC website.)
Hillary’s Plan to Help West Virginia Parents Balance Work and Family
. . . These days, more and more families are headed by two working parents, and today’s parents work longer hours than ever before. As a result, American parents have 22 fewer hours a week to spend with their kids than they did in 1969. A 2002 report by the Families and Work Institute found that 45 percent of employees say that work and family responsibilities interfere with each other and that 67 percent of working parents say they do not have enough time with their children.
. . . [The plan] will work in partnership with America’s businesses to ensure that pro-family work policies and increasing workplace flexibility helps improve American competitiveness and economic growth. Hillary’s work-family agenda includes:
A New $3,000 Caregiving Tax Credit. A new $3,000 Caregiving Tax Credit to any person with substantial long-term care needs or to their caregivers. On average, unpaid caregivers pay more than $5,000 in out-of-pocket costs. The credit would be available directly to any individuals with substantial long-term care needs or their caregivers and would provide generous new assistance to at least 29,000 West Virginia residents [CRS, 2007; Census 2007].
A New Long-Term Care Insurance Tax Credit. A new tax credit to help those planning for their long-term care needs afford high-quality insurance policies that are right for them; will cover 75 percent of long-term care insurance premiums up to $1,500 per year for qualified long-term care insurance policies that meet strong new consumer protection requirements; will reward middle-class families that take steps to prepare for their long-term care needs; would benefit at least 73,000 seniors and near-retirees in West Virginia [www.ahipresearch.org (p. 27)].
Paid Family Leave. Expand the Family Medical Leave Act to cover employers with 25 or more workers, a change that will provide legal protection for unpaid leave to 13 million additional workers; will also create a State Family Leave Innovation Fund to support the establishment and expansion of state-level leave programs for new parents and those caring for their aging parents. She will ensure that every state has a paid leave program by 2016. In West Virginia, this proposal could impact many of the more than 490,000 private-sector workers who do not have paid family leave [Institute for Women’s Policy Research].
Equal Pay for Equal Work. Today, American women earn just $.77 for every dollar men earn. African American women earn .68 cents and Hispanic women earn only .57 cents for every dollar men earn. On average, the wage gap costs families $4,000 a year. As one of 16 female U.S. Senators, Hillary has championed this issue. She introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would toughen the penalties associated with violating the Equal Pay Act; strengthen the ability of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to crackdown on equal pay violations; prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who share their salary information with their co-workers; reward model employers; and more. In West Virginia, women who work full time earn 76.2 percent of what men earn [Institute for Women’s Policy Research].
Seven Guaranteed Sick Days for Full Time Workers. Forty-one percent of all workers in West Virginia do not have sick leave. These workers must go to work sick or forgo pay when they become unexpectedly ill. Hillary will ensure that every full-time worker has access to 7 sick days. Part time workers will receive a proportional share. Hillary’s policy would impact the more than 280,000 workers in West Virginia without access to sick leave [National Partnership for Women & Families].
Increased Funding for Child Care. Hillary has worked to expand access and improve quality of child care in our country for decades. The Bush Administration has essentially frozen the level of child care funding for the last eight years. As a result, the real purchasing power of child care subsidies has fallen significantly. According to the Bush Administration’s own estimates, 300,000 children will lose child care assistance by 2010, and 150,000 have already lost child care assistance since 2000. Hillary believes we need to increase child care funding through the Child Care and Development Block Grant and return the program to it’s original intent: to serve working families. Hillary’s policy would help the 64,000 children under six in West Virginia who need child care [National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies].
RT @ariannahuff: Bloomberg: "soothing words not enough." Candidates who want to be president should be talking about guns: http://t.co/e ... 10 months ago
RT @ariannahuff: People might say it's too early to have the gun discussion Mayor Bloomberg wants. Actually, it's too late. 10 months ago
RT @MikeBloomberg: It's time for the presidential candidates to step up & tell us what they'll do about guns in America: http://t.co ... 10 months ago
Broken hearted #Aurora. Obama's spiritual tone ok for today, but he shouldn't miss opp to address & act on gun control. Bloomberg is right. 10 months ago
