It doesn’t seem to me that “we” lavished money on financiers. What it looked like to me was that congress ingnored the voice of the people, handed Bernanke a blank check, and Burnin’ Key did the lavishing. From his position nothing else could possibly matter. But the congress was ‘kidnapped’ they wanted to get out of session and knew it wasn’t gonna happen until they gave in. The money from ‘we the tax payers’ goes to banks so they can keep us in debt (enslaved). Now, can we think of a way to pay for our freedom? What happens if suddenly every one stops using credit. The action you have just seen is a clue. It is the life blood of the Imperialist Oppressor. So, no credit, the financier bleeds to death. Credit, the people bleed to death. Let’s take a clue from SHIFT and reach for life.

Bush impression of a Hoover
Hoover = vacuum cleaner
vacuum cleaners suck
so does Bush and his legacy.

Thank you, Marie.

“It was too generous, the thinking went, and had to be made less so to encourage work and discourage dependency.”

This mantra is what was bouncing off the walls in the bizarre resounding fashion which is experienced only in the strangest of environments. And a strange environment it was.

I’ve often argued with those who “took up the chant” that if the safety net is so outrageously wonderful, (even back when) why don’t THEY join up.  Obviously, it would be in their favor… would it not?  Strangely there weren’t any “takers” to my proposition.

Had the safety net not been trashed, the middle class would be in a much better position today.  The safety net is instrumental in the support of the middle class by keeping wages in check.

If the wage is too low to survive… then welfare is the better option.  In turn, wages rise across the board when people have the OPTION to refuse subsistance wages and this “effect” trickles up.

Additionally, the safety net was there for the unforseen job loss or sudden medical expense, thereby allowing workers to maintain their standard of living in a crisis.  By law we feed incarcerated individuals, yet the poor we disregard.  American society makes poverty a fate more treacherous than prison.

Great, anotanother insult to Hoover.

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JimM:
“Notice the gas guzzlers are hitting the road again now that the price of fuel has (temporarily) dropped.
A fuel tax would do much to discourage this piggish behavior and help to fund sustainable energy projects.
Also, it would be helpful to no longer subsidize mega-fools like exxon-mobil.”

How silly!

I’m sick of these Pavlovian/behavior-bullying taxes. If someone wants to smoke or drive a “gas-guzzler”, then that should be their choice, and no one should be punished for it.

My overarching concern is life.  Not just the limited view of life as often debated in the death penalty and abortion, but a full spectrum view of life that is basic to our very existence.  Environmental degradation is anti-life, human degradation is anti-life, spiritual degradation is anti-life.  Today America is in the grip of a death culture and ONLY a life culture is big enough to fix it. 

We all understand that we are approaching a critical mass, life or death.  Global warming can lead to an extinction event,  and nuclear war can lead to an extinction event.  ONLY an appreciation of life in it’s fullest sense,  and a collective determination to sustain it,  will move us away from the brink of extinction.  Life cannot be cherry picked.  One is either fully for life or one is for death.  Most American’s seem hell bent on death.  Witness the open acceptance by American’s of the absolute effort to preserve Capitalism as an economic system at the great expense of the minions in need who are ignored by the ideological theorists.  They cannot imagine life without Capitalism despite the evidence that Democratic Socialism better serves the People and national interests.  The economic extremists who surround both Bush and Obama would kill the light of Democracy and Freedom in a failed effort to rescue a Capitalistic economic system that extinguished itself through greed.  The trillions of dollars socialized at the top is grossly inadequate to mitigate the great sin of Capitalism, preying on the poor in the form securitized mortgages while equally denying them the income to sustain life in their homes.  I would strongly encourage the immediate end to government assistance to the rich.  If the rich want to preserve Capitalism they have the money to do it themselves.  Instead concentrate on sustaining life, human life and all other forms of life.  This is the path to redemption

Notice the gas guzzlers are hitting the road again now that the price of fuel has (temporarily) dropped.
A fuel tax would do much to discourage this piggish behavior and help to fund sustainable energy projects.
Also, it would be helpful to no longer subsidize mega-fools like exxon-mobil.

Unemployment benefits and food stamps are no answer for this economic crises. They are but a bandage on a festering wound. The wound, that is our economy, needs an injection of fresh capital, of CASH. Money that goes directly to quality business plans for equipment and workers. Residential Solar would create 1 million jobs in 6 months, many businesses and training centers to certify new businesses ALREADY exist. Many companies in AMERICA manufacture panels and the associated electronics. This is the fastest and most direct path to energy independence and reduce our “Carbon Footprint” while creating High paying jobs.
This must be accompanied with a “Fraud Clause” with a prison term attached to weed out the burn artists and con men. This is a true investment with a forever payback. This could bring the “American Dream” to millions and cheap, clean energy for the next generation.