“By KDelphi, March 31 at 2:32 pm #
mackTN—which “party” would you say has helped AIG the most? Or is it a toss-up…”

KDelphi—Helped AIG with bailout or helped it become the arrogant corporation that it is today?  In either case, both parties.  The democratic congresspeople are as self serving as their counterparts.  Regarding finance, they allowed themselves to be purchased by the financial lobbyists so that the best they could come up with to protect consumers from rapacious banks and the credit card industry was some meaningless law that won’t be enacted for years preventing the cc industry from lowering limits based on your patterns elsewhere.

Look how easily corporations can file for “bankruptcy protection” but the ordinary person saddled with outrageous fees and finance charges that outweigh the amount actually purchased can’t even get into bankruptcy court unless they are willin to sacrifice all property protections.  I talked to a debt mgmt counselor who seemed quite confident that the creditors would always prevail over the people in debt, meaning they would be allowed to force you to liquidate everything to repay those outlandish fees.  Elected officials buckle rather then fight because they’ve accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars routinely for their so-called re-election campaigns.  Biden should be ashamed of himself carrying water for those people and depriving average people of the ultimate protection they could count on while supporting it for the corporate world.

Republicans defend business practices and promote even more deregulation despite the evidence that the financial world has ripped people off in droves and colluded with others to do so, creating artificially heightened values that made them all money and left us paying the bill to our graves. 

Profit used to be 20% over cost.  Now its 2000% and they don’t want to let that go, so we’ll give them our tax dollars to support them in the style to which they’ve become accustomed.

mackTN—which “party” would you say has helped AIG the most? Or is it a toss-up…

I think we will continue to hear the R word rather than the D word, because depression in its most brutal translation means money that has been destroyed. Which is exactly what has actually happened, although the banker serving government will do everything in its power to deny this fact. No one who is a member of the free market capitalist congregation will answer this question: what is a reasonable profit?

There is so much sinister fiction being perpetrated throughout this country since Obama’s election.  To share personal testimony, the past year (especially starting with the outrageous hike in gas prices),the past few months have been difficult.  Investments in the form of 401ks lost over 50% of their value making life totally unpredictable for the average boomer anticipating retirement or at least a change of life/work style.

Real estate became unsaleable when it felt like you’d be giving your property away. All income down,all expenses up. 

I’m certain that if Obama had not pushed stimulus money out the door that this country would now be courting depression.  I would be laid off now for sure, and that still might happen.  The start of 2009 this country was sinking fast.  No one knows that better than Mastercard, Visa, AMEX (and still they refuse to lighten the late fees and other outrageous charges even when people tell them they’re living off unemployment!)

Still, right wing politicians put their power and status above the needs of constituents in crisis.  Refuse unemployment money because more people would qualify for unemployment???  We’re in an effin’ extraordinary crisis, and even that is no reason to help people.  They’d rather see tent cities than see govt use our resources to keep lives whole. 

If Bush were still in office, he would have done nothing for the people, just for Paulson’s business cronies who swore they’d trickle a few dollars down.  But businesses instead only trickled up, doling out millions to their cronies and scheduling high flying drunken junkets on the pretext of priming the profits. 

If Bush were still in office and under no re-election pressure, he would still be asking (and getting) billions to fight the war on terror, telling us that to fail in Iraq would surely secure our economic demise. 

The right wing line still blames the victim.  Losing your house?  Your fault because you bought it, because you didn’t see through all the lies you were told from the realtors, appraisers, banks and mortgage companies who saw chances to make money all around with no fear of a slap on the wrist! 

And the banks who now dump all kinds of fees and charges on your “free” checking accts, putting you in overdraft even before a check materializes (“well, Ms Lewis, it’s pending!)—and they get away with it demanding you pay $500 overdraft charges for $30 worth of perpetually submitted checks! And suddenly bank policy is not to forgive any overdraft charges because, well, that’s the policy. (And why don’t they simply cut off your debit card when your acct is overdrawn instead of let you use it for a week, and why can’t they update your acct online daily when, after all, they’ve persuaded you to bank and pay bills online?  They don’t charge for checks and account maintenance anymore because they can make more money creating underhanded fees and when something is given to you free, you can’t complain. 

I can’t believe people who’ll call into these right wing radio programs, admit they can’t get health insurance because they have cerebral palsy and therefore owe hundreds of thousands of dollars to hospitals and drug companies but boast they’d rather die than get get help from the govt.  “After all, hospitals and drug companies wouldn’t charge us more than was necessary for care.  Sure we’re laid off and now without insurance, but it’s our fault if I can’t take care of myself and pony up $1300 monthly for a policy.” 

People, we ARE the government, and in a democracy we the people define it as we want it.  Helping people is outrageous but helping AIG and Chase Manhattan is the democratic way?

Well, you can be sure, whatever the consensus, ‘Merka will decide to be “different”, maybe just for the sake of being contrary. That seems to be the objective.

“We’re ‘Merkins”! But, wtf the f*ck does that mean now? Greed, selfishness, and an emphasis on all things MONEY. That is what the world sees, and the world is correct.

Night-Gaunt,

Just to add to your comments:  What is yet unproven is can any system, capitalist or socialist, that invests the majority of its intellectual and physical resources to fighting wars—can any such system survive for more than a century or two? 

The answer seems to be no. 

Your point about business melding with government equaling fascism is well taken, but, again, begs the question: would the result be the same if we were not in a perpetual state of war?

That seems to be the biggest issue of our time. War that never ends. A globe saturated with small arms—landmines, rocket propelled grenades, surface to air missiles, machine guns, assault rifles, mortars—and economies geared to churn out these weapons and then capitalize on the ensuing mayhem.

It’s bad for the rest of the world and it’s bad for us. Bad for them for obvious reasons, but bad for us because our best and brightest, generation after generation, are educated, trained and ultimately hired to build better bombs and to figure out how to destabilize countries. 

While their minds and our presidents’ minds are focused on destruction and war, other issues get overlooked, such as how to build sustainable cities, sustainable energy systems, sustainable economies. And we end up with what we have now, which is a real… mess.

The best we can hope for is that young leaders like Obama will start, simply start, the process of ending the destruction and building a sustainable economic system. It took us centuries to reach the frenzied state of war we are now in. It’s not likely to change overnight.

It would be hard indeed to live without capitalism. That identification created by Karl Marx to label the system of using specie to trade and stand in for hard money as equivalent for commodities in the commerce of civilization. Till the time comes when we will have no need for financial surrogates we will use capitalism. Now the problem is what kind of capitalism we are dealing with.

Controlled and monitored capitalism can be very useful in being the ‘oil’ keeping the gears and cams of civilization running or it can be allowed to run free and kill itself and us. Everything needs and external or internal govrenor to function without self destruction. Just look at cancer, cells free to divide as many times as they want till they overrun and kill their body and themselves. Such is lassiaz faire capitalism with the added bonus of our tax money going to bail them out when their greed leads them to the invariable failure as we have seen before and now. Gov’t and corporation melded (many variations) is fascism as we still have and run the risk of it still getting stronger as president Obama strives to save a dangerous and flawed system. He is slaved to that mystical belief that the uncontrolled, except by greedy men, capitalism is self correcting and maintaining which even now in the face of its utter failure is still pursued with even greater vigor.

Capitalism isn’t anymore dead than socialism or fascism. Just with many faces and degrees of intensity in their affects and applications. Do we wish to be another Indonesia or Denmark? I want Denmark! Others prefer Indonesian thinking they will get Switzerland.

Capitalism was a ponzi scheme. Accept that, and we can move on to something better.

“Main Street” Understands investing in our futures requires not only the investment, but the sacrifics required for the future ‘payoff’
‘Main street’ is constantly weighing the immediate cost vs long term benefits in their own budgets. We do it when we take out student loans. We do it when we take a mortgage. We do it to put braces on our kids to starighten their teeth. Seems the Repugs are the only ones who can only see to the tip of their noses- Tax cuts? Honey we already got tax cuts- it’s called job loss and foreclosure. Are tax brackets ahve already been Lowered and we have no more property tax to be concerned with- Thanks. Besides how the hell do you pay down a deficit when fewer people ar able to contribute to the tax revenue base?
Apparently Repugs think we are as selfish and self absorbed as themselves- Most of US realize we will have to sacrific- work well into those ‘golden Years’ to assure the younger generations don’t have to carry the brunt of the debt. Gotta Spend money to make money- right all you so called ‘Free marketeers’. Or are you so caught up in hoarding still you don’t think our kids are worth this investment?
As for this BS whine about ‘Generational Theft’ honey that heist occured a long time ago- it was called ‘Trickle Down’ and Deregulation- your beloved mantras. You can not call yourselves ‘fiscal Conservatives’ when you have granted so many Liberties to the Corps,by removing all reservations and restraints legitamately enforced by the body of Gov’t which was designed to protect and Defend US against Foreign AND domestic enemies.I’d call that more akin to being Corporate Liberators.And when such Liberties of wealth and priviledge have been granted what difference does it make if the benefactors are signified by a Family Crest or a Logo at that point?
Your false diachotomy of tax cuts/ Deficit reduction is as revealing as your false premise that Taxpayers and Workers are two different entities- Your own rhetoric betrays your true intent,Red Coats.