Odd poll ...

At least I think it's odd that Stoller asks about one's opinion of Pelosi and Obama, but not Reid. Pelosi may be incapable in her current job. Obama may be unwilling or unable to keep his promises. But Reid is malevolent (as is Steny Hoyer).

A Poll on the Bailout by Matt Stoller
I have some questions as to what you all think about the bailout and the performance of the Democrats over the past two weeks. If you're interested in filling out a survey on this bailout, go here. I've got a bunch of questions for us to answer about how various leaders on our side of the aisle performed.

NOTE: The only reason I'm wrting a blog entry questioning Reid's omission from the poll is due to the lack of email address for Stoller (that I could find) and no obvious route to submit a comment (probably I have something turned off in my browser or maybe I would have to register to obtain such an honor).

Always good the hear ...

... and hope they're right!

(1) It shows that even with the incredibly foolish bailout package, our debt levels should remain managable, if the next President is sane (i.e. not a Republican). This doesn't mean we have no problems. It just means that this bailout, however odious, is not a crushing blow that destroys all hope.

Straight talk is always appreciated, but such talk is not obvious, not even in this post: A Little Straight Talk About The Debt.

John Shadegg: One of Arizona's own 'special' Thugs ...

From Down With Tyranny: 28 Dangerous Extremists Who Hate Americans Spotted On Capitol Hill Friday

So who would oppose a bill to extend unemployment benefits? 28 far right Republican extremists, the worst of the worst-- and on a day when the newpapers announced gigantic layoffs, overwhelmingly caused by GOP trade and financial policies! Most of the 28 maniacs who voted NO are in safe districts where their constituents are as filled with hatred, fear and ignorance as they are and it is hopeeless to even try to oppose them. But not all. A few are in genuinely moderate districts and can be defeated in November, particularly:

Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
John Culberson (R-TX)
Bill Sali (R-ID)
John Shadegg (R-AZ)

Shadegg's vote was particularly callous since he had just voted 90 minutes earlier for the $700,000,000,000 Wall Street bailout. His campaign contributors will be well-taken care of. Regular American families thrown out of work through no fault of their own just got the middle finger (once again) from John Shadegg. He has a great opponent this year too-- Bob Lord. If you'd like to give Bob a hand, he's on the DWT ActBlue page.

Steven Thomma is such a comedian, isn't he ...

Either a comedian or brain damaged, take your pick:

Sarah Palin gave as good as she got, but will it be enough?

The first-term Alaska governor, a Republican, gave a sharper performance in her 90-minute debate with Democratic vice presidential rival Joe Biden than she has in recent TV interviews, which have drawn comedy show ridicule, scorn from some fellow conservatives and a dramatic drop in trust from voters.

But she didn't score the kind of dramatic breakthrough that she did when she burst onto the national stage with a strong, in-your-face speech at the Republican National Convention. ...

Journalists. Reporters. Fantasy writers. Whatever they're calling themselves, they sure do search for those 'dramatic breakthroughs' don't they. When 'dramatic breakthroughs' don't slap them right in the face they just make thinks up, like 'Palin gave as good as she got.'

In your dreams Thomma boy.

Raul Grijalva still votes 'no' ...

From Representative Grijalva's website:

“I did not feel that H.R. 1424 was the appropriate vehicle. It did not do enough to safeguard taxpayers, no strong oversight, too much latitude for the Secretary of the Treasury, and an unresolved re-payment of the $700 billion.

“I sincerely hope that the action taken by Congress today does in fact, stabilize the economy. The last thing I want to do is say, ‘I told you so’.

Really Congress could have done a decent job and chose not to. Grijalva's vote is the right one. The ones who refused to do their jobs but voted yes to another abomination are the ones who should be fired. Makes for most of the Congress doesn't it. Good job, NOT.

Gabrielle Giffords, of course, followed the hoard, like with FISA and voted for an abomination, which she is fully aware is an abomination. Wall Street certainly can't complain that Congress isn't compliant. Here's some of Giffords' weasel words:

Today, I joined a strong bipartisan majority of my congressional colleagues in voting for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. This legislation is far from perfect, but the economic crisis confronting our nation demands congressional action.

-------------------------

ADDED: The legislation passed without even half of the Thugs and still the Dems could not produce an acceptable bill to vote on. The Dems took ownership of the problem but just accepted the BushCo solution. Dunces.

Did you really expect something different from Obama?

The Obama Bailout Bill

Sadly, the bailout bill is no longer George Bush's. It's Barack Obama's:

Black lawmakers said personal calls from Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama helped switch them from "no" to "yes."

I'd say a pretty sad - though predictable - moment in Democratic Party history. The Democratic nominee helps ram a Wall Street giveaway through a Democratic Congress. At least with NAFTA, Bill Clinton relied on mostly Republican votes.

And he didn't even try to make it a good bill!

A remake on 'Best is the enemy of Good.'

When I was working at Well Fargo we went through a management phase where we were indoctrinated with the slogan 'best is the enemy of good.'

At the time it probably made some sense, specially in the systems area. Banking deregulation required quick response and some systems types, especially those with some experience under their belts, know that 'good' just might not be 'good enough' when the something that wasn't tested blows up in the everyones' (including the customers') faces. So a balance was required. Test just enough, change as much as you can, make it work now, not 6 months from now. Don't try do a perfect job. Do something that works, and that we can work with.

What I'm leading into is how far we've fallen. It's no longer just forget perfect, forget best, just make it good (as in workable).

Krugman and some of his fellow travelers now appear to accept the proposition that we don't even try for good anymore. Any crap will do and we will and should accept it:

Basically, Paulson has placed us all in a miserable predicament, with a lousy plan that has to be passed in some form to prevent total panic. Jan. 20 won’t come a moment too soon, and may well come about 4 1/2 months too late.

Democrats may get to blame this on Bush and the GOP. And they will be right. But we should also hold the Dems in Congress responsible. They are so used to doing nothing, to rejecting their responsibilities, to letting us down that they must be held accountable for their job performance, with is abominable. They have lowered the bar to repeatedly accepting and passing the worst legislation imaginable and then telling us what a wonderful job they just did. They don't work. They take orders and not from us.

Can we stop talking about Palin now?

The Dems had a brilliant woman running for the Democratic nominee for President (brilliant, but not my first choice, by the way) and not only did the national press respond with ugly sexism so did quite a few theoretical Dems and Progressives.

In the end the Dems choose the pied piper who is male and has sorta black skin.

McCreepy then searches for the most stupid woman he can find because, sexist that he is, he thinks women are just so stupid like him and will automatically switch their votes to McSame and Mc's woman running mate because those who supported Clinton will just naturally switch their votes from an intelligent and somewhat liberal woman to a stupid, cloying and rabidly extreme woman. I'm sure that's how things work in McDumb's world, but his world is shrinking.

I wonder though, if Clinton had been the nominee and if she had chosen some white male as her running mate would McDumbo have searched for the stupidest black man he could find for his running mate? There's one on the Supreme Court isn't there?

Facts, perspective, objectivity, truth and lies ...

Excerpt from The myth of objectivity by Suzie at ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES

Before the 20th century, many newspapers trumpeted biases to attract readers who shared their views or wanted another opinion. Now, when few cities have more than one daily newspaper, and a few corporations monopolize the media, it makes sense to claim objectivity. Media owners want readers, viewers and listeners to think they can get all sides, all viewpoints, from just one source. And they do not want to offend advertisers. This translates into a lowest-common-denominator journalism that supports the status quo.

I'm tired of hearing about Sara Palin ...

Don't vote for McCain and Palin becomes a non-issue! Vote for McCain and all bets are off.

C&L is confused ...

The following is an odd post at C&L which is a 'progressive' site that's been hyping 'the sky is falling' BushCo line to the economy without acknowledging that there has been no real problem solving from Congress. Only the BushCo approach has been considered. That's it. And it must be done now, right this minute just like all proclamations emanating from that source.

Everybody is a Economist now

By: John Amato @ 5:00 PM - PDT
Have you noticed that every person suddenly knows everything there is to know about how the economy works? Wow, it’s all so simple. Activists now know all there is about the dollar and oil prices and mortgages. I wonder why they never chimed in before…I started asking people for their stock tips since they are all experts now. We will all get rich quick. Right?

Wanting Obama to win, and being very afraid to honestly criticize any of his actions, is certainly putting a damper on the brain cells of progressives at the moment. Makes the progressive blogs look more and more like the professional media.

"Bailed out with what!"

Now here's a perspective:

"The Federal Reserve System was the crucial anomaly at the very core of representative democracy, an uncomfortable contradiction with the civic mythology of self-government."

This is what William Greider wrote in the first chapter of his book 'Secrets of the Temple - how the Federal Reserve runs the country." His book arrived yesterday in the mail. Here's a quick summary - and my extrapolation from - the first 6 pages.

The western capitalist system depends on 'deeper transactions' than elections. Central banks are inconsistent with representative forms of government. They are, in fact, more powerful than elected governments because they possess the power to answer the main questions of political economy - who shall fail and who shall prosper. Central banks are both directors of the private economy and the protector of the most powerful players within it.

The co-emergence of concentrated political and economic power in the hands of the modern global corporation has meant that these entities have been able to accumulate profits at a greater rate than the development of wealth on the planet. As a result, inflation became a permanent feature of the world economy. If the central banks had implemented policy to put the breaks on this dangerous development it would have worked against the narrow self-interest of these multinationals. Inflation was, instead, addressed by increasing dangerous forms of 'productivity'. Forests were no longer given time to regenerate. People in third world nations (in particular) were forcibly evicted from their lands and conscripted into low-wage manufacture for TNCs. Environmental regulation was dismantled and dangerous forms of industrial agriculture were expanded everywhere. Wages were kept low across the globe.

Profits for the global corporation continued to expand at an even faster rate and now exceeded any relation to real wealth. It became truly fictional. Having brought the planet beyond the brink of reversible climate change and increasing impoverishment of humanity everywhere there is now very few places left to 'invest'.

The role of the US Fed had been to ensure that debtors would be rewarded over savers because such action was the corollary of ensuring the profits continued to flow to big business.

In 2008 the debtors can no longer pay their installments. It should be game over but the global corporations want to be bailed out yet again. Bailed out with what?!

Posted by Brenda Rosser at Econo Speak

Of course, Krugman seems to be suggesting it's just money going around in a circle (is that the same as funny money?). So we're not really paying anything so the wealthy can remain wealthy? Why don't I believe it?

Dems waiting for their savior ...

Well, I hope it works out. I live here too.

Krugman: Bailout narratives

But it is pretty humiliating for the US to be completely incapable of doing anything reasonable in the interim. And if the savior doesn't arrive ... any backup plans out there?

Forgive them, for they are as dumb as the Thugs ...

Crooks and Liars thinks the country should pass what it doesn't need because something must be done and since Congress will obviously not come up with something useful we just have to do what the Thugs want [but don't want to vote for]. To these minds doing anything is better than doing nothing even when the actions that have been proposed are not much more than a transfer of funds to the wealthy.

As much as I didn’t like the bailout bill that lost on Monday, I do recognize that we must do something. For those screaming, “NO! Let them fail!” that’s all well and good for you, but the ramifications are far-reaching. How many of you own small business that rely on lines of credit to pay employees? Or are you employed by a small business owner who uses LOCs? How many of you have children who need a student loan to go to college? How many want to buy your first home or sell the one you have before it’s foreclosed upon? All of these very common scenarios require loans and lending is at a standstill right now. Not to mention that lack of confidence in our fiscal situation is causing financial worries all over the world. It’s a poison pill, but I believe we HAVE to do it, or suffer the same scenarios that our parents and grandparents did during the Great Depression.

I said yesterday that I hope that the Democrats use this opportunity to do a progressive version of the Shock Doctrine (i.e., pushing for legislation that rather than works against individuals’ interests works for them), a concept that Digby agrees with me on. “Progressive Shock Doctrine”

In other words, I would like our inept Congress to do something intelligent for a change, but I'll accept anything the Thugs throw at me. Just don't scare me anymore. Please!