No Blank Check for Paulson

Fierce Planet Posted on by

That $700 billion they’re talking about is our money, you know. Time to contact your Representatives and Senators, and make sure our money isn’t thrown down the rabbit hole.

If you need some background on better ways to approach this crisis, read Krugman on what should be done, Robert Reich, who explains the best way to structure a bailout,and Noriel Roubini on why we need a Home Owner’s Mortgage Enterprise (and what that means).

Demand accountability, oversight, transparency, and safeguards on our money. Not one penny for the CEOs!

Update: Hey! Maybe Henry will buy your shitpile too!

Share/Bookmark

McCain the Gambler

Fierce Planet Posted on by

He does like to gamble, you know. And he wants to gamble with your health insurance. Krugman quotes McCain:

Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.

Emphasis added by me.

He wants to put your Social Security into the stock market too. Does that make you feel safer? Not me. McCain’s trying to pose as a big believer in government regulation and oversight, now that the market is finally trawling the bottom. But don’t believe him. He’s always been a deregulator, as are all his economic advisors. And deregulation got us into this mess. McCain isn’t capable of getting us out again.

Update: Here’s Obama on that statement.

Share/Bookmark

Things Democrats Have Done

Fierce Planet Posted on by

Here’s a partial list of laws passed by Democrats in the 1960s, taken from LBJ’s book “The Vantage Point”. All these things have made our lives and our country better.

1963
Clean Air act
Four education bills; College facilities, vocational, Indian
Vocational and Manpower

1964
Pesticide Controls
Civil Rights act
Urban Mass Transit
Water Resources Research
War on Poverty
Truth in Securities
Food Stamps
Housing Act
Nurses Training

1965
Medicare
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Voting Rights act
Anti poverty program
Arts and Humanities Foundation
Highway Beautification
Clean Air
Water Pollution Control
High Speed Transit

1966
Department of Transportation
Truth in Packaging
New GI Bill
Minimum wage increase
Freedom of Information Act

1967
Education Act
Public Broadcasting
Age Discrimination
College Work Study
Product Safety Commission

1968
Fair Housing
School Breakfasts
Truth in Lending
Sea Grant Colleges
Guaranteed Student Loans
Scenic Rivers
Scenic Trails
Military Justice Code

See anything you like?

Share/Bookmark

Amused and Bemused

Fierce Planet Posted on by

So, I’ve been following all the stories today, and it seems that the Republicans have found their inner sensitivity, their deep belief in feminism, their softer side. Really, as someone who has fought for women’s rights her whole life, mostly against the same assholes who are whining today, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

So instead, I’m helping other folks in my neighborhood organize voters for Obama. Here in Colorado, a major swing state this year, that’s important work. And it keeps me from throwing things at the TV.

Share/Bookmark