Published on March 19, 2009
in unknown.
So I was not a big fan of the U.S. bailout of the financial institutions to begin with. My objection is squarely based on two basic questions:
1) Is it cheaper in the long-run to allow major institutions to fail than it is to continually bail them out?
2) Where does it end?
I’ll leave number one up to those with far more experience than I have in understanding global financial markets and all the ancillary industries that go along with them. But question number two will become increasingly important and germane to our national conversation as time goes on. Already we have seen two rounds of bailout funding for the automotive industry, now we have the government pledging $5 billion to the auto parts industry, Larry Flint wants bailout funding for the porn industry, homebuilders want help, and list goes on and on and on.
Now comes news of the uproar created by AIG’s payment of bonuses to 70+ employees. Are we, the taxpayers, pissed? You bet. Are we, the taxpayers, calling our leaders in Congress to do something? You bet. But that does not mean Congress should act. Not now at least. We pay our leaders to lead. The minute we passed the first bailout package in October we sealed the fate of news programs like 60 minutes for the next 20 years — giving them tons of material to report related to misappropriation of bailout funds, corporate scandals, and government waste. It is the nature of the beast. Our leaders failed to give much thought to the bailout plan, which should have contained elements of control in the package, ahead of time. Mismanagement was bound to happen. But creating a 90% tax bracket for bonuses paid is absolutely ridiculous. The recent talks of tax brackets for those working for bailed out institutions is not conducive to fixing our problems.
Government never works well when it hastily crafts legislation for a specific and urgent cause. This feels a lot like the post 9/11 legislation that allowed our phones and emails to be tapped without cause, or the rush to judgement to go to war in Iraq, or the attempts to write laws to help a coma victim live or die in Florida. It’s not right and Congress should stop threatening legislation and do what it does best — make a public spectacle of AIG and allow the free market to punish the company as it will.
Which leads me back to question one. Aren’t our free markets capable of supporting those institutions that are vitally important to our economy? Is failure of portions of our Economic system not a natural process that we should allow to happen instead of interfering?
Published on April 27, 2008
in unknown.
For all the talk about tax rebates and the great Bush tax cuts, the middle class is facing increased pressure from a constant barrage of increased fuel and food prices. Last Saturday the Wall Street Journal had a nice piece on how the effective income of middle Americans has declined over the years.
Every administration and congress in the last 40-50 years should be ashamed of themselves, regardless of party affiliation and politics of the day. The voters of this country entrusted their future and the future of their children to people who were supposed to protect and serve them. Instead, elected officials, in general, have served their own greed and shafted those that elected them.
Have you noticed that the media keeps telling us how ‘the next primary’ will determine everything. Yet, if you look at the delegate numbers remaining in the all primaries over the next +/- 6 weeks, there is plenty of play left and this thing will drag on until at least June.
Shame on the media for continuing to put the spotlight on the delegate race, and shame on the media for sensationalizing this primary process. Shame on Democrats for making this into a circus. I don’t think the party is damaged (yet) by this process, but I can see where a prolonged and contentious delegate fight could easily divide the party. Democrats must realize that this race is theirs to lose.
So I’m still divided on exactly who should get my vote in the upcoming Texas primary.
On the one hand, Hillary has the experience of leadership and the institutional support to get things done. (Never mind the fact that I still don’t think she can do half of what she promises because of the typical Washington game.) But on the other hand I think Obama is very inspiring and can lift the emotions of many Americans. But, again, I don’t think he can get a lot done in the current political climate — mainly because he lacks the experience.
And then, there is the GOP field. John McCain is not a REAL Republican. Or at least he is not a REAL Republican in the sense that Bush 1 & 2 were Republicans because they pandered to the neo-conservative religious right of the party. With McCain as the nominee-apparent, it becomes increasingly hard for me to support Clinton. A Clinton/McCain race means that the moderates of the GOP and conservative independents are left with one choice: McCain. A Obama/McCain race means that the moderates and independents are split between the two candidates and absent the religious elements of the GOP, McCain has little support in November.
My ultimate dream would be a Clinton-Obama ticket!
Regardless of how you feel about Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, their presence on the national stage fighting for every delegate vote is a win-win for America. The fact that they are so close in the polls leading up to Super Tuesday reflects the need in this country for an open and “honest” dialog.
Personally, I would like to see these two remain neck and neck throughout the Spring and into the DNC convention in August. I think America benefits when two candidates are this close not because their stump speeches are electrifying (which some are) nor because their views are more meaningful, but because ISSUES are brought to the forefront and they get discussed at the water coolers, the breakrooms, and at the dinner table by common everyday voters.
I haven’t quite made up my mind on the candidate of my choice yet. Clinton scares me a little simply from all the negative ratings in general election polls. I think she is more experienced and better prepared to lead the nation in some respects, but at the same time I think her readiness is a derivative of her membership in the establishment that has long ignored American’s and cowered to lobbyists. Obama on the other hand absolutely inspires me. I literally feel chills when he delivers some speeches (Iowa victory speech especially), but I’m not sure he has the political maturity to safely lead this nation in troubled times. Does Obama have the experience to lead this nation out of a possible recession? If we look back at his experience, there just is not a lot of economic development or evidence that he fully comprehends the complexities of national economic policies.
The good news for Democrats is that the base is energized while the Republican base is decimated. Romney cannot win the national election — period. And McCain is too liberal to satisfy the perverse need of Neo-Cons to hate. Therefore, now more than ever we need Obama and Clinton to stay the course, fight the fight, have the debates, and really bring attention where it has been sorely missed.
Strangely, a problem that appeared fairly isolated to TWC customers with s-l-o-w connections to iTunes has been fixed. I’m not sure what just happened, but people had been reporting the problem since Thursday and TWC denied any knowledge of any issue.
I still dislike TWC more than any other company right now.
