From my perspective, the “Financial Bailout” begun by the Bush administration has been a farce. Nothing the Bush administration has done has helped the average American - and especially those who live on fixed incomes. To make matters worse, as reported by AlterNet, President Bush has been working hard to drive America’s poorest people into financial oblivion while ensuring that his corporate cronies in the banking and financial sector are saved from their monumental greed and bad decisions - none of which has offered one iota of help to those that truly need it!
George Bush’s Nightmare Before Christmas
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films at 7:00 AM on December 16, 2008.
The Bush administration isn’t about to let democracy or the will of the people stop them from further ruining this country before they leave office. Knowing he can’t get his long list of favors to his Republican cronies through Congress, Bush is doing a last minute end-run, jamming as many rules through the executive branch as he can during his waning days in power. These so-called “midnight regulations” will allow factories to pollute more, further restrict women’s access to abortion services, cut off aid to needy families in the middle of a recession, (Emphasis added) and much more — all without Congress’ oversight or approval. It’s wrong, it’s antidemocratic, but, sadly, it’s legal.
When given the opportunity to be “naughty or nice” this holiday season, Bush has clearly opted to go down as one of the naughtiest, most sinister presidents in our nation’s history. We’ve created a satirical spin on the famous poem, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, in order to show President Bush crafting his last-minute agenda for health care, the environment, civil liberties, and labor practices — rules that will affect everyone and will be difficult for the next administration to overturn. We are using humor here in the hopes that it both commands people’s attention and enables us to shine a light on these all-too-serious midnight regulations.
Keep in mind that it’s not just voters in blue states who will be affected — these midnight regulations will hurt people in the states and districts of Bush’s enablers in Congress. And remember that these last-minute policies are the outcome of Congressional Republicans’ loyal support for the Bush agenda over the past eight years. We should hold them accountable for the huge lump of coal Bush is handing over to the nation this Christmas. MORE
Consider this: In 2008, CNN has reported that 2.6 million jobs were lost in 2008. This was the highest loss of employment since 1945 - and there’s no end in sight! On January 12th, CNN speculated that another two million jobs will be lost in 2009:
Economy could lose 2M jobs in ‘09 - report
Conference Board says there’s no sign that labor market will improve any time soon.By Larissa Padden, CNNMoney contributing writer
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The nation could lose 2 million more jobs in 2009 after the loss of 2.6 million last year, a business research firm said in an employment report issued Monday.
The forecast came in a report issued by the Conference Board, which said its Employment Trends Index fell 1.6% last month to stand at 99.6.
“The continued deterioration in the Employment Trends Index signals that no turnaround in the labor market is expected in the near future,” Conference Board senior economist Gad Levanon said in the report. MUCH MORE
On December 5th, 2008, MSNBC reported that “Record 1 in 10 homeowners in mortgage trouble - Many at least a month behind on their payments or in foreclosure.” Since that report, after the dismal holiday retail sales, those figures have increased, and when we can expect two more million more Americans to lose their employment in 2009, the “Trickle Down” effect of job losses and foreclosures equates to financial disaster and homelessness to those who can least afford it. Fathers who once were current on their child support payments find themselves unable to pay their child support, and those who are being foreclosed upon find that the rental homes are becoming harder to find, and to make matters worse, families now find themselves paying absurd prices for rental property as owners of those properties realize that they can charge whatever the market will bear. Single mothers are finding it hard to feed their families and pay for the most basic of needs, all of which is running in tandem of finding help that is quickly becoming non-existent. Even the food banks can’t keep up with the mounting need, yet the Bush administration and his crooked “financial advisers,” especially Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke, are leading the charge to pour more money into the banking and financial institutions that led us into this financial collapse - and neither of them propose to do anything to help those who desperately need assistance.
Case in point: I know a 40 year old mother of two special needs children, ages 11 and 13, who receives a total income of $340.00 per month, SSI that she receives for her youngest child. Her 13 year old daughter is going blind; the condition she has is irreversible, yet Social Security has determined that she is not “disabled enough” to receive assistance. This single mother of two has received zero child support from her ex-husband, who is now 15K in arrears. On Monday, this mother of two is scheduled for major surgery and will be effectively “down” for at least 60 days of convalescence. Documentation was provided to the State of Georgia that this surgery is scheduled. They read the report that stated she would be totally disabled starting Monday, and still, they demanded a Dr.’s excuse before they would consider a measly $220.00 in support, and the application takes 45 days to approve. She went back to her Doctor and was charged $15.00 for having that excuse filled-out - even though she is on Medicaid and they know she is dirt poor, but she was told it could takes as long as two weeks to complete, effectively bringing her application for assistance to 60 days before it can be approved.
She lives with her brother, who receives $975.00 from Social Security disability and is desperately attempting to keep a roof over the family's head. However, their rent on a run-down trailer is $800.00 per month and utilities bring up the total expenditure to survive at $1,400 per month. Do the math - it doesn’t ad-up, and this family may find themselves homeless in less than two or three weeks while their mother is still recovering from major surgery. This is not an abnormality in Bush’s new “Amerika.” Millions of the poorest Americans are experiencing similar problems, many more severe than these, and no help will be forthcoming anytime in the near future.
The evidence points out that this financial collapse was planned by the Bush administration and his utter failure as a “compassionate conservative.” We have all been kept in suspense about why FEMA internment camps are being built and maintained throughout the United States - ready to receive prisoners. Think about it. Millions are out of work, losing their homes, and homelessness and crime will increase as the economy worsens. Parents WILL NOT allow their children to go hungry and homeless for long, and I believe that this has been Bush’s plan from the very beginning. This is a class war, and the “violent radicalization” of Americans that S-1959 and “EndGame” was proposed to prevent is a self-fulfilling event that Bush accomplished by trashing the economy and then cutting services to America’s poorest individuals. There is an anger and rage building in America, and millions now hate our own government - proof-positive that we are now entering third-world status. I urge President-Elect Obama to look deeper into the problems of the poor and homeless and act to help the poor, not the financial institutions who are pocketing their bailout money and buying up other corporations to establish monopolies and increasing the wealth of the 1 to 5% of wealthy Americans.
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