People are finally pissed and that's a good thing. It's laughable to me that so many criticize the President for his mild manner, when the same folks have taken three years to react to being slapped, stomped and stolen from themselves. But I guess it's better late than never. Still there's a need to turn the anger into awareness and an honest assessment of where we are and how we arrived here.
As angry as you may be because Wall Street screwed the nation, they were only able to because there was no regulation to stop them. As angry as you may be that no one has been arrested, the fact is, no one committed a crime. What they did may have been immoral, unfair, selfish and sinful, but it wasn't a crime. Thank you President Clinton.
Republicans have courted Presidential hopefuls from Guiliani, Jeb Bush, and Chris Cristy to Pataki. All have passed up the opportunity to become leader of the greatest country in the free world. Why? President Obama is at his lowest point and if you believe polls, 55% of Americans don't believe he should be reelected. Still, across the country, Republican legislatures have enacted new voting regulations that will disenfranchise and suppress the participation of mostly Democratic voters (you should be livid about that too), further assuring that a Republican will prevail. The economy is in the toilet. So why not run? A republican win should be a shoe-in.
I'll tell you why. The United States does not function in a vacuum. Unlike the economies during Reagan and Clinton, more than ever, we operate in a global economy. THEY KNOW NO PRESIDENT CAN EFFECT MEANINGFUL CHANGE TO THIS ECONOMY and that all the hype and bullshit they feed Americans is just that. Despite the blame they lay at President Obama's feet, they know they can't fix the economy either. Besides, they've found controlling state legislatures to be a lot more effective. If they can take the Senate, it won't matter who's in the White House.
Many believe the bailouts should not have been made. But I just wonder what they believe would have happened had financial institutions been allowed to go bankrupt. What would have happened to mortgages then? From whom would millions of people have collected their pensions or 401Ks? Is there some illusion that the same selfish bastards who caused this economic collapse in the first place would seek to protect the very people they've screwed? Wake-up! Get a little bailout economics under your belt.
You rail against government in favor of private industry. Well, guess what kiddo, Wall Street is private industry. Either you want your taxes to put America back to work or you want your taxes to continue to support the rich. All the concern about debt is sheer foolishness. America has had a bigger deficit and the GDP has been as high as 121%. What is all the panic about?
You've swallowed the GOP/Tea Party rhetoric hook, line and sinker. Employment will help solve the deficit. Employed people pay taxes and pay down the deficit; they make purchases and create demand. Get a grip! This is America! Stop being driven by what you can't do and start making demands about what you can do. If the government can't help move the citizens back towards prosperity, what is it good for. Is government of the people, by the people and FOR THE PEOPLE or not?
Whether you voted for the President or not, whether you intend to ever vote for him; whether you're Republican, Democratic or Independent, you should be in favor of a plan that will put Americans back to work. If anything, you should demand that the bill which promises to put 2 million to work should be tripled so that it puts 6 million to work.
I hope the movement is successful, however success is defined but for my money, Wall Street is the wrong street.
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