It's what I like about this site. The people here don't have a problem with castigating their own party when it's deserved..

I just don't understand why the Democrats, after pushing for this Wall Street bailout that has obviously done NOTHING for this country, were all ready to make the exact same mistake with the auto industry bailout.

Hammond: "We're not making the same mistakes, that I can tell you!"
Malcolm: "No, no.. You're making all NEW mistakes"
-Jurassic Park

Michale.....

Happy Holidays everyone!

Blagojevich is petty theft when compared to this. So why does the media focus treat the situations accordingly?

Let's Blago was asking for $1 million dollars, a pretty large bribery sum.

Wall Street just took us for 750,000 times that amount. Do we hear negative media coverage about them that is 750,000 times as much?

No, if anything, we hardly hear anything about it. I find that peculiar. But not so peculiar when you start thinking about who owns the media.

To put this into perspective, it is the difference between a bank robber stealing 750k compared to a child taking $1 in lunch money.

If you think about if from your tax money, this is less than a penny from each of us. The bank bailout? Cost $3,750 per taxpayer if you assume 200 million taxpayers.

Blago should go to jail if found guilty. But let's focus on the much bigger robbery.

- D

(instead of no-bid contracts and the 'pay-to-play' philosophy of Republicans)

Yer kidding, right??

One word...

Blagojevich....

Michale.....

Financial = good because they are "too big to fail."

Automotive = bad because union workers are the problem.

The comparisons really show who is adding more value to society vs. who is simply profiting off of others.

On the other hand, you've got the Democrats who don't seem to have much of an alternative other than bailout everyone.

It's a shame that to some extent Republicans are going to come out of this seeming as if they've stuck to principles, even though those principles are what got us into this mess in the first place.

What isn't clear to me in this gigantic mess is what are the principles of the Democrats when it comes to the economy?

They should be fighting for:
- Competition (instead of no-bid contracts and the 'pay-to-play' philosophy of Republicans)
- A stable economy (remember how well regulations kept us out of some of these disasters?)
- The middle class(or what's left of it)

If they don't do this, and do it over and over again, and then market it some more, what will happen is that the only thing anyone will remember is that they voted to give money to these companies and the economy tanked anyways.

Right now, I'm afraid most people have very little idea why they are doing it other then they feel as if they have to.

Democrats can't continue to get nothing for these bailouts. That is what they got from the financial bailout. Nothing. No concessions from Wall St. And, they lost again on the automotive bailout. Who is getting what they want - the further destruction of American unions? Republicans.

At least with Republicans, you know what they're fighting for - corporate rights and the rights of the wealthy.

I think the Democratic party ought to take $400k - that's four hundred thousand dollars, almost 750 billion less than was spent on the financial sector - and send every single elected member they have to a negotiation course. It also wouldn't hurt to take a couple million dollars and develop an economic stance that has some legs.

Arrgh... I need a Grammar Checker!!!

"In the dictionary under 'redundant', it says, 'see redundant' "
-Robin Williams

The above should read, "This doesn't mean that the Republicans are completely blameless for the Wall Street bailout."

My Bust....

Michale.....

Government which is supposed to act on behalf of society is disfunctional but this is a consequence of society also being disfunctional.

The new administration has a very difficult time ahead and the question is will they continue to dance to the same old tune or will they write a new song.

...Stan

Secondly, I am (again) constrained to point out that it is unfair to take Republicans to task over the Wall Street bailout when it was Democrats in collusion with Bush, who pushed the Wall Street bailout..

Therefore, it's logical (and factual) to construe that Republicans aren't being hypocritical (at least in THIS instance) by opposing the Auto Industry bailout because they, initially, also opposed the Wall Street bailout.

This doesn't mean that the Republicans are not completely blameless for the Wall Street bailout. Ultimately they succumbed to the bribes of the Democrats and jumped on the bailout bandwagon..

But it's a fact that, initially, the Republicans opposed the Wall Street bailout.

Michale.....

(((crossposted to http://www.huffingtonpost.com)))

...Except that you're absolutely right.

It happens that I had a former business professor praise my work recently at the call center. He had a problem that needed several minutes of fixing, and thanked me for being courteous and professional, etc., at the end. He told me about the career from which he'd retired and wondered aloud why more call service people weren't like me. What had happened to the work ethic? he wondered.

What I did not say, and could not say, was: "YOU happened to it. YOU taught a generation of young people that it is far, far better to serve one's self with filthy lucre than to serve another human being. YOU devalued work. YOU made sure that wages stagnated while bonuses skyrocketed. When service workers make $7 or $8 an hour, the level of service will be worth $7 or $8 an hour. So get the hell off my line, you're stretching out my call handle time."

Instead I thanked him and asked if there was anything else I could do for him.