What is Digg?23 Comments
- mommacat, on 09/22/2008, -4/+25klein is one of the few sane voices during this bush economic nightmare. Unfortunately, when you turn on the boob tube, all you hear is republicans blaming democrats for problems republicans created in the first place. In my next life, i hope the liberal media IS liberal. In reality the US media ( tv, radio) is 95 percent GOP propaganda and corporate fairytales.
- truthfightsback, on 09/23/2008, -1/+21Mommacat, the tactic you mention, where a press that is actually in the palm of the reactionary right is labelled 'liberal', is called doublespeak. It's the reactionary right's main weapon. Labeling something its opposite gives the labeler leverage to exploit that thing. This is the reactionary right's bread and butter.
This is also who the epiphany that they can actually be called 'Liars' to their faces is such an empowering moment. From here on out, at the very very least, their ability to wage war on our own populace will be forever hampered by the simple fact that the reactionary right will never again be known by the progressive majority as anything but a pack of liars. - algaeturd, on 09/23/2008, -1/+19This breaks it down in plain English for everyone to understand. My fear is that people are running around in a panic, THINKING they know what's best, hoping for the best but really not able to conceive of what's going on. This is a hijacking at best; a stickup at worst. NOBODY should support this bailout as it has been presented thus far. NOBODY. Except the billionaires on Wall Street who stand to profit even more at the expense of the taxpayers of this country. Let's get this to the front page, please. This isn't a bipartisan issue, people! This affects EVERYONE in America who isn't a rich fat cat. Republicans...this one time, question what these people are doing. Look into the details of this deal and see how badly it will screw you and your kids. Don't buy into the fear or shock that it's the only way. It's not. Ron Paul has broken down a scenario that would save this economy....return to a value backed dollar, restructure the system, do away with the Federal Reserve...while this is still all in place, there is no hope to avoid a complete fallout; only to delay the inevitable.
- Carolab444, on 09/23/2008, -1/+17CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES! DO IT TODAY!
- 1backwardglance, on 09/23/2008, -1/+17Contact your senator: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/ ...
Contact your rep: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
Contact House Speaker Pelosi: http://speaker.house.gov/contact/
Contact Senate Majority Leader Reid: http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Contact Obama: http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/contact2
Contact the Committee on Banking: http://banking.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAct ...
WRITE AND CALL ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS. Send them these links. Most people still don't know about section 8, for example, of the bailout bill:
Sec. 8. Review. Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
Here is a simple letter to send. Modify it w/your own outrage.
The draft of the Wall Street bailout act currently being considered by the House contains an unacceptably broad expansion of the executive branch's power in Section 8: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."
This is an unacceptable granting of power to an administration that has manifestly demonstrated their lack of ability or desire to act in the best interest of the American people. If the taxpayers are going to bail out Wall Street, the taxpayer's elected representatives - the US Congress - need to retain ultimate oversight over the agency charged with administering relief under this legislation.
Please do everything in your power to make sure that provisions for adequate Congressional oversight are included in the final version of this bill. - Binxy, on 09/23/2008, -1/+12If you feel yourself waiver about including some sticks in with the 700 billion carrots of the economic bailout, remember the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act. Horrendous over-reaches all and all have come back to bite us.
- gadfly55, on 09/23/2008, -1/+11In a dying and disgraced administration, the destruction of the dollar determined by war, greed, and reckless consumption of the world's energy resources will be accelerated by tyrannical demands for a blank cheque issued on the ability to add zero's to the national deficit. Never in history has there been an attempt by a cabal to destroy a reserve currency by bullying a national democratically elected assembly who have the power to stop this destruction, and instead deliberate judiciously about the causes, the beneficiaries, the public benefits of any bail-out. There is no sector in the economy exempt from the realities of market failure, and finance, despite contributing 40% of corporate profits, and 27 billion dollars in bonuses last year to its employees and managers is no exception. The insane deregulation has now of course extended into the insanity of destroying the dollar itself, and the chaos that will ensue in the lives of billions of people momentarily will destroy the dollar as the reserve currency once and for all. At this juncture, the failed administration should be resisted rather than enabled, and a new Congress and President can act from a mandate given in the election to build confidence in the prudent authority of the state, rather than panic at its idiocy.
- ScienceDoc, on 09/23/2008, -2/+10The neocons = Nazis. Don't fall for this crap.
- lisa3711, on 09/23/2008, -0/+6No econoar. No. This isn't the best way. The best way would be to return liquidity, WITH: bi-partisan oversight, limited executive compensation, limited investor returns, a return to pre-1980 regulations, relief for homeowners with problem mortgages (hey, that keeps them in the economy right).
That is the best way. - lattethunder, on 09/23/2008, -3/+8Ummm ... Naomi Klein's ***** hot. I like big brains and I cannot lie ...
- brightlight4, on 09/23/2008, -0/+5Like ***** the government is doing its best to ensure the tax payers get some money back. Today the banks said they had the RIGHT to keep the benefits they make!!! So who is telling lies now then? The financial expert perhaps!!???
- angeladtao, on 09/23/2008, -0/+5econoar, just because we are democrats doesn't mean we are ignorant of economics. One thing I do know for sure is that if Paulson had our (the taxpayer) best interest in mind, he wouldn't be insisting on no judicial review of what he does. There are different plans being written now by better, less biased people that will be introduced tomorrow. Also, all last week Goldman Sachs was talked up on the investment channels while all the other similar institutions were going down. People bought that stock. Then all of a sudden, it tanked, too. Those people lost their money. I'm sure it was just a coincidence that the former CEO of Goldman Sachs just happens to be the Secretary of the Treasure at this troubled time. Yes, I'm sure of it. Right.
- simeonart, on 09/23/2008, -0/+3really... so you completely trust one person to handle $700 billion without any oversight and with complete immunity? That is what you are saying since you want to "hurry up and get this pushed through."
Of course the bailout will not ONLY help rich people, but it surely will not hurt them and I am sure that Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, is not going to do anything that may hurt his current and former compatriots. The current bailout proposal from Bush does help the current big players in Wall Street more than everyday people on main street.
And whole statement about buying gold is ridiculous. Do you really think people who are hurting in the current economy can actually afford to invest right now... Come on... You are basically giving advice to rich people so they can get richer. While there is nothing wrong with this in any way, it is not helping to solve anything, and will not allow those who do not have the means to recover and "make a fortune." Though you may not care about people who actually need help.
Your completely trusting attitude of the current administration without any questioning is scary... - Arishia, on 09/23/2008, -0/+2There is enough money in the system. The problem is that no one wants to invest it in companies that might hold these instruments because they don't know how to value them. The mark to market rule won't help here, and there has to be a way to establish hold to maturity values. I think we do need a package that will remove these toxic instruments from the market and that will provide an enviornment that investors are willing to enter into again. Importantly, there has to be oversight, flexibility both ways, relief for the taxpayers as well as the financial institutuons, shared risk and equity stakes, and so on. I like Obama's guiding principles. Then, the laws that govern the financial markets need to be changed altogether, as well as the ideologs that gave them to us.
- MsLaurel, on 09/25/2008, -0/+1It's a trap! Better to scuttle the whole thing: Let the investment banks liquidate what they can, write down what they can and beg their stockholders and executives to give back some dough. (BTW: If you're not solvent enough to pay what you owe, you have no business distributing dividends or executive bonuses.)
It would be far more efficient and economy-stimulating for the government to 1) pass a law that freezes all sub-prime mortgages, providing a deadline by which time all sub-primes must be re-written in a way that keeps the families in their homes, and 2) print $700 billion to: A) directly help past, present and future sub-primes keep their homes, reacquire, replace or repair the damage done to their foreclosed homes, then B) build dormitories for the homeless people, and C) begin a government-sponsored down-payment-assistance program for first-time home-buyers.
That should get the housing market back on its feet and stimulate local economies a little.
With what is left over, the government can fast-track solar-electric cars, sponsor a trade-in rebate and distribute solar roof-panels instead of oil-stimulus-checks. That would create some good jobs while helping to get the utility companies and their stock-holders off people's backs. - BassMastr, on 09/23/2008, -0/+1We have two choices....let wall st crash...or not. I choose the later...that's it. If you don't think all the banks collapsing and all these companies losing half their value will not hurt main street then you are kidding yourself. Yes some people are going to make A LOT of money off this, and they probably shouldn't be allowed to, but I don't want to sit here and let our econ crash around us on principal. I didn't mean go out and buy gold coins...you can buy supr cheap gold stocks and you don't have to have a lot of money to do it. If you don't think this is going to help everyone in America then you don't understand what would happen if Wall Streeet crashed. Where did I say I trust this admin without question? Most diggers lack of understanding of what is going on outside of digg is what should scare you.
- MsLaurel, on 09/25/2008, -0/+1"The only hope of preventing another dose of shock politics is loud, organized grassroots pressure on all political parties: they have to know right now that after seven years of Bush, Americans are becoming shock resistant."
Nose Hit ! - TheWarOnDebt, on 09/24/2008, -0/+1Great Post! Thanks for sharing the link. I sent my Senators Mel Martinez and Bill Nelson an email asking them to consider all options before signing away our rights to Big Banks.
Thanks! - Suissebird, on 09/24/2008, -0/+1Well, you know she makes the best point. The allow this to happen, these doctors and lawyers pulled a fast one one us. They think we are stupid and would understand what a polite bank robbery was.
- BassMastr, on 09/23/2008, -5/+1So only rich people profit from this? Tell me what you think would happen if the bail out doesn't go through? You seriously think the only people who are going to be hurt are the bankers and rich people? You have no understanding of how the economy works if you think the only people who benefit from this are on wall street. Let's hurry up and get this pushed through.... You don't like it...go buy gold and you'll make a fortune. Be smart enough to make money of this...
I recommend investing in DGP. (free advice since you obviously have no idea what's really happening.)
Do the houses that the Govt will be buying disappear? Can they not be held and sold for a profit for the American people?
America has spoken and decided Ron Paul was not what this country needed or wanted. Welcome to democracy and get over it. - econoar, on 09/23/2008, -6/+2I know I'll get dugg down for this but I'm going to say it anyways...
Does anyone on digg even understand economics and the financial markets or do you just love shouting "neo-con", and "nazi" every chance you get? It looks foolish. I love the obviously omission of counter-point articles from legit financial sites like the WSJ, Economist, etc. and we all just believe obviously slanted material from the Huffington Post and others. And with all the bitching of slanted media on here? Come on...it goes both ways. (As a side note, I consider myself more left than right).
Anyways, if anyone actually listened to the proposal today, it actually is our best option at this point. The call for no action at all is completely erroneous. These major financial instituions are so far deep in ***** right now that their collapses would cause a worldwide economic depression (housing market, lending market, everything). Just look at the foreign and emerging markets index's when bad news comes out of America. We can't afford for these major instituions to just fall. Sure, a "free market" thinking sounds great, but this deep into a financial crisis, it won't work. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had to be bailed out of it would have caused a housing crisis and collapse that no one would have imagined, then having a domino effect on the worldwide economy.
The government is now taking its best step to ensure that the tax payer gets some money back. (The government will borrow money via treasury bonds, t-bills, etc to finance it and the interest on those will be paid through taxes. In theory though, the assets are hurting more for lack of liquidity than credit costs. If the housing markets turn, that is how the gov would make money on this issue) First, let's not forget that the Congress is now run by the Dems, and they are going to have to vote on this issue. 2nd, the 700 billion dollar plan is an aim for a profit, NOT A BAILOUT. If they overprice the assets they are trying to buy (mainly mortgage based assets that are killing these institutions), that would be a bailout. That isn't their goal. Their goal also isn't to undervalue these assets, because no one will use the plan and it's a waste of time. They are going to consult financial experts in order to find the correct prices for these reverse auctions. Right now, it is one of the best ways that we are going to get out of this decline. They need to get the toxic assets out of the hands of these companies. It's an all around problem, sure companies were giving out ridiculous sub-prime mortgages, but the people taking them were just as stupid. If we're going to play the no government interference game, then people need to take the blame for their own stupidity also. - inactive, on 09/23/2008, -5/+1You Ru-Paul ra ra bitch.
- BassMastr, on 09/23/2008, -7/+2What color is the sky in your world? How did the republicans make this happen? Did they force people to buy homes they couldn't afford? Did they make people take out credit cards and live beyond their means? People like you are the problem...trying to blame everything on one party or another...
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