BAIL OUT OR NO BAIL OUT: THAT IS THE QUESTION
By Schuyler ThorpeAuthor and Political Activist
Despite all the reshuffling of our belongings to storage–as we are going to become homeless by next Tuesday–I’ve been keeping up on the developments surrounding the firestorm with bailing out Wall Street to the tune of $1 trillion dollars or more. (Because $700B is too low a number.)
What I find disturbing is how John McCain thinks that this can be his “shining moment” where he comes in to save the day–in classic John Wayne style.
First he makes contradictory statements that the bailout plan will be approved and that Congress is making progress, but apparently things have gotten so bogged down with resistance from conservative Republicans and some Democrats; that the realistic chances of this passing any time soon–even by next Monday (at the White House’s insistence) is almost next to nothing.
But then McCain does a curious flip-flop by first suspending his campaign–and then claims he needs to hurry to Washington to get things going. (Even though he has already stated that he knows next to nothing about the economy.)
However–he has time to do some media interviews and then pisses off David Letterman all at the same instant; by claiming he “can’t make it”?
(I don’t blame Dave for being upset. I would be too!)
When McCain finally gets to Washington, his role in the bailout becomes even more clear: He’s just a minor functionary at best. His place in the crisis is nothing more than a small footnote and an unimportant one at that.
Not a real player at all.
Because what it boils down to is whether or not Congress has the stomach to swallow this massive bailout plan–which is mostly the GOP’s cause in the first place. (With their love affair for a deregulated market.)
Democrats on the other hand face little backlash from this appropriation measure–because in classic Democrat style–they are always the ones to come in and clean up the Republicans’ mess–long after they leave office.
But it still leaves the American people with two choices: Do something now and delay an even more painful recession down the road.
Or do nothing at all, watch everything collapse, then pick up the pieces afterwards.
If I were a betting man, I would go for the latter.
Because we may need that $700B later to rebuilding our shattered financial system–not use it to bail out the fat cats of Wall Street.
Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.com
Labels: bailout, Congress, Democrats, financial crisis, John McCain, Republicans, Wall Street
posted by Schuyler Thorpe @ 1:16 PM
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