Congressional representatives, whether they are for or against socialist wealth redistribution, if they had any integrity, voted against the recent bailout plan. --Conservatives, because they don't believe in wealth redistribution.
--Liberals, because they don't believe that redistribution of the wealth of the poor to the already wealthy makes any sense.
Those who voted for the bailout plan either didn't understand it, in which case they shouldn't be in Congress, or are shills for the Establishment. I look forward with relish to perhaps hundreds of such representatives being handed their walking papers in the elections next month.
We all are doing our worst and making the [people] pay. We forget that we all are the people; that while each of us in his group can shove off on the rest the bill of today, the debt is only postponed; ...We have to pay in the end, every one of us. And in the end the sum total of the debt will be our liberty.It was
Samuel McClure, January 1903
Perhaps it's a good thing that the economy began to melt down at a point in time so close to the election. Let's remember that as we head for the polls.
interesting that those in the House of Representatives who initially voted down the bailout were from both the left and right sides of the aisle, although more were Republican. Truthdig, a left-leaning organization, bemoaned the fact that of the real representation left in Washington D.C. most of it is Republican. Speaking with TruthDig, Dennis Kucinich said of the bailout:It is a direct attack on the American people’s ability to be able to stabilize their homes and their neighborhoods. This single vote will define the careers of everyone. We are back to taxation without representation, to markets that are openly rigged.Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges wrote
The passing of the $850-billion bailout pulled the plug on the New Deal. The Great Society is now gasping for air, mortally wounded, coughing up blood. It will not recover. It was murdered by the Democratic Party.Kucinich rightly criticized the destruction of free-market principles in the latest bailout scam.
We are on our own. And don’t expect any help from Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who lobbied hard for the bill and voted for it. Ignore their rhetoric. Look coldly at the ballots they cast against us.
Instead of Democrats going back to classic New Deal economics where we prime the pump of the economy and start money circulating among the population through saving homes, creating jobs and building a new infrastructure, our leaders chose to accelerate the wealth of the nation upwards. They did so in a way that was destructive of free-market principles.It's no longer a battle between Republicans and Democrats, as the current presidential campaign would try otherwise to convince you. This is clearly now a struggle between the "big people" and the "little people". For a capitalist society to have any chance for succeeding, it must be fair. With this bailout, the United States economic system, although it has been unfair for decades, is now painfully, clearly so.
The Democrats have unfortunately become so enamored and beholden to Wall Street that we are not functioning to defend the economic interest of the broad base of the American people.
The beginning of a solution is to remove from office anyone
For a capitalist society to have any chance for succeeding, it must be fair. With this bailout, the United States economic system, although it has been unfair for decades, is now painfully, clearly so.
who voted for the recent $700 billion bailout. Perhaps it's a good thing that the economy began to melt down at a point in time so close to the election. Let's remember that as we head for the polls.
You are right about everything except for one point. Hundreds of representatives who voted for the bailout will not get their walking papers in November. Those in the closest races tended to vote against the bailout and the total turnover is almost certainly less than 50 - including some who voted against the bill.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, Americans are asleep at the wheel - even with the sound of our economy crunching and the horns blaring of those who are still awake.
Fair capitalism is only in ideal. As Marx has shown it, the capitalism rapidly grows into monopolistic capitalism in real life, eventually precipitating its own demise (the meltdown in other terms). Which we are actually witnessing. The question is whether the American people will be awake enough, knowledgeable enough to discern the moment and capable enough to get together to save themselves and the country.
ReplyDeleteDavid,
ReplyDeleteThere were about 250 reps that voted for it, and 75 senators. Assuming that 1/3 of those senators are up for re-election, (in my perfect world) there could be as many as 275 new senators and congressman elected in November.
Anon,
In general, in real life, you are right. This is something that we in America need to fix, and hopefully this demise will be the impetus for us to correct that. We MUST first get rid of the shysters in Congress. I'm reading a fabulous book by William Greider, called "The Soul of Capitalism", which talks about how capitalism will fail if people are looked at as human resources and not people. Their livelihoods, skills, and disabilities must be considered as part of the "bottom line". Firing the 24-year employee--because he can't work overtime after you fired 15% of your workforce so that you can force everyone else to work overtime--is not ultimately good for the capitalist's bottom line.
Minimum wage laws, 40-hour work weeks, etc. came about because of the moral failure of capitalism.
Frank,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points. It is very correct that "Minimum wage laws, 40-hour work weeks, etc. came about because of the moral failure of capitalism." Which, actually, Marx had predicted would happen. Even in his lifetime people were looked at as human resources and not people. It was too obvious that greedy overexploitation of people would eventually bring to destruction. Europe went through a number of revolutions, eventually achieving an equilibrium. The government in Europe (either a kingdom or a republic) is controled by people, at least way more than here. Of course the capitalists there as before have the desire to get super profits but there are laws restricting their actions. And those who implement those laws are mostly moral people, again because of their long history of struggle of the working class people for their rights. Owing to that history Europe has developed a higher culture (inner mechanism dictating the relationships in the society) of self restraint. Only self control is able to control human wickedness. Our founding fathers have stated many times that any system of government is for moral people. Which we, are not. It is hard to see an immoral people getting organized to promote a change. The only achievement, I am afraid will be another immoral society. I hope I am wrong.