Crossposted from Docudharma.
"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."
Bob Dylan
And you don’t need to be a financial guru to know when you’re being robbed. Seriously, to the fools trying to stuff a trillion-dollar bailout down our throats, "what have you done for us lately...I mean OTHER than rip us off?"
Patriot Act
Military Commissions Act
FISA
Iraq
Torture
Habeas Corpus
Posse Comitatus
Free Speech Zones
Katrina
Deregulation
Mercenary Armies in America
All of this madness and more while ignoring everything that really matters:
Climate Change
Deforestation
Pollution of land, sea and air
Diplomacy and World Peace
Hunger
Poverty
Homelessness
Sustainable Agriculture
Universal Healthcare
Alternative Energy
The General Welfare
Now you’re going to jump up and rush through a bill written by those who have done all of the above? A bill that bails out the very villains who created this colossal mess in the first place?
Is it any wonder that people are skeptical?
And they’re not just trying to ram this disgraceful legislation down our unwilling throats, they’re doing it – and there is nothing any of us can do about it.
They are following their well-known Bush/Rove/Cheney formula of Disaster Capitalism: whip up the fear, ram bad legislation through quickly, and rip off the American people with the full cooperation of the Democratic leadership. This shit stinks to high heaven.
I wrote The Shock Doctrine in the hopes that it would make us all better prepared for the next big shock. Well, that shock has certainly arrived, along with gloves-off attempts to use it to push through radical pro-corporate policies (which of course will further enrich the very players who created the market crisis in the first place...).
Naomi Klein in Now is the Time to Resist Wall Street's Shock Doctrine
My guess is that they will shove this down our throats and the pain everyone hopes to avoid will simply be delayed somewhat and increased substantially while the greedheads are rescued with OUR money.
This is the biggest rip-off ever.
And their pretense at oversight is laughable.
Overseeing the program: The bill would establish two oversight boards.
The Financial Stability Oversight Board would be charged with ensuring the policies implemented protect taxpayers and are in the economic interests of the United States. It will include the Federal Reserve chairman, the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, the Federal Home Finance Agency director, the Housing and Urban Development secretary and the Treasury secretary.
A congressional oversight panel would be charged with reviewing the state of financial markets, the regulatory system and the Treasury's use of its authority under the rescue plan. Sitting on the panel would be five outside experts appointed by House and Senate leaders.
CNN on the bailout deal
Ooh a new board!
Yeah, our governmental oversight has done us so much good lately that we can’t even manage to stop an unpopular war, keep the government from torturing helpless prisoners or impeach the biggest criminals in all of human history. Couldn’t even attempt it. Pathetic.
I got yer oversight right here congress – and I hope you choke on it.
Peace Out!
OPOL
P.S. I understand that people are fearful and people are being hurt. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. We need to do something but we shouldn't be stampeded into bad legislation - and this is bad. This is Bushco bad. We need real solutions - not more of the same.