I posted this in a long thread a few minutes ago and then thought--hey, I really want to make sure people read this. Story below the fold.
In an early-morning interview on Radio 4 (UK), Congressman Stephen King (R[acist]-Iowa) blamed Democratic Party pandering to Blacks for the bailout's failure. He said that if the Dems hadn't tried to use the bill to "hand some more money out to the people in the inner cities" (and we all know what that code phrase means,)the Republicans would have put up a "true free market solution" instead of "a government solution that hands out benefits to the inner city."
Did he confuse this bill with something involving TANF or Food Stamps? Did you see any "benefits to the inner city" in this bill? I sure didn't--the part that was supposed to help homeowners hang on to their mortgages was actually pretty poor IMHO, and far more likely to help those who bought suburban mini-mansions beyond their actual means.
Listen to the whole (excellent) segement for yourself at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/...
Then, please flood this racist fool's office with emails and letters taking him to task for his completely FALSE argument.
I also opposed this legislation--because it was a giveaway to King's pals in the finance industry. I think those bastards have had quite enough welfare checks, thank you. The welfare checks they've received over the years, the regulations that have been lifted or specially crafted for their benefit, have been money taken out of all our pockets.
Here's to hoping the next version of this legislation incorporates real and permanant reform.