I just got to watch Hardball this evening and I would appreciate some help deciphering what Congressman Mike Pence said about the Biggest Bailout in the World. Follow below the fold for the details.
Pence was on Hardball opposite Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. Matthews was not the Matthews he was last week, when he was taking on the Republicans for their B.S. on John McCain's lies.
Here's what Pence said at the beginning of his remarks about the privatization of social security:
As this bailout suggests, there are a lot of people in Washington, D.C. who have given up on markets, that think the government ought to be coming in, and taking the potential to fail out of the marketplace, but most Americans know this nation is the strongest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world because we have a free market, and as we develop this bailout plan or any other future reforms in any area, Chris, we have to do so in a way that doesn't put the burden on taxpayers and that also reaffirms our belief and commitment in the dynamic potential of the american free market.
He goes on to tie the words "George Bush and the liberals" later in his remarks. Here's the link.
But I'm mystified by his comments. I mean, WTF? "The potential to fail" is what would have doomed retirement accounts if it had been allowed to play out over time. If AIG had been allowed to fail, Sallie Mae and Freddie Mac had been allowed to fail, lots of pensioners would have been wailing.
What is he talking about? Again, this whole myth of the free market is propagated like that's what's going to solve the problem.
Listen to this and tell me if this makes any sense whatsoever:
as we develop this bailout plan or any other future reforms in any area, Chris, we have to do so in a way that doesn't put the burden on taxpayers and that also reaffirms our belief and commitment in the dynamic potential of the American free market.
Excuse me? The whole point of the bailout is to put the burden on taxpayers. The last month has been a complete repudiation of the "free market" in b.s. paper shuffling.
How does this man get on TV? Someone explain to me what he's thinking.