Good morning, Netizens...

Have you ever had part of a week, a few measly days, that you hoped would end soon? Having been out sick for several days with a variant of the 24 hour flu, I returned to the fray just in time to turn on the television and listening to President George W. Bush state what I thought was the obvious, that America's economy is on the ropes. Duh. I hear America getting angry these days whenever someone mentions the economy, and the anger tinged with fear doesn't seem to come from just one side of the political aisle or the other. Everyone who at least has a vague inkling of the hazards we face are scared half out of their wits.

President Bush said Wednesday that lawmakers risk a cascade of wiped-out retirement savings, rising home foreclosures, lost jobs and closed businesses if they fail to act on a massive financial rescue plan. "Our entire economy is in danger," he said.
"Without immediate action by Congress, American could slip into a financial panic and a distressing scenario would unfold," Bush said in a 12-minute prime-time address delivered from the White House East Room that he hoped would help rescue his tough-sell bailout package. "Ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession."
Said Bush: "We must not let this happen."
(Source AP)

I think makes me maddest is to think that the people who have benefited most from the culture of deregulation and hands-off government that are supposed to be the watchwords of the Republican Party will be the recipients of one of the greatest disbursements of government largess in history if the bailout plan is allowed to proceed. The banks, mortgage lenders and other fat cats are actually going to profit from the government's largess while the rest of the people can go spit. Bush said his "natural instinct is to oppose government intervention," but it is precisely the lack of government regulation of the financial industry that got us here.

What really makes me even more angry is that, in the face of wholesale defections by Republican members of the House and Senate, Bush continued to try and justify the Paulsen plan he insists will get us out of our current economic morass without creating a bigger mess than we already have.

We need another plan.

Dave

---

---