-500 billion in its budget this year and is straddled with a mind-boggling 9 trillion in National Debt. We borrow from anyone who will loan us money, we see our long-standing institutions purchased by foreign companies, we have lost our ability to make anything. We have become a third world country.
Now we are going to bail out Wall Street. My head is spinning so fast I don't know which way is up. I really do believe I am Alice and I've gone through the looking glass. I have some understanding of how we got here, which probably makes it worse.
In 1953 the modern conservative movement was coalesced in a book by Russell Kirk, The Conservative Mind. From this sprang Willian F. Buckley's publication, The National Review, giving the conservative movement within the country a nationally distributed voice. This in turn lead to the rise of Barry Goldwater, a Senator from Arizona. He was seen as a viable challenge to JFK in the 1964 election. JFK was assassinated in Nov. of 1963, ensuring that Goldwater did not have a chance at the presidency in 1964. But, he helped build a movement that became a tidal wave by the time Ronald Reagan emerged. Reagan gave a nationally televised speech in favor of Goldwater in the waning days of the 1964 election, which propelled him to national prominence overnight and eventually the governorship of California. It was during the start of his first term as governor that the plan was formulated to run him as president. The conservatives were not happy with Gerald Ford, nor any of the moderate Republicans and were waiting for the time, which came after Jimmy Carter's troubled presidency.
To digress, after the Goldwater defeat the conservatives devised a long-term plan to gain the support of the people who had traditionally voted Democratic, the working class or blue-collar worker. This is a group that had voted concerning their own financial well-being and they were slowly but consistently being turned. Irrelevant social issues began to be substituted for meat and potato issues. This early plan included the funding of conservative think tanks, such as the Heritage Foundation, to have a funding vehicle for the movement. For example, the Heritage Foundation bank rolled the Rush Limbaugh radio show for several years until he had time to seep into the public conscious and then gain support from advertisers. Without this funding agent the show would have been off the air within a year.
So, 1980, Ronald Reagan wins by a landslide, with the help of the so-called 'Reagan Democrats'. Where am I going with this? From the very moment the New Deal came into place the conservatives have vowed to undo it. There should not be any involvement of government in peoples lives, there should not be any government funded social programs and the big one is Social Security. It has been on the radar screen from the start. Free marketeers, personal responsibility, absolutely they believe in government staying out of the way of business. Business knows what is best and will correct itself. Ronald Reagan put the ball into motion, G. H. W. Bush continued the course, and alas, so did Bill Clinton. So called free market policies went on steroids during the G. W. Bush administration, resulting in the mess we now face. The irony is, free marketeers are now wanting and will get, a massive amount of money, government money (our money) to bail out investment bankers who created convoluted schemes for the purpose of their incredible enrichment. So we have free market profits and socialized losses. And anti-government types keeping a straight face as they bludgeon us into submission with, once more, fear.
Bear Sterns is a done deal. We now own 80% of AIG and now there will be, minimally, another 700 billion for further bail outs. Anyone consider where all of this cash is coming from? Are we giving consideration the the ever-shrinking value of the dollar because of the wild use of capital which we don't have? Give any thought to the world market deciding to trade in Euros as opposed to dollars and what that will mean. As I said, we don't make anything here anymore, we import our goods, which will become ever more expensive as our dollar deteriorates. Commodities always rise in cost as the dollar devalues, i.e oil and corn, grains.
So, do you feel safe now?
2 comments:
Oh Sandra,
Thanks for this post. How sad really. I cannot even begin to enter into an informed discussion about this type of politics as I feel my knowledge in this area is seriously lacking. I enjoyed so much reading your very concise and well written analysis of the situation. I think the insatiable greed of the top executives and politicians of our country must be curbed but it seems to be an outgrowth of the way that our society is set up. I mean to say that the push to 'succeed' (whatever that means) has pushed these men outside the walls of ethical thought and they are blind to the devastation that their actions are bringing about. I read Alex de' Tocqueville's (sp? sorry it is early and I don't have the article nearby : ) article 'Why Americans are often so Restless' last night and it really had some interesting observations about the unhappiness and
general striving without end for 'ultimate and consumate' success that our society incubates. Of course, I do not agree with him 100% but his observations were very interesting in light of current circumstances. Once again, thanks for your post and quotes : )
Ashley
Ashley,
Tocqueville was mandatory reading when I was in Junior High, so I guess that ex[plains some of the problems the country has, as in most people younger than me don't even know who he was.
Greed is another way to control the populace. Get more, then you need more, so you work more and then you are ours. Another way it controls is a great example my husband told me about this morning. He plays tennis on Thursday evenings and his group go to a local pub afterward. The server has waited on them for several years so they all have a familiar relationship. She is 28, married and has two children. Her husband has a lower-wage job. She said she will vote for John McCain because Obama will raise her taxes. When it was explained to her that her taxes would not go up, she jumped to the next place that is so common to go. I may have a million dollars some day and I don't want to pay high taxes on it. My husband told her to worry about that when it happens. This is a deeply embedded mindset that is a part of the 40 year plan.
I don't know what is the right thing to do, but I do know we have been lead down the 'emergency' path before and it got us an occupation of Iraq and a Patriot Act, so I know the first thing that should be done is to slow down and get more information. We don't have the money for this and it needs to be carefully vetted before any consideration is given to the plan. The short history shows it could as easily be a scheme as a legitimate plan.
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