Baltimore Sun: We're All Socialists Now
Excellent commentary from the Baltimore Sun.
I'm back off the road now and trying to catch up. Have some excellent stuff to post. Stay tuned. Here's an excerpt from the editorial.
"Like it or not, we're all socialists now. You can thank those free-market conservatives and their deregulatory idol, George W. Bush, for that. Conservatives love to wield the word socialism like"
Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=71355
I'm back off the road now and trying to catch up. Have some excellent stuff to post. Stay tuned. Here's an excerpt from the editorial.
"Like it or not, we're all socialists now. You can thank those free-market conservatives and their deregulatory idol, George W. Bush, for that. Conservatives love to wield the word socialism like"
Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=71355
Welcome back, Larry.
Some wishful thinking here: I wish our national leaders, Republican and Democrat, could put aside the partisan bickering and finger-pointing long enough to actually find a viable solution to the current financial situation.
That's probably too much to ask. After all, it is election season, and the ones in power want to stay in, and the ones out of power want to get in. And then there are the special interests to protect and the supporters to satisfy and the previous statements and policies to justify and the power to maintain. Where is the average American, the taxpayer, in this mess? Mostly ignored or taken for granted. We will become important only on future April 15's.
My personal opinion is that something needs to be done to boost the financial system, but $700 billion to the Treasury with no strings attached is insanity.
Maybe we can avoid some of the political finger-pointing by reviewing how we got to where we are today. Kiplinger's wrote about the history.
http://www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/2008/09/how_the_financial_crisis_started.html
Just my opinion.
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Jim,
Great comment. I strongly recommend everyone read the article at the link you provide.
We as individual taxpayers and voters have become irrelevant to this process because we have allowed ourselves to become that way. We have tolerated outdated systems without demanding change.
Because we as individuals would not provide the funding the existing electoral system demanded for candidates the candidates went where the money was. Where the money was was with the political donor class, as described by David Cay Johnston in Free Lunch and Perfectly Legal. Taking money from the political donor class made our elected representatives vulnerable to the demands of the class.
In the process, we lost the fundamentals of what representation should be all about, IMHO. Representation should be about balancing the interests of all the competing players and refereeing between them. Representation should not be about doing favors for those who fund your campaigns.
Like you say, just my opinon of thoughts we may want to consider as we go forward.
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