"More than a decade ago, a woman you're likely never to have heard of, Brooksley Born, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission-- a federal agency that regulates options and futures trading--was the oracle whose warnings about the dangerous boom in derivatives trading just might have averted the calamitous bust now engulfing the US and global markets. Instead she was met with scorn, condescension and outright anger by former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and his deputy Lawrence Summers. In fact, Greenspan, the man some affectionately called "The Oracle," spent his political capital cheerleading these disastrous financial instruments."
I had always been a fan of Greenspan before this catastrophe happened. I even bought and read his book. But it has become apparent now that Greenspan, Summers and Rubin, whom I also admired, embraced the policies that got us into this present mess.
Read the complete story here.
Brookley Born a woman whose wisdom was derided and scorned seemed to be right on all along.
As The Nation said," "Break the Glass" was the code-name high-level Treasury Department figures gave the $700 billion bailout; it was to be used only as a last- resort measure.
Now millions have been sprayed and damaged by broken glass."
Friday, October 10, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Another New Deal
How about "health security"--free health care for all, administered by the government, paid for from our Treasury, bypassing the insurance companies and the other privateers of the health industry. All that will take more than $700 billion. But the money is there: in the $600 billion for the military budget, once we decide we will not be a war making nation anymore, and in the bloated bank accounts of the super rich, once we bring them down to ordinary-rich size by taxing vigorously their income and their wealth. Other Nations do it. In fact, all other first world nations have free health care for their citizens. All but us.
As far as big government helping with these huge projects is concerned...government has helped out big business for years. Thank of the Saving and Loan bailout. Now think of Chrysler's huge bailout. Those are just two of dozens and dozens that we taxpayers have had to bail out over the years. If you want more examples, I can give them. Let's face a historical truth: we have never had a free market. We have always had government intervention in the economy, and indeed that intervention has been welcomed by the captains of finance and industry.
What we need now is another New Deal jobs program to get our roads, bridges and infrastructure back in first rate condition again. Now that jobs are dropping like flies, why not start up another WPA and CCC and let those who want to work go back to work. Then they can make their mortgage payments.
As far as big government helping with these huge projects is concerned...government has helped out big business for years. Thank of the Saving and Loan bailout. Now think of Chrysler's huge bailout. Those are just two of dozens and dozens that we taxpayers have had to bail out over the years. If you want more examples, I can give them. Let's face a historical truth: we have never had a free market. We have always had government intervention in the economy, and indeed that intervention has been welcomed by the captains of finance and industry.
What we need now is another New Deal jobs program to get our roads, bridges and infrastructure back in first rate condition again. Now that jobs are dropping like flies, why not start up another WPA and CCC and let those who want to work go back to work. Then they can make their mortgage payments.
The Debate..Two Days Later
I don't believe McCain did well with the town hall debate. He was full of platitudes and misinformation. FactCheck will be sending out lots of e-mails to correct his claims. The only thing he came up with that was new and interesting was the refinancing of mortgages for ordinary folks and that idea came from two or three Republican economists this week.
Obama , on the other hand, had some well thought out answers with very few platitudes. The balance in the past five days has tipped to Senator Obama and this debate cinched it. Unless the country's unspoken but still very present racism manages to defeat him, he has this election won.
As far as the $700,000,000,000 that we spend on foreign oil is concerned that McCain insists funds terrorism, that is baloney. Canada and Mexico are our major sources of oil and neither of those countries are terrorist countries. McCain tries to play the fear card every chance he gets. He probably thinks it worked for Bush so in desperation he will give it the last ditch try.
On the question about the fastest way out of our economic mess is concerned, Obama put his finger right on the problem...deregulation, deregulation, deregulation. And, unfortunately for McCain, he has called himself the deregulator. The only way the country will get back on track economically is for some regulation to be re instituted. Capitalism is greed driven and this economic crisis has proven that for sure. The recent investigations this week have proven that if there was any doubt beforehand. As soon as AIG was bailed out with that $85,000,000,000,000 bailout, their CEO's took a $400,000 junket vacation. Talk about irresponsibility! We should demand the money be returned!
Obama made a good point when he said when Bush came into the presidency eight years ago, the country had a balanced budget with a huge surplus. Now we have a ten trillion dollar deficit for the next president and our grandchildren to face.
McCain sounded very ignorant when he said he could tackle all three other huge problems the country is facing now at the same time....the entitlements (social security and Medicare) and the energy crisis, as well as health insurance. McCain said it would not be that hard to fix social security. He didn't say how he would do that easy task. He did admit that fixing Medicare would be harder.
Obama sounded very cool when he said he would tackle the energy crisis first, then health care and last of all the entitlement programs. He admitted he could not get it all done in his first term.
When both candidates were asked what sacrifices they would ask of the American people, McCain dropped the ball altogether. He suggested he would freeze all unnecessary government spending, (except veterans affairs) eliminate earmarks and cut unnecessary defense spending. Is that asking for sacrifices from the American people? Doesn't the man know what sacrifice is? During the second world war, we were rationed for gasoline, sugar, rubber of all kinds, ...we actually did sacrifice for the war effort. The American people anymore just want everything they see advertised and are not interested in personal sacrifice. They'd rather let others do the sacrificing. ..like those young men and women in the flag covered caskets that the Bush administration won't allow to be filmed.
Obama , on the other hand, said we would all have to watch how we used energy and stop being wasteful. He would provide incentives for folks to use green efficient energy, buy battery driven autos, use wind, solar and clean coal for energy. I felt neither really rose to the occasion. Possibly they remembered what happened when Jimmy Carter suggested that we should become a more frugal people and make personal sacrifices.
McCain often repeats the Reagan philosophy in stating that the government is the problem, not the solution. He ignores the fact that Reagan increased the size of the federal government more than any of his predecessors and instituted the largest tax increase in history.
McCain was snapish and rude and referred to Obama as "that one" on one occasion. Probably he couldn't remember Obama's name. I am 72 and I certainly know how that feels. But people don't like McCain, don't trust him, and when the guy no one likes attacks, they like him even less. The snap polls prove Obama came out way ahead with this debate.
Obama , on the other hand, had some well thought out answers with very few platitudes. The balance in the past five days has tipped to Senator Obama and this debate cinched it. Unless the country's unspoken but still very present racism manages to defeat him, he has this election won.
As far as the $700,000,000,000 that we spend on foreign oil is concerned that McCain insists funds terrorism, that is baloney. Canada and Mexico are our major sources of oil and neither of those countries are terrorist countries. McCain tries to play the fear card every chance he gets. He probably thinks it worked for Bush so in desperation he will give it the last ditch try.
On the question about the fastest way out of our economic mess is concerned, Obama put his finger right on the problem...deregulation, deregulation, deregulation. And, unfortunately for McCain, he has called himself the deregulator. The only way the country will get back on track economically is for some regulation to be re instituted. Capitalism is greed driven and this economic crisis has proven that for sure. The recent investigations this week have proven that if there was any doubt beforehand. As soon as AIG was bailed out with that $85,000,000,000,000 bailout, their CEO's took a $400,000 junket vacation. Talk about irresponsibility! We should demand the money be returned!
Obama made a good point when he said when Bush came into the presidency eight years ago, the country had a balanced budget with a huge surplus. Now we have a ten trillion dollar deficit for the next president and our grandchildren to face.
McCain sounded very ignorant when he said he could tackle all three other huge problems the country is facing now at the same time....the entitlements (social security and Medicare) and the energy crisis, as well as health insurance. McCain said it would not be that hard to fix social security. He didn't say how he would do that easy task. He did admit that fixing Medicare would be harder.
Obama sounded very cool when he said he would tackle the energy crisis first, then health care and last of all the entitlement programs. He admitted he could not get it all done in his first term.
When both candidates were asked what sacrifices they would ask of the American people, McCain dropped the ball altogether. He suggested he would freeze all unnecessary government spending, (except veterans affairs) eliminate earmarks and cut unnecessary defense spending. Is that asking for sacrifices from the American people? Doesn't the man know what sacrifice is? During the second world war, we were rationed for gasoline, sugar, rubber of all kinds, ...we actually did sacrifice for the war effort. The American people anymore just want everything they see advertised and are not interested in personal sacrifice. They'd rather let others do the sacrificing. ..like those young men and women in the flag covered caskets that the Bush administration won't allow to be filmed.
Obama , on the other hand, said we would all have to watch how we used energy and stop being wasteful. He would provide incentives for folks to use green efficient energy, buy battery driven autos, use wind, solar and clean coal for energy. I felt neither really rose to the occasion. Possibly they remembered what happened when Jimmy Carter suggested that we should become a more frugal people and make personal sacrifices.
McCain often repeats the Reagan philosophy in stating that the government is the problem, not the solution. He ignores the fact that Reagan increased the size of the federal government more than any of his predecessors and instituted the largest tax increase in history.
McCain was snapish and rude and referred to Obama as "that one" on one occasion. Probably he couldn't remember Obama's name. I am 72 and I certainly know how that feels. But people don't like McCain, don't trust him, and when the guy no one likes attacks, they like him even less. The snap polls prove Obama came out way ahead with this debate.
Wednesday-Another of Those Days
This has been another of those days. This morning I went to Independence and got my hair done then went to eat breakfast with my friend, Juanita (the one who recently lost her daughter). After that, I went to the Hallmark Shop and got her a birthday card. She will be 87 on Saturday. I went to Nanny La Rose (a local clothing store ) and bought a gift certificate to put in her card.
After that, I went to Ministerial Association meeting at the Mercy Hospital conference room. I got out at 1:00 and drove back to Coffeyville where I attended a class reunion planning meeting. I left there at 3:30 and came home to type up my notes and make some calls to arrange for some tours for my classmates who will be here October 17 - 18. After that, we drove over to Caney, Kansas to eat dinner. I was too tired to cook.
After dinner I came home and proceeded to do my "we missed you at church on Sunday" notes. It's 7:30 and I just finished those. Now I am blogging and after I finish here, I will go take my bath and put my PJs on.
I have nothing on the schedule tomorrow.
Friday, our son and his girlfriend will be coming in and we will meet this latest one. He thinks she may become "Mrs. Miller" soon. We will see. Saturday evening we have a class reunion banquet for my husband's class and our son and his friend will go visit his sister that evening.
Sunday, we will all go to church and later that evening all of us will go to the "Living the Questions" group They are having a dinner that night before the group meeting.
Next week will be a zoo so I had better enjoy a quiet day or two while I can.
Update:
Instead of watching "nothing" TV, I stayed up until 11:00 and worked on my sermon for this Sunday. My daughter traded Sunday sermon dates with me. She will take the 19th, the weekend of my class reunion.
After that, I went to Ministerial Association meeting at the Mercy Hospital conference room. I got out at 1:00 and drove back to Coffeyville where I attended a class reunion planning meeting. I left there at 3:30 and came home to type up my notes and make some calls to arrange for some tours for my classmates who will be here October 17 - 18. After that, we drove over to Caney, Kansas to eat dinner. I was too tired to cook.
After dinner I came home and proceeded to do my "we missed you at church on Sunday" notes. It's 7:30 and I just finished those. Now I am blogging and after I finish here, I will go take my bath and put my PJs on.
I have nothing on the schedule tomorrow.
Friday, our son and his girlfriend will be coming in and we will meet this latest one. He thinks she may become "Mrs. Miller" soon. We will see. Saturday evening we have a class reunion banquet for my husband's class and our son and his friend will go visit his sister that evening.
Sunday, we will all go to church and later that evening all of us will go to the "Living the Questions" group They are having a dinner that night before the group meeting.
Next week will be a zoo so I had better enjoy a quiet day or two while I can.
Update:
Instead of watching "nothing" TV, I stayed up until 11:00 and worked on my sermon for this Sunday. My daughter traded Sunday sermon dates with me. She will take the 19th, the weekend of my class reunion.
Something Alarming
I just heard from a friend of mine whose husband is in the military and with the Northern Command in Alaska. She told me something new is going on in the country concerning the situation:
"Right now there is a combat ready unit that can be deployed WITHIN the
Times are getting quite scary and our government and media are not telling us the truth.
And if the military is telling its own to do that, but is not telling the general public then I think I would be calling my congressman and asking what is going on?
It is not the National Guard. It is a new combat unit that was created by the Army under orders Northern Command."
I did a search and found that she is correct. The story is on Alternet here:
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The Town Hall Debate
I don't believe McCain did well tonight. He was full of platitudes and misinformation. FactCheck will be sending out lots of e-mails tonight and tomorrow. The only thing he came up with that was new and interesting was the refinancing of mortgages for ordinary folks and that idea came from two or three Republican economists.
Obama , on the other hand, had some real well thought out answers with very few platitudes. The balance in the past five days has tipped to Senator Obama and tonight cinched it. Unless the country's racism manages to defeat him, he has this election won.
As far as the $700,000,000,000 that we spend on foreign oil is concerned that McCain insists funds terrorism, that is baloney. Canada and Mexico are our major sources of oil and neither of those countries are terrorist countries. McCain tries to play the fear card every chance he gets. He probably thinks it worked for Bush so in desperation he will give it the last ditch try.
On the question about the fastest way out of our economic mess is concerned, Obama put his finger right on the problem...deregulation, deregulation, deregulation. And, unfortunately for McCain, he has called himself the deregulator. The only way the country will get back on track economically is for some regulation to be re instituted. Capitalism is greed driven and this crisis has proven that for sure. The recent investigations this week have proven that if there was any doubt beforehand. As soon as AIG was bailed out with that $85,000,000,000,000 bailout, their CEO's took a $400,000 junket vacation. Talk about irresponsibility! We should demand the money be returned!
Obama made a good point when he said when Bush came into the presidency eight years ago, the country had a balanced budget with a huge surplus. Now we have a ten trillion dollar deficit for the next president and our grandchildren to face. That's double what it was.
McCain sounded very ignorant when he said he could tackle all three other huge problems the country is facing now at the same time....the entitlements (social security and Medicare) and the energy crisis, as well as health insurance. McCain said it would not be that hard to fix social security. He didn't say how he would do that easy task. He did admit that fixing Medicare would be harder.
Obama sounded very cool when he said he would tackle the energy crisis first, then health care and last of all the entitlement programs. He admitted he could not get it all done in his first term.
When both candidates were asked what sacrifices they would ask of the American people, McCain dropped the ball altogether. He suggested he would freeze all unnecessary government spending, (except veterans affairs) eliminate earmarks and cut unnecessary defense spending. Is that asking for sacrifices from the American people? Doesn't the man know what sacrifice is? During the second world war, we were rationed for gasoline, sugar, rubber of all kinds, ...we actually did sacrifice for the war effort. The American people anymore just want everything they see advertised and are not interested in personal sacrifice. They'd rather let others do the sacrificing. ..like those young men and women in the flag covered caskets that the Bush administration won't allow to be filmed.
Obama , on the other hand, said we would all have to watch how we used energy and stop being wasteful. He would provide incentives for folks to use green efficient energy, buy battery driven autos, use wind, solar and clean coal for energy. I felt neither really rose to the occasion. Possibly they remembered what happened when Jimmy Carter suggested that we should become a more frugal people and make personal sacrifices.
McCain often repeats the Reagan philosophy in stating that the government is the problem, not the solution. He ignores the fact that Reagan increased the size of the federal government more than any of his predecessors and instituted the largest tax increase in history.
McCain was snapish and rude and referred to Obama as "that one" on one occasion. People don't like McCain, don't trust him, and when the guy no one likes attacks, they like him even less. The snap polls prove Obama came out way ahead tonight.
Obama , on the other hand, had some real well thought out answers with very few platitudes. The balance in the past five days has tipped to Senator Obama and tonight cinched it. Unless the country's racism manages to defeat him, he has this election won.
As far as the $700,000,000,000 that we spend on foreign oil is concerned that McCain insists funds terrorism, that is baloney. Canada and Mexico are our major sources of oil and neither of those countries are terrorist countries. McCain tries to play the fear card every chance he gets. He probably thinks it worked for Bush so in desperation he will give it the last ditch try.
On the question about the fastest way out of our economic mess is concerned, Obama put his finger right on the problem...deregulation, deregulation, deregulation. And, unfortunately for McCain, he has called himself the deregulator. The only way the country will get back on track economically is for some regulation to be re instituted. Capitalism is greed driven and this crisis has proven that for sure. The recent investigations this week have proven that if there was any doubt beforehand. As soon as AIG was bailed out with that $85,000,000,000,000 bailout, their CEO's took a $400,000 junket vacation. Talk about irresponsibility! We should demand the money be returned!
Obama made a good point when he said when Bush came into the presidency eight years ago, the country had a balanced budget with a huge surplus. Now we have a ten trillion dollar deficit for the next president and our grandchildren to face. That's double what it was.
McCain sounded very ignorant when he said he could tackle all three other huge problems the country is facing now at the same time....the entitlements (social security and Medicare) and the energy crisis, as well as health insurance. McCain said it would not be that hard to fix social security. He didn't say how he would do that easy task. He did admit that fixing Medicare would be harder.
Obama sounded very cool when he said he would tackle the energy crisis first, then health care and last of all the entitlement programs. He admitted he could not get it all done in his first term.
When both candidates were asked what sacrifices they would ask of the American people, McCain dropped the ball altogether. He suggested he would freeze all unnecessary government spending, (except veterans affairs) eliminate earmarks and cut unnecessary defense spending. Is that asking for sacrifices from the American people? Doesn't the man know what sacrifice is? During the second world war, we were rationed for gasoline, sugar, rubber of all kinds, ...we actually did sacrifice for the war effort. The American people anymore just want everything they see advertised and are not interested in personal sacrifice. They'd rather let others do the sacrificing. ..like those young men and women in the flag covered caskets that the Bush administration won't allow to be filmed.
Obama , on the other hand, said we would all have to watch how we used energy and stop being wasteful. He would provide incentives for folks to use green efficient energy, buy battery driven autos, use wind, solar and clean coal for energy. I felt neither really rose to the occasion. Possibly they remembered what happened when Jimmy Carter suggested that we should become a more frugal people and make personal sacrifices.
McCain often repeats the Reagan philosophy in stating that the government is the problem, not the solution. He ignores the fact that Reagan increased the size of the federal government more than any of his predecessors and instituted the largest tax increase in history.
McCain was snapish and rude and referred to Obama as "that one" on one occasion. People don't like McCain, don't trust him, and when the guy no one likes attacks, they like him even less. The snap polls prove Obama came out way ahead tonight.
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About Me
- Margie's Musings
- I'm an older woman who lost her long term husband May 24, 2010. I had a cat, Missy, who was fifteen and a half years old.......in December of 2018, I had to have her put to sleep. She got very sick and I couldn't stand to watch her suffer. I have five grandchildren...all grown now...and seven great grandchildren.