Another thought on the bailout

[johnlal]

One rule that I usually follow is: If the answer is "I don't know", then just say, "I don't know". A lot of American people would like to have an opinion on the bailout plan, and whether it's truly necessary. But to be truly honest, I don't know.

And that's where the government fails.

-George Bush has been repeatedly dishonest with the American people. He lied and spinned his rationale for war with Iraq. He allowed fake journalists into the White House Press Corps, and he paid journalists to promote his policies. He prepared fake news videos to be played on the networks as if they were real. "Catipulting the propaganda" was one of his full-time jobs. His spin, lies and distortions have led to government action costing the tax payers hundreds of billions of dollars. When President Bush says "trust me" with hundreds of billions of dollars, the first instinct is to disbelieve him.

-- George Bush's appointees-- President Bush's appointees have largely been incompetents. Many times he appoints officials who come from the very industries that they are now called upon to regulate. Quite often it turns out that loyalty to Bush is more of a consideration than expertise when giving out government jobs. Therefore, when a new and untested Fed Chairman and Treasury Secretary demand a trillion dollars with no oversight, the first thing that pops into the mind is "Heckuva Job, Brownie".

-- Congress- has been in the mode of writing blank checks for the president for 8 years, to the frustration of constituents who are helpless in stopping them. We actually changed the composition of Congress two years ago, only to have the new Democratic majority continue writing blank checks. Oh, and by the way, impeachment is off the table. So when Nancy Pelosi tells us that this bailout is absolutely necessary, it doesn't really carry a lot of weight with us. The value of a nation like America is the faith that is put into it by citizens and by those with whom we deal. Congress missed its opportunity to restore faith in America when it took impeachment off the table. If our economy collapses, it is in part a reflection of the faith we have in our government. If Congress had held the Administration accountable for the last 8 years, we might have had more faith in it when it said we were in a crisis.

-- Why so much? Why now?
Remember the Energy task force that Cheney held behind closed doors, exclusively with executives from the big energy companies? Or the giant no-bid contracts with the likes of Haliburton? The Bush administration has a track record of giving our tax dollars away to cronies, without accountability. How do we know this isn't more of the same?

-- Secrecy: The Bush Administration has been the most secretive administration in History. They have ignored subpoenas, they have destroyed public documents, they have sent communications on private e-mail accounts to circumvent public disclosure. It is only natural, then, that when a request for so much money comes from Bush, the taxpayers think "There's something he's not telling us".

-- Corruption: The Justice Department is being investigated for being run as a political hit squad.

Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, and administrative officials were involved in outing a covert CIA Agent in an act of political retaliation.

The Administration secretly collected data on every phone call made in the United States and conducted an illegal wiretapping program for several years before they were caught.

-- Contempt for government/ Rejection of Government's ability to address problems: The conservatives have a great contempt for government and it's ability to regulate business. Their approach to businsess is "hands off", and they hate "Big Government" or "Big Spending". Their often stated goal is to starve down the government to make it smaller. If government is inept at regulating free markets, then why do we need to make such an unprecedented big ticket bailout? Unless Bush is trying to bankrupt the Federal Government so that we're unable to continue some of the programs with which he objects.

Can we really be asked to believe that the administrations motives are pure when they ask for this much money?

He's the boy that cried wolf. Maybe the economy really needs a bailout. Maybe Bush is trying to reward his cronies before he leaves office. I could listen to our elected "leaders" explain this crisis till they're blue in the face. The bottom line is, "I don't know".