The Great Shakedown

It's been remarkably refreshing to see the power struggle unfolding in the Congress this week over the attempt to pass bailout legislation for the Wall Street robber-barons. Faced with a tidal wave of righteous indignation from voters in their districts enough principled Democrats, and two thirds of the Republican House caucus--who arguably were largely voting for the preservation of their own seats--spectacularly voted down on Monday the Paulson-Bush $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout boondoggle. Since last week the Capitol Hill switchboard and internet servers were being relentlessly hammered by irate Americans vowing to throw under the bus any Representative with the inclination to vote for this massive giveaway to the rich. For once the Congress actually expressed the will of the majority. What is it they call that, democracy?

It's been equally remarkable to watch the extent to which President Bush has been completely emasculated politically. One could not imagine a duck more lame than Bush the mallard. And what of other senior administration types, like Cheney and Rice? Completely invisible. No, it appears that King Henry Paulson is in charge these days. While the irrelevance of Dubya is fascinating, he should not feel alone, because almost equally impotent have been the Democratic Congressional leadership. There was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi trying to play the dutiful, mainstream, bipartisan pragmatist, and pass what was essentially the administration's bill. Why the Democrats would try to enact this weak, discredited, corrupt administration's proposal is almost beyond comprehension. Particularly in the face of strong condemnations of the plan from many mainstream economists. There was never any attempt by the House leadership to have hearings or a substantive debate on the many alternative proposals that had been presented in the independent media. Instead, Finance Committee chair Barney Frank obfuscated Paulson's three page fascist power grab with a smokescreen of almost meaningless, toothless conditions, and then argued they had put strong oversight and executive pay restrictions in the bill. Americans were not convinced, and neither were a significant fraction of Pelosi's own caucus.

But, with the bill defeated in the House it was predictable that the Wall Street apologists would look to the Senate, a veritable House of millionaires, for smoother sailing. And so, Wednesday evening, after a series of hysterical, sky-is-falling speeches predicting the coming of Armageddon, and, get this, the adding of $150 billion in additional provisions, mostly various tax breaks, because, go figure, the original bill was too fiscally conservative! the Senate dutifully passed the bill by a 74-25 margin. Also instrumental in passage of the bill has been the pathetic reporting in the mainstream media concerning opposition to the bailout. The overriding media narrative has been that any opponent of the bill must be either crazy, or un-patriotic, or both! There has been very little accurate reporting of the many alternatives to the Paulson give-away plan, and that, most interestingly, a consensus has emerged among many American economists that this bailout bill will not address the fundamental problems in the financial system. Particularly sad and frustrating was the sight of a fear-mongering Barack Obama, sounding very much like George W. Bush, scaring Americans into thinking that failure to pass THIS rancid bill would result in their financial and economic ruin, and usher in a long, painful and deep recession. Note to Obama, we are already in the midst of what will likely be a long and painful recession, and gifting irresponsible Wall Street financiers with $700 billion borrowed dollars is not likely to change that fact one iota. At a time when strong leadership is desperately needed; at a time when the Presidential front runner should be decisive, and side with the American people, all we get from Obama is the cautionary, equivocating, weakness all to evident in the Democratic Party. Make no mistake, John McCain has arguably been even worse, but the behavior of both candidates simply emphasizes that the two major parties have simply suffocated the democratic process in our country. Americans should persist in their opposition to this criminal shakedown of their childrens' futures and insist on Congressional action that actually addresses the root causes of the problem; principally the foreclosure crisis; and does so by making those responsible foot the bill.