This brings us to our absurd quote of the day that brought me out of hiatus. This gem comes from Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.), who hails from the conservative 8th District of Georgia- the fightin' 8th. To set up the irony of this quote, I need only cite to Rep. Marshall's own website, the title of which claims: "Jim Marshall: Representing the People of Georgia's 8th District". Source. Seriously, check the link, its in the title, in big, bold letters. So imagine my surprise when I'm reading through the WaPo's coverage (Source) of the bailout this morning and I see Rep. Marshall saying this:
I am willing to give up my seat over this.That's right, REPRESENTATIVE Marshall is willing to give up his seat to pass an incredibly unrepresentative piece of legislation that just happens to vastly extend the power of our federal government and enables our economy to continue down the road of becoming a full fledged Ponzi scheme, all because people (and by "people" I mean people in the Treasury Department and corporate America) got all freaked out because what is the equivalent of a large scale, corporate pay-day lending scheme stopped working. Gotta love it, folks!
6 comments:
We're screwed, Blue.
Oh, and WaPo's story has a pic of 4 of the most incompetent carbon based life forms on the planet.
You're right, Lester, these are difficult times. My greatest problem with the bailout is that it does not address the fundamental problems of our economy: (1) that, as a "service based" economy, we no longer produce anything; and (2) that the commercial paper market that is currently frozen is a really great idea for corporations and a really bad idea for populations.
As for your comment on the picture, I'm guessing you want to blame these economic times on the democrats that are currently "leading" the House and Senate. Well, in response I would say (1) that there is a policy lag of several years before legislation starts to have widespread effects on the economy; (2) a lot of this mess came about because of deregulation that was passed by Newt Gingrich's Contract with America Congress; and (3) while those four dems are certainly subject to the criticism of being incompetent, there's a whole long list of Republicans that are just as susceptible.
Glad something brought you out of retirement.
NVB: It just seems like there aren't a lot of people saying what I'm thinking about the economy, so I had to speak up (even if it is to the two or three people who read this thing, including my mom). Thanks for your support.
No, de-regulation did play a part, but so did dem kick backs and dem cronyism and the dem policy of "affordable housing" which apparently means today that you can buy a house that you can't afford.
Oh, you did hear that the former dem president, Bill Clinton, blamed this situation on dems in the congress who rejected his and republican regulation, right?
You can go back to 2004 when the only regulator went before a congress for more regulation of Freddie and Fannie. But don't take my word for it. See for your self.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL36nwCSYUM
Lester: Not sure which kickbacks and cronyisms you're talking about. As for "affordable housing", well, I have heard at least one person mention that as a cause. The more significant cause, though, has been deregulation because it was deregulation that directly lead to banks being able to leverage their portfolios at 70:1 and make loans to people they shouldn't have.
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