The Political Voices of Women

This is an interesting question. Are you better off than you were eight years ago? Do you know anyone who is? Just wondering. Let me know in comments.

So, the bailout was rejected, and the DOW tumbled 777 points.  Is it the end of the world as we know it? Let’s take a closer look at the bailout. What are the pros and cons? How did we get here? Who is to blame? And, most importantly…What do you think?

My personal (non financial expert) opinion:  If you don’t have much money, you probably haven’t lost much.  If you have a bunch of money, you might have lost a bunch.   Of course, as always, the middle class will be hurt the most from this crisis.  They are already struggling, and bailout or no bailout, the middle class stands to pay the greatest price.  But, that’s just my opinion, and I’m no financial expert.

Understanding the bailout…

How does this affect the presidential election?

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Just in case you missed it. Here is the skit with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, on Saturday Night Live…

Also see last weeks SNL Palin Clip

Here is a guest post from community member Anita S. Lane.  You can read more from Anita at her blog Unconventional Politics.

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Majority of Americans Don’t Want a Bailout and Are Willing to Suffer the Consequences!

Estimates reveal that the proposed $700 billion bailout plan will cost $2,333 for each person in America. For my family that means $13,998. Hec, I’ve got my own debt to pay down.

As it turns out, I’m not alone. Many Americans (about 1/3) are not inclined to support this bailout. Another third will consider voting for the bill only if it’s done right—and I fully understand.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and President Bush assert that if we don’t approve the bailout, and I paraphrase, “all hell will break loose.” And if it does? …

What I and most Americans want to know is whether this plan will serve as a temporary bandaid that just postpones the inevitable, or will it incorporate systemic policy changes that will help prevent a similar crisis in the future?

No New Crisis
Truthfully, many of us in America are pretty fed up and are willing to just let the whole thing burn. Most of us have already been burned. Middle and working class American families have been in a crisis for a while. Between rising gas, food and energy prices, depreciating housing values, layoffs and few raises to offset the cost of living increases, ordinary Americans have been looking for our own bailout plan, and it just doesn’t exist.

Now, the treasury and the President wants each American to dig a little deeper into our own bleak pockets and cough up $2,333 per person to rescue Wall Street—effectively increasing our record high national debt by almost an additional trillion dollars.

Treasury Secretary, I’m sorry to inform you, but we cannot afford a bailout of this magnitude. We simply don’t have it. There has to be another way. Keep thinking…

Debtor Nation
Increasing our current $10 trillion debt by another $700 billion just cannot be sound financial policy. Is it fair that a few folks on Wall Street could so detrimentally impact the masses? No. Should someone be held accountable? Sure, but the bottom line is, if we Americans are willing to take our chances and decide we aren’t willing to bailout Wall Street, then let it be our decision—you know, “we the people?…”

But what if Wall Street crumbles? Well, we’ll just have to take it and make some good ol’ American apple crumble. Americans know how to bounce back. We always do. If our paper house burns down. Little-by-little, we’ll just build it back up again. That’s old-school. That’s the American way. There simply are no short fixes and get-right-quick schemes when it comes to finances.

Sorry, King Paulson.

With all the McCain hoopla over the last two days, you may have missed the Sarah Palin interview…I know I did.  But, this is the woman that could literally be a heartbeat away from the presidency.  You need to see this.  Much of this interview is quite unbelievable.   You can watch the first two clips and see the full Palin interview, or see additional clips of her answers to specific questions.  And, just because we can all use a good laugh…If nothing else, check out the last video clip, it’s really funny.   Don’t forget to let me know what you think in comments.

See Full Palin Interview With Couric - Day One…

See Full Palin Interview With Couric - Day Two…

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What a crazy day in politics.  Here is a quick video roundup of how John McCain saved the economy today.  Oh, sorry…He didn’t really “save” the economy.  I’m not quite sure what he did to the economy today, or if he actually has suspended his campaign.  Let me know what you think.Doesn’t seem like McCain has suspended his campaign.

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Here is a guest post by community member Moi, she also blogs at Bloggg.

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Did you notice Dumbya’s eyes last night? Red. More beady than usual….but instead of idiocy, the characteristic smirk has a snicker behind it. And he seemed zoned out. Something is going on. It could be drugs, but I think it’s something else…..

Here’s the text of his speech from last night.

Outside of FEAR! and DANGER!, he is blaming the people for buying houses and things - not that he WANTED people to do this, ya know - for the problems the economy is having. That’s Delphi. Turn stuff around, blame it on the victim, and make it sound feasible. Delphi is what Hitler used. How many times have Dems compared the Bush administration to Hitler’s?

I keep mentioning Delphi lately in my posts. We parents of special needs kids know from Delphi. All politicians use it in some form, too, but I’ve never seen it used as much as I have this election. Obama’s used it, successfully, in the primary. Saul Alinsky, the guy who developed the Delphi technique, was the subject of Hillary Clinton’s thesis. So that makes the primary even more pathetic. But I digress….

What Fearless Brainless Leader didn’t explain to the American people was how the Fed is desperate because they are overextended, and China pretty much owns us. Their butts are in a sling, no matter what else is going on….and they are counting on the wimpiness of the Dems to bail them out.

Of course, there were no solutions in his speech that would benefit the American people, like paying off everyone’s credit cards and loans, or giving everyone in the country a million dollars and then requiring them to pay off their loans….which would be a lot less than them giving all that money to the institutions. Institutions, heh, that is a good name for them. That’s where the people who run these things belong…. But Heaven Forbid the Fed bail out real people, instead of real assholes.

The flip side of the coin? We’ve all joked at some time that Bush/Cheney would probably pull a martial law stunt, just so the Republicans could stay in office. It seems that that might not be such a joke.

Think about it. McCain suspending his campaign. When Hillary and Edwards suspended theirs, they basically quit. But - Is McCain not suspending, and just getting out of the way in preparation for a major move by the guy he supported 90% of the time? Is this our October Surprise?

Actually it’s probably more of a Dicktator Cheney move. Bush is too dumb for a move like this. People, in our zeal to return the pResidency to the Dems, and with Bush/Cheney keeping a low profile, we are not thinking about them. HOW many times have we all talked about this kind of thing?? We must never turn our back on scum. All these little things I am about to mention have happened in dribs and drabs. They’ve been easy to miss, or put aside. There is too much to truly be coincidence, especially with the timing….

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Here is the video of President Bush addresses the nation on the U.S. economic crisis and discusses plans to solve it…

Here is a guest post by community member Deb Della Piana from Turn Left.

[If you would like to be a guest blogger on The Political Voices of Women, just join our community, and start posting.]

It’s election season, and I’m not about to let up on the McCain-Palin ticket. If I put these two at the larval stage, I’m giving them too much credit. To show that I’m not just a one-issue voter when it comes to McCain and Palin, the issue of women’s rights will not play into the article (but only this one time). I’ve done that article before, and there are other reasons I’d never vote for this ticket.

We already have people in government who believe they are above the law (one resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue right now) and it looks like McCain would like to add one more. Initially, Sarah Palin said she would cooperate voluntarily with the ongoing abuse of power investigation against her. Suddenly, the Alaska legislators are under pressure to wait until after the election to continue the investigation, and her husband is now going to ignore the subpoena he has received. I wonder if he’s getting pointers from campaign advisor Karl Rove about how best to ignore a subpoena and get away with it. It doesn’t take much in America these days, particularly if you’re an elected official. We’ve lowered the bar here to the point where we should all be doing the limbo.

McCain campaign spokesman Ed O’Callaghan is falsely accusing the supporters of Barack Obama of controlling the investigation. The fact is that the investigation was recommended prior to Palin’s selection by a bi-partisan Legislative Council, the vast majority of whom were Alaska Republicans. There’s no way this investigation should be delayed until after the election. If McCain chose this woman as a running mate with full knowledge of the accusations against her (and he says he knew from the beginning), then let the chips fall where they may.

McCain wants to distract, not inform. If he distracts, you may not learn that his plan is to privatize and cut Social Security approximately one percent per year, along the lines of the proposed Bush plan. Workers who retire ten years after the McCain plan is put in place would see a ten percent reduction in benefits from the very beginning.

Next on the McCain-Palin hit list is the nation’s health care system. Their plan would effectively dismantle the employer-based coverage that protects most American families by converting health care benefits into income on which employees would have to pay taxes. The idea is to force millions of Americans into the non-group market where costs are high and services are limited. Benefits that millions now have would be lost. This is what the Republicans call the ‘free market’ system, much like the one currently bringing down Wall Street at the taxpayers’ expense.

John McCain’s confusion about who’s who in the world continues to embarrass. This from a candidate supposedly superior to Barack Obama in the foreign policy field. When asked if he would commit to a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, McCain refused. Apparently, McCain thought Zapatero was a Latin American autocrat. Randy Scheunemann, McCain’s foreign policy advisor, denied it was yet another McCain gaffe, but rather an intentional policy position with regard to Spain. Why would McCain refuse to commit to a meeting with a Democratic NATO ally with 1,000 troops serving in Afghanistan? Either McCain is intent on hiding his confusion from the public or he is upset (as is President Bush) that Spain pulled its troops from Iraq in 2004. Someone should point out to both George Bush and John McCain that there sometimes are repercussions when other nations find they’ve been deliberately lied to.

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Dear Readers,

If the last few days have left you with the same feelings that you had during the run up to the Iraq War you’re definitely not alone.

Remember the WMDs that posed an imminent threat to America?

Remember the statements that implied that the Iraqi oil revenue was going to pay for the war?

Now the Bush Administration and The Fed are saying that we have a financial crisis that needs an immediate $700 billion infusion from the American taxpayer. Did you know that some of that money could be used to bail out foreign owned banks?

Within the next 24 hours, Congress is expected to make an historic choice in addressing America’s financial crisis:

Cut the Bush administration a $700 billion blank check for Wall Street
OR
demand sensible public checks and balances in the $700 billion bailout.

Well, before you let them cut that blank check think about this?

Remember the brave US service men and women who were sent to war in Afghanistan and Iraq without proper body armor.

Remember the appalling conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center.

Remember that the US embassy in Iraq which cost in excess of $600 million to build and is projected to have an annual operating cost of $1.2 billion.

Remember that President Bush vetoed a $35 billion expansion to the SCHIP program which would have provided health insurance to millions of America’s uninsured children. He said that we couldn’t afford it.

Remember the devastation caused by hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and now Ike. There are still parts of New Orleans’ 9th Ward as well as many parishes in Western Louisiana which have yet to have all of the debris removed.

Remember that five years after the worse blackout in US history, the energy grid is still “in dire straits“.

Americans, Get Over The Shock Already!

Are you going to let The Fed, the Bush Administration and Congress rush through a $700 billion dollar bailout of Wall Street and the banking industry when all of the aforementioned have put America and Americans last time after time after time after time?

Now, I’m not saying that nothing needs to be done to fix this broken economy. But are you going to let them rush to a bailout like they rushed to a war?

I just took action with the Campaign for America’s Future to weigh in for common sense solutions. I wanted to urge you to do the same. Please write an emergency letter to Congress now, and tell them: **No $700 Billion blank check to the Bush administration for Wall Street!**

Enough is Enough!

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