Money for War and Company Bailouts OK, Healthcare, Schools, Middle Class, NOT OK.

[heydude]

No one complained THIS MUCH about money and budgets when we were starting new wars with money we did not have, bailing out companies that were "too big to fail," or giving people with boat loads of money huge TAX CUTS.

But if you want to keep teacher pay/benefits from being cut or give more people access to healhcare, then all of a sudden we are incorrectly borrowing money that we do not have or attempting to tax the rich meanly??????

[Alan]

How do you deal with the mounting entitlement issues?

[bae]

No one complained THIS MUCH about money and budgets when we were starting new wars with money we did not have, bailing out companies that were "too big to fail,"


I think you'll find plenty of people who were complaining loudly, if you look at the record.

[ApatheticNoMore]

No one complained THIS MUCH about money and budgets when we were starting new wars with money we did not have, bailing out companies that were "too big to fail," or giving people with boat loads of money huge TAX CUT

But if you want to keep teacher pay/benefits from being cut or give more people access to healhcare, then all of a sudden we are incorrectly borrowing money that we do not have or attempting to tax the rich meanly??????

Hear, hear!! I mean look, it's not the case we can go on spending without facing crisis (at least not without serious tax increases and instead we extend existing tax rates).

But let's take a few steps back for context. Because context truly is everything. How many billions and trillions did the bankers get? Well there's TARP, but TARP may be paid back all but $25 billion (although that $25 billion alone would cover 1/4th of what the Republicans want to cut at their most um cutting). But TARP is very far from the total of the banker bailouts! How much did the Federal Reserve bail out the bankers? That's the real question. How much will ever be paid back? How many toxic assets were absorbed and good cash given out in return? How much even of what is paid back was used for profiteering (borrowing cheaply and then buying treasuries - the safest profit scheme is the whole world, but you have to already be rich and connected! And a profit scheme whose cost in interest will probably be made up for by cuts to social programs and increased taxes). How much did all these companies that were bailed profit when times were good from their own utterly brain dead risk taking (I'm not talking legitimately earned profit here obviously), only to take no losses when times are bad? (oh but the teachers take loses when times are bad).

US Fed lent $3.3tn to multinationals, billionaires and foreign banks:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/02/us-federal-reserve-bailouts-multinationals

So the rich banksters get free money to be invested in order to make them richer, while the ordinary people have no access to this? Yes. Why does income inequality keep growing? I don't know it's a total mystery (sarcasm). Must have something to do with people being innately unequal (haha, well let's just total up the profit on naked graft first umkay, to say nothing of partly clothed graft :)). They profit in good times, the excessive profit entirely due to excessive risk, the most boneheaded risks ever, and then they actually assume no risk at all and get bailed and possibly profit from the bailout itself, when times are bad? Yes.

It's not the case that entitlement spending would pose no problems whatsoever if we didn't have any wars or banker bailouts, it's just the really really tight corner we've backed ourselves into now, would not be nearly so tight without it.

Meanwhile these super rich even in the cases where their wealth is directly due to government policies (fed bail outs etc.) don't need social services. It's the rest of the people who worry "I wonder if I'll get unemployment if I'm unemployed, I wonder if the next generation is getting even the rudiments of education" (I mean never mind competing internationally, will these kids even be good for anything should a new post peak oil world appear, or will they even be good for a revolution? :) non-violent of course).

[Zigzagman]

I think you'll find plenty of people who were complaining loudly, if you look at the record.

Yes, their were lots of people against the bailouts, the wars, and even more for a true public option for healthcare but as usual those voices were ignored and marginalized.

Iraq and Afganistan -, we were mislead into war by our President and his cronies. We have now created a worldwide war based upon ideology which seems to be accepted by the masses. I fear this will only end when we run our of dollars.

Bailouts - This was again a "middle of the night" decision by the President and his cronies as something that would keep out financial system from collapsing. No time to think or debate.

Tax cuts - political charade by both parties - it's not their money and they know that few will complain if they get more money.

Healthcare, schools, middle class - Our society perpetuates a class system that pits citizen against citizen with the idea of "I'm OK, so you should be too".

I personally think our government reflects our society - which is a pretty sad situation these days. You only have to look back to 1980 to see the beginnings of these attitudes. We have lived with 30 years if class warfare by those in power (government and corporations).

Peace

[peggy]

Yes, their were lots of people against the bailouts, the wars, and even more for a true public option for healthcare but as usual those voices were ignored and marginalized.

Iraq and Afganistan -, we were mislead into war by our President and his cronies. We have now created a worldwide war based upon ideology which seems to be accepted by the masses. I fear this will only end when we run our of dollars.

Bailouts - This was again a "middle of the night" decision by the President and his cronies as something that would keep out financial system from collapsing. No time to think or debate.

Tax cuts - political charade by both parties - it's not their money and they know that few will complain if they get more money.

Healthcare, schools, middle class - Our society perpetuates a class system that pits citizen against citizen with the idea of "I'm OK, so you should be too".

I personally think our government reflects our society - which is a pretty sad situation these days. You only have to look back to 1980 to see the beginnings of these attitudes. We have lived with 30 years if class warfare by those in power (government and corporations).

Peace

Thank you Ronald Reagan.