What parting gift does George Bush have for us now? Lest his successor not have enough destruction to clean up, now our president has given the American public the present of a $700 billion bailout to fund; thus ensuring the mortgaging of its children’s futures well into the foreseeable future. Today he urges Congress not to dilly-dally and fiddle with his Treasury Secretary’s plan that might undermine its “effectiveness”; instead it should presumably forge ahead without question, much as it was asked to do with regard to the invasion of Iraq and anything else the administration wanted, NOW. And of course, America has suffered the effects of his gun-slinging mentality.
Please let this be the last of this president’s helpfulness before he heads back into obscurity in Crawford. This nation cannot afford any more of his capricious actions. This latest proposal, authored and squired around town by his former Wall Street denizen Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, is decidedly free of stipulations that would require additional oversight of either the Treasury Department or of any of the financial institutions that these funds would bail out. Isn’t that how we found ourselves in this position in the first place? Is it really appropriate to reward the C.E.O.’s of these organizations with multi-million dollar payouts to walk away from their mismanagement of people’s life savings? And all this coming from the Republicans – using what they would label bad (read: lefty) economic policy if they were not doing it themselves.
Why should Congress allow this to happen on Bush’s terms, with no opportunity for discussion? As usual, the administration is preying on Americans’ fears to support rash action without taking the time to understand the consequences. First it threatened "Muslims who want to kill us" to justify unprecedented, Constitution-defying expansion of executive power, now the alarm is sounded that Wall Street will collapse, taking with it your home, your job and your savings – but not if you sign this blank check over to our Treasury Secretary! But this financial crisis didn’t turn up yesterday – weren’t there measures to have been taken months ago? Is the economy really going to collapse if Congress doesn’t pass this legislation immediately, without change?
It is criminal for George Bush to take such an enormous, partisan decision only 44 days before his successor is elected, when that action will have long-term, serious ramifications for Americans and across the globe. Americans should require their elected representatives in Congress to force a serious debate on and inquiry into the origins of this bill instead of just capitulating, once again, to the steamroller that is this wretched administration. Otherwise, it’s just one more thing our next President will have to waste precious time trying to untangle once he takes office.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I, too, am disgusted with this administration's ghastly abuse of its power. Just the thought of this proposal passing through Congress without so much as a breezing through... it's just beyond me how they can all be so ridiculously lazy.
Post a Comment