The Lunatics Are Running The Asylum

[Timbuk3]

I read this and couldn't believe it. Anyone with a phone and time should be using it, tomorrow, to say "Don't do this!"

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a bold bid to revive President Bush's multibillion-dollar financial rescue plan, Senate leaders scheduled a vote for Wednesday night on a version of the bill that adds substantial tax cuts meant to appeal to Republicans when it reaches the House.

The Senate "liberals" are going to cut taxes to get "conservatives" to vote for a $700 billion increase in spending at the request of the "compassionate conservative" President?

I'm not even making this up!

When did we lose this country?

[BrklynLiberal]

1. OMIGOD!! After all the calls that hit DC telling the Reps not to ok the bailout, the

Senate is going to do this??!!!:mad: :puke: :wtf: :grr: :nuke:

[blue sky at night]

2. we are borrowing money from banks.......

to give to banks to buy up bad debt from around the world...it works out to (with Interest) roughly 6,900.00 for every man, woman, and child in the Country. If you do not get on the horn and tell them: FUCK NO, we don't even want you to think about it, then you deserve the results. And it won't work anyway. We need to feed the beast from the bottom up, not the top down. NOW, GET TO WORK.

[Timbuk3]

4. Absolutely agreed

"Feed from the bottom up, not the top down".

If we need $700 billion "to save the country" this badly, cut if from the military budget. (Leave vets benefits alone, though.)

Then use the money to make those "worthless notes" worth something by helping people who can't find jobs, haven't had a raise in 10 years, or got conned into an "upside down ARM" hold onto their homes.

Screw Goldman Sacks (<===intentional typo)

[astonamous]

16. Trickle-down economics hasn't worked...

By the time anything trickles down to my level, I end up owing more than I earned.

I agree with your post...let's try trickle up economics for a while and see how things go.

[Timbuk3]

3. A) I reject tying "tax cuts" to spending $700 billion

And B) Here are some more details from the link:

The Senate measure will graft the bailout language to a tax bill it approved last week, on a 93-2 vote. It includes: a provision to prevent more than 20 million middle-class taxpayers from feeling the bite of the alternative minimum tax, $8 billion in tax relief for those hit by natural disasters in the Midwest, Texas and Louisiana and some $78 billion in renewable energy incentives and extensions of expiring tax breaks.

In a compromise worked out with Republicans, the bill does not pay for the AMT and disaster provisions but does have revenue offsets for part of the energy and extension measures.

That wasn't enough earlier this year for the House, which insisted that there be complete offsets for the energy and extension part of the package.

[jmondine]

11. Gee... those are the only two provisions that directly benefit average Americans

Fuck.... that....

[Dr.Phool]

14. From what I was reading yesterday, it was the Blue Dogs demanding offsets.

It wasn't even the repukes this time.

[magellan]

21. Blue Dogs, Repubs...what's the difference n/t

[Naturyl]

5. Making a bad bill WORSE. Good plan.

Crazy.

[Timbuk3]

7. It's as crazy as an Alaskan moose murderer

Palin is the love child of Forrest Gump and Phyllis Schlafly.

[stillcool]

6. Here we go again...

Why do they have to do this? They know that we know that they know that it's bullshit. So they try to fuck us up more?

[dapper]

8. some items already passed....

Some items already passed last week. They are just adding it/combining it to the bill to make it look more
attractive... like a pig with lipstick.

Just say no!


Dap

[chill_wind]

9. Business as usual.

Bailout follows the 10 normal principles for how our government functions

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4130717

[avaistheone1]

13. This is going to be very, very discouraging to alot of voters.

People are going to view this as there are no differences between Dems or Republicans.

Some people are going to conclude - Why bothering voting at all?

[girl gone mad]

10. I've been impressed by the vast majority of people..

who I've been speaking with today.

Most are well aware that we're being gamed and want to congress to put the brakes on. The people are not panicking like the media and congress are.

[Theres-a]

12. The monkeys are in charge of the bananas.

K+R

[Individualist]

15. The corporatists are running the Senate

We lost the country when DLC took over the party. Damn Reid, Schumer and all the rest of the vermin.

[mhatrw]

17. Fuck that shit to hell.

I will dedicate myself to the complete and utter political defeat on anyone who casts a vote for such toxic waste.

[Parker CA]

22. Um, Obama is going to vote for it. What're you gonna do?

[mhatrw]

23. Guess. n/t

[bridgit]

18. To hell with republicans, they either vote for all of America or they get voted out it's very simple

[lligrd]

19. First Blackmail, Now Bribery nt

[Timbuk3]

25. Well Said!

[EFerrari]

20. Unbelievable. Seriously, unbelievable.

:wow:

[tama]

24. US is allready bankrupt

Adding 1 trillion (and then some!) to public debt this year (compared to about 0,4 trillion last year), total bublic debt surpassing 10 trillion in few days. Federal receipts for 2008 were estimated to be about 2,5 trillion, btw.

Some funny math:
So what's another 0,7 trillion? If debt increase for this year goes up to 2 trillion, that's only 80% of federal income, so there is room for 20% tax cut to drop the federal income also to 2 trillion and to make the budget deficit nice and round 50%... :)

Lets guestimate that the "real" gdp is closer to 10 trillion than the official pollyanna bogus number, in which case US public debt is 100% oercent of gdp - on par with Italy. Assuming that the debt increase will be only 2 trillion for next few years and not more and that the "real" gdp drops only 20% to 8 trillion in four years, it takes only four years to go where Zimbabwe is, in 2012 debt of 16 trillion compared to 8 trillion gdp, nice and round 200%.

[Gin]

26. wasn't the AMT part already included in another recent bill?

[Timbuk3]

27. The Trap

...and the Democrats are falling for it.

Digby

Republican incumbents in close races have the easiest vote of their lives coming up this week: No on the Bush-Pelosi Wall Street bailout.

God Himself couldn't have given rank-and-file Republicans a better opportunity to create political space between themselves and the Administration. That's why I want to see 40 Republican No votes in the Senate, and 150+ in the House. If a bailout is to pass, let it be with Democratic votes. Let this be the political establishment (Bush Republicans in the White House + Democrats in Congress) saddling the taxpayers with hundreds of billions in debt (more than the Iraq War, conjured up in a single weekend, and enabled by Pelosi, btw), while principled Republicans say "No" and go to the country with a stinging indictment of the majority in Congress....