The swift and aggressive manner used by Bush and Paulson announcing the bailout plan reminded me of the con games used by salesman. It smelled of this tactic so blatantly that the loud "hell no" echoed by John Q. Public arose from a pit of despair and long seething anger way beyond the previous "bitter" benchmark of this past spring. We are surrounded by cons in every nook and cranny of sensory invasion pummeled through the capitalistic maelstrom of daily living.
It's all geared toward reaching for our pocketbooks (or if that's empty) adding to an overwhelming debt burden. Nothing is sacred in the con's attempt to drain away on frivolous or necessary spending the hard earned pay from the sinking middle class. I am deeply distraught by the eroding ability of “the people” to take back our country from the corporate self interests whose right to make a profit without regard to anyone or anything beyond that singular purpose outweighs our own right to pursue happiness and live in peace in this beautiful country - on this magnificent planet.
I understand why the bailout of Wall Street is so vehemently opposed by John Q. Public. Its opposition, even if we are hurt or wounded by the consequential aftermath, provides some semblance of power over that which rules us and with its relentless greed and condoned usury, is bringing America to its economic knees.
As taxpayers we should be in revolt over this bailout of the billionaires and their firms who run Wallstreet. I say that if anyone should be bailed out it is all Americans who have suffered through trickle down economics over the past 25 years.
The best way to stimulate the economy is to give the American people the $700 billion and let them pay off the mortgages, credit card debts, student loans and car loans. This will really stimulate the economy and provide liquidity to the banking system.
If we give each American (305,186,613), our current population, one or even two million dollars we will spend less, have mortgages paid off and the bank liquidity. We will then have a trickle up economy where the people benefit first and the corporate non-entities have to account for sound money management practices, low fees and integrity to the people they serve.
If we are going to socialize the financial markets, let the socialization begin with the people, not the corporations who have ruined our economy with unregulated free market tactics that have made the rich richer, and the poor poorer. Bush tried to stimulate it with a $300.00 incentive and said go spend. Not much you can do with $300.00 in today's market but $1-$2 million would go a long way. Giving the money to the people is a better bailout than our leaders are proposing and one that will benefit both main street and wall street equally and fairly.
It is time for CHANGE, systemic, economic, political and social. We need to say NO to the bailout of Wall Street and YES to the bailout of American citizens who are losing homes, retirement benefits, jobs and their very souls to this fraud. A Real New Deal!
The financial crisis of today is directly traceable to the Bush policy called "The Ownership Society" as outlined in a speech given in October, 2002. The OS policy granted permission to Fannie and Freddie along with cohorts in the real estate and financial markets to unleash the steamroller that's crushing our economy today by granting loans to people with unnworthy credit. About 60% of creditworthy people were also caught in the net and given the same rates as those with bad credit.
"He (Bush) called on Fannie Mae and the private sector "to unlock millions of dollars, to make it available for the purchase of a home"--an important reminder that subprime lenders were taking their cue straight from the top." Naomi Klein 2/18/2008 in an article in The Nation copy and paste www.thenation.com/doc/20080218/klein to view it entirely.
The story on MSM is one of shock and awe created using "psychological gunpoint" tactics hustling and hastening the legislative branch to agree on providing bail out welfare to Bush's "have more" base under the guise of "the sky is falling" tomorrow.
Oh no, there's no time to think, there's no time to look at any interim solution that would tide the crisis over until the new president is in office. There's no time to have consultations on alternative plans to Paulson's four page undetailed plan (ransom note) demanding $700,000,000,000 within five days. There isn't time to consider informing "we the people" why two weeks ago the economy was fundamentally sound and now it's hurry up before we sink! We can't even get the candidates together for debate on TV so Democratic processes have been canceled too in what seems like marshall law on Capital Hill!
I have written letters to my Senators, Congresspersons, Obama, McCain with my concerns as have hundreds of thousands of other citizens who're on the borderline of experiencing the depth of outrage that drives revolutions and uprisings.
The media has won. The distraction tactics worked. We vented all our energy on the vaporous matters concerning what came out of that preacher's mouth while 140 miles off the coast of Florida, Haitians are making meals from dirt.
MSM details the facts of how the mud cakes are made and how they taste and the obvious reasons accounting for Haiti's ranking as the poorest country in the Americas. Yet with all these facts, why isn't the answer provided to the unasked question, how did it come to this? Like a boil or a cold or the flu, extreme poverty didn't just all of a sudden pop up one day and force people to start eating dirt!
"Thirty years ago, Haiti had all the rice it needed. Then in 1986, Haiti turned to the IMF for a loan. Now, after cutting tariff protections on local rice, Haiti imports most of its rice from the United States, which in turn remains heavily subsidized. US rice farmers get one billion dollars a year in government subsidies. Meanwhile in Haiti, hungry people are rioting in the streets because they cannot afford to buy rice", states Amy Goodman of Democracy NOW! http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/24/the_us_role_in_haitis_food
“American rice invaded the country,” recalled Charles Suffrard, a leading rice grower in Haiti in an interview with the Washington Post in 2000. By 1987 and 1988, there was so much rice coming into the country that many stopped working the land. Citizens of the USA know very little about the role of their government in helping create the hunger problems in Haiti or other countries http://www.counterpunch.com/quigley04212008.html
And why aren't we outraged about that - after all they are human beings? Did YOU know that they're eating dirt because of American backed policy? Do you think that that fact would be a topic to garner media attention particularly when the exposure would bring substantive issues to the fore at this time of opportunity to learn about the impact on peoples lives due to America's policies and it's support of the IMF and the World Bank policies inducing extreme poverty?
But there is much that individuals can do. Besides donations to feed individual hungry people let's participate with advocacy organizations like Bread for the World or Oxfam to help change the U.S. and global rules which favor the rich countries. This advocacy can help countries have a better chance to feed themselves.
YES WE CAN!
"Project Censored" has information about media ownership and ties at http://www.projectcensored.org/censorship/media-map/ and http://www.projectcensored.org/censorship/corporate-media-ownership/ which offer glimpses into the power of corporate ownership and media influence.
Take note that the names and entities listed on the aformentioned links are the establishment. Our "Freedom of Speech" is undermined when the vehicle is controlled by the establishment corporate powers. When we think of Freedom of Speech let's talk about Freedom to Hear more than the mainstreamed controlled, popularized and often propagandized messages. How can we impact such a power?
First, it's important to understand the structure of the current media system. Then a strategy to preempt it via reform and restructuring. The press - in all its forms - is to enable the voice of the "people" who is us. The power of an informed citizenry is what is ultimately necessary. The current media structure is the informing source. Do not expect relevant and realistic information by listening to those that are part of the problem. Do you really think one day we're gonna wake up to a media that has been born again?
Tools like the internet, platforms for citizen journalists, and independent media is part of what will aid in media reformation and restructuring. I'd like to see other "waves" of movements that bring heretofore powerless "Davids" together to face the industrial "Goliaths" of media and industry (both are the same)ABC is owned by the Disney Corp., so boycotting ABC's successful shows like LOST, Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives is in order. Ratings matter to sponsors so boycott ABC sponsors.
Bank the expensive entry fee to Disney's fantasy lands. Don't go see the upcoming Disney movies "WAll E" and "Camp Rock". Stay away from "High School Musical" where Disney's already made over $100 million in net profit from it and other related products.
As consume-ers we can be true to the meaning of the word "consume: to do away with; to destroy". We must flex our consume-er powers in economic ways that matter.
Is it so hard to turn off the TV? Yes it is because TV is an expensive addiction and it didn’t just happen to be that way. Reflect on this by getting away from the distraction. Our minds can then start to come back to a state of undisrupted clarity that is not found by taking Clariton.
Election reform is needed also. Our hard earned donations finance expensive commercials on mainstream media networks and support its bottom line. How can we change this so public networks are the primary tools for exposing the populace to candidate information?
And lastly, do you think that President Obama will find appropriate channels for fair and unbiased reporting given what we are seeing in the previews?
Frustration is something that seems temporary to me - for example when the computer freezes up or when there're unexpected traffic snarls keeping you from being on time for that appointment. Bitter truly feels more like an emotion that has deepened inside of your physical and mental realms. Its presence may even define the facial aging lines a bit more severely and make us more prone to a reactionary response. Bitterness sets in when the situation provoking it is out of the control of the people affected to do anything. Bitterness is the ultimate emotional response resulting from "being victimized" by something you felt was trustworthy but found to be otherwise.
So I responded as being both frustrated and bitter at the following links:
http://pa.barackobama.com/page/s/paletter and http://www.bitteramericans.com/
My response is below:
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This makes perfect sense and gives perspective to what is unfolding. Nothing is stagnant. Be patient. Not everyone changes at the same pace as others.
http://oneminuteshift.com/videos/rowan_north_video/metaphormosis
Hi, I am an accountant and love analyzing numbers. One aspect I delve in is the resonance and vibrations of numbers associated with the letters in names and the resultant character analysis. Few of us are conscious of or understand the potential and spiritual command behind our names.
Out of curiousity, I pulled up the numerology report for the name Barack Hussein Obama, born August 4, 1961. It confirms the attitudes and inspiration Obama supporters connect with and offers a sense of the qualities inherent in our future President Barack Hussein Obama. In the report the use of "you" and "yours" refers to Barack Obama.
"Nomen est Omen" The Name is the Destiny
Today I called independents in California to let them know they can vote in the Feb. 5th CA Democratic Primary and asked if they supported Barack Obama.
This was a first for me regarding participating in anything political. I called from my cell phone in the comfort of my living room at my computer. The numbers were provided from Savala Nolan, the Volunteer Coordinator-Obama for America, CA Congressional District 6. santarosalovesobama@gmail.com
Of course I was scared at first but was encouraged by the fact that my son, at age 15, had done this same thing to support the Smart Train inititative here in Sonoma County last year. He even went door to door with materials on this initiative. My, he would be proud of me, and understand my feelings about doing this given he's quite shy.
I guess I reached the end of the list when the "next" link on the page came up blank.....I felt overwhelmed with a feeling of something akin to accomplishment. Although I left more messages and encountered "no one home" than actual personal contact, my voice connecting with another person, even if by answering machine, felt like a light in a dark and forbidding wilderness.
During the calling, I took a break. I called my sister Andrea, in Texas, to tell her what I was doing and just how easy it was. She supports and contributes to Obama and I encouraged her to create her profile on the Obama website www.barackobama.com and connect with others in her community. She said she would volunteer in her state.
So, please, if you want to feel empowered; if you want to make a difference for the future; participate in a politically connecting activity, whatever it is, and surely you will feel a certain positiveness and assuredness about your influence to change and create the future you envision for yourself, your family and this country.
Well volunteering for Obama in this very slight way is my experience of the empowerment to make change. I am part of the base Bush did not confer with - the have nothing - but through the Obama campaign - I got the power to connect and that is something! What a feeling!
I know how easy it is to complain. I know how easy it is to find fault and point out the negatives. I NOW know how easy it is to volunteer and do something instead of complaining and finding fault!
I hope to hear from you about your volunteering for Obama experience and how you felt about making a difference!
The choice is ours. Planting seeds creates flowers. YOU have the power!
Happy Planting!
Pamela
Forty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated and I was sixteen years old. Today in tribute to the change he brought and to honor the change Obama brings for the future, go to www.artwiththought.com, my business website, to view a visual montage of the courage that generation encountered to effect change in the sixties by clicking on the link "A tribute to change" at the top of the web page.
I hope you are inspired by what you see and hear.
Thanks for your time. Let me know your thoughts.
I couldn't find news on the radio (NPR, CNN) of the Nevada primary results the night of Jan. 19, 2008. Today, at AOL, I read the following headlines "McCain, Clinton Ride Wave of Momentum". My heart sank because I thought Obama lost!
At the end of this lengthy article I read the following "Clinton claimed the Nevada vote as a victory. 'This is one step on a long journey,' Clinton told cheering supporters in Las Vegas. She captured the popular vote, but Obama edged her out for national convention delegates at stake, taking 13 to her 12. Obama issued a statement saying he had conducted an 'honest, uplifting campaign ... that appealed to people's hopes instead of their fears.'
The real win is for delegates and Obama won the prize. So why is the media (TimeWarnerAOL)reporting Clinton's so-winning?
I'm off now to make signs with a passion for the California Primary on Feb 5th. The "establishment" will try to use mindcontrol but it'll boomerang!
Read the article for yourself at http://news.aol.com/elections/story/_a/mccain-clinton-ride-wave-of-momentum/n20080120152109990006?cid=435 and chime in about your take on this article.
