Socialism in America

Sweet, I thought I would have to exert all sorts of efforts to elect a far left candidate to bring Socialism to the USA but it looks like the Bush Administration is doing it for me. I just wish Bu$h Co. was there for me when my financial risks went south a couple of years ago. Oh, wait... only corporations get hand-outs under the 'free market' Republicans.

From Democracy Now:

US in $85B Bailout of Insurance Giant AIG

The US government has announced its second major financial bailout this month, agreeing to take over the troubled insurance giant American International Group, or AIG. At an $85 billion cost, the New York Times calls it the most radical intervention in private business in the central bank’s history. The AIG bailout comes just weeks after the government takeover of the federally chartered mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

From Democracy Now (July 9th, 2008):

In the latest issue of Mother Jones magazine, David Corn writes, “Who’s to blame for the biggest financial catastrophe of our time? There are plenty of culprits, but one candidate for lead perp is former Sen. Phil Gramm. Eight years ago, as part of a decades-long anti-regulatory crusade, Gramm pulled a sly legislative maneuver that greased the way to the multibillion-dollar subprime meltdown. Yet has Gramm been banished from the corridors of power? Reviled as the villain who bankrupted Middle America? Hardly. Now a well-paid executive at a Swiss bank, Gramm cochairs Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign and advises the Republican candidate on economic matters.”

From the 'fair and balanced' Fox News:

McCain was forced to fire Gramm, his economic adviser, after he called American a "nation of whinners" suffering from a "mental recession."

From the Financial Times:

In a capitalist economy, losers are expected to take losses and winners to gain. Private enterprise is best able to allocate capital efficiently and, where it fails to do so, markets make adjustments and capital is reallocated to efficient users. This basic tenet supports good and productive assets moving from the hands of weak players to stronger. Where this is not possible, the US system gives the government a hand in fostering that move through an efficient process called bankruptcy or reorganisation. This rule of markets and of law has always been the basis of our national supremacy in innovation and the reason ours was the world’s clear choice of a reserve currency. That was the world we lived in previously.

If it wasn't bad enough that my tax dollars are killing women and children in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Pakistan, now my tax dollars are used to bail out out-of-control banks. America!