Lehman Brothers - Bankruptcy!

Curious about the kind of Raw Capitalism created by Reagan and reinforced by free-market Repubs ... bringing us to the incredibly sad time: the mortgage debacle, the Feds taking over Fredie and Fannie, and now Lehman Brothers going belly-up.

Their mantra: No Regulation.

Yeah, right ... and then when their greed and foolishness brings them to their knees, and millions of decent and honest employees and small investors (the big ones are just as greedy and irresponsible, adolescent actually) to their knees, they go crying to Uncle Sam.

Does this make sense?

Perhaps, but it makes sense only if our Federal Government can regain the rightful regulatory role of government.

Traditional Capitalism has always been a partnership between business and government, a partnership that created and sustained the Middle Class, the success of America's economy.

Without that partnership, we end up where we end up: the rich getting richer by taking more and more of the pie, and the poor getting poorer, with fewer and fewer opportunities to make headway.

An economy, unregulated, like the board game, "Risk," ends with all the cards being held by one player - in this case, the super-rich, with a very thin middle class, and all the rest, struggling to make ends meet, many of whom will plunge into deep and irreversible poverty.

I don't expect business to have much of a conscience - it's supposed to make money, and make as much of it as it can, but if Wall Street is the only force, if the bottom line is the only reality, if the profit margin at the end of the year is the only thing that counts, then we're all in trouble and our way to becoming a nation of serfs.

Shall we bail out Lehman brothers?

Not if we're going to continue the present course.

But we if we regain our senses and create a government of the people, by the people and for the people - not just the super-rich, but for the entire nation, especially those who are otherwise without voice and power, then let's bail 'em out and get back on course.

Let's kick out the Raw Capitalists who are nothing more than Fascists wrapped in God and Country.
Let's recover Traditional Capitalism ... and get on with the work of being America.

Connect the Dots

The economy is in shambles.

Ethanol is a joke, requiring more energy to make a gallon than its worth, and if every cob of corn in America were made into ethanol, it would only be 7% of our oil consumption. Meanwhile this boondoggle funnels billions into the midwest corn belt, raising the price of corn, and raising the price of just about everything else related to the food chain.

We borrow billions from China to buy oil from the Saudis.

Low taxes have bankrupted the government.

Programs of mercy and hope are slashed, but breaks for the wealthy remain - check out the "yacht tax" for a small example.

What's wrong with this picture?

The same thing that was wrong during the Harding Administration - unregulated capitalism -wherein the voice or profit and greed dominates government policy.

This kind of capitalism reared its ugly head with a vengeance during the Reagan Administration and has been roaring ever since, yet headed for the same debacle it always creates - the collapse of the bubble. Greed is it's own poison; tragically, the middle class pays the price, and the poor die.

Such capitalism has nothing in common with Traditional Capitalism, a economic partnership between business and government underpinning the middle class.

Unrestrained capitalism - a profound evil - destroys the middle class, leaving only a slight percentage of super-wealthy and their minions, leaving the rest struggling, with millions struggling at the lowest levels. Check out the Middle ages - when church and king were in collusion with the wealthy, and the rest of society in serfdom.

Connect the dots.

Bush and his cronies have shamed us before the world, committed crimes against our character and our people, talked nonsense while beguiling us with talk about defense and terrorism, and robbing us blind.

Connect the dots!