The Republican quad-fecta

Today, the Democrats managed a quad-fecta (I just made that word up) by creating a space for Republicans to vote against the bail out which allowed them to simultaneously be,

1. Anti-Bush and make it popular for Republicans to run against Bush economic policies
2. Appear on the side of the people and seem more populist than Democrats
3. Republicans can remain stalwarts of the free-market, less regulation ideology that got us in this mess in the first place
4. Republicans can run against Wall St. which is something I would never see in my lifetime.

I don’t like this bill and the lack of protections for homeowners but if Pelosi felt that she had to do it, why didn’t she tell Bush that she wouldn’t put it up for vote until she secured a certain number of votes from Republicans? And why in the world is the media not hounding McCain for claiming that his presence helped seal the deal when we don’t have a deal!! That is not the type of leadership America needs. Make sure you get out and vote.

Stay up fam,

Brandon Q.

Financial madness

First off I want to say Happy Birthday to my partner in crime…Mr. Garlin Gilchrist II.

This current crisis reminds me of something Bill Maher said, (I am paraphrasing) “Conservatives have the easiest job in the world because when they mess up doing things like governing, they can claim that government itself is the problem and whatever they planned to do wasn’t supposed to work anyways.” So now you have Democrats bending over backwards to make this deal work with House Republicans posturing against the bill.

And here is the problem, people keep saying that this bill is going to end up with a nice return for taxpayers right? If that was the case, then shouldn’t someone in the free market see this gem and buy it up so that taxpayers don’t have endure this socialism for the rich? What’s more is that if Obama said he wanted to invest $100 billion in education, conservatives would cry, “We already spent $700 billion on bailing out Wall Street and we can’t just throw away taxpayer money.” And a bold Democrat would respond by saying, “Wait, you just robbed taxpayers of a trillion dollars because businesses were too big to fail but we can definitely afford to let our children down in the form of disinvesting in education. And if money is not the cure all for whatever the issue, why does this logic apply to Wall St. and not education?”

Seriously, if there was ever anything that would prove a guaranteed return on investment, wouldn’t it be investing in education? Your money is where your heart is.

Stay up fam,

Brandon Q.

More thoughts on the financial crisis

More thoughts on the financial crisis:

1. If nothing else is true in the world, “Your money is where your heart is.” The Republican Bush Administration is asking for $700,000,000,000 to bail out banks, not the average tax payer. Bush would never put up $700,000,000,000 for health care or education, you know the things that will directly help you. Do you still support this ideology? Where do you spend your money? WWJD?
2. Where is this money coming from?
3. Senator Bernie Sanders that said, “If a company is too big to fail, it is too big to exist; those who benefitted most from Bush policy should pay.”
4. So this means bootstraps only applies to individuals but not business right?
5. This crisis will separate the wheat from the chaffe. I am sick and tired of Democrats ceding that we have to pass this bill before they say anything else.
6. Why can’t we have a moratorium on foreclosures?
7. Privatizing profit and socializing the loss has never been so apparent. Do you really think that Congress will make sure that the American people get their money back?
8. Are you better or worse now than you were eight years ago?

Stay up fam,

Brandon Q.

My thoughts on the financial meltdown

I need to speak my piece about the financial crisis facing America. This will be free form but take from it what you will.

Real people

Many families are in a situation where the only real safety net is that of other family members who are relatively well off. To be clear, we are not talking about McCain rich; rather I am defining well off by having good credit and being able to give “loans” to the family that rarely get paid back. These family anchors (including some in my own family) are being wiped out with this economic crisis. And I am tired of real people being categorized as “Main Street” and banks being characterized as “Wall Street.” This level of distance from real people in our media leaves everyone and no one responsible for our current crisis. In the end, the real victims are faceless and nameless.