MEMO TO BUSH: Declare War on Stockbrokerism

Imagine this situation: Russia attacks America, and in order to teach the world what happens when you try attacking America's Mighty Might, we attack...POLAND.

I mean, Poland's kind of in the same neighborhood, right? It's a bit east of Western Europe.

Funny, huh? Almost a joke, right? Not so much. But isn't that what happened after 9/11? I mean, I've been trying to reconstruct the situation that got us into Iraq. See if I have it.

Terrorists from Saudi Arabia attacked America on 9/11. So in order to teach the world what happens when you try attacking America's Mighty Might, we attacked...IRAQ.

Saudi Arabia - Iraq. Basically the same neighborhood, right? Just missed by a couple of countries.

Follow the money.

* * *

The War on Terror isn't an actual War. According to our own definition of War, America is not at war.

In a real war, Congress declares War. We sell War Bonds. We make sacrifices.

None of this has happened.

Unfortunately, we have America's finest young men and women putting their lives at risk every day on the killing fields. For a Fake War.

And we're spending trillions of dollars on it at a high rate of interest. Debt is crippling the American economy.

Follow the money.

* * *

When bank robbers rob a bank, we don't declare a War on Robberism, and then expend sizable chunks of our national revenue fighting a country where there aren't a lot of banks to rob.

We do NOT bomb the hell out of that foreign country's bank buildings, and then after taking over the country, build even more banks for the robbers to rob. We do not do this in order to keep the bank robbers so busy robbing banks in that country that they won't come over here to rob OUR banks.

No. When robbers rob banks, we encourage people to build better banks. We create security systems. Like Wells Fargo did in my neighborhood after they were robbed, like, three times in a row. To get in the bank now, I have to walk through TWO doors. A guard scans me. There's a metal detector in the space between the two doors.

Surprise! No more bank robberies.

But the alternate logic of the Bush administration took them down another trail: let's go fight a war in Iraq to keep the terrorists busy over there so they don't attack here.

I'm not making this up. They really believe that.

* * *

Again. Why are we in Iraq?

• NOT for the oil - America isn't even getting an oil coupon from Iraq for future oil purchases. At least, not one they've announced yet.

• NOT to create a real democracy. The new Iraq government that Bush says will be a bastion of freedom already allows Muslims to persecute Christians. That sound democratic to you?

• NOT for Weapons of Mass Destruction. The President's Men knew that Saddam didn't have any WMD's - well before we entered Iraq.

• NOT to spank Saddam for trying to assassinate Bush's father. Hopefully. I mean, I can't believe a President we elected (twice) would have risked the entire nation for personal vengeance. I'm dead serious. I can't believe that. That would be dumb.

• MAYBE Bush went to war in order to keep the Ruling Republican Elite in power? There was an election coming up. He wanted to remind America that they should ONLY trust a Republican candidate with the military: a kind of "Who's your Daddy?" action.

No way. We wouldn't elect a president that cold and calculating. They can't be that dumb.

Follow the money.

* * *

Okay. Deep breath. MAYBE Bush took us to war to keep Americans focused abroad - anywhere else but on his domestic economic policies. Or should I say, lack of policies? The War kept the Media from noticing the way the Republican Congress was NOT regulating Wall Street. It kept us from noticing that new regulation was necessary for all those cool financial tools the markets were creating: flipping and bundling and selling debts like hamburgers on a grill. Free market, right? A laissez faire approach to the economy? Hands off. Let capitalism rule.

Again. Why did we go to war?

It was a rabbit pulled out of the hat - to distract people from what's really going on.

Follow the money.

* * *

Now it's time to pay the piper.

The killing fields of Wall Street are beginning to look bloodier than those in Iraq and Afghanistan. I do not make light of the physical deaths and injuries our brave men and women have suffered.

But when you mess with people's savings and investments, you mess with people's lives.

Over the past few days, I've been trying to understand the current administration. Think like they do. Predict their next move. And here's my latest guesstimate.

What might Mr. Bush do next?

How about declaring war on the Stock Market? It's the Enemy. It's wreaking havoc on the American Economy as we speak.

Forget firing Mr. Cox - Mr. Bush could just declare War on Stockbrokerism.

No, it's not funny. But follow the money.

* * *

What's the reason for the current meltdown on Wall Street? Could it possibly be that the lackadaisical attitude of the Bush Administration towards the economy - Cut taxes! Cut taxes! Cut taxes! - has led us to the mess we're all seeing right now on Wall Street?

Mr. Bush thought he was following the policies of President Ronald Reagan. He thought he was pursuing a laissez faire approach to the economy. He somehow failed to notice the economic plank that was missing: balancing the budget. That's a pretty critical mistake.

It wasn't a priority for Mr. Bush. And because of his carelessness, Mr. Bush's economic policy now stands frozen in the amber light of history, summed up in one simple sentence during a press conference: "Go shopping more."

This approach to the economy was not pursued by accident. It was deliberate. When was the last time ANYONE in the Bush administration called for a balanced budget? Why is it that the only answer Bush ever seems to know when it comes to improving the economy is "Cut taxes."

It's made Bush a pathetic figure, a cartoon character with a double obsession: cutting taxes and getting Saddam. Only it's not a bit funny.

Take note, Obama.

The smartest move President Bill Clinton ever made, economically, was to pursue a balanced budget. He and the Republican Congress may have clashed, but in 1994, they cut a deal to balance the federal budget. The smartest minds on Wall Street had told Clinton that if he wanted to create sustained economic growth, he needed to balance the budget.

Even if it took - GASP! - raising taxes!

The fiscal leadership Clinton showed - his ability to work with a Republican Congress to get what the nation needed - paid off and began the sustained economic growth that it took Bush over six years to tear down.

Follow the money.

* * *

Mr. Bush cares about his legacy. So here's a bit of Trivia that must be giving him the Night Terrors.

Bush and Hoover.

Depending on how things go in the next few weeks, those two names will be permanently fused in the history books.

Yup. Unless the economy makes an amazing turnaround, you'll see these two names on television shows like Jeopardy.

ALEX TREBEK
Herbert Hoover and George W. Bush?

CONTESTANT
"What two presidents presided over the First and Second Great Depressions?"

* * *

History does hold out a little hope for Mr. Bush.

The name Hoover is also a vacuum cleaner brand. In England, they call vacuum cleaners Hoovers.

Maybe Bush will get lucky. Maybe his name will transcend the current economy. Maybe someone will attach his name to a popular automobile - say the 2021 Chrysler Bush. If it's an electric car or a hybrid, you could call it poetic justice.

Yeah. Hopefully, it won't turn out to be a lemon.

Comments

[USBrit]

Along with the government's improvident ways let us not fail to note the role played by the glorious American consumer. My brother and I have been calling this "capitalism taken to the point of economic stupidity", but let me make one point: when a nation turns from sensibly living within their means to living well beyond their means, when they turn en masse from being net holders of capital to being net debtors who never seem to be able to get enough of it, then in the end you have a capitalist system that is lacking one key ingredient, capital. Enjoy your debt bombs America, they've not all gone off yet, but they will. And you will enjoy a steadily falling standard of living as you once again learn how to live within your means both on a personal level and nationally.

[onenvrnos]

Why haven't Bush/Cheney been impeached? They, and their cronies, are criminals. What is wrong with our system when you can implement impeachment proceedings against Clinton for private meandering and yet ignore an unjustifiable war that is breaking the very core of America? Bush gave us a deficit that cripples our country. In this election, people actually believe it is proper to support McCain, who voted with Bush 90% of the time. Never have I felt so disenfranchised with America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. We have lost our moral integrity. At least half of our population now supports a police-state mentality, a drill-baby-drill philosophy, a war-mongering logic, and an idiocy that is viewed by the entire world. We Americans have an opportunity to become a world leader once again that displays integrity and intelligence. We should demand post-impeachment of Bush/Cheney and any of their political cronies who have contributed to our demise so that they receive no benefits for their dismal service to the United States. Those in the financial circles who contributed to this country's financial crisis should be indicted. Certainly, it should not be the taxpayers, who are the back bone of this society, that should pay for such poor oversight of our country's infrastructure. NO MCCAIN, NO REPUBLICANS FOR ANY POLITICAL POSITIONS-­-NADA--LET­'S TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY IF IT IS NOT TOO LATE.

[Henry]

The war on terror hatched by Cheney and the NeoCon cabal in conjunction with big oil and the big banks. Iraq, Iran, and Afganistan (with Syria & Lebanon as late stage converts) were to be "taken" under the guise of "freedom and deomcracy" with the real purpose the pipeline linkage and yet to be discovered reserves to flow through those pipelines. This was the purpose of secret meetings between Cheney and energy republicans like Kenny Boy.
Add to this the strategic support of the AIPAC connection and the plan is clear for anyone with the vision to see it. It is about western corporate dominion. (can you make the connection Karzai, UnoCal employee, and UnoCal pipeline accross Afganistan?)
The reality of all this is that it makes the biggest (expletive deleted) joke of what are otherwise thought to be American Values.

[Ami17han]

ALEX TREBEK
Herbert Hoover and George W. Bush?

CONTESTANT
"What two presidents presided over the First and Second Great Depressions?"

F'ing Brill, Stevie D. Great observations. What do you think of the America becoming socialist now?