Who was it?

Who was it who decided to keep making gas guzzling cars and trucks that are clunky and ugly? The United Auto Workers union?

Who was it that decided that they should not listen to their customers who kept asking that they build electric and hybrid cars? Was it the union?

Who was it that decided to not keep pace with the forward thinking Japanese and European automakers? Was it the union?

The answer to all three questions is no. The people who bet their companies fortune on big gas guzzling SUV's was the management at the big three American automakers. They were also the people who spent billions on getting their names on sports stadiums instead of investing in their employees. They were the dunderheads who said 'No!' to making and selling electric cars.

The UAW didn't make Ford, GM, and Chrysler make bad decision after bad decision. Instead the union helped keep the car companies afloat these past few years by giving back wages and benefits so the idiots who kept making bad decisions could keep on stepping on their dicks time and time again. Any bailout for the automakers needs to include job guarantees for union workers, an end to outrageous marketing (i.e. spending millions on sporting and entertainment events), and a provision that the big three produce a couple hundred thousand plug in hybrids right off the bat. They need to stop making Hummers and SUV's and start making cars and trucks that are economically and environmentally sustainable.

If we've learned anything from the bail out of the Wall Street banks it's that none of these companies can be trusted to do the right thing for the country, their workers, and for the planet in general. If we the people are going to be the salvation of these idiots in big business and finance then it's time we fucking called the tune that they must dance to. It's unconscionable that Bush and Paulson are bailing out Citi Corp when Citi Corp won't work with people they are screwing with high mortgages and high credit card interest rates. We can't let the auto makers do the same shit, it's time they all towed the line and started doing their business in the national interest in mind instead of in the blind pursuit of short term profits.

Fail out

Until they address the real causes of this "economic meltdown," which are the bad loans the banks insisted on making (funny what happens when you make loans to people who really can't afford them isn't it?), the endemic culture of greed on Wall Street and in corporations in general, and the lack of regulation and oversight in the financial sector, then no progressive or liberal lawmaker should embrace this bail out.

When the FDIC took over Indy Mac bank they aggressively looked through that banks mortgages and sought out those who could pay for their homes if the sky high interest rates were brought down, the same thing should be done now. Making thousands of people homeless isn't a smart solution. If some of these people who got these bad mortgages can keep their homes by having their interest rates brought down then ever effort should be made to save them. Home ownership is still the best option for many of these people, we all benefit when people don't default on their home loans.

Or maybe they should just do nothing until Bush gets out of office because if he and his people handle this bail out like they've handled the war of terror on Iraq, Katrina, and everything else then we'd probably be in a world of hurt. And the other upside to all of this is that the longer this drags out, the more it hurts McCain.

Is this a good time?

Have you ever noticed how when something bad happens on the national scene the conservatives and the others on the wrong side of every issue, or as you know them, the Republicans and Libertarians always cry, "This is not the time to talk about ____."

If there has been yet another school shooting then they fill in the blank with gun control or stricter gun laws. To them it's never a good time to talk about closing loopholes in our crazy quilt of gun laws or about limiting people access to one of the main causes of death and destruction in this country.

If there has been another national disaster that we've been not ready for because too many resources are tied up in the endless quagmire that is the war of terror on Iraq then they fill in the blank with FEMA mismanagement. After Katrina they screamed, "Now is not the time to play the blame game!" And they said, "How dare you play the blame game!"

Well people in the wake of this latest disaster, the financial crisis, Sec. of the Treasury Paulson said something to the effect of, "Now is not the time to investigate the causes of this mess. Let's just roll up our sleeves and you give me all the money I ask for with no oversight and I may or may not fix this problem that I helped cause." Sorry Hank but that's bullshit. The time for not talking is through. It's time we stopped letting spoiled rich white guys who love to make decisions based on gut feelings decide what we talk about and when. It's time for our 'shoot from the hip' President to wake the fuck up and allow the grown ups who actually know something decide things for a change. I don't trust Chuck Schumer all that much, especially in the light of his decision to support Alberto Gonzalez Jr. as Atty. Gen., but I trust him a whole lot more than I do any Republican who voted time and time again to deregulate the banks and banking industry. Give me Chris Dodd and Joe Biden over Mitch McConnell and Dick Cheney any day of the week. Hell at this point I'd trust the decisions of a bucket of spoiled shell fish more than I would a living breathing member of the Republican party when it comes to this mess.

Personally I think they ought to take whatever billions or gazillions or quintillions they decide to throw at this mess and give that money to the people who's homes are in jeopardy. They ought to buy those mortgages and make gifts of those homes to the hardworking Americans who got suckered into getting shitty mortgages that made those banks millions of dollars in profit. The people on Wall Street and those who made a ton of money lobbying for them ought not to get one red cent. In fact they should be made to give any bonuses they made over the past few years to the government and then the government should take that money and use it to rebuild schools where they should teach kids all about how FDR and the Democrats saved this country after the last time conservatives, Republicans, and Libertarians almost ruined us financially.

I'm against this bailout of Wall Street firms. I'm against the bail out of the US auto industry too. It's time to stop throwing good money at bad greedy stupid people. If the people who ran these investment banks were stupid enough to make millions of dollars in bad loans and if the US auto companies were so stupid and shortsighted that they refused to make hybrid and electric cars in an era when gas and oil is becoming ever more scarce then they all deserve to fail and have their bones picked clean by scavengers, after all they did the same thing to other companies during the 'go go bull market' boom of the 1990's. What was fair for the goose ought now to be fair for the gander. Let the bad businessmen fail and let their companies topple and then maybe when they're standing in an unemployment line and worrying about how they're going to pay for their lights and heat and groceries then maybe they'll learn what the rest of us have either went through or are going through now.