Reply #108: I think we have gone down a very bad path [View All]

[seabeckind]

in the last 30 years, tho the direction started long before that. The problem as I see it is the rampant corporatism and laissez faire government attitude. In this current so-called stimulus the direction was to lend so that business could create jobs. We jumped on those "shovel-ready" projects -- probably to benefit bidness.

In the other stimulus in 1933, the government determined the direction and indicated which jobs to create in terms of a societal benefit and then told business to go that way. The government (FDR) also insisted that those who had caused the mess pay for it in an extremely aggressive tax. They didn't do shovel-ready projects, the government decided which projects needed to be done, not some local clown who wanted the street widened in front of a strip mall cause he owned a shop there.

In this stimulus we give money to the guys who broke the system and don't reinstate the tax that helped to cause it. We also do not do anything to stop what has been happening. Where is the reinstatement of Glass-Steagal? Where is the windfall tax on wall street? Where is true credit card reform? Where is health reform -- true health reform? Where is the correction of Medicare Part D? Where is my broadband -- why isn't the cable coming to my house part of the infrastructure and I pay for its support thru a levy -- let that fuggin comcast compete at the hub?

Why have these things not been done? One thing FDR did was provide bold, dynamic leadership. I have yet to see that anywhere. Change, my ass. Only change I've seen is the name. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Example: why was single payer NOT at the table in the beginning? But the thieves were. Hel, we're asking the burglar what kind of lock to buy.