Need proofreading and suggestions...

[Bigmack]

I guess this is a vanity post, but others at DU could use the product of this post to send to friends and relatives.

My semi-fundie BIL told me he voted for Dumbya "because he'll be better for the economy." He's probably gonna vote for McCain. At least I can try...

Please take a look at the following and see if my numbers are right and if I've covered most of the high spots...

- - - - -

Dear _ _ _ _ _

In the Corps we called it BOHICA... Bend Over, Here It Comes Again.

I'm so pissed about the crash/bailout I could reach thru the TV screen and strangle somebody. McCain and those other Republican clowns blathering on about how we've got to crack down on Wall Street, when they're the ones who dismantled all the controls on the markets and banks that have been in place since the Depression... and bragged about it until today.

About 8 years ago, _ _ _ _ _ and I read about the bill that passed Congress that threw out the Glass-Steagall Act. (Remember, we used to teach this stuff.) Glass-Steagall kept the banks from playing the stock market and investing in risky stuff. We knew we were screwed when the Gramm-Leach-Bliley bill passed.

Every single Republican senator - including McCain - voted to remove the controls on banks and stocks. Every single Dem senator voted to keep them. The Repubs were in the majority 53-43. This disaster is all Repub.

Let's see....$2 Trillion on the loser of a war in Iraq, $1 Trillion for the tax breaks for the economic elite, half a Trillion bucks in the "normal" budget deficit, and now at least $1 Trillion bailing out the banks and investment houses. That's starting to add up to some serious money!

The govt. gets about $1.5 trillion a year from income taxes and it pays about $500 billion in interest, not counting what it is borrowing now to bail out the rich risk takers. It is going to take a lot of adjustment to the tax code to pay off a trillion bucks and the interest on it.

McCain has always been proud to be a de-regulator, and he's already cost the taxpayers a bunch during the S & L crisis of the 1980's. He was one of the Keating 5, and rebuked by the senate for his role in that scandal. Phil Gramm, the author of the bill that deregulated the banks and markets, is McCain's economic advisor and will probably be his Sec. of the Treasury if he wins. Holy Shit!

All these same clowns have been agitating to privatize Social Security, and McCain was leading them. Where would we be now if SS was tied into the market?

When are the bailouts gonna stop? Credit Default Swaps... companies bet privately on whether a borrower will default on a loan.... are around $62 Trillion. Do those investors get bailed out, too?

None of these bailouts go directly to people who are losing homes or 401k accounts.. they only bail out the financial houses. The big guys win, the little guys get hosed. As usual.

Banks can now use depositor's money to cover losses in other parts of their operations. Bank of America bought Bear Stearns, and now my deposits can help make up for Bear Stearns' losses.

And the FDIC? The FDIC fund has about $50 billion to "insure" about $1 Trillion in deposits. If WaMu goes down, that'll just about eat up the FDIC fund. The government will just print another $1 Trillion to bail out the depositors, I guess.

I can't believe either candidate is talking about tax cuts. They say tax cuts stimulate the economy, but don't we have to pay this stuff back sometime?