Kucinich: It's the Congress of the United States, not the board of Goldman Sachs

[Karmadillo]

He just delivered a very powerful denunciation of the bailout as it currently stands. He noted the legislation was moving too quickly and there needed to be an examination of the alternatives. He noted that if he was forced to vote immediately, he would vote not just no, but hell no.

Nice to see a Democrat representing the people of the United States. Paul Wellstone would have been proud.

[Cleita]

1. Whatever Dennis says, I'm on board.

He's one of the few who speaks not only knowledgeably but honestly.

[lostnotforgotten]

2. I Trust Dennis And His Good Progressive Judgment

If he says no then it is a no go for me.

[Individualist]

3. Bravo Dennis!

The man who should have been President.

[20score]

4. We could use a couple hundred more like him in congress.

[LiberalAndProud]

5. Good on Dennis! He managed to speak for me once again.

[malaise]

6. Bravo Dennis

No surprise!! Hell No!

[Greyhound]

7. Wake up America!

:kick: & R

[lligrd]

8. At Least We Still Have A Few That Won't Sell Us Out

unfortunately not enough of them to make a difference.

[stray cat]

9. Is Kucinich completely against any type of bail out because he doesn't believe its a problem?

[truedelphi]

10. Here's what Dennis understands that the averge American doesn't

Since August of 2007, we have already let Congress strip the Treasury and the FDIC of beween 700 billion and 900 billion dollars. These monies were "infused" into problem areas long before the Bear Stearns "crisis" became front page news.

Now they want an additional 770 billion.

But hanging off in the shadows is a failed 514 TRILLION dollars in derivatives. (Yes Trillion. Not billion. Since our entire GNP for a GOOD year is only 13 trillion, what happens when THAT CAT is let out of the bag??)

With COngress doing this, it only means that the uS currency is deflated.

So-o yes, we avert a possible crisis today, September 28th thru 30th. But next year when you and I need to swipe a grocery cart from the local supermarket to carry the bank notes with which to purchase a single loaf of bread - don't tell me that you were not warned.

And for the people on the top - they will still make money. As our dollar declines, the rich will simply see great gains in their hoards of yen and Euros and gold, platinum, silver, palladium etc.

While most of us will see a bread line or a FEMA camp (Concentration camp)

[SoCalDemocrat]

11. I think it is more than $514 trillion

There is a mountain of bad debt,and this poster is correct in that the Fed has been bleeding funds into this wound for over a year now. I don't think this bailout will help. My guess is this is meant mainly as a consumer confidence stop gap measure on the hope that the economy will slowly right itself.

[Greyhound]

15. Yes, it has nearly doubled since that was written. Last info I saw is

that it is now 25 X global GDP.

Can anybody even grasp a quantity that huge? The entire output of the entire planet for the next quarter century...
:kick:

[Trillo]

17. Transforming all those private derivatives into "coin" is quite the coup.

Only congress was supposed to have that power, but as we've been told, corporatism is now "too big" to be allowed to fail.

[truedelphi]

23. the really sad thing is that Corporatism is far less good at employing American workers

Than the small time businesses in America.

We have watched over the last three decades as city council after city council votes to let "enterprises" like Walmart come into the small town, or outlying suburb. The city councils and other local governments give the Big Box stores things like grants and other freebies - adding roads to the highway system, etc. They often tack on the fact tht the Big Box stores won't have to pay taxes - after all they will be adding jobs to the county job roll.

Then the notion behind this is that Walmart will provide jobs. But in return for the government largesse, WalMart strips local businesses of the means to earn their living.

Then the Ma And Pa stores close up.

The same thing happens over and over again in the USA.

Fifty per cent of all Americans work for small businesses. Those businesses don't get a government welfare check. And they have to pay local taxes to boot.

So now to top it off, the small business owners have to pay off Wall Street and the banks!! For their disastrous policies. How can any of this make sense.

[Waiting For Everyman]

12. Wellstone's statement when the Commodity Futures Modernization Act was passed

at night during the Christmas recess of 2000. He was the only one around, besides Phil Gramm, to comment on it. Here's what he said:

http://thomas.loc.gov/

December 15, 2000, S 11878

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President I want to voice my strong objection to the process by which this legislation is being passed by the Senate. The Omnibus Appropriations conference report -- containing numerous other pieces of unrelated legislation -- is being passed by the Senate tonight under a consent agreement that was entered suddenly by the Majority Leader without the normal notification process. We should have had a recorded vote. Since I first came to the Senate 9 years ago I have felt that it does the Senate no credit to pass such significant budgetary legislation -- literally hundreds of billions of dollars -- without a recorded vote. We cannot be held accountable as Senators to our constituents when such bills are passed in this manner. I want to make it clear; I oppose this legislation and I would like the RECORD to show that I would have voted "no" had there been a recorded vote.

Here's what Gramm said:

S 11866-67

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, today I am proud to add my voice in support of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. This legislation represents the end product of work that began in S. 2697, which Senator LUGAR and I introduced on June 8. The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 completes the work of last year's financial services modernization law, bringing our financial regulation in line with the rapid pace of developments in the global marketplace. The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 will now allow new and important financial products -- single stock futures -- to be sold in America. It protects financial institutions from over-regulation, and provides legal certainty for the $60 trillion market in swaps...

Mr. President, enactment of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 will be noted as a major achievement by the 106th Congress. Taken together with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the work of this Congress will be seen as a watershed, where we turned away from the outmoded, Depression-era approach to financial regulation and adopted a framework that will position our financial services industries to be world leaders into the new century.

________________________________

Gramm's so proud of it, and yet there's no vote on it. Hmmm. Could it be, he knew he was doing something very screwed up? By his own bragging words, Gramm and friends OWN this puppy so don't let them ever say different. His press releases about it were just as pompous and self-laudatory. One of them included his remarks above:

http://banking.senate.gov/prel00/1215cofu.htm

And yes, without changing the law, the legality of swaps was very iffy. I still say their legality could be overturned or voided - as being the product of the fraudulent process above. There's plenty of record on it that has come to light by now. I'd like to see Gramm, and his wife Wendy (head of the CFTC at a key point in time) personally prosecuted for it.

[Neshanic]

13. I agree. Dennis is who I believe.

[Rabrrrrrr]

14. Go Kucinich!! Stand up to the insanity!

[bridgit]

16. Makes sense!

[bvar22]

18. K&R for Dennis.

NO!!! to the bailout!

Fix the boat before trying to bail it out, or its just a waste of time and money.



"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

[vanderBeth]

19. Major kick for Dennis.

[TahitiNut]

20. Once again, people will only discover Kucincih was correct ... too late. They'll hate him for it.

Again.

The hubris of Wall Street collides with the hubris of Congress and the working class gets raped yet again.

[girl gone mad]

21. Thank you, Dennis!

No true liberal should be on board for this anti-American bill.

[tomp]

22. if i have to trust somebody on this, it'll be kucinich. nt

[scarletwoman]

24. k&r for Kucinich! I'll trust him over Pelosi a million times over! (nt)

[Truth2Tell]

25. K&R

Many will regret that we didn't listen to this man.

[bbgrunt]

26. k and r

[Not the Only One]

27. Amen.

Hell no to more fear-mongering by corporate fat cats. We are better than this. We are a great nation. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself! We are strong.