In this taxpayer-financed bail-out of Wall Street, the government will be buying up mortgage-backed securities and other toxic assets from the companies that are failing. Perhaps I can explain in plain language what it is that the government is doing---what they are purchasing. For example, what are mortgage-backed securities? Security is just another word for investment. You make an investment in a company that lends out money to other people for mortgages. These companies lend the money that you invest, and, when a person pays back their mortgage payment, there is a certain 7-8% interest charged. So, your money (your investment) in the mortgage company grows by 7-8%. Used to, most people would pay their mortgages---unlike car payments, which are more often defaulted on---and so mortgage-backed securities are looked upon as a safer investment. They might not pay as well as perhaps the Stock Market would, but they have been looked upon as a safer investment. But, now that there are all of these economic problems and people can't pay their mortgages on their homes, these mortgage-backed securities in these big companies have been failing, crashing, and burning. And so, the government is buying and taking possession of these mortgage-backed securities and other toxic assets like them from these failing companies, in the hopes that this measure will at least temporarily save these companies and stop them from failing utterly.
The problem is, you don't know exactly how much all of these purchases will cost until you make them. Unfortunately, there's not a price tag like you would see on a television at a store. The government has set the number of about $700 billion for these bail-outs, though there is no real certainty that that is indeed what these assets are worth. According to some business sources, such as New York Times Business Columnist Joe Nocera, the actual price-tag for these bail-outs could be over a trillion dollars. If this proposal of the Bush Administration and others is approved by Congress, then they will have once again handed the U.S. Government a blank check to spend as much as they please to bail out these corporate entities. We can't even afford this kind of opulence, but this wouldn't be all right even if we could. The government will have to print more money in order to buy these mortage-backed securities and bail out these companies. Printing more money will decrease the value of the money already in circulation, and, as a result, the dollar will further weaken. This bail-out will just continue the destructive nature of our debt-based economy, and it won't increase regulation of speculation or solve any long-term problems regarding our financial system.
The fact of the matter is that bail-outs are not the magical solution, the panacea, like President Bush and other proponents make this out to be. In their view, if bail-outs are not approved, then the economy will collapse, and, if they are approved, the economy will be saved. President Bush got onto the television (somehow) the other night and put the fear into everyone that the economy will collapse if these bail-outs are not approved. Fear is a very powerful thing which has been used for centuries to rob people of their powers of logic and reason, throwing them into a wild panic which is blind to everything but their consuming fear. This tactic has worked before, and it will likely work again.
In opposing such a Wall Street bail-out plan, Democratic Representative Dennis Kucinich has been working on an alternative, comprehensive plan for a “Main Street economic recovery”, in which, it is stated, both the economy will be stimulated and a fair deal will be provided to the American people. Kucinich’s plan decidedly is made up of a different kind of more long-term thinking than what is currently convention and policy at the White House and on Capitol Hill. Aspects of Kucinich's plan, viewable at kucinich.us, includes: numerous public works programs to provide jobs to citizens of the United States, a plan for a single-payer healthcare system, a plan for a prescription drug benefit to pay for the prescriptions of all seniors, and an affirmation of the need to re-evaluate our monetary policy and our debt-based economic system. I think that it is a brilliant alternative plan, and I give it my full and whole-hearted support. All of the components of Representative Dennis Kucinich’s plan are aimed at helping those working on Main Street rather than those speculating on Wall Street. The plan introduced by the Bush Administration to bail-out Wall Street is aimed at doing exactly the opposite, and does not re-evaluate our debt-based economic system (which is likely the root of this financial decline) or provide a long-term solution to our country’s problems.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Future
There are a number of things politically that I would like to see done in my lifetime. As you read this list, however, you will likely see how unlikely it is that any of these things will occur in the next 50 years. Here is my idealist view of the future of the United States:
1. The U.S. defense budget greatly slashed and U.S. troops brought home from most or all of their stations in countries around the world. The United States usually spends about 50% of its total budget each year on defense. As a result, this country spends more on defense than the rest of the countries of the world combined. No other countries can rival us, so what are we afraid of? Terrorists? The War on Terror should be an intelligence and police action rather than an actual war---especially considering that such a war would be perpetual, since terrorism is a part of human nature and can not be eradicated. Our budget priorities should be re-organized to favor things like education and infrastructure.
2. A federal program that pays for college education in the United States, up to Ph. D. level. As for highschool and younger education, I support the repeal of the "No Child Left Behind Act", which places too much emphasis on testing and removes funding from schools who do the least well on the tests (removing funding from schools that need the money most).
3. The enactment of the National Initiative for Democracy proposal (ni4d.org), which will empower the American people to make laws in partnership with their elected officials. This is a historic proposal to change the paradigm of human governance.
4. A significant plan and action against poverty in the United States. Components of this could be: a living wage, public works programs, fair trade policies, and urban and rural revitalization plans with tax incentives for companies to remain in the United States and re-locate to depressed areas.
5. A significant plan and action towards solving our global warming problems. This could include a carbon tax and increased use of such clean energies as wind and solar.
6. A single-payer, not-for-profit, government-run healthcare system which provides most everything from eye-glasses to dental.
7. Public works programs to rebuild America's infrastructure (and other projects such as the building of a national rail transportation system), which can help create new jobs and improve the country.
8. Breaking up of corporate media monopolies and the corporate control over our information supply. Also implement major election reform and public campaign financing in order to limit corporate influence in our government (the NI4D may also help with this).
9. A living wage (not a minimum wage that people can't live off of), the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act and increased Union activity (unions can fight for workers' rights), and the implementation of Fair Trade policies (with tariffs in place to protect manufacturing jobs in the United States). All of these things will help protect the worker and increase the rights of workers.
10. Civil rights in general should be increased. The Patriot Act should be repealed, abortion and gay marriage should be made legal nationally, the failed War on Drugs should be ended. Marijuana should be legalized, as it is less strong than some forms of alcohol, and other drugs should be distributed only by a doctor's prescription: drugs should be a public health issue, not a criminal issue. We should have heightened civil liberties in this society, with equal rights for all and greater rights than what we have presently.
11. Simplification and replacement of the U.S. tax system, which is currently a complex and corrupt income tax system with many loopholes. The complexity of the tax system can allow the richer citizens among us to exploit the loopholes and evade paying their fair share of taxes. Only the rich can afford to hire people to find these loopholes. Replacements for this current tax system could be the Fair Tax, a flat tax, or some other option I have not yet heard of. In addition to this, the Bush Tax cuts, which benefit the wealthiest alone in society, should be repealed. Inequality between the rich and poor should decrease, and one way to do this is to create a fairer tax system that is helpful to the middle class and the poor, and not just the rich.
12. Peace, diplomacy, cooperation, and friendship with all other nations in the world. Use an uderstanding and respectful foreign policy rather than an aggressive, militaristic, and threatening foreign policy. Perhaps this cooperative friendship could be used to combat global warming, among other things. If the people of the world are united in their goals, then what shall be able to stop them? People like to divide things between East and West, but, if I know anything, I know that East always meets West somewhere. And, in this case, that meeting is in the fact that we are all human beings with an interest in maintaining human life on earth.
13. Voting age lowered to 16. In my view, if you are allowed to work a job, if you are allowed to take your life and the lives of others into your own hands when you are driving a car, then you should be allowed and you should be considered responsible enough to be able to vote. Suffrage should be expanded, and the disenfranchisement of this group of American citizens ceased.
14. Increased funding for space program, put a man on Mars. Also increase funding for research for diseases such as AIDS and cancer: hopefully, if any cures exist for these previously incurable diseases, government policy shall make these cures easier to be found. In the area of science, the United States should attempt to contribute to human progress.
These ideas, though not exclusively, greatly comprise my ideal view of how this country should be in the future. How the world should see us. With equal rights for all, citizen empowerment, a citizen-oriented society. Striving towards new precedents and contributing to the progress of humankind on the planet earth. With a cooperative, understanding, and peaceful foreign policy. Taking steps towards a human society where the emphasis is most greatly laid on the rights and goals of humanity---a humanist society. Will this ever come to pass? The question is not whether the current established society will pass away---it will, for it is the law of Time and of the Earth that it must do so---the question is what will replace them. The question is whether these societies which never existed will ever come to pass.
1. The U.S. defense budget greatly slashed and U.S. troops brought home from most or all of their stations in countries around the world. The United States usually spends about 50% of its total budget each year on defense. As a result, this country spends more on defense than the rest of the countries of the world combined. No other countries can rival us, so what are we afraid of? Terrorists? The War on Terror should be an intelligence and police action rather than an actual war---especially considering that such a war would be perpetual, since terrorism is a part of human nature and can not be eradicated. Our budget priorities should be re-organized to favor things like education and infrastructure.
2. A federal program that pays for college education in the United States, up to Ph. D. level. As for highschool and younger education, I support the repeal of the "No Child Left Behind Act", which places too much emphasis on testing and removes funding from schools who do the least well on the tests (removing funding from schools that need the money most).
3. The enactment of the National Initiative for Democracy proposal (ni4d.org), which will empower the American people to make laws in partnership with their elected officials. This is a historic proposal to change the paradigm of human governance.
4. A significant plan and action against poverty in the United States. Components of this could be: a living wage, public works programs, fair trade policies, and urban and rural revitalization plans with tax incentives for companies to remain in the United States and re-locate to depressed areas.
5. A significant plan and action towards solving our global warming problems. This could include a carbon tax and increased use of such clean energies as wind and solar.
6. A single-payer, not-for-profit, government-run healthcare system which provides most everything from eye-glasses to dental.
7. Public works programs to rebuild America's infrastructure (and other projects such as the building of a national rail transportation system), which can help create new jobs and improve the country.
8. Breaking up of corporate media monopolies and the corporate control over our information supply. Also implement major election reform and public campaign financing in order to limit corporate influence in our government (the NI4D may also help with this).
9. A living wage (not a minimum wage that people can't live off of), the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act and increased Union activity (unions can fight for workers' rights), and the implementation of Fair Trade policies (with tariffs in place to protect manufacturing jobs in the United States). All of these things will help protect the worker and increase the rights of workers.
10. Civil rights in general should be increased. The Patriot Act should be repealed, abortion and gay marriage should be made legal nationally, the failed War on Drugs should be ended. Marijuana should be legalized, as it is less strong than some forms of alcohol, and other drugs should be distributed only by a doctor's prescription: drugs should be a public health issue, not a criminal issue. We should have heightened civil liberties in this society, with equal rights for all and greater rights than what we have presently.
11. Simplification and replacement of the U.S. tax system, which is currently a complex and corrupt income tax system with many loopholes. The complexity of the tax system can allow the richer citizens among us to exploit the loopholes and evade paying their fair share of taxes. Only the rich can afford to hire people to find these loopholes. Replacements for this current tax system could be the Fair Tax, a flat tax, or some other option I have not yet heard of. In addition to this, the Bush Tax cuts, which benefit the wealthiest alone in society, should be repealed. Inequality between the rich and poor should decrease, and one way to do this is to create a fairer tax system that is helpful to the middle class and the poor, and not just the rich.
12. Peace, diplomacy, cooperation, and friendship with all other nations in the world. Use an uderstanding and respectful foreign policy rather than an aggressive, militaristic, and threatening foreign policy. Perhaps this cooperative friendship could be used to combat global warming, among other things. If the people of the world are united in their goals, then what shall be able to stop them? People like to divide things between East and West, but, if I know anything, I know that East always meets West somewhere. And, in this case, that meeting is in the fact that we are all human beings with an interest in maintaining human life on earth.
13. Voting age lowered to 16. In my view, if you are allowed to work a job, if you are allowed to take your life and the lives of others into your own hands when you are driving a car, then you should be allowed and you should be considered responsible enough to be able to vote. Suffrage should be expanded, and the disenfranchisement of this group of American citizens ceased.
14. Increased funding for space program, put a man on Mars. Also increase funding for research for diseases such as AIDS and cancer: hopefully, if any cures exist for these previously incurable diseases, government policy shall make these cures easier to be found. In the area of science, the United States should attempt to contribute to human progress.
These ideas, though not exclusively, greatly comprise my ideal view of how this country should be in the future. How the world should see us. With equal rights for all, citizen empowerment, a citizen-oriented society. Striving towards new precedents and contributing to the progress of humankind on the planet earth. With a cooperative, understanding, and peaceful foreign policy. Taking steps towards a human society where the emphasis is most greatly laid on the rights and goals of humanity---a humanist society. Will this ever come to pass? The question is not whether the current established society will pass away---it will, for it is the law of Time and of the Earth that it must do so---the question is what will replace them. The question is whether these societies which never existed will ever come to pass.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)