Although there are great reasons to support the bailout bill that went down in flames today, I do not.
In a way I had a vague hope the bill would pass, just so I could go back to not thinking about it, and not worrying about the intersection of my job and a major financial crisis.
But, the old idealistic revolutionary in me said, I kind of hope it fails.
What we witnessed was oddly a great bit of unintentional bipartisanship between Progressive Democrats and Extreme Conservatives. Progressives were simply not willing to bailout Wall St. in response to its financial negligence, or for that matter give up the great programs they have been waiting for (universal medical care, a massive switch to alternative energy etc.).
Conservatives, at least some of them, just could not swallow their (now demonstrably hollow) blind reliance on the wonders of unadulterated free market capitalism.
Sometimes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend:
The phrase, The enemy of my enemy is my friend is usually considered a foreign policy doctrine that is commonly used to confront a significant enemy through an intermediary in order to undermine the enemy and in a “cold” manner, as opposed to a “hot”, direct confrontation. It’s an ancient proverb that means that solely because two parties have a common enemy, they are friends. Often described as an Arab proverb, there is also an identical Chinese proverb and both may be an extension of another Chinese proverb that says, “It is good to strike the serpent’s head with your enemy’s hand.” A historical example of this policy occurred when the Greeks were attacked by the Persians at Thermopylae; the Greek city states put aside their differences and fought the common enemy (link).
Both sides stood by their guns, and you’ve gotta give them credit. Although, I can’t help myself from pointing out that Republicans views have been totally and forever discredited, so maybe their side was just stupid.
Why did I want to bailout to fail?
Because there has to be a better and cheaper approach than that offered by the people who got us here, that does not reward those same people.
There’s collections of alternative plans all over the web.
I haven’t been collecting all the links, but I’ve read several with promise. Here’s one from Daily Kos and one from Open Left.
Does that mean there is not a serious crisis? No. This is real. For better or worse America runs on spending and credit. Whether that is a wise model should now be all the more questioned. But, a shift to a different economic model is a down road issue.
I just have faith that there are progressives out there smart enough to come up with a better plan.
If we don’t do this done the right way,instead of just quickly, aside from a difference in foreign policy, who is President is going to matter a lot less.
Make yourselves heard goddammit!
