Philosophy
I was listening to a local NPR talk show the other day and it struck me, it IS Clinton's fault, just like the Republicans claim.
The radio discussion concerned the near doubling of electric bills for many customers in Maryland. The cause? Deregulation of the electric industry. When the debate went on concerning it a decade ago, the line was that the free market would bring prices for consumers down. Competition good, regulation of industry bad. Market forces raise all boats. So, the legislature went along and -- of course -- the consumer got the shaft. So now there are attempts to put the genie back in the toothpaste tube and re-regulate the industry.
It is just one small example of everything we are seeing all the way across the economy. Why? Because high school never ends. The jerks from high school who lied, cheated, and stole? They went to college, got MBAs and now run corporations. Those with power positions in the marketplace are filthy rotten.
When their buddies got hold of the Congress and White House, of course, they invited the foxes into the hen house. Bush created a special tax break to help transport them into the hen house. But then so did Clinton. Clinton and his DLC chums happily sold out the party -- Clinton especially so when he realized that it was his ticket to a second term after Monica -- and played the deregulation game just like the GOoPers. VP Biden did it too with the bankruptcy bill. Call it "deregulation" and appeal to free market competition and how it will benefit everyone and really use the legislation to rig the game against most Americans in ways that someone without a law degree could never understand. Put on commercials with Harry and Louise to demonize anyone who doesn't want to hand the country over to our corporate overlords as dirty fucking hippies, socialists. And when it passes, let people with the moral fiber of Jesse James loot our entire economy into dust.
Yes, we have "people" like Phil Graham to blame. Yes, this sort of thing became endemic during the last eight years. But the snowball was rolling happily downhill for the years before that. To get himself another term William Jefferson Clinton gave our government to the people that destroyed it by becoming one of them.
The man did great things in terms of foreign policy which is why having Hilary at the helm of the Department of State is a very good thing. But keep the Clintons and their ilk away from anything that relates to economic regulation...you know, folks like Larry Summers who Obama put in one of the most powerful positions.
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Philosophy
The GOP Is Right, It Is Clinton's Fault
I was listening to a local NPR talk show the other day and it struck me, it IS Clinton's fault, just like the Republicans claim.
The radio discussion concerned the near doubling of electric bills for many customers in Maryland. The cause? Deregulation of the electric industry. When the debate went on concerning it a decade ago, the line was that the free market would bring prices for consumers down. Competition good, regulation of industry bad. Market forces raise all boats. So, the legislature went along and -- of course -- the consumer got the shaft. So now there are attempts to put the genie back in the toothpaste tube and re-regulate the industry.
It is just one small example of everything we are seeing all the way across the economy. Why? Because high school never ends. The jerks from high school who lied, cheated, and stole? They went to college, got MBAs and now run corporations. Those with power positions in the marketplace are filthy rotten.
When their buddies got hold of the Congress and White House, of course, they invited the foxes into the hen house. Bush created a special tax break to help transport them into the hen house. But then so did Clinton. Clinton and his DLC chums happily sold out the party -- Clinton especially so when he realized that it was his ticket to a second term after Monica -- and played the deregulation game just like the GOoPers. VP Biden did it too with the bankruptcy bill. Call it "deregulation" and appeal to free market competition and how it will benefit everyone and really use the legislation to rig the game against most Americans in ways that someone without a law degree could never understand. Put on commercials with Harry and Louise to demonize anyone who doesn't want to hand the country over to our corporate overlords as dirty fucking hippies, socialists. And when it passes, let people with the moral fiber of Jesse James loot our entire economy into dust.
Yes, we have "people" like Phil Graham to blame. Yes, this sort of thing became endemic during the last eight years. But the snowball was rolling happily downhill for the years before that. To get himself another term William Jefferson Clinton gave our government to the people that destroyed it by becoming one of them.
The man did great things in terms of foreign policy which is why having Hilary at the helm of the Department of State is a very good thing. But keep the Clintons and their ilk away from anything that relates to economic regulation...you know, folks like Larry Summers who Obama put in one of the most powerful positions.
- A Copernican Election
Copernicus changed nothing in the universe. His heliocentric theory merely changed the way we looked at the universe. Sometimes that shift of mind is more radical than actual alterations in the world. I was born less than a week after Martin Luther King,...
- Bush's Electile Dysfunction And The Thriving Of American Democracy
Seems to me that in yesterday's (and in some cases, next week's) results are a short and a long term benefit. Short term benefit: Lame duck is a poor description of what the rest of the Bush presidency will look like. He spent the first six years...
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Last week Aspazia had a couple of posts wondering whether the Hilary hatred was rooted in more than sexism. I believe so, but have been struggling to clearly enunciate what it is. Madeline Albright and Condoleeza Rice are both very smart, serious women,...
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The last week or so must have looked good to the "end of days" Revelation crowd. You've got a major bombing in India, North Korea on the verge of going nuclear, Israel bombing Lebanon and potentially starting a major regional war, Iran not only on...
- Release The Clinton!
First it was the economy, stupid. But apparently not only did trickle-down Republicans not get it, they regressed and went backwards, so it's time for President Bill Clinton to come back and school everyone in what can only be described as a masterful...