Of course he is confident. We have been too afraid to ever turn him down. And even if we say no, he has always gone ahead and done whatever he wanted, generally at our expense.
They gave us a “whole week” to pay attention and say no way. But as usual, we chose panic instead of common sense.
This blog is not “out there” yet, in the thick of things, but Ariana Huffington, if you’re listening — pass this on…
In the past eight years, when has Mr. Bush asked for billions and trillions of dollars that found it’s way back to the people it belonged to? Except for the Elite One Percent, how many of us are better off now than we were before this administration?
“They” are not struggling financially, or losing homes, and their children are not being mangled and killed in a foreign country, fighting a war that most US Citizens are still not clear as to why we are there.
The truth? Nothing they have done has improved our lives. If Congress is in confusion about the legitimacy of this astronomical amount of bail out, why would we go ahead and okay this?
Mr. Bush has been telling us that the economy was just fine. All the while, incurring huge debt and deficts, borrowing like crazy from China.
So were the companies being invested in on Wall Street reporting false earnings all this time? Or, was there a sudden and shocking downturn this last quarter that sent everything topsy turvey?
Suggestion: Launch a longer investigation as to what happened, then get back to us with the facts, report it loudly and clearly, and let the people of this nation decide by a special election as to what should be done. $700 Billion is a lot of money for taxpayers to just give away in a rush of panic. It’s reminiscent of how Mr. Bush just ignored everyone and just bullied his way into a war.
Remember, we allowed it because we were told there was clear evidence of “weapons of mass destruction”…and then there were no such evidence. We were supposed to be going after Bin Laden for attacking our country. And then we were suddenly going after Iraq for those illusive weapons. And now, we’re shelving out unheard of money for corrupt Executives.
Are we all sedated? Nancy Reagan said it best: JUST SAY NO!
PLEASE READ THIS: AND GET INVOLVED!!!!!
Business News
Senate leader: Significant progress on bailout
By CHARLES BABINGTON (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
September 27, 2008 1:05 PM EDT
WASHINGTON – Congressional leaders said Saturday they hoped to reach an agreement on a multibillion-dollar bailout plan for the financial sector before the markets open Monday, even if House and Senate votes would come later.
“The goal is to come up with a final agreement by tomorrow,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said during an unusual weekend session of Congress. “We may not be able to do that, but we’re trying very hard.”
He said he hoped for an announcement by 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) Sunday, just hours before the Asian markets open again. “Everybody is waiting for this thing to tip a little bit too far,” he said, so “we may not have another day.”
President George W. Bush expressed confidence that lawmakers soon would approve a rescue plan. He acknowledged that many Americans are frustrated and angry that up to $700 billion in tax dollars may be needed to cover Wall Street firms’ mistakes.
The bailout is intended to rescue bankers from bad loans that threaten to derail the economy and plunge the country into a long depression. Lawmakers likened the situation to a major car wreck that has backed up traffic – credit, in this case – for miles (kilometers). The rescue is meant to remove the wreckage so credit can start moving to borrowers again.
The main sticking point is with conservative Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives. They object to several parts of the Bush administration’s approach, developed largely by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Negotiators on Saturday sought to accommodate enough of their demands to entice a reasonable number of House Republicans to back the eventual plan, which is nearly certain to be unpopular with many voters.
Democrats and administration officials said they were willing to include the House Republicans’ idea of having the government insure distressed mortgage-backed securities – but only as an option, not a replacement for the broader idea of buying outright those toxic securities.
“There may be a way in which that could be accommodated as part of the toolbox” available to the Treasury Department, South Dakota Sen. John Thune said after Republican senators were briefed on the negotiations. “As a practical matter, that can’t be the engine that drives this bill.”
Negotiators also discussed phasing in the program’s costs. For example, after the first $350 billion is made available, Congress could try to block later amounts, which could total an additional $350 billion, if it believed the program was not working. The president presumably could veto such a move, however, requiring extra large margins in the House and Senate to override.
Some Democrats still want a provision allowing bankruptcy judges to rewrite mortgages to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. Thune said that would be “a deal-breaker” for Republicans.
The compromise legislation that seemed to be emerging Saturday “is not the proposal that we got from Secretary Paulson,” Reid said. But lawmakers said it would be much closer to Paulson’s original plan than to the alternative offered by House Republicans several days ago.
Some House Republicans continued to resist a plan that might move quickly once drafted and might include only modest portions of their alternative.
“There must be no rush to misjudgment regarding this critical threat to America’s economic future for generations to come,” said Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, a Michigan Republican. “All Americans want responsible progress toward a positive, pro-taxpayer solution.”
The debate has divided Republicans more so than Democrats, with Bush struggling to salvage the main elements of his plan from attacks by members of his own party.
Some Republicans have taunted Democrats, saying Democrats could pass the bill without Republican help because they control both the House and Senate. With the Nov. 4 election only weeks away, Democrats have refused to push anything that appears to be a sharply partisan plan, which Republicans could then use against them. Even some Republicans have defended them.
“You can’t have a deal” on an issue this large when “a large part of the body” refuses to go along, Sen. Lindsey Graham. a South Carolina Republican, said in an interview.
New details emerged over the weekend of a remarkably tumultuous White House meeting on the bailout Thursday. With the session breaking up in disarray, according to two participants, Bush issued an appeal, saying, “Can’t we just all go out and say things are OK?”
The group around the table, which included congressional leaders and the presidential nominees-Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama -spurned the request. The participants spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private.
In an Associated Press-Knowledge Networks poll, only 30 percent of those surveyed expressed support for Bush’s package. Forty-five percent were opposed, with 25 percent undecided. The survey was conducted Thursday and had a margin of error or plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.