Garrison Keillor's View

Email Print posted by EveningStarNM 10/06/2008 11:48:06 AM EST

Google Technorati del.icio.us digg reddit

Wall Street is tanking.  The bailout won't fix the problem, and we're giving away 5% of our GDP to thieves.

"It wasn't their money Wall Street was playing with. It was ours."

They're Stealing from You and Me -- Where's the Outrage?
http://www.alternet.org/sto ry/101694/

< Obama Went There in a big way | Bridgetowhere's first threat! >
 Display:
Garrison Keillor's View | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 hidden)
I'm changing my mind (none / 1)

Fuck the financial sector.  They're all that's holding us together right now, but it's an illusion.

We need to take that $850 billion and make a massive investment in alternative energy technologies right away.  We'd be back in the manufacturing business, and we'd have something of value to sell.

by EveningStarNM on 10/06/2008 12:18:02 PM EST

Great artricle (none / 0)
Here's what Im thinking. The top execs of ENRON went on trial. Why is no one going on trial now?

by Chinese Democracy on 10/06/2008 12:42:44 PM EST

[ Parent ]
YES! (none / 0)

Consider yourself recommended!

$850 Billion can go a long way.

For $10 Billion we can install a high efficiency power grid that can efficiently take electricity from solar farms in Arizona and wind farms in Colorado to New York and other cities.  Then we can pass a law that requires local power companies to purchase generated electricity and they can sell it to the grid if they cannot use it themselves.

If we focus on spending money on projects that are either public works, research or education, we will pour all that money back into the economy.  Some of it might even trickle up to Wall Street.

But bailing out billionaire bankers is a giant sink-hole for the money.  We hope they will loan us our money back... with interest.  All it is, is a vast redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the rich.

by rbruck on 10/06/2008 01:11:52 PM EST

[ Parent ]
"Sell?" What is this you speak of? (none / 0)
Exports?  Wha?

I'm so confused... I think I need to go watch Fox News to get my head straight again.

Ahhhhh.  That's better.

by jarett on 10/06/2008 02:19:37 PM EST

[ Parent ]
I learned about it from... (none / 0)
...some dude named DeLong who calls himself an "economist".  ; I guess he's supposed to know something about this stuff, as opposed to the Republicans who are in charge now.

It has something to do with actually being of some benefit to the world rather than leeching off others by selling them debts for other debts.  He says its better if we trade things that actually have value for other peoples' money, rather than just borrowing and borrowing and borrowing.  As I learn more, I'll pass it on.

But I dunno.  The Republicans have been saying all along that debt is better than production, right?  Hmmmm...

by EveningStarNM on 10/06/2008 05:42:41 PM EST

[ Parent ]
While we're distracted (none / 0)

At least 25% of the world's mammal species are at risk of extinction, according to the first assessment of their status for a decade.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ science/nature/7651981.stm

Hmm... Humans are mammals, right?

by EveningStarNM on 10/06/2008 12:51:42 PM EST

and executives walk away with tens of millions (none / 0)

Anybody read about Lehman Brothers this morning?

Days from becoming the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, Lehman Brothers steered millions to departing executives even while pleading for a federal rescue, Congress was told Monday. 

Waxman read excerpts from Lehman documents in which a recommendation that top management should forgo bonuses was apparently brushed aside. He also cited a Sept. 11 request to Lehman's compensation board that three executives leaving the company be given $20 million in "special payments."

"In other words, even as Mr. Fuld was pleading with Secretary Paulson for a federal rescue, Lehman continued to squander millions on executive compensation," Waxman said before Fuld appeared as a witness.

 

by desertpear on 10/06/2008 02:23:11 PM EST

No more country club prisons (none / 0)

White collar crooks should do the hardest time because they've done the most damage to our society.  Someone who held up a drug store is much less dangerous.  Even someone who committed murder while committing such a relatively small robbery has done less damage to our society  than crooks like Fuld and Paulson.

These dangerous criminals must be taken off the streets for the good of society.

by EveningStarNM on 10/06/2008 05:49:35 PM EST

[ Parent ]
S&L McCain (none / 0)
We are so far past any reason at all. What part don't people understand about having now 6 trillion dollar stollen from them with nothing to show for it? Can you imagine what we could have done if we had actually invested that money into infastructure and alt energy?

If I had voted for Bush, I would probably kill myself. I highly recommed it for people that did.

by sisco66 on 10/06/2008 06:31:14 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Garrison Keillor's View | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 hidden)
 Display: