[nicola_tesla]

Go talk to your campaigning politicians from the CONgress with the 9% approval rating and give them a piece of your mind.

[norraad]

He reminds me of Pat Paulson there in that picture, I only wish it was Pat Paulson, I really liked his ideas.

Was he on the Smothers Brothers?

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

George Washington famously -- and, it must now be admitted, with excessive optimism -- characterized it as an institutional saucer intended to cool legislation passed in the intemperate heat of the moment.

That might have been more true when senators were selected by state legislatures -- they were more insulated from the ebb and flow of public opinion then.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

PING!

[lesser_satan]

I prefer pornocracy: government of whores.

[mewzilla]

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.

Alexis de Tocqueville

[KoRn]

.

[djsherin]

Socialism is destroying this country. What’s going to happen when our dollar is so devalued and our debt so crushing that the system just comes down? We won’t be able to pay for anything as citizens. Welfare, SS, medicare, etc. will no longer be able to function (not that they should anyway). The government won’t be able to fund our defense and the military will be in a world of trouble. Especially the guys over seas. It’s a horrible image to imagine, but it’s entirely possible....

[amchugh]

Sober observers understand it to be the most corrupt legislative assembly in human history.

Even though I agree that the bailout is ill-conceived, I almost stopped reading at this point. Spicing up your rhetoric with a little hyperbole is ok when done tongue in cheek, but this is a little ridiculous.

[rabscuttle385]

The Fed's proponents described its handiwork as an independent entity that would prevent "panics" and maintain the integrity of our currency and financial system.

The Fed usually doesn't prevent panics, but it does tend to negatively amplify and prolong their effects.

The Fed was presented to the public in pseudo-populist drag: It was supposedly the bane of the big banking interests. This was, in every particular, a conscious inversion of the truth. The Fed was, is, and every shall be a product and protector of those interests. It has practically destroyed the value of US currency, and engineered numerous financial crises, including the one currently unfolding.

The regional Fed banks are private banks run by their members. What else did we expect? Handing over control of the currency was like letting the fox into the henhouse.

[Sam Gamgee]

It makes me sick that conservatives are willing to endure this Keynsian socialism. Paulson is a Wall Street hack looking out for his investment bank buddies. The Republicans are just plain clueless and so out of touch with the people and reality it reminds me of Romanov Russia. Except at least the Romanovs were actually beginning to achieve significant reforms.

[nonsporting]

The Fannie/Freddie bailout is another example of the familiar equation behind corporatism (or, to use the more loaded synonym, fascism): The risks are subsidized, the losses are socialized, and the profits are privatized.

Bingo.