There was a reason for hiring Geithner and Summers

[jpgray]

Trying to bring on Daschle, placing go-go China Immelt in a jobs commission, Bowles and Simpson in a deficit commission, lobbyists from Raytheon at Defense, lobbyists for Goldman Sachs at Treasury, deferring indefensible policy to doomsday devices (attempted like the deficit commission or realized like the Super Committee), pouring out the ink on veto pen checkmates for tax cuts, going half-hearted stimulus before going half-hearted austere, pushing deals with banks, avoiding investigations, pushing exculpatory settlements, lauding ourselves for our deals and common ground with those we vilify as dangerous hostage-taking lunatics, all while trusting in their overall civic spirit and responsibility next time.

There's a reason for these things, and it isn't you or I. It's an expensive campaign, an obsession with the consensus of the moment, and a complete lack of interest in any long-term opportunities or perils.

You can't look ten years ahead when you believe stimulus is the answer to the economy one year, and two years later are just as fervent in pushing an anti-stimulus. You can't stay centrist if the debate's moving to the right, and bipartisanship is not sane or responsible when half the partisans are radical belligerents. You can't avoid socialist policies if everything you support is deemed socialist, and you can't carve out a healthy middle ground if nothing you propose will pass unless it is what your opponents also propose.

Above all, it should win no praise to save some of what should never have been put at risk.

[Horse with no Name]

1. Thank you. I love this. K/R. n/t

[hlthe2b]

2. sigh....

I know..... It pains me, but I know...

[girl gone mad]

3. You are more eloquent than I am.

I would call it the result of short-sighted political and financial self-interest.

Whatever the impetus, these decisions have put our economy, and perhaps even our democracy, in great peril.

[kentuck]

4. Good stuff!

kick

[DirkGently]

5. Excellent post. (nt)

[sabrina 1]

6. Great post. I'm just wondering, looking at all those

disturbing names. Who does Obama intend to have in his cabinet next term if he should win? Last time, many of us didn't know we were supporting and voting for Geithner, Summers, Gates, Bernanke, Bowles, Simpson, Rahm, Axelrod. I know I would never in my wildest dreams vote for any of those people if they ever ran for office.

Not to mention the Republicans who have been appointed and/or kept on long after they should have been replaced by Democrats.

I expected to see at least some Progressives in positions of power. This is something that needs to be known before the election.

[JDPriestly]

25. Not to mention Petraeus "no-war-lasts-too-long" recently

appointed to the CIA. I believe that Gates has now been replaced by Panetta.

[ibegurpard]

7. this quote deserves to be a sig line:

"Above all, it should win no praise to save some of what should never have been put at risk."

[Change has come]

8. K&R

:kick:

[immoderate]

9. Kickin'

--imm

[hifiguy]

10. Kickety rec!

:kick:

You said a mouthful! :applause:

[bvar22]

11. I'll stand. K&R

"To say we can't provide economic stimulus today because it won't solve the deficit problem down the road is to strangle ourselves with our own hands. On this subject, as on so many others, one looks to President Franklin Roosevelt to define the responsibility government has to keep its citizens secure through tough times.

Asked about the platform of the American Liberty League, a pressure group of rich conservative Democrats such as the Du Pont family that declared itself the protector of property rights and free enterprise, Roosevelt remarked that their principles seemed to be that "you shall love God and then forget your neighbor."

Government, he countered, involved itself with "people who want to keep themselves free from starvation, keep a roof over their heads, lead decent lives, have proper educational standards" ... and who needed protection from those determined to "enrich and advance themselves at the expense of their fellow citizens."

That was the word from the White House in 1934. And today?"

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/19/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20110619

“As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.
We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.
Among these are:

*The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

*The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

*The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

*The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

*The right of every family to a decent home;

*The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

*The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

*The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.
Americas own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens.

For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world”
---FDR, 1944

I miss THAT Democratic Party.
:cry:


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want a party that will STAND UP for Working Americans."
---Paul Wellstone

photo by bvar22
Shortly before Sen Wellstone was killed




Solidarity!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[JDPriestly]

26. +1

[Logical]

12. +1

[WillyT]

13. K & R !!!

:kick:

[fascisthunter]

14. well stated...

[PassingFair]

15. Time to drag out my favorite political cartoon:

Fantastic OP!

[DeSwiss]

16. K&R

"They're so shallow, it's almost like a kind of depth."

[TheKentuckian]

17. Great work!

[Octafish]

18. Absolutely.

[Plucketeer]

19. Ka & Arrrrghh!

[Plucketeer]

20. Ka & Arrrrghh!

[davidwparker]

21. K&R

[hulka38]

22. Great post.

[whatchamacallit]

23. Oh yeah? Well here's a blue link that disputes

none of what you said. K&R

[JDPriestly]

24. Great! I found this too late to recommend it, but consider it recommended

yet again anyway.