BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Let’s just cut through the chase. Ben Bernanke, Henry Paulson, George Bush and Congress have thrown the American citizens into slavery.

First Congress approved the new bankruptcy laws of 2005 that pretty much make it impossible for a consumer to file bankruptcy and keep his home. This law came at the behest of the banks, the credit card companies. Credit cards are the shackles of the American society. Most bankruptcies are not the result of credit card debt, but a result of catastrophic illnesses and hospital stays. But, Congress has said that the country cannot afford comprehensive health care for our citizens. It has been argued that we do not need to “nationalize” health care. It would be too costly for the American taxpayers. Taking advantage of that mentality, the banks sought to tie the hands of consumers making it almost impossible for a consumer bankruptcy filing.

Congress has either been duped by Wall Street or is in bed with those who control the wealth in America. I am inclined to believe that the lure of financial gain, the pressure of the bank lobby, and sheer ignorance have led the sheep in Congress to give the banks, the insurance companies, and the large corporations whatever they have wanted. Congress has proved that it cannot stand up to big business, but would rather sleep in the same bed.

And, when it appeared that the big banks and insurance companies were about to fail

“Clients and advisers are almost giddy,” said Sallie L. Krawcheck, the head of Citigroup’s Global Wealth Management division. “It’s a sense of massive relief. Everyone feels like they looked over the edge and saw the abyss, and have been pulled back.”

The banks and insurance companies may have been pulled back from the abyss, but the American taxpayers have been thrown over the cliff. In the south we have a saying about buying a pig in a poke. Well, the $80 Billion paid for AIG is buying a pig in a poke. No one has any idea what America purchased. We have been told that it is complicated, too complicated for us to understand. The truth is that with no oversight and no regulations for too many years Wall Street has operated as if there is an endless supply of money for them to gamble with. The latest bail out proved them right. Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke have taken fear to Congress and convinced them that an open pocket approach is the only way to save Wall Street. At least we have finally found the WMD! They are not in Iraq. They are in cushy offices on Wall Street and strolling the streets of Washington.

And, now they complain that new regulations are too stringent.

Some hedge fund managers complained bitterly that they had been singled out, even as they were among the few to properly manage risk. Those whom the government had propped up were the investment banks, whose hundreds of billions of dollars in losses arose from reckless risks undertaken to raise profits to hedge-fund-like levels.

American taxpayers have paid billions and billions of dollars to prosecute a war to keep us safe when the enemy, Wall Street banks and insurance companies, is already thriving in our country. The Congress bowed to the pressure of the White House when they voted for the most recent FISA legislation. They bow to the pressure of the White House each time they fund the continuation of the War in Iraq. And, now they have bowed to the pressure of the money managers. Congress has sold our souls to the company stores.

The fear of a total collapse of the economy has stirred Congress to agree with anything and everything a few of the elite say. The time constraints, whether real or imagined, have caused our representatives and senators to run over the cliff like lemmings pulling the entire country over the edge with them.

How dare our government, the servants of the people, betray us as they have. Veterans are sleeping under bridges and under boxes on the streets. Children (insurance cost to the nation of $35 Billion a year for children’s coverage) and their families are denied the health care they need because Amercia, the richest country in the world, cannot afford to take care of its population. America continues to sit back and watch tens of thousands of people lose their jobs each month and only say that times are tough. The families of men and women serving our country in Afghanistan and Iraq are forced to use food stamps or visit community foodbanks to secure food for the family. Banks, who lied and led the unknowing and unsuspecting citizens to sign on the dotted line for mortgages buyers did not understand, are now placing their homes in foreclosure. And who has been looking out for you and me? “Et tu, Brute?”

Wall Street greed, enabled by Congress and White House administrations, have proved more devestating to the American public than Al-Qaeda. While various agencies have scoured the streets and listened in on phone calls and read emails looking for insurgents who want to do us harm, they have been blinded by the glitter and glare of our nation’s greatest enemy, the greed of the few that will cost America more than the cost of the War in Iraq. We are now faced with fighting the enemy within.

And, who is paying for all this? You and me, the little people who live on Main Street.
With the election, less than 50 days away, it is more important than ever that we take a look at all our candidates, those running for president and vice president, those running for senate seats and those running for seats in the House of Representatives.

You can talk experience all you want. We see where that has gotten us. I’m voting for total change across the board. I would rather have new thinking and new ideas, even untested, than to continue to pay the price for the Wall Street whores.