"But what did the American people do to deserve this? What did they do to deserve the quality of financial, corporate and political leadership that marched them into this mess — and that today postures as their rescuers?" ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Do you really have to ask? What does a stupid consumer do to deserve being ripped off? The answer is, "nothing."
They just buy and buy and buy as all the idiot-tested commercials instruct them to do, and pay the consequences later. They don't look at the fine print on their credit cards and mortgage documents, and if they did they wouldn't understand it anyway. What does a sheep do to deserve getting fleeced?................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
And so, could you tell us once again, mon Pat-pourri, why is it that the right wing deprives the government of the ability to pay for its waning services (you know, education, roads, bridges, keeping poison out of our milk, catching criminals, and yes, regulating the financial markets) with tax dollars on the premise that taxes are so evil, even though we can at least elect and unelect those who spend them, but the hard earned money that banks and credit card companies pick right out of our pockets with very funny and not so funny tiny little wormey words is just fine for us to lose?

Sir;...There is such a thing as following an ideal into oblivion against all evidence that it is not delivering the goods, but ruining the country to make a few people rich. The problem is that some of those being made rich were members of the government, and many were as idealistic as the rich who should have known better. Part of the problem was not the government handing out free money to force up the price of property, but the simple fact is, that in not taxing property to support the federal government it was made a bank of wealth paying so little of taxes that it could be held indefinitely off the market. On the other hand, labor taxed was driven down in price, and artificially so, so that those needing property had to borrow for long time periods against inflated property values because of short wages. Wages were inevitably pushed to their un-natural low, and property was pushed to its speculative high. Neither situation was healthy, but under the pressure of interest, which has sucked too much wealth out of the economy, property is reaching a natural low. It would have been more healthy for the country if Property taxed had to find willing workers to make it profit to pay the taxes. Instead, property had workers on the ropes, begging for jobs. It should have been property on the ropes begging for workers or buyers before the country took it for taxes. We have had that society, and it worked better than the one we have now...Thanks...Sweeney

"Nevertheless, it must be done, and done now, as collapse is imminent."
Please tell me I'm reading this wrong, and you're not supporting the bail out. Oh Pat, not you too.

As a liberal I honestly wonder what happened to real conservatism. It seems they either became libertarians or neocons. We sold ourselves overseas to cheaper labor. In theory that should have made us more competitive, but it did not. This bailout is a slap in the face of the basic nature of capitalism. I do not mind being taxed fairly, but not to pay for someone who made almost 400 million in 5 years to run a company into the ground. I fault the trickle-down theory as well as the weak democrats who let neocons do as they please with just a mild squeak of false protest. And I am a Democrat. We need real leaders in the Congress and the Senate. We need to get out country back from China. We for sure need to get rid of the Electoral college. The hard workers of this country need to have their dreams realized and not be beaten into the dirt...
Great article Pat, love to read your stuff...boy I miss real conservatives.