After eight years of the Bush Presidency, the American middle class has been taken hostage and told they will lose everything (trickle down financial ruin) if they do not bail out the big banks, investment firms and insurance companies. Bush & Cheney have perfected the panic mode wealth transfer that Naomi Klein describes so well in "The Shock Doctrine." This multi-trillion-dollar parting gift is their payback to the upper class that helped orchestrate their election.
Capitalism for the middle class, socialism for the rich... indeed! This is what you get when corrupt Republicans and the Corporate sociopathic personality rules the economy.
Will the middle class in the United States ever learn? Less then 20 years ago we paid over 125 billion for the Savings & Loan scandal / bailout. Caused by eight years of "Reaganonics" -- deregulation, greed, huge budget deficits and upper class tax cuts -- our current "credit crisis" scandal in many ways mirrors that one.
Where did the billions of dollars lost by the banks go? Did the money just evaporate? No. Most of it went to huge CEO and executive payouts to expand the obscene wealth of the upper class. Someone has to pay for the super yachts, extravagant parties, multiple mansions and other extravagances of the rich. If you want to see where your money is going, just tune into "Lifestyles of the Super Rich." How ironic that the same institutions which have been feeding off the middle class like leeches for decades (via unreasonable fees, large interest rate spreads, insurance rate hikes, hyped-up investment schemes, etc.), are now begging for more blood money.
Up until now, there has been an absence of any significant economic class backlash here in America, even as the wealth gap between rich and poor has increased more than at any time in our history. In spite of Bush having created tax policies that favored higher earners while real incomes dropped among the middle class, the majority of Americans cast their vote for the "candidate of the wealthy" yet again in 2004. It appears, finally, they won't do the same by voting for a Republican POTUS in 2008. Obama's middle class advocacy message is clearly resonating in these tough economic times.
Middle class Americans need to ask themselves and their government: are these giveaways and bailouts the only way to stimulate and save the economy? The middle class, via our representatives, needs to exercise its newfound power over insurance companies, Wall Street and bankers: you want us to bail you out? Here are some of OUR demands:
1) Corporations and the rich need to pay higher taxes, period. We are tired of hearing that higher corporate and upper class taxes will increase the jobless rate and slow the economy.
Even Warren Buffet says that our current tax system unfairly puts more of the tax burden on the working class than the rich. The rich pay more taxes as a total collected, but much less of a percentage as the middle class.
Mr. Buffet goes on to say, "There's class warfare, all right," Mr. Buffett said, "but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning."
2) We want tougher regulations on the insurance and banking industries along with fair mortgage lending practices, IE: don't swallow up the interest rate spread between the Federal lending rate and the actual consumer Mortgage rate, pass the cheaper money along to the end consumer. Plus, do away with unreasonable closing fees, etc. It's time for Wallstreet, insurance company's and banks to forgo some of the extreme profits we have seen in the past and pass savings along to their clients.
3) Middle class tax cut and small business tax cuts. It's time for some "trickle up" economics.
What would be some of your demands to the banks, insurance companies and investment firms in return for you bailing them out? What other ways can we stimulate and strengthen the economy instead of simply throwing money at the banking system? Please comment below...