I think this pretty much sums up my feelings on the economic crisis and subsidizing the banks.
Category: politics
Bush’s Big-Time Bail-out
So just a few days ago my roommate and I were talking about the upcoming bail-out for all those big banks. Now I can’t complain too much because I work at a bank and while I’m IT which makes it a little less tense for us than it is for the real finance folk, it is still a stressful time for all parties here.
[Disclaimer: I am not an economist or in any way shape or form into finance, aside from the bits and pieces I’ve picked up from work. These are simply observations and opinions and I could be way off-base and if so I invite you to respond with your opinion.]
But this whole bailing out the banks. I want to know exactly why this is such a great idea. I mean from my very basic understanding of the market is that when you risk a lot, you stand to lose a lot. So if you are going to invest in something that tanks, well that’s your own blasted loss. So why is it that we now have to “save” all these people. Our beloved fearless leader (or village idiot as I like to call him) is now proposing that we spend about $700 billion in these bail-outs which could increase to $1 trillion. What I’m wondering is where that money is coming from because if I’m correct in my understanding those would be all our tax dollars. All those dollars that couldn’t be used for health-care (God forbid we actually help the poor/middle class in this country), also can’t be used for education (who needs an educated public anyway, you should be able to afford private school and if not well you’re not worth it), oh and let’s not forget social security can’t give too much to those old geezers, they’re gonna kick the bucket soon anyway, let’s just help them along. But we can help those giant investment banks that give their executives millions of dollars in bonuses. We can help those funds for all those people investing serious money in the market. Clearly we need to help the wealthy stay wealthy. Why on earth would we let them actually take a loss? Obviously we shouldn’t just let the market bottom out and then right itself as it should in normal circumstances and let people who took big risks lose their money. What ever happened to accepting the fact that with large risk there can be large losses as well as large gains? I just find it fascinating that we can afford to put this much money to save money for those that already have but it is a really battle to try to get any money invested for regular social services. Just makes me so proud to be an American, clearly trying to get away from the class system was totally overrated.
On a more serious note, it makes me really happy that I can’t afford to save money right now because it is all going to grad school. At least at the end of that I get a degree.
Feminist != Idiot
It seems to me that the Republican party thinks that all feminists are idiots (in case you’re not a geek such as myself the title translates to Feminist “does not equal” Idiot). However, I do believe it is quite the opposite. I know that I have made it perfectly clear in the past that I have been very luke-warm about Obama’s candidacy. Being a Democrat and without any better options I would most likely have voted for him anyway but I wasn’t going to go out canvassing for him or talking about what a great candidate he is. That was until Sarah Palin entered the political arena.
Now, I am not unique, quite a few of my friends have been less than excited since Hillary tragically did not break the last and highest glass ceiling out there but we were complacent with the Obama-Biden ticket. This development with Sarah Palin has sent us screaming at the top of our lungs, just because we are women does not mean we will stand behind a woman who does not share a single value in common with us. If we were luke-warm about Obama before, I know many of us are ready to hit the streets to canvas for him now. It’s amazing the kind of turn-around people can have when struck in the face with a truly frightening candidate.
I mean let’s consider the facts about Sarah Palin:
– She believes in creationism, which is fine by me believe whatever you want at home, but do not put an unproven non-scientific theory into my schools. You are free to not believe in evolution but I do think that it should be taught as it does have a very distinct place in science and without it we, Americans, continue to look like uneducated neanderthals.
– She believes in abstinence-only sex-ex, clearly that’s worked well. I’m sure Bristol Palin was practicing that when she got pregnant.
– She believes that abortion should be banned regardless of cause or implications of pregnancy.
– Her husband belongs to the Alaskan Independence Party that wants to secede from the union and she supports him in that.
– She believes that more drilling will solve the current crisis around oil, regardless of the fact that we *know* that oil is a limited natural resource and we really are just running out.
– She believes that destroying our natural habitat does not have any effect on the planet, global warming is clearly just liberal jargon.
– She went to four different schools (one of them twice) in six years to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism, yet oddly enough no one at any of the schools can seem to remember her.
– She truly believes that the economic crisis can be fixed by focusing on the small business that “drive” America like that belonging to her family in Alaska.
– Her only political experience is in a state that is not even the size of lower Manhattan and she has no experience on an International scale and in fact has even said she has never thought about foreign policy before.
Now I want to know how many feminists who were supporting Hillary really feel that any of those characteristics listed above would be appealing. For one, Hillary Clinton was very prominent in her college and graduate career as a student and while that may not be the only mark of a great person it is a tribute to her intelligence. I find it disturbing that not even a single professor has a remark about Sarah Palin, it doesn’t matter where you went to school or how long it took you to graduate but certainly remarkable people are remembered for their intelligence. And I, for one, would like to have a remarkable person be in charge of running this country (or even being second in command). Secondly, Hillary Clinton is a senator from a very significant state and has had significant experience with International politics, which is critical for the position of Vice President. How can anyone be expected to take Sarah Palin seriously if she cannot think on a global scale? Let’s face it people, being governor of Alaska isn’t exactly the greatest qualifier out there. I mean to put it simply it’s like saying the manager of your local Walgreens should become the CEO overnight because that’s a good idea.
Perhaps I’m biased but I don’t really believe that Sarah Palin believes a lot in thinking too hard and that is not something I find particularly attractive in a highly public political figure. In fact, I find it wildly distressing to think that someone who may have the possibility of becoming president would be like that. She stands for everything that feminists have fought against. Gloria Steinem, Eve Ensler and Tim Wise have all actually made equally valid points about her view points that I happen to agree with and are perhaps more eloquent than myself.
Sometimes this election makes me think that America is one giant high school and we’re trying to elect our prom king and queen. Clearly the beauty queen has been making her mark and it seems there sure are a lot of people that love her but I’d like to point out that this is not a beauty pagent nor is it a popularity contest. We are electing these people to lead our country and we are currently in a phenomenal economic crisis and we have a war that has been going poorly for years and no end in sight for either of those two. I don’t know about you, but I, personally, would like the most intelligent people I can think of to try and navigate us around those two very significant road blocks. Someone who has not shown much thought for either of those things until the last few weeks, such as Sarah Palin, isn’t really someone I want to trust with that future.
When Did Pro-Choice Become Pro-Abortion?
This is something that has bothered me for *years*. I am staunchly pro-choice, does that mean I am going to go have an abortion any time I become pregnant? NO! In fact I have no idea what I would choose to do should I (miraculously) find myself to be pregnant. So I really take issue when people tell me, “Well I’m pro-life but I don’t really care what (other) women do with their bodies, I mean they should discuss it with their doctors and do what they feel is best”. Maybe I’m missing something but last I recall pro-choice meant that you are an advocate of a woman’s right to choose, which is exactly what you said except for the bit about being pro-life. That means that she could choose to keep the baby. That also means that she could choose to have an abortion if she decides that’s the right decision for her. Pro-choice is advocating giving women a choice that is between her and her doctor(s) and whoever else she chooses to include in that decision. It is not saying “Woo hoo! Let’s all go get abortions now!”. So why is it so hard to differentiate this simple concept? Also why is it so hard for our wonderful liberal Democratic party leaders to actually get this message across? I constantly get that well you’re young, you’ll change your mind about being pro-choice when you have a child. And I’m staring back at them slack-jawed because they nearly stated my exact position (minus the “I’m pro-life but” part).
Faltering Feminism
Yesterday I read this beautiful article by Susan Faludi, who I know can be extreme at times but this was really worth reading. It is called Second-Place Citizens and is an Op-Ed in the New York Times. I recommend reading it because it actually gives some really good insight into why there are so many women that have gotten so upset over the Democratic primaries. I, for one, am part of those women who feel like our voices are not being heard and who fear for feminism. In fact, today at work two of my coworkers were talking about Hillary’s speech at the DNC last night and I knew that one of them had not heard it and was just speaking with the same vitriol that we’ve been hearing in the media for months now. The best part is when I bring that up they can’t speak because obviously the things they have to say are inappropriate for work. It is so frustrating to continue to live in a misogynistic country and yet have everyone in denial about it. The worst part is that *so* many women today choose to ignore this and therefore men are not held accountable. When will we learn that the battle for equal rights is not over? In fact it’s not even close.
Sadly it is people like those that I work with who make me consider voting for Ralph Nader yet again, there is a man whose values I can stand behind. Who lives up to what he believes in. Who is not a part of the political machine. Despite what Barack Obama touts he has been an extremely successful politician working within the framework of the Democratic party’s politics. If it weren’t for Hillary’s call to vote for Obama, I wouldn’t give this a second thought, my vote would be for Nader. But if she can so gracefully step down and give such a beautiful speech I will consider the Democratic nominee. I am far from blindly accepting because on principle I surely do not approve misogyny or the dog-whistle tactic that Obama used in the primaries but she made a good point about whether I really want another Republican in the White House for another 4 years. It’s a tough call, the future of the country or continued misogyny. More than likely I suppose I will side with continued misogyny but it is severely disappointing to have to make that choice.
Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less – Are You Serious?!
So I was just perusing blogs with interesting titles and there was one mucking up Obama’s name, yet again. And I am not exactly Obama’s biggest fan but I don’t appreciate making up stories about anyone… except maybe Dub-ya and that’s just because the stuff he does is so outlandish to begin with it’s hard to figure out when something is just a flat-out lie. So anyway there is some article somewhere claiming that Obama has a half brother living in a shack in Africa and is too ashamed to admit that he is related to the famous American. I don’t know if I believe that or not, read it if you care, don’t if you think it’s junk. I’m undecided.
BUT what really got my goat was on the side of the blogger’s page was a link to this. Ok people, with all of the environmental crises that are happening, have we *still* not figured out that drilling all over the world is a bad idea? Are we truly that stupid that we have not learned from the errors of our past? I don’t understand how it is possible to not think that now is the time to be progressive. Now is the time to start investigating renewable energy sources. Now is the time to make a difference. It is not tomorrow, it is not another day, it is now. This is the time when we get a chance to make a change for the better. We need to take responsibility for our own actions or we won’t have a world left to live in! How can we be so blind to think that drilling in more places and using up *all* of the oil in this world will make things better?! I know that I am generally a cynic about the intelligence of the world at large (and particularly Americans) but I really didn’t think we were this stupid. I really thought that maybe we had learned something. Clearly I was wrong. Clearly that was a silly assumption (and yes I know assuming anything makes an ass out of you and me). *sigh*
You know if we don’t make the effort to look into renewable energy now it will continue to be more expensive and oil will continue to be a problem. If we don’t make a change for the better the economy will be hit again with another loss in the future. This is not a problem that is going to go away. You know, it would be nice if the US were to actually be on par with Europe or Japan in their progressive moves toward being environmentally friendly. We have the scientists and we’ve got the money to do the research at a pace that would make all the difference in the world. If only we could get the funding and not be bullied around by Big Oil, as we have been for so long.
The Influence Of Oprah
Ok so I remember back when Tina Fey did her little sketch on SNL supporting Hillary how everyone just flew at her about her snarky comment about how “Women today feel perfectly free to vote for whoever Oprah tells them to”. (If you want to know where that came from just google Tina Fey Bitch is the New Black). Well, folks here it is from the New York Times, there are economists who have done a study that approximate Obama received a million or so votes because of Oprah’s influence. Check out the Times article if you’re interested. I just think it’s interesting to finally have Oprah’s influence quantified, she is truly remarkable to have that much influence on the country. And while people may argue about how these economists got their evidence, I don’t question the validity of it. Perhaps it is only anecdotal reference but I have far too many friends/acquaintances/colleagues/family members who do take her opinion very seriously to underestimate it’s significance. While I do not read her magazine or watch her show I am well aware that she does hold a significant amount of power to sway public opinion. Far more than any politician I would imagine.
The Pangs of War
I know this is only one story. About only one child. But it is simply heartbreaking. This war has caused so much pain for so many people. When will it end?
I am sharing this because I think it is important that people read these stories. That people can understand the heartbreak that this war is causing and then maybe there can be hope for an end.
What is with Obama Mania?
Perhaps I’m a little jaded, maybe I’m just a bitch (for lack of a better word) or something but I just don’t understand this whole Obama mania. Especially in my favourite columnist. I happen to be a huge fan of Maureen Dowd, now this might just stem from the fact that I loathe “Dubya” and she has written some incredibly funny op-eds mocking him. But I have to say I have been sorely disappointed with her columns of late. It could be that I am a Hillary fan and am still disappointed that she didn’t get the nomination. But really what is the appeal? I just don’t see it. I also don’t understand why everyone in the media just falls all over this guy. Quite frankly I don’ t think he’s all that qualified. I don’t think he speaks *that* well (no, I’m not saying he speaks poorly, I just don’t have that fall all over him reaction that seems to be the recent trend). And I’m not a huge fan of his dog-whistle tactics that were used in the primaries. I guess the title of my post is a little misleading, I don’t really care what is with Obama mania, I just really wish we could all get over it. Especially my columnists, I just want them to go back to mocking all politicians equally. Is that really too much to ask for?
Reflections on the Middle East
As an American, I am often frustrated with the politics and segmentation of our country. half the time I want to run away and half the time I stubbornly refuse to leave because if everyone who had a problem with the politics left then well, hell, we’d really all be going to hell in a hand basket, I mean just look at the last 8 years. I’d like to think it can’t get much worse than that but I don’t think running away is a good way to address the problems.
Anyway, the point of this post is to discuss the affairs of the Middle East. I was just reading the times on the way to work this morning and an op-ed piece by Thomas Friedman really made me think. I mean everything that is going on in the Middle East isn’t quite so easy to categorize as we have a tendency to do in our comfortable living rooms in our first-world nation. It’s not quite the same to sit here and pontificate about how we shouldn’t have gone to war with Iraq, we should have gone after bin laden, etc etc etc. but you know, that’s not really the problem. I think Friedman put it quite nicely when he said that drilling for oil cannot be the only reason to go to war but neither can this so called war on terrorism when we haven’t spent enough time thinking about the basics of why these “terrorists” exist. (I am not getting too detailed about his idea) I appreciated the ideas that he put out there because it actually made me sit back and think outside of party-lines. Outside of what the media has been feeding us for several years now. In fact it made me think about a lot of things that I don’t get a chance to think about quite frequently. I’d like to say this is because I don’t have time (which is partially true) but it is also because everyone is so busy being behind a party-line or some such extreme stance that no one has bothered to look at the bigger picture.
Oil is not a reason to go to war. Neither is the fact that the United States believes that Iraq should be a democracy. What about the Iraqi people, I mean yes they are stepping up and perhaps this is a bad example because they do seem ready for change but let’s look at Afghanistan, they don’t seem to be up for change right now. If the people of the country are not going to fight for equality or for change then what are we doing going to war. And beyond that why is war the solution? Aren’t there other effective political measures such as embargos etc that we could use to carry just as effective a message? Sure there is the oil factor but let’s face it. We have always known that oil is in limited supply, let’s get moving’ with the times people, we need to find more efficient ways of creating energy. The time of the oil industry is over; let’s explore solar, wind, and nuclear power sources. Let’s see what other resources we can use to revolutionize this next century instead of being dolts just following upon the path of our fathers refusing to see a revolution in the makes.