BAILOUT: Yes or No?

[Strike For The South]

And one from the peanut gallery

Its all because of testosterone

[Big_John]

And one from the peanut gallery

Its all because of testosterone

lets assume the worst for a moment. if testosterone is the root of the collapse of the world economy and ushering in of a madmax-style dystopia... that would be so super awesomely hilarious.

[Don Corleone]

Yeah, if it turns out to be true... or even vaguely true... I'll never see the Corleone checkbook again.

Because regardless of whether testoserone leads to riskier financial behavior or not, there is unparalled evidence, through millenia of study, that shows that estrogen plants the phrase "I told you so" on the lips.

[Xiahou]

So here I was watching MSNBC, where they were interviewing Senators about the new bailout bill when I hear one mention one of the good things in the bill is subsidies for "alternative energy". What???

So I do some googling around, and yeah, it looks like the Senate has still never seen a bill that they aren't willing to tack pork onto.

Here are some of the special-interest provisions that are now part of the Wall Street bailout legislation. The bill started at 3 pages, grew to 106 pages, and is now 451 pages.

* Film and Television Productions (Sec. 502)
* Wooden Arrows designed for use by children (Sec. 503)
* 6 page package of earmarks for litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident, Alaska (Sec. 504)
* Virgin Island and Puerto Rican Rum (Section 308)
* American Samoa (Sec. 309)
* Mine Rescue Teams (Sec. 310)
* Mine Safety Equipment (Sec. 311)
* Domestic Production Activities in Puerto Rico (Sec. 312)
* Indian Tribes (Sec. 314, 315)
* Railroads (Sec. 316)
* Auto Racing Tracks (317)
* District of Columbia (Sec. 322)
* Wool Research (Sec. 325)

[KukriKhan]

Fine work. That ought to just about kill it for good.

Best input I heard all day was Barney Frank, after someone off-screen observed that failing banks were being bought up by other banks, and the stock market was apparently recovering from the first "No Bailout" vote, and Warren Buffett was buying up tons of GE stock (paraphrasing; he trying to be sarcastic) "Well, good, maybe I should just go home for the rest of the year!"

Fine advice, I think.

-edit-
I googled youTube for the clip, but haven't found it yet; I thought I saw it on CNN.

[Koga No Goshi]

So here I was watching MSNBC, where they were interviewing Senators about the new bailout bill when I hear one mention one of the good things in the bill is subsidies for "alternative energy". What???

So I do some googling around, and yeah, it looks like the Senate has still never seen a bill that they aren't willing to tack pork onto.

Most of that list isn't pork. Pork is like, funding for a sewing club. Not mining safety equipment or railroads.

[Papewaio]

No it is pork.

When the amendment has nothing to do with the act and it is there purely to buy the vote of the Rep who then uses the amendment to buy votes for themself.

If it was an act for say a decrease in mine taxes with an amendment for mine safety it would not be pork.

[Koga No Goshi]

No it is pork.

When the amendment has nothing to do with the act and it is there purely to buy the vote of the Rep who then uses the amendment to buy votes for themself.

If it was an act for say a decrease in mine taxes with an amendment for mine safety it would not be pork.

You are right. I think the common perception, though, is that pork is sheer waste. Whenever politicians trying to rile up a crowd against pork bring it up, they mention things like "genetic testing on polar bears." They don't mention that a lot of important things tend to get included through what is technically pork too.

And, getting about 400+ people to all vote on something just cause it's the right thing to do.... eh well none of us are children anymore are we? :) We could get serious about campaign finance reform so that politicians didn't have to spend half their terms fundraising for the next re-election campaign, and suckling up to special interests and corporations. But no one, in general, seems enthusiastic to do campaign finance reform, least of all the ones most benefitting from it.

[Louis VI the Fat]

So here I was watching MSNBC, where they were interviewing Senators about the new bailout bill when I hear one mention one of the good things in the bill is subsidies for "alternative energy". What???

So I do some googling around, and yeah, it looks like the Senate has still never seen a bill that they aren't willing to tack pork onto.

Good grief.

Financial disaster looms over America, and these special interest-bots spend their time porking up the bill.
I did not fully understand what Americans meant by 'pork' until just now. My oh my.

Gah! Americans should get on their horses, ride to Washington, and hang the lot of them on the nearest trees.

[Kadagar_AV]

Have the US started to question their political system yet?

No?

Ok, I'll check back later:)

[drone]

Have the US started to question their political system yet?

No?

Ok, I'll check back later:)

We always question our political system. The real question is "when are we going to do something about it?"

[Spino]

Good grief.

Financial disaster looms over America, and these special interest-bots spend their time porking up the bill.
I did not fully understand what Americans meant by 'pork' until just now. My oh my.

Gah! Americans should get on their horses, ride to Washington, and hang the lot of them on the nearest trees.

That's a tall order when you consider that our nation's elected leaders come from the same tide pool that spawned their constituency. The percentage of Americans who exhibit any semblance of common sense is shrinking with every passing day. I daresay such folks are clearly in the minority nowadays.

If any action is taken by the populace it will be too late to save the existing system. Historically the mob has a bad tendency to take action only when the crisis has proceeded beyond the point of no return.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Bailout passes in Senate.

Looks like it's gonna get passed in the House, too. I hope there's a bloodbath come November.

[Gregoshi]

Financial disaster looms over America, and these special interest-bots spend their time porking up the bill.
I did not fully understand what Americans meant by 'pork' until just now. My oh my.

And now Louis you also understand the true meaning of the term "buypartisanship".

[Koga No Goshi]

Pork is nothing new to get a bill passed. It's tradition going back to the beginning of the country. If we want to get angry about pork, don't get angry at the system. The system is just doing what the voters allow it to do. Blame the fact that 90% of people out there are far more concerned with American Idol and picking up a latte before work than checking the papers (past headlines) to see who's voting on what, and vote in or out the relevant Congresspeople accordingly. Most people don't know, and don't care. And wouldn't change how they live or think or vote even if they did know.