The $700 billion rescue package -- negotiated by leaders of both parties and the White House over the weekend -- has failed to pass in the US House of Representatives.The Republican House leadership is blaming Nancy Pelosi for making a partisan speech prior to the vote. Let me get this right: the entire economy is supposedly to on the brink, and a few words from Pelosi were sufficient to spoil the rescue plan?
Either the bill was worth supporting or it was not. How could the Republicans have put their very delicate political egos ahead of the public interest? Whatever Pelosi said, the Republican leadership's excuse is pathetic.
Krugman, an American economist whom recent history has largely vindicated, has taken this occasion to quote himself:
So what we now have is non-functional government in the face of a major crisis, because Congress includes a quorum of crazies and nobody trusts the White House an inch. As a friend said last night, we’ve become a banana republic with nukes.UPDATE: If you have Real Player, you can watch Nancy Pelosi's speech here. Pelosi was basically just describing what actually happened. Her speech was more factual than partisan. It's no secret who is mainly to blame for this mess.
UPDATE 2: Dow was down -720. The New York market is experiencing it's largest point drop of any single day in its entire history. Credit markets are described as "frozen" meaning businesses will have trouble borrowing money.
UPDATE 3: Dow closed down -777.7 points. That's the largest one-day point drop in history.
"It's no secret who is mainly to blame for this mess."
ReplyDeleteWho? Bush? And why not for chinese earthquake?
The failure to act on intelligence that might have averted 9/11, the Iraq war, the Afghan war, the failure to catch Bin Laden at Tora Bora, the Katrina relief fiasco, the skyrocketing price of oil, the decision to use torture, the increased influence of Islamic terrorist groups from Europe to the Middle East, the loss of American prestige in the world, the collapse of the banking industry, the decline in the US dollar, the failure to address the question of energy security and global warming, the escalating rate of homelessness, and what promises to be the deepest recession in over fifty years: these things Bush is either partially or largely to be blamed for. But the Chinese earthquake is not one of these things.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pity. This could be an interesting blog...
ReplyDelete