Senate Repubs Try to Stick It to the Unions

This whole bailout mess is getting to look more and more like a Faustian bargain. Our legislators are willing to take what some say already actually totals over $2 trillion (that's right, with a 'T') dollars from us, the taxpayers, and hand it over to the bums on Wall Street without nary a string attached, but when it comes to saving middle-class workers, they just say, "fuggetaboutit!"

Instead, Senators, mostly of the Republican stripe, are demanding concessions from unions before they will consider voting to bail out Detroit. This, after years and years of concessions the auto industry unions have already caved in to.

Now, I'm not for a no-strings-attached bailout of the Big 3 automakers either. There should be conditions. Like, they must use the money to phase into making all-electric (preferably) and hybrid (if we must) vehicles. And only if the automakers withdraw their many lawsuits against state governments (in attempts to dodge environmental laws). They could insist on new management that actually understands that the same ol', same ol' won't work.

But, no. They make their only demand that the union workers be reduced to the swelling ranks of the working poor. And unfortunately, the media seems to be going along with the charade, talking as if it is the unions that are holding up a Detroit bailout.

This is a travesty. The American worker and homeowner is precisely who we should be bailing out, not the CEOs, bankers and Wall Street sleazebag.

We can only hope Mr. Obama truly understands this, and that we can make it through until he can implement some needed changes.

Beware of Socialism! For the rich, that is...

All this talk of Barack Obama wanting to "redistribute the wealth" is hilarious. That's what taxes do -- redistribute the wealth -- always have. The question is, do we redistribute it to the poor and middle class, or to the rich? Teddy Roosevelt, John McCain's hero, instituted the progressive income tax, where the rich pay a higher percentage than the poor. It only makes sense -- our culture and society created the infrastructure for some people to make it rich, and they should pay back into that society.

We've always had elements of "socialism" in our society, as do all societies. You don't have to pay the fireman to put out the fire in your house before he acts, do you? That's because we've all agreed to put something in the kitty so that the fireman is paid, can buy the equipment he needs, and is ready to put out fires, wherever they occur (on the rich OR poor man's property). Same with police, school, roads and infrastructure. Same with health care -- in every industrialized country but our own, that is.

Meanwhile, since Reagan, those with the biggest incomes have been benefiting from a kind of "socialism" for the rich. The wealth has been getting redistributed UPWARDS! Tax cut after tax cut for the rich over the last eight years have been put in place by Bush and the Republican congress, up until two years ago, when the Dems took over congress. Obama merely wants to rescind those cuts, and make the tax code more fair again. He also wants to stop rewarding corporations for outsourcing jobs, by eliminating their tax loopholes, which makes sense to nearly everyone who isn't stinking rich -- except for a few nearsighted middle class Republicans, who seem to like voting against their own economic self-interests.

90% of gains in recent years went to the top 10%, 40% of the top gains went to the top 1%. Talk about redistribution of wealth! That's our middle class wealth that's been getting redistributed to the top 1% of the wealthiest people!

I say, it's time to stop subsidizing the rich, time to stop the downward slide of the rest of the population. No more welfare for the rich! Vote Obama!