I heard an interesting bit on talk radio yesterday. I was listening to a local talk radio show, The Lincoln Ware Show, and the host argued that Republicans are raiding the treasury in order to cripple the government as much as possible. More below the fold.
Lincoln Ware argued on his radio show yesterday that Republicans know that Obama will win. Their strategy, he argues, is to cripple the economy so much that he won't be able to do much during his Presidency to help the American people.
In addition to the bailout, several states, including California, are asking for Federal Loans. There is also talk of more Federal bailing out just today.
I have to admit when I saw the news about California needing a loan, it suddenly seemed to me as if the treasury doors were wide open and as many people as possible were looking to get some taxpayer money. Here's a question--the tax cuts that Obama's plan gives to people making less than 250K per year--how is that offset by the tax increase that will be necessary to pay for the 700 billion dollar bailout and all the other bailing out that is coming down the pike?
Are the Republicans setting up a situation that preempts the relief Obama seeks to give middle class Americans by proactively ensuring higher taxes for working class and middle class Americans now?
Already it is clear that the bailout has a lot of "padding" in it for the millionaires at the troubled banks and investment firms.
It seems to me that the Republicans know that will not win this election (though I also realize they are fighting tooth and nail for it) and that their strategy is to line their pockets and set themselves up to ride out 8 years of an Obama presidency while at the same time working as hard as they can to cripple the country and the economy in order to undermine Obama's power.
This plan, however, will backfire. Right now the financial crisis "helps" Obama in the sense that as Americans are hurting they realize the need for change. This is good. The other part of this is that they underestimate Obama--which is also good. By ending the war in Iraq, we can reinvest billions of dollars to domestic concerns. So often in the media the connection between our domestic crisis and the Iraq war is missed. I don't think Obama is unaware of this connection--but the Republicans seem to be.
The level of pernicious destruction of our country is staggering. George Bush has single-handedly dismantled everything that worked and was good about our system. Barack Obama's mission will be incredibly daunting--but there is no better person for this task than he.