Thursday: We are so screwed

Remember this from the convention last year?  The scripted dog and pony show that Obama’s and Nancy’s people put together to deprive voters of their right to self determination?  Nancy gets a role at the end when she gives biggest FU to Hillary and liberal voters who might have objected.

Do I blame Nancy Pelosi for the stimulus package problems?  Um, yeah.  I kinda do.  Last primary season, Obama was her guy.  She was even committed to scuttle Hillary as his VP pick because she was concerned that *her* baggage would make *him* unelectable.  Now, the party is coming apart at the seams.  She’s got Blue Dogs lead by Steny Hoyer on her right complaining that they didn’t get enough bi-partisan input into the stimulus bill.  WTF?  I’m sorry, but did you ever heard of such a thing when REPUBLICANS were in charge?  Republicans would never have thrown a temper tantrum because their Democratic colleagues didn’t get a chance to monkeywrench a bill.

But Nancy’s biggest sin was in not standing up to the Wall Street Boyz last year during the election season.  The money pouring into Obama’s coffers must have looked like Niagra Falls.  An awesome, gobstopping sight.  With all that cash and the fellating media, it must have seemed like she could rule the world!  Finally, a weak executive, completely beholden to her.  All she had to do was suspend every single principle she had in order to get him elected.  So what if it split the party right down the middle and the real winner “lost”?  The upcoming economic crisis would unite us all.

Then, her protege takes office and turns out to be just another fricking Blue Dog.  Nope, didn’t see that comin’.  Maybe she thought all that post-partisan shtick was just campaign rhetoric.  But not only is he not listening to what she’s telling him, he may be actively undermining her.  Well, what did Nancy expect after one of the most misogynistic campaigns in history?  He’s going to suddenly be Mr. Feminism?  Whoops!  Only the braindead editors at Ms. think that.

Barry has been contacting the Blue Dogs and telling them to resist Nancy.  Oh, sure, they’re backing off of that claim now.  (Obama is busily putting out fires of his own.)  But the story has legs.  PBO has to help his friends, the bankers, and he needs the Blue Dogs to add critical mass to the Republicans to get it done.  On top of his scheming with the Dogs, he appointed Sen. Judd Gregg to head up Commerce after Richardson bowed out.  Now, why the heck would you appoint a Republican, dedicated to privatizing Social Security, to a position of power where he might actually get to accomplish dismantling the ark of the covenant of the Democratic party?  Wasn’t it enough that the bankers spent our 401K’s and ruined the economy?  Must they get their greedy little hands on our social safety net insurance policy too?

But, wait!  There’s more.

Paul Krugman says we’re headed for a deflation trap.As my tiny, pea brain sciency mind understands economics, I think this means:

1.) A bubble bursts.  Lots of people lose money.
2.) There is a lot of inventory in the general economy but no one is buying anything.
3.) Companies lower prices to sell off inventory.
4.) Lower prices lead to less money coming in to the company.
5.) Companies with less money can’t retain staff, forcing them to lay off.
6.) Laid-off workers have less money to spend.
7.) No one is buying anything or making anything.  Very little economic growth going on.

Social Security was created in part to combat the deflationary cycle.  It gave money to seniors who lost their money and pensions in the crash and subsequent Depression.  Elderly people were living on charity and at the poorhouse.  They had no money to spend to stimulate much of anything.  Social Security got money into the hands of seniors and back into the economy.  I think it had that Keynesian multiplier effect that Dakinikat talks about.  And David Broder is creaming his jeans that Gregg is going to be in charge of “reforming” it.  Joy!

Where’s the plan?  Why is this most eloquent, most intelligent, bestest judgement in the whole world president so slow to get his act together?  This is a crisis of monumental proportions and the fixit bill he is proposing has no unifying theme.  It’s a total compromise with Republicans and the banking industry, getting away with murder once again, while we get stuck with the bill.  And now the media is in jumping back into bed with the Republicans to make it seem like a tax break here and there for the least among us is a sign of moral weakness.

Here’s where Nancy Pelosi could use a united party behind her.  Of course, it would be better if the party actually stuck to its principles and crafted a bill with heart, soul and a goal.  But here we are looking at a turkey.  It’s a patched up wreck mashed together by a guy who thought that Democratic stuff was negotiable.  We’re not going to help him pass this thing if it doesn’t represent the Reality Based Community.

As Krugman said the other day, there is no middle ground.  Either there are steps that must be followed that will get us out of this mess or we might as well cave to Republicans.  How sad is it that with overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate we can’t act like the good guys?

Who is to blame if not the Speaker?

She let the wolves in sheep’s clothing into the fold.  She *forced* more than half of her own party to capitulate to the lesser half in the name of “Unity”.  She allowed the party’s foundations to be eroded by Obama’s “post partisan” propaganda.  This is the result.

Elections have consequences.