"WHO Really DESTROYED THE ECONOMY?"

Or, It Must Have Been That Evil Clinton Again (Bill, that is)

I have been trying to figure out how the Republicans would finally manage to blame the last thirty years of Republican financial irresponsibility on Bill Clinton. After all, they have blamed everything else on earth on him. At last, the answer.

According to the latest explanations by Republican shills, apparently he “pressured” the poor defenseless Republican CEOs of the Republican owned banks to assist more low income people get into home ownership. Supposedly, they instantly capitulated and made loans to everyone who walked through the door no matter how risky it was in doing so. Yes, they made obscenely huge profits in doing so, but it was practically entrapment. They had no choice except to line their pockets and endanger the nation.

Yes, the Republican dominated stock market seeing the huge profits wanted some of it and made stock and insurance bets disguised by a bunch a phony names, but that only magnifies Clinton’s guilt for putting the idea in their heads. The fact that the Republicans making all the critical decisions were deciding in essence either (a) nothing could ever possibly go wrong or (b) they could stick the Treasury with the bill for the bet. . . . Well, that was irrelevant.

Shame on that nasty old Clinton for tempting them that way. Didn’t he know the Republican CEOs weren’t capable of resisting the greed? Didn’t he know they would over react and take his literally without restriction or restraint? Didn’t he know those heads of the big corps weren’t sufficiently educated or experienced in financial or security matters to see the danger or where it might lead? Didn’t he know they didn’t have the smarts, the tools or the guts to obstruct, let alone effectively resist a man whose guts they so thoroughly hated? Didn’t he know the Republicans had dismantled or controlled any regulatory agencies and laws that might have spotted or prevented the problems? Shame shame shame on Clinton for taking such terrible advantage of the Republicans’ weaknesses and utter ineptitude.

Is it too late to impeach Clinton in absentia for his high crime and misdemeanor of giving those poor innocent Republicans an excuse to rape our economy? If it’s too late, then maybe every Republican CEO, banker, lender, stockbroker, pundit and“regulator” at least ought to start wearing blue dresses to subtlety remind the rest of us how Clinton forced all those thousands of Republicans to their knees in service of his favor for subprime borrowers.

“DRILLING INTO OFFSHORE DRILLING”

Or, the Obvious Flaws in McCain’s Supposed Plan to Lower Gas Prices

McCain says extract all the oil from all our reserves immediately so we can have a temporary few cents lower price today. Has he given any thought to the fact that will leave us no oil tomorrow and we’ll have to beg for some later from countries who weren’t such spendthrifts? What is it about Conservatives that they don’t seem to believe in conservation?

And, if reducing the price of gas at the pump is the sole objective worth pursuing and is justified at absolutely any cost, then why not nationalize the oil companies as a first step? Do that and we wouldn’t even have to wait the months or years of development time for new wells to increase the supply (temporarily). Nationalize the industry and we could instantaneously lower the price at the pump by eliminating the billions paid out in profits, extravagant oil executive salaries, not to mention advertising costs which would all become unneeded components of present prices.

Sure it would violate the Constitution, but as McCain's mentor Bush has demonstrated with his torture approvals, warrantless searches and supposed limitless executive power, that is a "quaint" document with no real restriction on whatever a President might desire.

Actually, I am not really proposing nationalization (except maybe a cap on those truly nasty CEO salaries). I am merely pointing out that there are a lot of ways, including reducing demand, that would produce both a surer and quicker downward effect on prices at the pump than anything McCain has bandied about so far. Why is anyone listening to him on this subject especially when he does such silly things like ridiculing keeping tires properly inflated which all government sources have proven is a cheap and useful technique to increase mileage? To stage his ridicule at a rally of Harley Davidson motorcyclists encouraging them to rev their engines (a surefire gas waster) is ridiculous in and of itself.

Taken together, McCain’s actions may demonstrate his real intent which seems to be to do whatever maximizes oil company income, his biggest campaign contributors.