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"Honest Talk" and "Real Solutions" Courtesy of Barack Obama

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The media is part of the problem. But, instead of addressing that problem, you continue on to deliver your regulatory ad hominem attacks of John McCain. We all love it when you do expose how McCain is attempting to lead on economic issues by suggesting Americans “should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down.” It’s important to point out the truth behind McCain.

But, do you have to do it like that? Might you be able to tell Americans who will be voting for you something more substantive? Might you tell Americans some stories about McCain and his policies toward the economy? Might you recount how he responded to the Savings & Loan scandal? Might you point out the fallacies of Ronald Reagan’s economic beliefs and describe how McCain acted when those beliefs dominated Washington?

And did you have to bring Dennis Kucinich into this especially when your economic policies are far from the policies Dennis Kucinich would offer? Do you have to make underhanded comments about Kucinich that exploit progressive sentiments among Democrats for your benefit?

My suggestion to you is to actually meet with Kucinich’s chief economic adviser, Michael Hudson, instead of denigrating Dennis Kucinich through some comment that purports that McCain doesn’t know if he should be a Goldwater Republican or a Kucinich Democrat.

Michael Hudson appeared on Democracy Now! this past week to offer his remarks on the situation. Candidly, he stated that government bailout was the worst possible move:

“…it puts the class war back in business with a vengeance. Wall Street has been preparing for this for years, because every financial analyst knows that the debts can’t be paid. And the question that Wall Street has, if you’re going to take a gamble on bad debts that can’t be paid, how are you going to come out a winner? And there’s only one way of coming out a winner, and that’s to make the government bail you out. This has been known for years, because it’s inherent almost in the mathematics of compound interest. Every banker I know knew that the loans they were making were going to go bad. They were trying to sell them to somebody else, ultimately expecting them to end up with some sovereign wealth fund.”

You see, Barack, you are at the center of a class war. Which side are you on? We have indicators that suggest you waver from Wall Street to Main Street. But I will leave that point alone for now and expose you to more of Hudson’s opinions. What’s his suggestion for what should be done instead of having the government bailout these “gamblers”?

“…prepare the ground for writing down the debts of the homeowners that have no way of repaying the exploding mortgages. Those interest rates are going to be jumping up this year. You would be able to bring the debts down to the ability of the economy to pay, and you would save these four million homeowners from defaulting and being kicked out of their houses. Now they’re going to be kicked out of the houses. The houses will be vacant. The cities are going to now say, “Gee, we’re going to have to cut the property taxes to enable the debts to be paid to save the financial system.” So, if they cut the property taxes, they’re going to have to cut back local expenditures, local infrastructure. The economy is being sacrificed to pay the gamblers.”

Michael Hudson went on to say to Amy Goodman that the government has “used the Social Security money basically for the bailout. There it goes. They’ve made a choice. The choice is to bail out Wall Street against the people.” It’s a class war, Barack.

But, by the end of the show, Hudson admitted that you are not against what is happening. You support this like Robert Rubin and Bill Clinton supported the lifting of the Glass-Steagall Act.

It’s great that you come out against a commission. You gave click here remark in response to news that McCain was advocating for the creation of a commission to respond to this crisis:

“Just today, Senator McCain offered up the oldest Washington stunt in the book – you pass the buck to a commission to study the problem. But here’s the thing – this isn’t 9/11. We know how we got into this mess. What we need now is leadership that gets us out. I’ll provide it, John McCain won’t, and that’s the choice for the American people in this election.”

We do know how we got into this mess. And a commission might work if it consisted of all those members of the Internet news media that have been paying attention since signs of impending doom began to manifest themselves. If Mike Whitney, Paul Craig Roberts, Dave Lindorff, Danny Schechter, and others were asked to offer their expertise, the American people could peel back the layers that have been erected to hide the reality that we are in a class war and Wall Street is winning.

We could deliberately go after those in power who have conspired and gambled so that they could reap benefits at the expense of the American people. But, this commission would not bode well for you.

First off, you chide McCain for calling for the firing of the SEC Commissioner. Somebody has got to be fired or held accountable. We cannot handle this like we have handled Bush’s trampling of the rule of law. Somebody has to be, as the CEO who’s trained in the art of downsizing would say, “let go.”

Second, you would like to meet with your advisers and push a Homeowner and Financial Support Act. This would, according to you, “provide capital to the financial system”, “provide liquidity to enable our financial markets to function”, and “help struggling families to re-structure their mortgages on more affordable terms.”

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Kevin Gosztola is managing editor of Shadowproof Press. He also produces and co-hosts the weekly podcast, "Unauthorized Disclosure." He was an editor for OpEdNews.com
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