Green Party Watch

The continued political priority of Bush-Obama-McCain to maintain expansion continues a modern legacy of the political leaders in the Democratic and Republican Parties to circumvent the real checks and balances within the economy.

Those people who are panicky now and shaking at the prospect of having the bailout rejected should realize that the structure of the US economy has significantly changed. The presumption that this is a sound economy fails to recognize the great gap in income. It disregards the inability of American people to have health care that is less expensive than $700 billion. It ignores that the inflated housing prices have closed any opportunity for millions to own homes. It disregards the lack of government investment and the subsequent degrading of public infrastructure, such as public education and health, mass transportation, resource management and energy.

The economic extortion from Wall Street “Pay Us, or We Kill the Economy” to maintain continued growth disregards the necessity for periodic crises. Things do not just become better and better and better. There is a point where taking adrenaline for a deadly virus becomes self-defeating. To restructure the economy at this point takes political action that is not just based on maintaining the current presumptions of political leaders. As someone who recognizes the dynamism of the market system, I still recognize the basic law of economic gravity- what goes up, must come down.

Obama is heavily promoting the bailout and will NOT demonstrate the leadership needed to address the economy. As a Green, there is no better time to advocate for a transition of the economy away from globalization towards decentralization. Now is precisely the time to invest in a new renewable energy infrastructure that will cost less than $700 billion.

There is no clearer indicator of Obama’s intentions than his support for the bailout. Clinton2 will be no more of a change than Clinton1 was. Start looking at the role of the Fed. Greenspan was there during both Democratic and Republican Congresses from 1987 to 2006. “In 2004 Business Week Magazine and others criticized his keeping of low interest levels too long and his concurrent praise of sub-prime lending vehicles such as ARMs as leading to a housing bubble.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Greenspan

Cynthia McKinney, who earlier put out a ten point plan to address the financial crisis, has now expanded on that to add four more actions, including nationalizing the Federal Reserve, auditing firms, prosecuting any criminal activity and eliminating derivatives trading.

Cynthia McKinney
A Gift for a Generation: A U.S. Financial System of Our Own
September 25, 2008

Last week, I posted ten points (that were by no means exhaustive) for Congressional action immediately in the wake of the financial crisis now gripping our country. At that time, the Democratic leadership of Congress was prepared to adjourn the current legislative Session to campaign, without taking any action at all to put policies in place that protect U.S. taxpayers and the global community that has accepted U.S. financial leadership. Those ten points, to be taken in conjunction with the Power to the People Committee’s platform available on the campaign website at (http://votetruth08.com/index.php/resources/campaignplatform), are as follows:
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In a release today Cynthia McKinney has offered to step in and debate Barack Obama in Mississippi this Friday if John McCain won’t do it.

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney has offered to debate Barack Obama if John McCain’s opts out at this Friday’s presidential debate in Oxford, Mississippi, following the Republican nominee’s announcement that he is seeking a delay of the event.

“If John McCain wants to bow out, I’m willing to step in and take his podium on Friday,” said Cynthia McKinney.

“The financial meltdown won’t come any closer to a resolution because a presidential debate is postponed. Now is the best time for Americans to see how prepared their leaders are to handle emergencies, how they introduce fresh ideas and solutions for national problems, and whether they’re willing to stand up for the American people instead of Wall Street moguls and corporate interests,” Ms. McKinney added.
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Let The Bubble Pop

Let’s NOT bail them out. Let’s assert our political independence from those who wish to drag the American people down with them. It’s time to assume control, and not just throw money at the problem. Right?

The situation has NOT been resolved and the cure is worse than the disease for the American public. At issue is are we going to join the lemmings of Wall Street and run over the cliff or do we exercise our political rights to establish new rules for the conduct of those who have accumulated so much wealth and power?  WE THE PEOPLE….

We have seen our atmosphere polluted and tied to Middle East oil by the refusal of politicians to heed the call of Jimmy Carter and break our dependence on oil. We have seen pension funds and investment portfolios wiped out in periodic crises from junk bonds to S&Ls to the dotcoms to derivatives. “Senator Phil Gramm, the second largest recipient of campaign contributions from Enron, succeeded in legislating California’s energy commodity trading deregulation. Despite warnings from prominent consumer groups which stated that this law would give energy traders too much influence over energy commodity prices, the legislation was passed in December 2000.”  We have seen deregulation dangle the sword of Damocles over commercial banking as “diversified” products put the FDIC guarantee (“the full faith and credit of the United States Government”) in question. read more »