Banks, Bombs, and a Bimbo

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wirestory?id=10288583&page=1

The fact that we are again talking about reforming our financial regulation system shows that we have not learned from our past. Before the Great Depression, we had basically unregulated markets. Speculation ran rampant, regardless of whether people had the money to cover themselves if their speculations turned sour. The resulting crash in 1929 lead to the greatest economic depression this country has ever seen. A little known fact, however, is that there were many other crashes BEFORE 1929, that were caused by similar problems but the drought and resulting farming problems made 1929 worse. On to the late 1990s, when a corporate Democrat named Bill Clinton is residing in the White House. During his last year in office, Clinton oversaw (and signed) a bill (Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999) that in effect pulled the rest of the teeth (some provisions were pulled during the 1980s, thanks to Reagan) out of the Glass-Steagall Act. The GSA was created in 1933 to PREVENT another Great Depression by clamping down on what financial institutions could and could not do, and yet 66 years later people seemed to think it was no longer needed. Well apparently it was needed because less than 10 years after FSMA was passed, we found ourselves in another deep depression, close to that of the 1930s.

So let us do the math. When we had little to no regulations on financial institutions, we had crash after crash, culminating in 1929. After sweeping regulations were passed the nation prospered without fear of another meltdown. That is until we started to deregulate these very same institutions again. Hmm….seems to me regulations are the only way to ensure financial and economic security to me. Dodd’s bill will help the safety and health of the nation’s economy and if the Republicans can’t realize that regulation is needed then I dare them to oppose it. Try running your reelection campaign by touting the fact you voted against re-regulating Wall Street. If regulations “stifle” innovation, then explain how we had a healthy and strong economy for nearly all of the 66 years between 1933 and 1999.



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/world/06arms.html?hp

I am very pleased to see the President moving in this direction with respect to nuclear weapons. In this day and age, they are more of a threat to ourselves than they are to our enemies. The time to use nuclear weapons ended with WWII. I have no problem that the US used them on Japan to end the war because EVERYONE knows that the alternative would have been far bloodier and extended the war for many more years. Our enemies today are not countries and stationary armies. They are small, mobile bands who hide in plain sight. Anyone who has seen the power of the bombs in WWII should realize that they should never be used again, especially considering the bombs of today make Hiroshima look like a firecracker. It takes guts and some risk to change the world, and this stance contains both.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/05/AR2010040503228.html

Is Karzai an idiot or is he simply playing a joke? Either way he obviously doesn’t full understand his position. If he is going to continue this bull shit, I think that we should call his bluff. If he doesn’t like us saying “hey clean up your act because we are bleeding and dying for your country” then fine. If he thinks he and his country would be better without us then lets leave him and his country. Recall all our troops and stop all of our foreign aid. See how long he can go without crawling back to us, pleading for our money and our weapons. Why the hell should we keep fighting when their government continues to complain? Is Karzai an idiot or is he simply playing a joke? Either way he obviously doesn’t full understand his position. If he is going to continue this bull shit, I think that we should call his bluff. If he doesn’t like us saying “hey clean up your act because we are bleeding and dying for your country” then fine. If he thinks he and his country would be better without us then lets leave him and his country. Recall all our troops and stop all of our foreign aid. See how long he can go without crawling back to us, pleading for our money and our weapons. Why the hell should we keep fighting when their government continues to complain?