Disappeared News

by Larry Geller

The vote on the bailout bill was interesting. A majority of Democrats supported it, but a majority of Republicans opposed. Here’s a description of the tug-of-war from the BBC:

Members of Congress have been dealing with two powerful conflicting forces over the last week.

The first was remorseless pressure from the White House - the argument that the country faced a crisis so profound that unless they approved the government's plans, American capitalism would grind to a halt as funds flowing between the banks began to dry up.

But the second pressure which is much harder to measure came from ordinary voters writing or emailing their own members of Congress angrily demanding that they reject a scheme which is universally perceived here as a bail-out of Wall Street bankers.

They are perceived as greedy, incompetent fat cats who have created this crisis themselves and who are now being allowed to pick the pockets of American voters to fix it.

So why did Democrats support and Republicans oppose? There are certainly multiple reasons. The one that hasn’t been given enough credit in the commercial press is this one: Democrats felt secure in getting re-elected, Republicans are not so sure. The public, at least those contacting Congress, are so firmly opposed to this that I suggest the Republicans were afraid of losing seats in November.

Still, we need to keep vigilant. You never know what they will try next.

Permalink posted by Larry @ 9/29/2008 01:36:00 PM