Bohener and Pelosi went up the hill to fetch a bipartisan bill.
Bohener fell down, and dented his crown while Pelosi came stumbling after.
Labeled the biggest financial crisis since the crash of 1929, a person has to wonder how this bailout bill could have failed to pass?
Pundits and analysts are asking: How could Pelosi have brought a bill to the floor when she didn't know it would pass?
Well, Pelosi and Bohener had said over the weekend that a bi-partisan solution had been reached. They were all smiles the day before the vote.
But the bill didn't pass; and here's what happened.
Although a Democratic majority did indeed vote FOR the bill, there was no Republican majority to carry it over. Two-thirds of Republicans voted against it.
The Republicans claimed that Pelosi soured the GOP by giving a partisan speech before the vote, but I find it an interesting claim since partisan speech giving is the norm on Capitol Hill.
I think the GOP tried to set the Democratic party up.
This Wall Street Bailout package is stinky. Regular citizens have been plying their representatives with letters saying they are against the bill. Yes, people on Main Street are not interested in bailing out Wall Street; and I don't blame them. Wall Street does nothing but make money from Main Street; and the government has done nothing to bailout Main Streeters from the effects of the sub-prime mortgage meltdown that has robbed some of them of their homes and caused the housing values of those still in their homes to drop.
The people who pinch and scrape to get by on five figure incomes seem properly resentful at the idea of bailing out those who have been living on six, seven and even eight figure incomes.
The vote on the bill was close. If a mere twelve more Democrats had voted "Yea" on this, then this bill would have passed; and then all the stink associated with it would have fallen to the Dems.
It would have been a fantastic gotcha moment for the GOP. Had the Dems passed this bill all by themselves then there would have been a plethora of ammunition for the Republican to load into their political guns.
The finger pointing would have been long and arduous; but it didn't workout that way.
The Democrats brought their majority, plus a few more. Two thirds of the Democrats voted for this bill that taxpayers hate.
The Republicans, on the other hand, did not bring their majority. They barely mustered one third of their members to vote for this bill that would prop up the failing American credit economy.
Republicans stalled the bailout; and now they have egg on their face.
From where I sit, it seems most likely that the Republicans had tried to gamed the bill in hopes for political advantage, placing partisan politics over the financial interests of the nation.
It is reported that Wall street lost a trillion dollars on the news (significantly more than the bailout bill was supposed to provide) and economic confidence around the world has been tumbling after.
Good Job GOP.
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Comments: 31
I don't worry for my job so much but I do worry for my fiancee's. He works for an automobile components factory. If GM defaults I seriously doubt he will have a job. I'm working for a company that is Danish owned. So far our profits have increased bit by bit over the months. Travis' company can barely keep the orders in to give him 40 hours.
And then there's the president. He continues to characterize his role in all this as faultless, as if the greed fest and war expenditures throughout his tenure were no fault of his own. "Congress must act", he bombasted again this morning. Yes, act to try to bail out with sponges the foundering luxury liner that is our economy. The holes in the bulkhead have been caused by the Bush administration divvying up the pie among their bum-buddies in business, ensuring that oil prices go as high as they possibly can, and that the war machine steams forward, squandering more lives and billions every month. And now he wants congress to take the fall and put the burden of responsibility on Joe Normal and his family? It's perhaps the greatest crime of all, because it's being brazenly committed under everyone's nose, in broad daylight.
And I'm not hopeful that those responsible for this are ever going to answer for their crimes.
The problem is we need a bill signed SOON.
This is like a circus. Here's our October surprise!
I don't do the stock market. I could care less about the bail out. They talk like the entire nation is involved in the market, but what exactly is the percentage of Americans who have investments? Jobs? Does anyone realize how many people have already lost their jobs prior to this crash? McCain: Your jobs are not coming back anytime soon!
I'm really surprised Bush hasn't been lynched. The people are angry, and this is an election year, and the Republicans in Congress were already in hot water before this bail out. Bush just synched a landslide election in favor of the Dems. The problem is, the Dems get stuck with this failing economy. I just hope no one ever forgets where it orginated from. They can dis Pelosi all they want - but for what - speaking the truth?????? What idiots - it's hard to believe anyone is stupid enough to vote for any Republican this year.
Lies and greedy fingers point
Talking heads posture.
Sadly, I don't believe that We have the cumulative CHUTZPAH to do it. But it would be a powerful bloodless revolution for Us.
I expect a new bill to pass by Friday. I expect the stock market to continue it's black spiral until then. On Monday, I will use the few assets I have protected to make my first stock purchases ever. For that, I'd like to thank the greedy fat cats that allowed this to happen. They may not believe in the redistribution of wealth, but their own greed has lost them money, and my wallet will end up fatter for it.
There's much to be done, and until that happens the bill will continue to fail.
That is how it should be. Let the bankers fail. let the people who bought houses they could not afford loose those homes. It wil make a tough time for a while but not nearly as bad as the dire predictions of the politicians and the media.
If we have learned anything in the last 8 years it is that you can't believe anything coming out of Washington or in the Media.
I would suggest fixing the problem not putting a bandaid on it.
The lying media is complicit in the whole nefarious fiasco, attempting to sway public opinion down certain paths with their histrionics ... did anyone else notice panicked, wide-eyed, Suzi Ormon on CNN crying about it all ... she probably lost a personal (paper) fortune, that was probably her reasoning ... wanting to be bailed out also ...
The media cried that "nothing was done" about the bill as if it were the only option ... Everything WAS DONE (the bogus bill was shot down) just as should have been !!!
The problem now will be to do the right thing come Thursday ... I doubt that it will happen.
Please see much more on this here ... ... Bailout Scam : a Mafia Bustout ...
Let's wake up to the truth folks ... we cannot correct the situation until we know what it really is ... a conspiracy !!!
The Fat Cats in DC and the Fat Cats in the media are the only ones oushing this. All the media are saying "we the people" just don't understand, but we understand it better than they do. McCain was so scared about losing his own ASSets that he panicked and ran back to DC to meet with his Buddy Bush.
I'm telling ya, these Representatives had better listen to the people, or all hell will break loose. Like Fernando said, we just have to find the cumulative CHUTZPAH to stand up on this. Perhaps it will take chaos for the government to get the message.
What makes me sick, is that the priority here for the House Leadership was not the Bill, or the people like us, but making sure at least a hundred from each side would vote for it! Pure political BS to even out finger pointing come election time in case. Way to go Congress!!
It stinks...
Neocons who post here taunt that the Democrats could have passed this all by themselves. Yeah, if they are complete suckers.
Think of it like what the original Bush proposal looked like -- socialized risk, privatized profit. They play off of other people's goodness.
Yet no Republicans at all are needed to pass anything in the House. If Pelosi had her house in order, and her party unified, she could pass the bailout vote without one single Republican vote. National Review had a good article today about how she instructed her whip, Clyburn, not to drum up Democratic votes. Seems she wanted Republican votes in case the measure turned out to be a disaster for the economy. That way she could spread the blame.
Nice.
I believe that the bailout will pass on Thursday.
Well if it passes say goodby to your future!
I don't get more money when I lose at craps, neither should they!
I just wanted to say I am finally going through what is now under 6,400 pieces of gather new mail that is in my inbox on here. So with that in mind I have finally come to a piece of mail that was addressed to me in regards this article submission you have created to share with the gather community. Thank you for taking the time and sharing your piece with us here at gather. :o)