Naomi Klein (Shock Doctrine) said the bailout would give McSame a chance to cut social programs

[peacebird]

with the excuse of "unfortunately we can't afford to pay for these luxuries" and talk of belt tightening.... Medicare could be slashed, SS privatized or slashed, etc...

suddenly I remembered the neocon puke Grover Norquist saying he wanted to make govt small enough he could drag it to the bathtub and drown it.

Why are we socializing the bad debt, and NOT *also* socializing the PROFITS the companies will make - if only to help PAY FOR the bailout?

[Cogito ergo doleo]

1. Grover's dream: The elimination of all federal programs

The feds would only provide:

1. Nationalized police force
2. Defense
3. Courts to litigate property rights

Bush has worked assiduously toward that end.

[OHdem10]

6. Not just Grover's Dream,---It is Dream of all Conservatives.

[glitch]

9. And Fascists.

Or am I being redundant?

[Vanje]

2. They will aim to kill social programs

because between unnecessary wars and the fat cat bail-outs , our treasury is tapped out.

[54anickel]

3. It's the fodder unit principal. Socializing the profits will just hit us in our

investor hat. They've got us coming and going. But yes, this is the Norquist wetdream come true.

The Bush idea was (I remember Jeb used to say this) that, "Look, you hit them in every single hat they wear." That was the idea. He used to call them fodder. You hit the fodder in their hats as Taxpayers. You hit them in their hats as Investors and Savers. You hit them in their hats as Insurance Policy Owners through all these insurance scams his brother was involved in. Then there was, of course, Jeb's International Medical Corporation. Jeb also liked health care scams. But that was the idea the Bushes had, that you take the American taxpayer (which they called "One Fodder Unit," or OFU) and you hit them in every single hat they wear.

I don't know where the term came from, but "One Fodder Unit" became a popular term on the Republican cocktail party circuit in 1985. According to them, each individual American citizen equals One Fodder Unit.

http://www.greatchange.org/ov-martin,case_for_sedition.html

[Overseas]

4. John Sidney McCain III just can't stand taxing the rich. He'd rather tax your health benefits.

If you're lucky enough to get health insurance at work, JSM III, in keeping with the RNC motto COUNTRY CLUB FIRST, would like to tax those benefits since that's part of your earnings.

That will help him avoid eliminating Bush's tax cuts for the super rich which he dearly loves.

More taxes on the workers to prevent the awful possibility of taxing the Country Club set.

And yes, he has talked a lot about privatizing social security.

[Wilber_Stool]

5. Freeze the

assets of all involved in the bailout. I want them to live in trailer parks until they pay it back. Tax the top at 60%. I want them to hurt at the top.
If we have to tighten the belt, it should be tighter at the top.

[DemoTex]

7. The neocons' wet dream is coming true: totally dismantle the New Deal.

The current economic meltdown is the fourth ring of the Bu$hco circus (or Greek tragedy?) that Naomi Klein outlines in The Shock Doctrine. Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman must be chuckling in hell. FDR and John Maynard Keynes must be spinning in their graves.

In ring one, of this Bu$hco circus, we had 9/11. That dark day was a dream-come-true for the Neocons and PNACers as it primed the pump to get on with their plans to foment disaster capitalism on the world.

Ring two features the GOP elephants going to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Needless war, privatized to the max.

The third ring in Bu$hco's circus is the natural disaster ring: Katrina, Rita, and Ike.

The fourth ring of the circus, or fourth act of the Greek tragedy, is the very long-anticipated economic meltdown. Everyone with a room-temperature IQ knew this coil of steaming cack was coming. This may or may not be the last ring, or final act.

Another circus trick, or act, or encore perhaps, awaits in the wings. It has been rehearsed and polished; the players are ready and itching to put it on. Martial law. Verb sap.

[lonestarnot]

8. And the scare card is the trump!

K & R