Washington to Average Americans: "Bail Yourselves Out, Turkeys"

By Si Dunn

Thank runaway deregulation and greed for this: a free-market freefall that will cost the federal government (meaning us) upward of a trillion dollars. Suddenly, the only way to stop major banks and other financial institutions from collapsing under the weight of their own bad debts and stupid decisions is to throw mountain ranges of cash at them.

That cash, of course, will not be coming from a Strategic Money Reserve hidden deep under a Colorado mountain. It will come straight from our pockets, straight from programs we support or desire, and straight, no doubt, from China's Central Bank. (Someday we may discover that China now owns us, and we are just another province.)

With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also draining billions of dollars per month, the next Administration, Obama or McCain, won't be able to afford to offer us much of anything except platitudes and fervent appeals for us pull ourselves up by our frayed and knotted bootstraps.

Here, without any fanfare for the comman man, is the kind of bailout plan we can expect to receive on Main Street: (1) raise cash by selling your household goods on eBay; (2) raise more cash by selling off your personal library on Amazon; and (3) sell whatever is left over at a garage sale. And if anything remains after steps 1, 2, and 3, donate those items to Goodwill, so you can get a generous tax deduction of, say, fifty bucks or so. Then use the fifty bucks to buy a tank of gas so you can drive away from your foreclosed house.

Oh, and by the way, pay no attention to the golden parachutes now blossoming open all over the sky. It's just those silly clowns from the financial sector, still trying to get us to look up to them.

#

John McCain: Open Mouth, Insert Foot

By Si Dunn

According to the Associated Press, Arizona Republican John McCain believes Democrat Barack Obama has no right to criticize McCain's position on military scholarships because the Illinois senator did not serve in uniform.

"And I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did," McCain said in a statement issued May 22.

McCain lashed out at Obama's personal history despite Obama's repeated praise of McCain's military service, the Associated Press reported.

An Opposing View
Barack Obama has every right to criticize John McCain on this issue. Our nation is shortchanging recently returned veterans at almost every turn, while giving away and throwing away countless billions of borrowed dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the same time, President Bush and John McCain are claiming that current legislative proposals for a new GI Bill would be too expensive for America.

Speaking of “too expensive,” returning veterans are coming home expecting to be able to go to college with their promised benefits, only to find that their vouchers barely will cover a fraction of the costs they will face.

Thousands upon thousands of men and women enlisted on the promise--the guarantee--of a college education after service. So where is it? Currently tied up and hamstrung by misplaced political priorities and unbelievably massive financial waste.

No, Barack Obama did not fly a jet and spend years in North Vietnamese captivity. And yes, John McCain fought honorably in two conflicts—Vietnam and his battle for personal survival in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. But Sen. McCain seems to be forgetting exactly why he was fighting. Didn’t it have something to do--at least vaguely--with preserving democracy and protecting the rights of people--including Senators from opposing parties--to speak freely?

Personal Experience
The GI Bill gave me just enough money to go to college after I served out my enlistment in the Navy and came home from the Tonkin Gulf. Yes, I had to work some part-time jobs, and yes, I sometimes had little more than a few Cokes and a loaf of bread to live on while waiting for the next check. But the money, when carefully managed, was at least enough to pay tuition, to buy books, and to eat. Part-time jobs covered rent, clothing and inevitable extras. Without the GI Bill, I could never have earned a degree and worked at good-paying jobs.

Bottom line: Those few thousand dollars of assistance I received from the Vietnam-era GI Bill have been returned to the U.S. Treasury many times over as tax payments during my 40-plus years of employment.

Not giving today’s veterans enough money to have an equal chance at college is not just unfair. It is politically and socially immoral.

John McCain should be deeply ashamed of his opposition to more funding for American veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. He, of all people, should be acutely aware of how much they have sacrificed-—and are still sacrificing--for our country.

#