Friday, June 27, 2008

GM at $11.55 Per Share

When G.W. Bush took office the price per share of GM was over $80.00 which would have bought you over 80 gallons of gasoline. Today June 27, 2008 you can buy a share of GM stock for $11.55 which will buy you less than 3 gallons of gasoline. There was an adage in the 1950's thru the 1970's that said, "as GM goes, so goes the Nation", which meant that when GM was doing well financially, so too was the Nation. If we apply that adage today, when G.W. Bush took office GM was doing very well financially, and by coincidence so was the Nation.

When the Republican Bush/Cheney Administration took power GM stock price was at an all time high and the Nation had a surplus in the budget. Today, June 27, 2008, GM is at an all time low, and the deficit in the budget is at an all time high. The Republican National Committee and the members of the party are quick to say that Republicans are fiscally responsible and that the Democrats will just tax and spend and grow the Government. The evidence is clear. The Republican Bush/Cheney Administration has been a financial disaster for the Nation.

Just fiscally speaking the record of the Bush Administration is crystal clear, upon entering the office of the Presidency, the economy was growing, people were moving up the class ladder and Poverty was shirking at the fastest rate ever. Today, the economy has shrunk and continues to shrink, people are moving down in class, and poverty is growing at the fastest rate ever.

The confused conservatives, their elected officials and their media pundits like to express their desire for a "free market", one unencumbered by "evil" Government Regulations. So, the Republican/Bush Cheney Administration has tried to deliver the so called "free market". The Republican Bush/Cheney Administration started with a Corporate Cabinet, with under-secretaries appointed from the ranks of Corporations and Corporate lobbyists. After putting the players in place the Republican Bush/Cheney Administration, with the ignorance of a Republican Congress, and a conservatively appointed judicial system, and with hand picked political hacks appointed as U.S. Attorneys, went about the business of removing Government oversight on major industries that serve the public interest and the National Security of the Nation.

The Republican Bush/Cheney Administration, set about to de-regulate the Insurance Industry, now collapsing, the Banking Industry, now being bought by foreign government funds at fire sale prices, the Pharmaceutical Industry, now releasing drugs so fast they don't even know how many people the drug will kill. They privatized FEMA, the record on that is simple, KATRINA. They let the media conglomerates buy as many outlets in the same market as they wanted, now we have an homogenised media that is no longer the watch dog and investigators of Democracy. You can go through the list it is longer than a week of writing, industry by industry they took away that "evil" Government oversight and what we have now is, gasoline at the highest price ever, heating oil, and natural gas and water at their highest prices ever. Food at record highs and rising. The housing market is crashing.

Then there is the invasion of a Sovereign Nation that was done with private no-bid contracts to paramilitary corporations that have stolen billions of U.S. Treasury Dollars with the blessing of the Republican Bush/Cheney Administration and Congress. The most expensive Military Action that the United States has ever undertaken is paid for with borrowed money from foreign governments. They have allowed the sale of vital National Industries to Foreign Government Sovereign Funds. The Arab Nations now own Major percentages of every major United States Bank. Arab Nations now own major percentages of Corporations that control the Sea Ports of our Nation. Loosened regulations allowed this to happen.

The Republicans claim to have a vision of a free and vital market place that will be achieved by removing Government oversight, this is not the vision that the foundation of this Country was based upon. This Nation was formed with the ideals that a Government shall serve the people, it shall protect them for all enemies both foreign and domestic. The vision was for a Government that would allow for the fair and free transaction of commerce on a level playing field. It would be the Government's responsibility to monitor and set rules and regulations so that all American Citizens could share in the great wealth of this Nation. Government rules, regulations and oversight are necessary to ensure the Security of the Nation. The Republicans in power loosened mortgage regulations and vanished regulatory oversight, the mortgage industry is in the worse shape that it has ever been in in the history of the industry. Is the collapse of the Mortgage industry in the interest of this Nation's National Security?

The National Security of this Nation has been violated repeatedly by the deregulation of Corporate oversight that this Administration has envisioned since they stepped into power. The results are here and now, we don't have to wait for history, look around you, the legacy of the "free" Market and the elimination of "evil" Government oversight is visible out your door. Massive amounts of families losing their homes, the middle class disappearing, poverty rising, milk unaffordable, energy unaffordable, flour shortage, rice shortage, excessive credit card debt, fees, and interest, health insurance out of reach for all but the wealthy, main street businesses closing, a collapsing Airline, Automobile, Banking and Insurance Industry. These are the monuments to the Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Newt Gingrich, G.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Pat Dobson, Pat Robertson, Rush Limbough, Sean Hannity vision of America. The vision where the majority shall be in servitude to the small percentage who control all the wealth. These men like to classify "liberal" as a derogatory term and liberal policies as failures and fallacies, but they fail to recognize that the Nation was founded on the principals of liberal men.

The United States of America is an experiment in human decency, it was founded on premises with great hopes, all men are created equal, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, freedom to speak, to worship, to have a free press, all of these are ideals of liberal minds. The Founding Fathers left us living documents that are able to be interpreted as the Nation Grows, they were written with foresight, a liberal attribute.

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