Is this what Congress has devolved into -- a "last minute" ransom-demanding mechanical voice that creepily says:
If you ever want to see your Government again, you'll shut the hell up, pay up whatever they're asking -- THIS TIME ... And don't ever talk to the cops! Else we'll burn it all down. Understand, we mean business!
Is that what Congress has degenerated into now --
the anonymous messengers who just deliver "Blackmail" demands, of their cronies?
Why is it always, the "last minute" that Congress can only find the time to get anything done?
Could it be that "must-pass" bills are the perfect vehicle for them to re-pay the "payola favors" that they owe their mega-bucks supporters?
That such "must-pass" bills are like the 'Friday Night News Dump' -- On Steroids! And they're "banking" on you -- NOT to notice ... their annual 'keystone cops' kickback routine ...
Nancy Pelosi: This is ‘blackmail’
by Lauren French, politico.com -- 12/11/14
Nancy Pelosi is “disappointed” in Barack Obama for backing a bill she described as a form of “blackmail” on the part of Republicans.
[...]
“I’m enormously disappointed that the White House feels that the only way they can get a bill is to go along with this. That would be the only reason I think they would say they would sign such a bill,” she said.
[...]
“It is clear from this recess on the floor that the Republicans don’t have enough votes to pass the CRomnibus,” Pelosi wrote. “This increases our leverage to get two offensive provisions of the bill removed: the bank bailout and big money for campaigns provision.”
“We’re being asked to vote for a moral hazard. Why is this in an appropriations bill? Because it was the price to pay to get an appropriations bill,’ said Pelosi. She later added, “This is a ransom, this is blackmail. You don’t get a bill unless Wall Street gets its taxpayer coverage. It’s really so sad.”
[...]
Does Congress now endorse the principle of "
moral hazard" --
"[the] idea that a party that is protected in some way from risk will act differently than if they didn't have that protection."
Does Congress believe that the Home Foreclosure Crisis -- that effected millions of Americans was actually a GOOD thing for the Country?
Does Congress think that when they put their "rubber stamp" back on the "shift-the-risk" derivatives, that allowed this gamblers on Wall Street to crash so many nest-eggs less than a decade ago -- that the American People wouldn't notice, or wouldn't care?
Does Congress think the American People are really that stupid -- that we'll forget all about how the Banksters that used our 'sweat equity', as their 'poker chips'? ... How that not one of them faced a single day in jail; how not one of them was harassed by Law Enforcement; how most of them 'were made financially whole' -- by the "forced generosity" of the American Taxpayer? [as "demanded of us" in the recent chapter of American Banking History know as TARP: the Troubled Asset Relief Program.]
Apparently so. Since they just voted for the Bill that would secretly return us to those risky -- hazardous -- policies. Under the threat of duress. Under threats of liars, cheats, and corporate stooges. Under no apparent twinge of conscience.
Wall Street must get their due ...
As Senator Elizabeth Warren asked, in all seriousness, recently:
“Who does Congress work for?” [...] “Does it work for the millionaires, the billionaires, the giant companies with their armies of lobbyists and lawyers, or does it work for all the people?”
“Now, the House of Representatives is about to show us the worst of government for the rich and powerful.” [...] “The House is about to vote on a budget deal, a deal negotiated behind closed doors that slips in a provision that would let derivatives traders on Wall Street gamble with taxpayer money and get bailed out by the government when their risky bets threaten to blow up our financial system.”
Who does Congress work for?
link
"This is a Democracy, and the American People didn't elect us to stand up for Citigroup -- they elected us to stand up for ALL the People."
Who does Congress work for?
That is a VERY Good Question. One that we need to keep asking, again and again. Until they FINALLY start working for us.
... And stop working for those shadowy voices on speed-dial, who at the "last minute" every year, keep issuing their LATEST "Ransom Demands" ... (as Nancy Pelosi so elegantly put it).