On One Hand …

Warren Buffett says "Must bailout, or Catastrophe" …

Though to be fair, having placed his $5 Billion bet on the table with Goldman Sachs Buffett is hardly what you could call "disinterested" .. and of course he stands to make out like a bandit should the bailout proceed.

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Buffett To Congress:  Bail out economy or face "Meltdown"

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Billionaire Warren Buffett told congressional negotiators that if they can’t agree on a proposed financial bailout, the nation will face "its biggest financial meltdown in American history," two sources familiar with the talks said.

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On the other hand … Naomi Klein points out in this important article that the use of The Shock Doctrine is (once again) in full swing:

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Now is the Time to Resist Wall Street’s Shock Doctrine
By Naomi Klein – September 22nd, 2008

I wrote The Shock Doctrine in the hopes that it would make us all better prepared for the next big shock. Well, that shock has certainly arrived, along with gloves-off attempts to use it to push through radical pro-corporate policies (which of course will further enrich the very players who created the market crisis in the first place…).

The best summary of how the right plans to use the economic crisis to push through their policy wish list comes from Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich. On Sunday, Gingrich laid out 18 policy prescriptions for Congress to take in order to "return to a Reagan-Thatcher policy of economic growth through fundamental reforms." In the midst of this economic crisis, he is actually demanding the repeal of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which would lead to further deregulation of the financial industry. Gingrich is also calling for reforming the education system to allow "competition" (a.k.a. vouchers), strengthening border enforcement, cutting corporate taxes and his signature move: allowing offshore drilling.

It would be a grave mistake to underestimate the right’s ability to use this crisis — created by deregulation and privatization — to demand more of the same.

Don’t forget that Newt Gingrich’s 527 organization, American Solutions for Winning the Future, is still riding the wave of success from its offshore drilling campaign, "Drill Here, Drill Now!" Just four months ago, offshore drilling was not even on the political radar and now the U.S. House of Representatives has passed supportive legislation. Gingrich is holding an event this Saturday, September 27 that will be broadcast on satellite television to shore up public support for these controversial policies.

What Gingrich’s wish list tells us is that the dumping of private debt into the public coffers is only stage one of the current shock. The second comes when the debt crisis currently being created by this bailout becomes the excuse to privatize social security, lower corporate taxes and cut spending on the poor.

A President McCain would embrace these policies willingly. A President Obama would come under huge pressure from the think tanks and the corporate media to abandon his campaign promises and embrace austerity and "free-market stimulus."

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Me ?  I’m with Naomi.  I don’t trust these bastards about or with anything at all.

Of course, you know what’s going to happen.  The bailout is going to proceed without any investigation of alternatives that would truly benefit the average working stiff.  They’ve already learned us all how to keep on being scared.  Most North Amercans don’t even want to contemplate major changes in the way(s) they live.

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