I had the opportunity to tag along with members of the real press as we covered Sen. Patty Murray, Mayor Greg Nickels and other local dignitaries on the first semi-public test run of Sound Transit’s Link Light Rail, scheduled to start service in July 2009. Most of the time I hung out in the back of the train with the other bloggers, but when Sen. Murray walked by I just had to snag her for a couple questions about our current economic crisis.
Specifically, I asked her if there was any appetite in Congress to invest in fiscal stimulus for projects like the one we were riding on, and she said that there have been discussions about a package that would invest in infrastructure, particularly transportation, because it puts people to work immediately, but that a recent bill was blocked by the Republicans. (All the more reason to send more and better Democrats to Congress.)
So I guess the answer was “yes,” but she didn’t sound too confident. Near the end of the interview I asked whether there might be some federal money forthcoming to help the states with their ballooning budget deficits and she said that they were already getting such requests, but “I think everybody recognizes that this is a time when everybody is going to have to cut back.”
Huh. By most accounts our nation now has several trillion dollars worth of critical public infrastructure—roads, bridges, transit, water, sewer, etc.—that needs to be repaired, replaced or expanded over the next two decades, much of it built as public works projects during the Great Depression. As our economy worsens and our banking industry collapses, it may very well be left up to the federal government once again to keep America working.
Apologies up front for the off topic post, but I stumbled across another Republican perv. Family values my ass.
.
sniff, sniff, the meanie fascists are blocking everything
sniff sniff.
the fascists are blocking everything patty cant cuz United States Senators like YOU and Cantwell etc etc are:
too incompetent, OR
too sold out, OR
too much of each
to beat lying, stealing, cheating fucking fascists.
YOU need to be fired.
rmm.
Goldy whines: ‘All the more reason to send more and better Democrats to Congress.’
If they’re so fucking great and have all the answers, why the lowest approval rating in history then?
It must have given Goldy a boner to sit in the back next to real reporters (and other relevant voices).
Be nice to bring home some of the 250,000 troops the U.S. has deployed around the world at U.S. taxpayer expense. Might also help to get the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe,some day we will give up the warfare and welfare military complex.
TLG
@4
I’m with ya on that.
We can build roads in The ‘Stan, but not at home?
Hmmm, I wonder if public perceptions of a collapsing economy will affect voters’ willingness to raise the sales tax?
@2 Nah, it’s strictly math: You only need 40 Republicans in the U.S. Senate to block things that help ordinary citizens, and there’s 49 now, so the solution is to vote at least 10 GOP senators out of office — but voting all 22 of ’em out is better.
@3 “If they’re so fucking great and have all the answers, why the lowest approval rating in history then?”
People are mad at them for not impeaching your organ grinder monkey.
And which party dictated and I mean dictated that all the poor people needed home loans and subprime loans?
Oh and who hauled in the cash $$$ from Fannie and Freddie…Eh
Watch this and tell me whose F’n fault this Financial mess is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxgSubmiGt8
National service and a WPA for the 21st century.
@9
Um… No party dictated that all the poor people needed home loans and sub-prime loans.
Btw. The SEC sat on the sidelines and watched as Lehman Brothers jacked their debit to asset ratio to 30:1. Maybe Lehman Brothers would still be around and their investors would still have their money if the SEC had done something other than grant waivers when Lehman Brothers went passed 12:1.
People who don’t believe in regulations shouldn’t be part of regulatory bodies.
Poor people getting home loans is not the cause of this crisis. It’s a distraction so folks will be mad at marginalized parts of society instead of the rich. It’s the equivalent of blaming the Jews for the problems of Weimar republic era Germany.
http://www.alternet.org/workpl.....l_crisis_/
quote:
The CRA didn’t force lenders to make riskier loans than they would have otherwise. It simply required that they take each applicant on his or her own merits, and give people in poorer neighborhoods the same fair chance at a mortgage that everybody else in town was getting. It wasn’t about preferential treatment. It was just about basic equality.
2. The CRA forced banks to lower their standards and make loans to all low-income families and people with poor credit — and find banks that refused to comply.
No. The CRA has encouraged banks to lend fairly and responsibly for over 30 years. It does not impose fines. It does periodically examine FDIC-backed banks, and issues them a CRA compliance rating. A highly-rated bank must meet the financing needs of as many community members as possible, and must not discriminate against racial and ethnic groups or certain neighborhoods. However, a bank will not receive a high rating unless it is also maintains “safe and sound banking practices.”
Also you can already see of of the major problems the Dems will have for going ahead with the bailout plan. There will be no money to do anything that might actually help the economy. Because the Dems will not stand up for FDR era programs since they are controlled by DLC type folks who don’t believe in that style of government, and who have bought into the ideas of Reagan.