The Extended Honeymoon

Rasmussen reports that nearly two-thirds of Americans continue to place blame for the nation's economic troubles on Bush, providing Obama much-needed manuevering room to take dramatic steps (nationalizing a bankrupt GM, for instance) to put the economy on a more solid footing.

Accountability Anyone?

Amid the deluge of pink slips flooding Main Street, the rising tide of foreclosures drowning the heartland and the rapidly evaporating 401Ks threatening to destroy America's middle class, the Titans of Wall Street have thus far escaped retribution.

The Titans - responsible for much of this economic mess - have yet to even acknowledge their complicity in the financial meltdown, although it appears the Goldman Sachs' Chairman Lloyd Blankfein recently

took the first trip through the public confessional, acknowledging that "the past year has been deeply humbling" for an industry that held itself out as expert but disappointed customers and shareholders by taking actions that "look self-serving and greedy in hindsight."

In hindsight? Aren't they still extorting millions from the public treasury while demanding minimal oversight? When will these Masters of the Universe be held accountable?

"Socialism!" or Greed is Good

The graph on the right (from Washington Monthly via MoveOn) exposes the Gordon Gecko greed behind the ridiculous Republican chorus of "socialism!" over Obama's plan to roll back the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans.

Returning the top marginal rate to 1990s levels (when the Clinton economy boomed and we created budget surpluses) would still tax the rich at levels below those during Reagan's first term and much lower than the 91% levied during the Eisenhower years.

The combination of Bush's irresponsible tax cuts and Cheney's military misadventures has proven a lethal combination to the American economy. Trickle Down economics simply didn't work. As the rich got more, the rest received less. Middle class families have paid a high price for this failed ideology. In the current recession they have lost millions of jobs. Their nest eggs have disappeared as the market crashed and the housing bubble burst.

And the Republican response to this chaos? Cry "Socialism!" when all that's being asked of the rich (many of whom are the titans of finance that brought us to this precipice) is that they pay a marginally higher tax rate to help fix our shattered economy.

Gordon Gecko would be proud.

Fundamentally Wrong

The Wall Street meltdown has refocused the presidential campaign on the economy. Strategists on both sides of the aisle acknowledge this benefits Democrats up and down the ticket.

Clearly, TeamObama senses the game has returned to their turf and comes out swinging at the tone-deaf McCain, who provided a fundamental assist on the campaign trail.



Maybe this will silence the Democratic Party's anxious Chicken Littles for a few days?

Meanwhile, the McCain team has releaseds an ad (called "Crisis") contradicting their claim that the economy is fundamentally sound. Which is it, Sen. McCain?



Traditionally the more adept party at staying on message, Republicans have been reduced to incoherent stuttering on the issue that matters the most to American voters. Perhaps that's because their failed, laissez-faire, trickle down economic theory doesn't work?