Captured Government

Captured Governmet at BubbleMeter

Yes, he seems to be an example of what he criticizes but this is what we should expect. Those who have captured power and profit in the past will complain about the system when they are thrown out by another group. The people don't really see any change, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

I think the reason many Americans see government as ineffective is this recurring process of the capture of regulatory power and then, when the regulator fails to act, the extension of government, not buy fixing the existing system, but by adding additional, inefficient layers to the system. They don't see how this new layer of government will help, and rightfully so, if the first regulator was captured it's only a matter of time before the new one is rendered ineffective. The end result is an ineffective government-corporate system that spawns a new crisis every few years. The Democrats cry for more regulation, the Republicans scream that regulation doesn’t work and the whole crappy process continues.

What is needed is true government reform on a regular basis, a government operating as a business, not a bloated corporation like GM but a hungry, nimble, efficient business. One that reviews itself on a regular basis and adapts as required.

In this most recent case, the SEC (or FED, or someone) didn't do their job. Now is the time to act to build consolidated, efficient and responsible regulator. So we should

- Fire the current management and give the job to people who can handle it.
- Fire dead-beat staff to inspire the remaining staff.
- Review and fix the law so it works.
- Give the new management the power and money to enforce the law.
- Tell the new management that if they don't do the job they'll be fired (or maybe shot).
- Close the smaller competing regulators and give their jobs to the SEC.
- Again, hold everyone responsible.
- Repeat every few years.

This is the kind of “Change” I was looking for when I voted Democrat for the first time in my life.

Howard Kurtz - No Fair? - washingtonpost.com

Fairness Doctrine and Right-Wing-Nuts

you may have heard from Fox or your favorite right-wing-nut talk show host, that one of the first things on Obama's to-do list is to bring back the "Fairness Doctrine" to help balance (or reduce) the power of right wing-nut talk shows. well,... that whole story may just be a load of wing-nut-talk-show-host crap designed to give the wing-nuts something to talk about, keep the base fired-up and keep the advertising money coming in.

the easiest way to unite is to fire them up against a common enemy, even if it is imaginary.

c

Howard Kurtz - No Fair? - washingtonpost.com

more on Evan and Susan

more on Susan and evan's money....

PEU Report: Bush Protects Uncle Bucky from Sick Kids

evan bayh for VP ???

evan bayh may be the next democratic vice-presidential candidate. to me he's the poster-child for everything that's wrong with american politics.

he returned to indiana to run for office. didn't really live in the state before. his name and family connections made it almost certain he'd be elected. since he's been in government, his wife has been handed seats on major healthcare boards, handed millions of dollars of stock options while he helps make decisions affecting those companies. he's a guy that's never had a real job/career other than politics. a career politician whose father was a politician. he didn't have a lot money when he began his political career but he's grown filthy rich since.

now the dems talking of him as a VP candidate?? i guess he and susan would fit in with the clinton clan pretty well.

throw'em all out!! vote NONE of the above in 08!

Making Hay While the Sun Shines: How the Power of Influence Influences Power

don't vote red or blue.......

we have the best democracy money can buy.....

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The 25 highest paid hedge fund managers are earning more than the CEOs of the largest five hundred companies in the Standard and Poor’s 500 combined. CEO pay is outrageous; hedge and private-equity pay is way beyond outrageous. Several of these fund managers are taking home more than a billion dollars a year.

You might think that Democrats would do something about the anomaly in the tax code that treats the earnings of private-equity and hedge fund managers as capital gains rather than ordinary income, and thereby taxes them at 15 percent – lower than the tax rate faced by many middle-class Americans. But Senate Democrats recently backed off a proposal to do just that. Why? It turns out that Dems are getting more campaign contributions these days from hedge fund and private equity partners than Republicans are getting. They don’t want to bite the hands that feed.

Robert Reich's Blog: The logic of Taxing the Rich, and Why Dems are Afraid to Use It
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Demo-rats vs Republi-cons

i think the republi-cons handle losses better than the demo-rats.

it seems all the election lawsuits i hear about are started by democrats. here's one in florida.

http://www.sun-herald.com/Newsstory.cfm?pubdate=112106&story=tp3ch8.htm&folder=NewsArchive2

does anyone know of a site tracking contested seats? or of other results that are going to court?

i know of at least a couple of close races the "R"s lost (virginia, montana) where they could have, but didn't, contest the outcome. But, ... the trial lawyers are a big democrat lobby group. good for business i guess.

i sure wish they'd back off on the legal stuff/stolen election crap though. the democrats did win this time and all the talk about stealing elections brings the whole election process into question. when people lose faith in an election process they may start voting with guns, bullets, knives, etc.. we don't need that.

if you look close enough at any close race you'll find problems. people have been rigging elections forever but if you listen to the dem's you'd think it never happened until the last couple of elections. they need to quit complaining about it and get to fixing it. yeah, right....