Saying goodbye to 2008

By Carol Gee

When it comes to 75% of Americans,# we cannot say "Goodbye to all that," including George W. Bush, soon enough. To set the stage for this post, check out "Bush by the Numbers 2.0." from ProPublica: ". . . our look at the 43rd president's impact across American life." This piece is a set of great graphic comparisons of before and after Bush, a catalyst in America's declining influence.#

Say Goodbye to "That's not my fault" --

• Regrets? Bush has too few to mention, according to this 12/23/08 story at Politico.


• Christopher Cox, SEC Chairman: (from ProPublica and WaPo) "When Cox was asked whether he should be blamed for a culture of lax enforcement that allowed multiple warnings about . . . [allowing Madoff] fraud to go undetected, he said: "Absolutely not. In fact, it's in the DNA here that people thrive on bringing big cases."

Say Goodbye to Republican failures (from ProPublica) --

• "Browse Iraq Reconstruction History for Yourself" (12/15/08) Read it and weep.


• "HUD Secretary Steve Preston told the Washington Post that the [Hope for Homeowners'] program is a flop: Only 312 people have applied because it’s "too expensive and onerous for lenders and borrowers alike."


• Robert F. Dacey, GAO chief accountant's report: "Since a consolidated federal financial report was first required by law starting in fiscal year 1997, the GAO has said that agency systems for keeping track of finances were flawed." [Agencies that cannot pass an audit: Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, for example]


• Why Detroit got the kitchen sink of questions: (from 12/9/08 TPM Muckracker) A GAO report on how treasury disbursed bailout monies gives us "two kinds of news about the TARP program - bad news and worse news," says Rep. Barney Frank.

Say Goodbye to the mystery of the mortgage crisis --

• Watch the old movie It's a Wonderful Life to learn how it all happened (from Newsweek).


• Read Arianna Huffington# (at AlterNet) who says, "The Right-wing Economics That Got Us Into This Mess Should Go the Way of Soviet Communism."


• CNBC's Biased Reporting on the PPT# [Plunge Protection Team]: (from Funny Money Report) -- Did the government manipulate the financial market?
  

Say Goodbye to corporate greed, lawlessness and ineptitude, facilitated by Vice-President Dick Cheney. (see also -- "Cheney's Legacy of Deception"* from 12/23/08 - TruthDig.

• "The 10 Worst Corporations of 2008#. The financial meltdown and economic crisis illustrated that corporations will destroy even themselves in search of profit." (from AlterNet): "AIG: Money for nothing. . . Cargill: Food Profiteers . . . Chevron: 'We can't let little countries screw around with big companies' . . . Constellation Energy: Nuclear Operators . . . CNPC (Chinese National Petroleum Corp): Fueling Violence in Darfur . . . Dole: The Sour Taste of Pineapple . . . GE: Creative Accounting . . . Imperial Sugar: 13 Dead . . . Philip Morris International: Unshackled . . . Roche: Saving Lives is Not Our Business . . . "

Say Goodbye to "disgusting" Republican hypocrisy# --

• Robert M. "Mike" Duncan#: (from Newsweek) The chairman of the Republican National Committee said Saturday he was "shocked and appalled" that one of his potential successors had sent committee members a CD this Christmas featuring a 2007 parody song called "Barack the Magic Negro."

Say Goodbye to political spin --

• Year-end Whoppers # (from Newsweek): "Consider some of the bogus claims we've debunked just since Election Day." And from Think Progress: "Limbaugh's Crazy Conspiracy Theory: Democrats Started the Economic Crisis to Help Elect Obama."#


• Get Ready for a Lost Decade# (from The Wall Street Journal): Pure pessimism -- "Our point here is that the bad policy vicious circle probably has a long way to run. While it's still possible to entertain wild hopes about an Obama administration, such hopes are partly self-liquidating on closer inspection -- they exist in the first place only because Mr. Obama has given us so little to go on, except campaign boilerplate. Bottom line: Politics is in charge -- in a way that makes a lost decade of subpar prosperity more likely than not." The Plank adds its own "Depressing Thoughts"* about the world's fiscal future.
  

We are not sure to what we are saying "Hello,"with the inauguration of President-elect Obama. But we are ready for change. We are ready to say goodbye to unwillingness to take responsibility for things gone wrong. We will be happy to say goodbye to failure after failure. We are tired of hearing, "I have no idea what happened." We are ready to say goodbye to inordinate corporate influence on our government. We will be happy to be saying goodbye to a reality too filled with Republican hypocrisy, lies, spin, secrecy and deception. We have nowhere to go but up.


Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are "betmo"* and Jon#.

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)