Last night, President Bush had nothing to offer the American people but fear and admonition. Anyone who didn’t support his bail out of wall street with more borrowed US debt was against the American people…at least in his view. As Bush pointed out, yesterday the stock market dropped 700+ points, the largest single day point loss worth about $1 trillion. If only we would have approved that $700 billion more debt, this could have been adverted.

On Oct. 19, 1987, Black Monday happened. The DOW dropped 508 points, the second largest point loss. But points were worth more before inflation. In 1987, the market lost 22.6% of it’s value! Yesterday was a paltry 7%. That is why Bush talks about point loss, not percent lose because it’s not so scary.

These were the days of Regan: smaller government, strong defense, pro-capitalism, and absolutely no socialism! Despite 22.6% losses which rippled around the world, the Regan administration offered no bail out. And as we all saw, the markets recovered on their own. But today’s Republican leadership are not the party of Lincoln nor Regan. They are the party of Enron and Halliburton. When tragedy hits America, they have consistently run in with fear tactics and cynically made huge profits from the nation’s losses.

Many Republicans saw their own party being betrayed and voted down the bill supported by their President and their Presidential candidate. The bill they voted down:

• Didn’t cap salaries of saved executives. They would still be free to collect their $60 million dollar salaries
• The oversight board it established would have the power to critique bailed out banks, but not to enforce its critiques
• If the banks finally did turn a profit, there was no enforcement to re-coup our “loan.”
• It gave unprecedented powers to the US Treasury

Americans are sitting on $8,000+ credit card debt on average. Home owners are mortgaged up to their gills. It is this debt, and this debt alone that is causing our crisis. It is NOT the time to capriciously take on $700 billion more. Our debt may be past a tipping point; but if we cannot fix it, we are looking to wipe out the high quality of life that middle America built for itself over the last century in a couple of years. Or, as the LA Times opined, U.S. Welcome to the Third World.

The Neo-Con slight of hand is to distract America with a 7% drop in Wall Street, calling it the 911 of Wall Street, while they dismantle the American Middle Class for fun and profit. And if it is the 911 of Wall Street, then aren’t the traders and investors the terrorist? Why are we loaning them money?!?