Spare a Bailout for the Poor, Mister?

Interfaith Worker Justice:

This is a period of great hope and a period of tremendous fear. We have a new administration coming to power and a newly constituted congress-and many people of faith and conscience have great hopes that government can stand up again for workers and their families and communities. Our faith traditions demand justice for workers and the poor.

The economy is in deep distress. Thus far, the government has focused on bailing out large banks and investment firms. But we know that workers have been suffering long before the current stock market meltdown, even while hedge fund managers and investment banks were giddy over their huge earnings. Low -wage workers in particular have long seen their standard of living decline. Interfaith Worker Justice calls on the incoming congress and administration to put the needs of workers and their families at the forefront of plans and programs to repair and stimulate the economy

Comments

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That they have to say this is an index of how gently we have arrived at some sort of nukular winter in which all human needs are covered in ash, isn't it? The country watches Paulson's bagmen toting billions out the door; watches labor get shafted in the Senate; watches 53,000 get laid off by Citigroup after it received a bailout funded by its own workers' taxes, among others; watches retailers starve and homes and marriages and suppliers and New York Times pundits and hospitals go bust. And not a peep about what people will do next year, which according to some is going to be worse. The spectacle of this impotent carcass apparently is so enthralling that we'll watch and watch and watch to the very last reel, unless the stench gets us first.

[Phil Cubeta]

And the auto industry goes down. Madoff embezzles tens of billions under the noses of the SEC. I wonder when our Chinese owners will decide to dump dollars, take their losses as their dollar denominated holdings fall, and invest elsewhere. Then we do become a third world country.