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Monday, March 30, 2009

Is the system irretrievably broken?

and if it is, what do we do about it?

For years, I have heard how much Republicans worry about women with kids getting welfare because they don't want to work. Lately they are the ones some are blaming for the recent breakdown in our economic system. Not because it's true but because it's someone people have been trained to blame.

Try this article: The New Welfare Queens? Is that also a concern? It appears both parties have been (and still are) on the payola machine for these queens. You thought it has been you who paid for most of their campaigns? I suspect if the poor donated to campaigns, they would not get so much flak from Republican politicians.

Then there's this which was informative on how Madoff pulled of what he did: Madoff Employee Breaks Silence. Who really has the responsibility for what has gone wrong with our investment engine? Who reaped the most profits?

Paul Krugman says that the Obama administration is making a huge mistake when they see this as a tweaking situation instead of a full-blown failure in a system. I know how popular the criticism will to those on the right, who want nothing done except more tax cuts for the wealthiest. Do we have to start over; and if we do, what does that mean for the money in the banks? Money we saved and earned? Some of us did, you know.

If you don't have Krugman's blog on your daily reading list, you are missing out on an important viewpoint to what is going on-- a non-partisan, who is a liberal, but not a defender of either party automatically: Krugman Blogs.

And that's the tip of the iceberg even though it's been most of what we have heard about. How long before the spreading 'tent cities' become the bigger issue? What about the neighborhoods that are being abandoned or turned into illegal settlements? Some of this began in Oregon a few years back but I don't know how many involved children then. Is this really okay with those who hate welfare so much? What alternative would they suggest for the kids of these parents-- orphanages? Take them from their families? While we turn to look at one problem, another crops up!

3 comments:

Kay Dennison said...

I don't know about irretrievably, but it's broke and it has to be fixed. There's sooo much stupidity by people like Madoff and in government.

And the average person thinks people on welfare are living high off the hog. It isn't for most.

The welfare system is designed to keep people in its thrall so these can keep their jobs, feel powerful and play games with with lives of people who can't fight back.

Paul said...

I beieve that the system is in trouble. Like infrastructure-it needs help !!

MaryContrary said...

Yeah, the system is broken. Unfortunately, the politicians relied, as did Alan Greenspan, on enlightened self-interest, especially of bankers, to regulate the financial industry. Unfortunately, that self-interest was fixated on getting as much profit as possible in as short a time as possible and to hell with ethics. And I would also wonder if the self-interest of the individual financiers involved didn't conflict with the best interests of their institutions and the institutions lost. Perhaps people like Ben Bernanke, who focused his historical studies on the Great Depression, should have looked at an earlier period--the breakdown of the Articles of Confederation and the formation of the Constitution.