Congress: “We have never heard language like this”

(8 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Congressional Leaders Stunned by Warnings writes David M. Herszenhorn in the New York Times yesterday.

Or, as Chuck Schumer, Senator from New York State, put it, “When you listened to him (Fed chairman Ben Bernanke) describe it you gulped…History was sort of hanging over it, like this was a moment.”

Ya think, Senator. Yeah. Like this is a moment.

As Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, put it Friday morning on the ABC program “Good Morning America,” the congressional leaders were told “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications here at home and globally.”

Mr. Schumer added, “History was sort of hanging over it, like this was a moment.”

When Mr. Schumer described the meeting as “somber,” Mr. Dodd cut in. “Somber doesn’t begin to justify the words,” he said. “We have never heard language like this.”

What can be said, now? For all the analysis, the predictions, the doom and gloom, what do we do with this admission from those in Washington: We have never heard language like this

Seriously. I mean, if they are telling the truth, how disconnected from cause and effect are these people? How did they ever become US Senators, Congressmen/women, Presidents . . . how did WE citizens become so disengaged that we actually cast votes for these people?

Because we are back to Iraq, aren’t we Senators? Back to the lack of oversight, intellectual force, and due diligence that was required of our elected representative before anybody’s life was put on the line in Iraq. Before half a trillion dollars of tax payer money got trashed. And, let me be horrible for one minute. If this was a war for oil, what the hell have we gotten out of it? Even in their slime and greed, they are incompetent.

Our politicians have a lot to answer for. When US Senators say they are stunned at this financial markets crash, do they really think that protects them from liability? From responsibility?

Anybody reading Paul Krugman had a clue. Or the blogosphere…  And many of us were put on alert at the behavior of a rogue administration that was clearly pilfering the coffers of the United States government, its taxpayers, and pushing deregulation all to line BushCo pockets. This was perfectly clear. There are 1000s of diaries and essays and out-of-the-mainstream reporting on these things over at least two years.

If I could piece it together, then certainly Senators Dodd and Schumer, I expected you to do the same.

Let me conclude with this: the presidential race is not what we need to focus on, imo. It has become clear to me that the only way to stop this madness is to reassert states rights, create a third or fifth party (odd numbers to keep power off balance), and regain control of our local governments. Keep net neutrality and stay connected.

One last thing. We need to ask ourselves this very question:

And voters might well wonder why perhaps a half-trillion dollars – about the same amount spent so far in Iraq – is suddenly available to help Wall Street when promises to address issues like health care insurance have gone largely unkept for years.