Welcome to Washington Hotlist, the site for serious discussion about this presidential election. For the many of you that are concerned about the way Senator Obama used bad analogies involving lipstick and other such nonsense, feel free to pick up any mainstream media newspaper or turn on the television. With so many serious issues facing this country, there is no doubt that we have been failed miserably by the institutions that are supposed to provide real news to the voters. Instead, everything is gossip and our election process has been transformed into a very drawn out season of American Idol. As George Bush once famously said, “Is Our Children Learning?”
With the above in mind, I am attempting to singlehandedly be the source for serious individuals that actually care about issues and where the candidates stand for you, the voters. Here at Washington Hotlist there will be no talk of Sarah Palin’s children, distorted campaign commercials or any other Wonkette-type nonsense that has engulfed the most consequential election in my lifetime.
Today’s serious topic of the day: the continued meltdown of our economy. Two of our largest investment banks, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch are about to kick the bucket, one to file for bankruptcy and the other to be bought by Bank of America. This is another sign that our federal government has failed to act as a regulator, not surprisingly considering the ideology of those in charge has been that free markets work and regulation is another form of communism. Well, we can all see how well that philosophy has worked. Businesses from the auto industry to financial services are lining up to be bailed out by the federal government.
In other words, your taxpayer dollars are going to save the balance sheets of companies that were recklessly managed while our nation is in debt arount $10 trillion. Maybe regulation isn’t such a bad thing after all and it would be interesting to hear the presidential candidates discuss what role the federal government should have in regulating the markets instead of the nonsense we are forced to listen to on a daily basis. Since oil has dropped from about $145/barrel to $96/barrel in the past 8 weeks, the ridiculous talk of suspending the gas tax and offshore drilling have also stopped, which goes to show you how completely arbitrary those policy positions were.
I hope you have enjoyed a discussion about what is actually going on in this country as opposed to the gossip currently transpiring on mainstream media outlets around the nation. Stay tuned to Washington Hotlist for more talk about boring subjects such as the economy, foreign policy and the Supreme Court (you know, nerdy stuff).