It’s been a few days since I’ve written here.  A main reason I hadn’t started a blog before now is I wasn’t sure I could write often enough to keep my readers’ engaged and interested.  So, I’m being tested on that now.  I’d sure like your feedback about the blog, as well as your just jumping into the discussion about how we can revive democracy and your willingness to be actively involved in a Democracy Movement.

So, you probably know that Congress voted last December to guarantee risky Wall Street ventures with taxpayers’ funds again, despite what those same bankers did in 2008 to crash America’s economy, causing millions of Americans to lose their homes and millions more to lose their jobs?

But, did you know that the $700 billion TARP bailout of Wall Street in 2008 was only the tip of the iceberg?  According to a study of all 35 Federal Reserve and Treasury Department programs, the actual bailout with our tax dollars was closer to $4.7 trillion.  Can you believe our representatives are backing Wall Street ventures again with our money?

Why would Congress support more Wall Street gambling after the crisis it caused in 2008? You know why? Because Wall Street bankers, corporate executives and K Street lobbyists give huge campaign donations to our Congressional representatives to have their legislative needs met. We have a political system where Big Money provides the bulk of the funds for our representatives’ election campaigns, and in return our representatives enact laws that favor Corporate America and Big Money at our expense. In plain language, it’s legalized bribery.

In addition, Big Money makes it so easy for Congress. Their lobbyists write the legislative sections they want and all our representatives have to do is insert those provisions into the bills. Citigroup, in conjunction with other big Wall Street banks, actually wrote the new section in the 2015 omnibus bill that restored taxpayer-backed funds for reckless Wall Street ventures like credit default swaps. While some lawmakers opposed the bill, Wall Street had its way with 162 Republicans and 57 Democrats voting for it in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, though 21 Democrats and 19 Republicans voted against the omnibus bill, the bill also passed. Even President Obama threw his weight behind the bill.

It makes me mad as hell!  How do you feel about it?  Isn’t it time we did something about it?