In this ground-breaking speech, the "Governor Who Quit" blamed the world financial crisis on government excesses and called for a new round of deregulation and tax cuts for U.S. businesses.
Yes, she actually said that. Remember how "the government" was passing off those credit default swaps as sound financial investments? Remember how "the government" made all those toxic deals that led to Merrill Lynch's failure? You betcha! We need to give Wall Street more slack--not rein in its greedy, reckless behavior, in order to stabilize our economy. And if anyone knows anything about the US and the world's economy, the governor who quit her job, who never traveled outside the US until she was 44 years old, and who has a degree in journalism from a community college, it is Sarah Palin!
"We got into this mess because of government interference in the first place," the former Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate said Wednesday at a conference sponsored by investment firm CLSA Asia Pacific Markets. "We're not interested in government fixes, we're interested in freedom," she added.
That's right! Sarah is interested in FREEDOM--except for a woman's right to make decisions about her own body.
Mrs. Palin didn't refer to President Barack Obama by name, but said his promise for change during the election hasn't taken hold. She called his campaign promises "nebulous, utopian sounding…Now 10 months later, though, a lot of Americans are asking: more government? Is that the change we want?"
Wow! She used the words "nebulous" and "utopian!" Nebulous utopian promises? Mr. Obama has kept 43 promises, compromised on 11, broken 7, and 99 are in the works. But Sarah doesn't let facts get in the way of her criticizing the US president while on foreign soil, does she.
In an echo of last year's presidential campaign, she criticized government policies that result in what she called a redistribution of wealth. "There is no justice in taking from one person and giving to another," she said. "History shows it simply does not work."
Poor Sarah. Did the Governor Who Quit Her Job forget about the distribution of federal dollars to Alaska and that Alaska gets more FEDERAL money per capita than anywhere else DESPITE astounding revenues at the STATE level coming from he North Slope oil fields?
On health care, Mrs. Palin defended her previous criticisms that the health-care overhaul proposed by Democrats would lead to health-care rationing and what she called "death panels." "It's just common sense that government attempts to solve problems like health care problem will just create new problems." She called for "market friendly" health care reform that gives tax breaks to individuals to buy health insurance.
Yes, tax breaks for college students, children, the chronically unemployed, the underemployed, and the terminally ill. That'll work, because insurance companies want to cooperate in making sure those populations have complete and necessary coverage with no exceptions for pre-existing conditions. We've seen how insurers help those in need, haven't we? And how insurance companies would NEVER deny any American coverage because of typos in an application or because the companies need to make their bottom lines grow while their execs make more money from Americans' medical disasters.
She acknowledged the economic rise of both China and India but called for a vision of Asia in which no one country would dominate. "I see a China that is stable and peaceful and prosperous. We have optimism that, yes, it is," she said. But she added that the U.S. must work with Asian allies in case "China goes in a different direction."
There you have it. Simple answers to simple problems from simple minds.
This speech will go on The Governor Who Quit's resume as proof of her foreign policy bona fides for the next presidential election. Just read that last paragraph and see how deeply and thoroughly she grasps the issues.
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She goes to China and tells them history shows communism doesn't work and then makes veiled threats against them should they choose to go "in a different direction." As opposed to what? The Sarah Palin Direction For China?!?
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed at her dogged tenacity in the face of abject failure to keep soldiering on... oh, well, at least there is some entertainment value in her antics.
According to this report, the reception was less than sterling:
ReplyDeleteTwo US delegates left early … with one saying "it was awful, we couldn't stand it any longer."
One Asian delegate complained she devoted too much time to her home state of Alaska. "It was almost more of a speech promoting investment in Alaska," he said, declining to be named.
Another from the United States said: "She frightens me because she strikes a chord with a certain segment of the population and I don't like it."
Obviously Palin won’t go away, but as long as there are people who recognize her as a fake, Palin will remain marginal at best ... and a constant embarrassment.
I had my own rant about this this morning, but you've covered it well already. I just wonder how this kind of thing can fail to destroy her when any criticism of the US or its president made in front of foreigners, in a communist country, at a meeting sponsored by a French bank would have anyone else labeled permanently as a traitor.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that I'd go that far, but an invidious little shitweasel out to make a buck at the expense of America's future is close enough.
Invidious little shitweasel - I like that, Fogg. Accurately descriptive...
ReplyDeleteSarah Palin said... The Fed and the government sent a message to companies that the bigger that you are, the more problems that you get yourself into, the more likely the government is to bail you out... Of course the little guys are left out then. We're left holding the bag, all the moms and pops all over America.
ReplyDeleteShe gets the obvious part right, so I guess we have to give her that much credit. Although if John McCain had won the bailouts would have still occurred. Then her criticism would have been that a bunch of lying lazy people signed up for mortages they couldn't afford, and thanks to Fanny, Freddie and the Democrats the poor banks had no choice but to approve them.
She's wrong about everything else, of course, as her "solution" is to do more of the same that got us into this mess in the first place: tax cuts and deregulation.
rockync said... I'm amazed at her dogged tenacity in the face of abject failure to keep soldiering on...
That's what I was going to say... actually, if we were to adopt economic policies which were fair and worked, the upper one percent might not be able to steal as high a percentage of US income as they are able to now.
(check out the graph on the page I linked to. As soon as GWB takes office in 2001 corporate profits zoom up and wages do the opposite.)
Shaw Kenawe said... Remember how "the government" was passing off those credit default swaps as sound financial investments?
Well, it was "the Government" that made those things possible. Although I think we can place most of the blame on one person in the government... and that would be McCain financial advisor Phil Gramm.
Phil Gramm, the guy who thought the recession was mental, and that America is a nation of whiners.
Shaw Kenawe said... We need to give Wall Street more slack--not rein in its greedy, reckless behavior...
But that hasn't happened yet. Maybe we should have attached some strings to that bailout money and wallstreet wouldn't already be back to business as usual? Better yet, the banks should have been nationalized. Failure on a large scale IS rewarded -- that was the ONE thing Sarah Palin was right about.
Shaw Kenawe said... Simple answers to simple problems from simple minds
Simple mind, yes. The simple problems she fails to understand at all. The "different direction" she thinks China should not move towards would be socialism, although China is already doing that, at least as far as healthcare is concerned.
But China isn't actually a communist country. What they practice would be better defined as authoritarian capitalism. I can see why a Republican would admire such a system.
But this news has given me sudden insight into Sarah. I think her word-salad is a secret communication with Kim Jong-Il.
ReplyDeleteSo socialism and communism is bad unless it's China? She'll go and speak in front of a bunch of commies but won't support a public option, which provides more good old fashioned choice and competition?
ReplyDeleteYep, it's still upside down world is Palin Town.
I totally agree with the true fact that these bailouts did nothing good for anyone. They just helped the rich get their “Bonuses” and in stack of million dollars at a time. That’s where the money went. It didn’t help the “little people” the citizens of the US keep afloat.
ReplyDeleteSynopsis:
ReplyDeleteSo Sarah Palin went to Hong Kong
To charm the commie-capitalists
With comic-book Reaganomics
Among the ghosts of Mao Zedong.
She said wealth redistribution is wrong,
Along with taxes and prophylactics,
She spoke because she’s broke but left
With Credit Agricole tucked in her thong.
The clock is ticking on her 15 minutes of fame....
ReplyDeleteShe better finish that book quick!
"I totally agree with the true fact that these bailouts did nothing good for anyone."
ReplyDeleteTrue fact? I suppose that's the only kind, but other than an amusing tautology, you really don't offer anything but your own opinion that it did no good nor any credentials as an economist.
I see some evidence that it indeed has so far helped prevent the total collapse many of us thought inevitable a few months ago. We've had a bad recession, but there's now a good chance it's not going to be a dozen years of depression.
Don't bother, Fogg - susan banks is a troll who has been making the rounds. Just click on her name, it links to a vacation site.
ReplyDeletePathetic!
Ah well, I was going to go on about why people would have the patience to wait 25 years in vain for Reaganomics to trickle some prosperity down to "the little people" but can't wait a few weeks for Obama to fix the massive crash Reganomics caused.
ReplyDeleteI guess I wouldn't have got the brilliant answer I've been waiting for.
Capt. Fogg said... I see some evidence that it indeed has so far helped prevent the total collapse many of us thought inevitable a few months ago.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that what these bailouts accomplished was to reinflate the bubble, and that when things come crashing down again it'll be worse than before. And we won't be able to borrow any more money to stimulate our way out the situation.
We should have nationalized the banks and bailed out the mortgage holders. We also need to bring the FED under governmental control. Get rid of Tim Geithner, Larry Summers and Ben Bernanke - they're all part of the wallstreet crowd that's responsible for this mess. Bring in someone like Ravi Batra - an economist who gets it.
A new term I heard recently is "plutoconomy" (a combination of plutocrac and economy), which occurs when the upper 5 percent are responsible for the bulk of the economic activity. The wealthy are doing so well right now that the economy has appeared to stabilize (we've heard the claims that the we're coming out of recession). Apparently that was the case during the early years of the great depression... then the bottom fell out.
Maybe my information is incorrect, but, as I've heard pointed out, nothing structural has changed (regulations proposed by the Obama Administration over a year ago still not enacted), so we're setting ourselves up to repeat the same mistakes in short order.
Wallstreet, which is still handing out millions in bonuses for failure, has already moved from tranching mortgages to tranching life insurance policies.
My worst fear is that this happens (what I've laid out above), the Democrats are blamed, and the Republicans regain power. Then we're completely screwed.
WD, as grim as your assessment is, I quite agree with it.
ReplyDeleteI've heard every opinion out there, I think, but sometimes the best solution produces a lot of suffering. I don't think anyone knows the best solution at this point but I'm sure the Republican solution would have been a greater disaster.
ReplyDelete