Bush Regime's Parting Gift To America: (National) Socialism

Actually the unscrupulous political right has always been ready and eager to socialize private companies' losses. It looks like we, the taxpayers, are about to take ownership in a 4/5 stake in A.I.G., a very shady insurance and financial services company, recently run by crooked Wall Street operators, Hank Greenberg and then Martin Sullivan. It's the 18th biggest company in the world. George Bush nationalized it, just like he did Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Talk about flip floppin'! The free and unfettered market where government gets out of the way is all well and good with predator Republicans are scooping up bundles of cash-- and sharing it with politicians-- but when the going gets tough... the politicians remember why buttered their bread.

Martin Sullivan donated tens of thousands of dollars to sleazy Republicans like John Ensign (R-NV), John Sununu (R-NH), George W Bush (R-TX) and to suspect Democrats from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party like Tom Carper (D-DE), Evan Bayh (D-IN), and Max Baucus (D-MT). Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, who has been in constant trouble with the Feds for running the company like a real gangster operation has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to crooked politicians (almost entirely Republicans), like Sandy Treadwell (R-NY), David Dreier (R-CA), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Ensign (R-NV), George W. Bush (R-TX), and, of course, John McCain (R-AZ). The company's political action committee (PAC) has bundled hundreds of thousands of dollars more for corrupt politicians of both parties. Big recipients of AIG bribes include Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Joe Lieberman (R-CT), John McCain (R-AZ), John Sununu (R-NH), Ben Nelson (D-NE), John Boehner (R-OH), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Don Young (R-AK), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chris Shays (R-CT), Max Baucus (D-MT), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Melissa Bean (D-IL), Howard Berman (D-CA), Tim Mahoney (D-FL), and Elizabeth Dole (R-NC).

In an extraordinary turn, the Federal Reserve was close to a deal Tuesday night to take a nearly 80 percent stake in the troubled giant insurance company, the American International Group, in exchange for an $85 billion loan, according to people briefed on the negotiations.

In return, the Fed will receive warrants, which give it an ownership stake. All of A.I.G.’s assets will be pledged to secure the loan, these people said.

This deal will head off the biggest corporate bankruptcy ever. I wonder if any of the politicians will return the money they were paid by AIG. I bet not. Generally, its a sleazy bunch AIG was greasing. I wonder if any of them will recuse themselves from voting on AIG matters. I doubt that too. Bernanke and Paulson briefed members of Congress last night.

And by the way, serious Wall Street reform would be a great thing-- and long overdue. That doesn't including giving over the power to Regime connected predators like Jeb Bush, recently hired as a Lehman Bros advisor. Regardless of what McCain, confused, panicked and desperate to distance himself for the catastrophic Republican economic policies of Greed and Selfishness he has fully supported, says, look at who he has surrounded himself with: the very authors of this disaster are the McCain campaign. Even yesterday, Palin was doing her first solo-fundraiser with one of the villains of Ohio job loss, W.J. Timken, Jr.