Democracy Now! ran a story about the debt crisis and who will stand to benefit most from its resolution. Hint: it’s the same group of people that benefited from the bailouts. All these benefits, of course, come off of the backs of people that don’t sit on a bank’s board of directors.

This morning, the talking heads on Face the Nation were saying that if we don’t get a debt solution in place, interest rates will go up, and that’s going to be bad for the average American.

So let me get this straight: interest rates are bad when they go up.

Well, that’s what I’ve been saying for a while, with the addendum that interest rates are just plain bad. The only thing they do is move money from the poor to the rich, with concomitant social ills following in the wake of increasing income and wealth disparity.

And what we have now are the ratings agencies telling us that if the banks don’t get what they want, we’ll lose our national credit rating and we all suffer terribly for that. The Greeks are being told to sell off their nation so that foreign banks won’t have to sustain losses. Are we in a similar position? Or at least heading that way?

We are governed by our financial institutions. The Constitution exists now as a framework within which financial institutions must operate if they wish to increase profits. The Constitution has some brilliant ideas in it, but it has been perverted in its current application. This is not a sudden thing: it is a long process that has generated calls for alarm and attention for over two centuries.

Ainsley Earhardt tells me that, compared to Rick Perry, I’m not a Christian. Never mind, that, according to Fox News’ own segment, at 2:36 for those who care to use a slider, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. (emphasis mine)

At 4:14, the host asks does it matter what other people think about us? Let me interject my emphatic yes: as a member of a religious denomination that faced an extermination order in 1830s Missouri, as a descendant of a man who was forced to flee the USA to seek religious freedom elsewhere, YES it matters very much. (emphasis mine)
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Insurance companies take global climate change VERY seriously, since they have to pay out big time as the world climate zones become more extreme. Nobody in the insurance industry is talking like petroleum industry people, casting aspersions on the science. The insurance people take it as gospel because it’s hitting them in the back pocket with a vengeance.

Of course, the petroleum industry would take a hit on profits if it had to clean things up, so it’s obvious to see how they’ve denied all the way. Their lobbyists spend about $147 million a year in getting Congressmen to try and see it their way. The insurance team drops $157 million a year, though, so it’ll be interesting to see if they press to get the USA more green. To be sure, they’re split between reducing carbon emissions and destroying affordable health care, so it’ll be interesting to see what comes of that. Still, they’re 100% behind the conclusion that the world is experiencing climate change and that those changes are a result of human activity.

Hoo-boy. CBS News interviewed Michele Bachmann and she brought plenty of rope, as the saying goes. Bob Schieffer asked her about her Politifact record, which rates her as someone who lies by omission or commission in some very big ways. Yet, she’s out in front among some Republicans.

I’m listening to the interview and Ms. Bachmann definitely comes across as someone that builds castles in the air and then starts cleaning them. She thinks just paying interest on the debt will keep the US government from defaulting, so we don’t need to raise the debt limit. Actually, not paying things like salaries or social security benefits constitutes a default. We can’t just pay the interest. We have to pay everything mandated by law to avoid going into default. She also seems unaware of what “ratings agencies will downgrade US debt if it fails to increase the debt ceiling” means. Short version: It’s BAD. Yes, we need to run up more debt in the short run. If we don’t, then there goes the economy.

Cut spending… she’s going to cut spending… Oh good. That’s exactly what an economy needs with massive unemployment. Her solution: create jobs by turning the whole USA into Ciudad Juarez. The mantra about cutting taxes and removing regulation points down the road to where Ciudad Juarez is today. She’s ready to rip up the minimum wage, which could certainly wipe out unemployment as we pay folks a nickel a day to assemble circuit boards in polluted factories, 14 hours a day. Never mind Ciudad Juarez’ massive murder rate: without that, Juarez is still a hellhole created by an unfettered modern market.

Yes, we need to cut waste and fix things. No question there about that part of Bachmann’s message. The rest of what she’s saying contains elements I consider completely irresponsible and insane. She avoids straight answers when they involve truths that undercut her demagoguery. The fact that someone like this is actually out in front in the GOP pack goes to show just how far gone the bankruptcy in ideas is in that group. Never mind Hollywood being unable to come up with decent movies: we can’t come up with decent leadership.

The Seven Dwarfs of the Republican Party had a debate last night and Michele Bachmann managed to get on the media’s radar screens in a big way. This is not good. The woman is insane, misinformed, and ready to sell us all out to the banks.

Yes, she opposed the bailout plan for the big banks in 2008. But she’s also dead-set against regulating the banking industry, and it’s deregulation that got us into the mess we’re in – that is yet to resolve. She’s worried about too much government, I’m worried about not enough. I like that police will investigate murders and bring criminals to justice: we need more of them on the financial end, and we need more bankers in jail instead of on yachts purchased with bonus money. Bachmann’s not in favor of that: indeed, she’s ready to get rid of as many rules as possible so the wolves in the banking industry will be able to be as rapacious as they want to be. This is not a good thing for America. Supporting Ms. Bachmann is a dangerous thing for that reason alone.

She’s got the same ideologically blind stridency that Palin has, with the added bonus of being able to find Libya on a map. That doesn’t make her suddenly qualified to be in government, let alone as our nation’s president. I don’t want to compare her to Hitler just because she’s right-wing. I want to compare her to Hitler because she’s insane like that. The USA is going through some horrible economic times and we’re bound to see extremists emerge in the political field. The key to survival is to reject that extremism before it has a chance to enter government and enact legislation to make what is now criminal into standard operating procedure. Bachmann sees un-Americanism everywhere, yet cannot offer specifics when pressed: that is a sign of an addled mind.

When I point a finger of accusation, I back it up with facts or I don’t point at all. This is what separates me from the political nutcases. I make sure my facts are in order, by the way. I don’t make them up and I alter my ideas when I get new information that adds to what I already know. Bachmann just heads on out with her half-baked ideas and believes every single word of her own press. This is not good.

I could make other criticisms of Ms. Bachmann at this time, but I’ll pass over them. I think identifying a paranoid that will hand the nation entirely over to the banking interests stands as criticism enough. No, hold on. I’ll get one more criticism in there.

She claims to be Christian, but wants to let the poor starve. That’s totally not what Jesus taught to do. Sorry, Ms. Bachmann, but I don’t want someone who draws near to Jesus with her lips but who is far from him in her heart to be my president.

It is henceforth the editorial policy of this website to oppose Ms. Bachmann’s political aspirations.