"Lately, though, the rhetoric has switched. Paulson now says there is an "urgent need" for action, and President Bush is demanding a "stimulus" package from Congress.
"And that gets us back to the critical question: Why the sudden shift? Because the group demanding help has changed.
"Before, it was just commoners complaining — regular homeowners, wage earners, troops coming home from Iraq, you know, the 99 percent of us who can't afford the thousand-dollar-a-plate political fundraisers.
"But now Wall Street is panicking. In the last month, the financial industry's profit margins dropped thanks to mortgage defaults brought on by irresponsible lending. And when the corporate executives who underwrite campaigns start whining, politicians develop "stimulus" schemes using the blight of layoffs, foreclosures and wage cuts to justify tax cuts for those doing the laying off, foreclosing and wage cutting."
-peace-
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