"VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict on Tuesday called for a "world political authority" to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat."Read the entire article by Philip Pullella of Reuters here.
...change the constitution to allow for military deployment within the country if needed "to combat terrorism".
The article makes reference to the fact that many people are concerned about and hesitant to allow the German military to expand the role of soldiers domestically, considering their past experiences. (If you are concerned about this same expansion in the U.S., please write some letters.)Merkel had never publicly criticized the United States this harshly and unapologetically.
(It must have been the back rub that bought us time.)
In this regard, she enjoys the wholehearted support of her coalition government partner, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). In a speech before Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück of the SPD spoke of the end of the United States as a "superpower of the global financial system."The banking crisis in the United States has impacted much in many directions, including "the respect the rest of the world once had for the US as an economic and political superpower". The article points out that,
The proud US investment banks with globally recognized names like Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs have all gone bankrupt, been bought up or restructured. The American real estate market has essentially been nationalized. And the country's biggest savings and loan, Washington Mutual, has failed and been sold at a loss.The author and many around the world contend,
"Every bank that US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is currently forced to bail out with American government funds damages America's reputation around the world."Are you writing your Congressional Representatives and Senators about what is going on or do you trust that they have it all in hand and know what America wants and needs?
"All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills."
Dear Representative Smith,
I saw how you voted on the Economic Stabilization bill and am surprised. I have differed with your views in the past, but am shocked you voted for this...as is everyone I have spoken with today.
As a constituent, I ask that you stem the socialization of debt & privatization of profit this bill and others like it provide. This is one of the most impacting decisions of our time. Please side with conservatism, responsibility, accountability, free markets, transparency and the American way. Please be a fiscal conservative, please stand up for your constituency, please be a defender of our country's financial interests in the future.
I know you speak to people around you about the issues that face us. As someone who offices in the same complex as you, I speak to a lot of the same people you would. I have not met a single person in your district that supports the way you voted this time. I hope that you continue to speak to the people you represent and that time provides insight that might change your mind regarding this huge redistribution of wealth.Sincerely,Erik Kuykendall
"The Leadership apparently intends to use a process known as “martial law” to allow these bills to be brought to the floor very shortly after negotiations are completed, with the result that Members of the House are likely to have virtually no time to examine and consider the details of the legislation before they will be required to vote on it."
