THE MESS EXPLAINED

I am crazy about Ira Glass and "This American Life" on National Public Radio. Today's show dealt with the $840 billion debt we've all just been stuck with as taxpayers.

I daresay most of us still are trying to understand what happened and how we got there. Ira's show goes a long way toward answering our questions.

I recommend two broadcasts in particular: "Another Frightening Show About the Economy" (10/3/08) and "The Giant Pool of Money" (5/9/08), Both are archived at his website: www.thisamericanlife.org

For my part, it's the clearest, most concise discussion of middle class consumer-taxpayer impacts yet. Check it out. You'll be glad you did.

Farewell, New Deal; Hello, Big Steal

First off, I admit to paranoia about the Wall Street bailout and what has prompted it. I believe Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was chosen specifically for this anticipated maneuver.

I think the BushWhackers actually wanted to wipe out the New Deal and put into its place the Big Steal. They needed a high-powered, high-knowledge money man to do it. And they wanted its good effects, in their view, to last for much of the 21st century.

They must have figured Paulson, a titan at Goldman Sachs prior to his move to government, would be Exactly the Man to help Bush and Pals put into place the FDR-style deal for themselves that they have coveted of the middle class for 75 years. For example...

Propping up banks, creating big projects with government cash (not for workers, understand, but for big owners and big investors), and getting Congress to remove or pass laws that will give top earners and monied decisionmakers gigantic advantages for several generations at a minimum.

In short, they wanted to take money off the land, away from the people, and put it into THEIR pockets, which pockets contain their wiser hands, they believe. And they wanted the advantages to last for decades. Far into the 21st century and global repositioning.

I doubt it will turn out exactly as they had wished, nor exactly as I have feared. But I think Bush's and Paulson's motives were impure from the start and had to do not only with their contempt for FDR's New Deal, but also with their wishes to implement the Big Steal. It will take at least a generation or two to overcome any measure of success they attain in Congress.

In sum, this bailout move is BIG. Really big. "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?" time. Scares me. Scare you, too?