Are We Trapped By The Crisis?

Some food for thought folks: The Bush Administration has offered a plan to Congress and has asked for a quick vote with little discussion and no add ons. Does this scenario sound familiar? Like the lead up to the invasion of Iraq?

Back then, we were told that Saddam had an active nuclear weapons program and lots of biological warfare weapons, and that if we didn't act quickly, he could wreak all kinds of havoc by passing such weapons on to Al Qaida. The weather also played a part, as we were told that we had a small window of time before the Iraq weather would make it virtually impossible to conduct military operations for like 6 or 8 months, a time in which Saddam could further his weapons' programs, or get chummy with Al Qaida. Congress voted the authorization and the American public approved in huge numbers, including me. No need to go into what happened then, but suffice it to say that no such weapons or weapons' programs were found after the invasion.

Now congressional leaders of both parties were called together the other night and told that the country is on the verge of a financial meltdown and that the soon to be presented administration program needs to be implemented quickly, as we are only days away from an economic Armageddon. Congressional leaders, and it seems, most members of Congress have agreed to support the plan, in principle. A few have expressed concern that the banking system is essentially being nationalized, and they are pretty much on target. Others wonder how we can use hundreds of billions of dollars, when the budget deficit is already expected to be the highest in history. Others, mainly Democrats, want unemployment benefit extensions and help for homeowners facing foreclosure. Of course, at this point, the administration wants nothing to do with such measures, as they might actually help middle income people, something they always seem loathe to do. No, they want the bill to pass so they can help only the bankers and other wealthy interests. Remember my saying, Bush is awfully worried about the plight of millionaires and billionaires; and as to the rest of us...the hell with us!

Now, the problem is, can we afford to actually have a debate on this legislation? Or is time of the essence? Are we caught in a fix, real or imaginary, yet again? The problem is, by getting congressional leaders from both parties to "sign on," they now have to go forward, or they'll be seen as dragging their feet in the time of a national (and international) crisis. No one wants that, especially in a major election year. Further, Wall Street has given a big "thumbs up" to any plan that saves their asses, and the stock market reclaimed pretty much all of last week's losses after the idea of a government bailout plan was made public. If the plan isn't approved quickly, Wall Street might go back into the tank, giving us a self-fulfilling prophecy, and the American economy in a major depression (not just recession!). Just some things to ponder.

Note: I'm going to start an English "WORD HISTORY" at the end of each blog. At least I hope I remember to do so hereafter. For today, the word is "VIKING." Of course this word kind of means "pirate," if you will. Old Norse, a North Germanic language, had "vikingr," (many North Germanic words had an "r" as an ending), presumably from "vik," which meant an inlet of water, making "Vikings" people who came from an inlet, or in North Germanic, a fjord, but Old English and its very close relative Old Frisian (both West Germanic languages), had a similar word, which in English was "wic," with a long "i" sound. It existed before the North Germanic word, and it meant "camp." It still exists in English town names ending in "wich" or "wick," as many "camps" then grew into towns. The idea with "Viking" is, they raided the English coast and set up temporary "camps," so the English used that term for them, which these raiders themselves then picked up and used as "vikingr." Whether Old English "wic," (camp) and Old Norse "vik," (inlet) are related, no one seems to know for sure, since people needed water, they may have set up "camps" near inlets, and that could be the connection, as Middle High German has "wich," meaning "bay." Thus the main word would undoubtedly go back to original Old Germanic, called "Proto Germanic" by linguists.