We all get them. We either agree and forward, or disagree and delete. Not me -- I respond. The chain email! God help me, but I can't help myself -- I've got to get up on my soapbox and get it out there. So here it goes: I'm the only member of my family that is not a Republican -- I choose to think for myself and vote on whoever I want to vote for: Republican, Democrat, Independent, etc. -- and I vote all over the board. I'm what you would call an oxymoron -- I'm a conservative liberal -- to my brother that is spelled "c-o-m-m-u-n-i-s-t". This is the email I received from my sister-in-law (who I truly do love dearly):
DIVORCE AGREEMENT
THIS IS SO INCREDIBLY WELL PUT AND I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE IT'S BY A YOUNG PERSON, A STUDENT!!! WHATEVER HE RUNS FOR, I'LL VOTE FOR HIM.
Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:
We have stuck together since the late 1950's for the sake of the kids, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has clearly run its course.
Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right for us all, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.
Here is a model separation agreement:
--Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a similar portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.
--We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them.
--You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU.
--Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military.
--We'll take the nasty, smelly oil industry and you can go with wind, solar and bio-diesel.
--You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them.
--We'll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street.
--You can have your beloved lifelong welfare dwellers, food stamps, homeless, homeboys, hippies, druggies and illegal aliens.
--We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks.
--We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood .
--You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us.
--You can have the peace-niks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.
--We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values.
--You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, political correctness and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N. But we will no longer be paying the bill.
--We'll keep the SUV's, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.
--You can give everyone health care if you can find any practicing doctors.
--We'll continue to believe health care is a luxury and not a right.
--We'll keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The National Anthem."
--I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute "Imagine", "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", "Kum Ba Ya" or "We Are the World".
--We'll practice trickle down economics and you can continue to give trickle up poverty your best shot.
--Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag.
Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you answer which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.
Sincerely,
John J. Wall
Law Student and an American
P.S. Also, please take Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Barbara Streisand, & Jane Fonda with you.
P.S.S. And you won't have to press 1 for English when you call our country.
Forward This Every Time You Get It ! Let's Keep This Going, Maybe Some Of It Will Start Sinking In.
Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right for us all, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.
Here is a model separation agreement:
--Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a similar portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.
--We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them.
--You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU.
--Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military.
--We'll take the nasty, smelly oil industry and you can go with wind, solar and bio-diesel.
--You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them.
--We'll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street.
--You can have your beloved lifelong welfare dwellers, food stamps, homeless, homeboys, hippies, druggies and illegal aliens.
--We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks.
--We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood .
--You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us.
--You can have the peace-niks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.
--We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values.
--You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, political correctness and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N. But we will no longer be paying the bill.
--We'll keep the SUV's, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.
--You can give everyone health care if you can find any practicing doctors.
--We'll continue to believe health care is a luxury and not a right.
--We'll keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The National Anthem."
--I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute "Imagine", "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", "Kum Ba Ya" or "We Are the World".
--We'll practice trickle down economics and you can continue to give trickle up poverty your best shot.
--Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag.
Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you answer which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.
Sincerely,
John J. Wall
Law Student and an American
P.S. Also, please take Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Barbara Streisand, & Jane Fonda with you.
P.S.S. And you won't have to press 1 for English when you call our country.
Forward This Every Time You Get It ! Let's Keep This Going, Maybe Some Of It Will Start Sinking In.
My response:
Actually, that is a bit unfair. I don’t believe in everything on the liberal / leftist /social progressive side, and I would hope that you don’t believe everything on the right side. I have no problems with the right to bare arms. I just don’t see a need for everyone to have automatic weapons, plastic explosives, missiles, etc. in their home. I don’t believe in abortion, but I do believe in the right for a woman to make that choice – it’s none of the man’s choice, because most men that say – “I’ll take care of everything” are usually gone before the birth certificate is filled out at the hospital – and let’s not even get on the subject of deadbeat dad’s who don’t support their children (there are also deadbeat mom’s). I do believe that we need to start finding alternative sources of energy, because I’m tired of depending on other countries that don’t like the USA to decide how much fuel we are allowed to have, and how much it is going to cost us. I also don’t see why we pay so much for fuel – I didn’t see any fuel companies going to President Bush for financial assistance. As to Obama – he didn’t come up with bailing out the banks / mortgage industry or the automobile industry – that was already in the works under President Bush and his administration, fueled by that particular party. Capitalism and greed are fine – but I’m tired of seeing hungry, abused / neglected children, women and elderly. As for weird religions – I have no problem with that either. This country was established on the idea of religious freedom – not just for Christianity. I believe in following through with the death penalty, and immediately, not 20 years later with a bazillion appeals. I believe that our politicians should go back and read our Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution. I think it is wrong that politicians have the luxury of a health care system that is not available to any other citizen in our country. I’m tired of paying for their “junket trips. I’m tired of being the world police, especially since no one appreciates what we do anyway. I’m tired of feeding the world and not even taking care of our own citizens. I’m tired of illegal immigrants and how we are forced to afford them our civil rights and have to extend them special services because they don’t speak English. Our country has never established a national language, and if we don’t do so soon, we will be using Spanish instead of English. I personally believe that we should close and secure our borders, bring our military back home to protect our country, and stop paying the bills for the rest of the world. I bet the world would really hate us then – but we would have what it takes to protect ourselves from them. I’m tired of the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer. I’m tired of being in the low middle income class that supports our nation, because big business and the wealthy get all of the tax breaks and prospectively don’t pay an equal tax responsibility. I’m tired of social security benefits and Medicare being labeled as “welfare” – I pay my FICA tax, and Medicare is not free. I’m tired of labor unions that have caused the collapse of the motor, steel and textile industry in our country – we have the resources to make everything we need, but we can’t afford the labor, so the greedy capitalistic companies would rather outsource to other countries rather than hire our own talent. Even chocolate (Hershey) moved to Mexico because it was cheaper. I believe that if you are on welfare and have two (2) children, then you should be sterilized – that would solve part of the welfare problem. I believe that if parents abuse / neglect their children they should be sterilized – that would reduce abuse / neglect problems. You should be able to adopt a child from your own country, instead of having to go to a 3rd world country because it is easier there. I think that actors / musicians / athletes are over-paid, and make sucky role models for our children. I find it sad that as a nation we can’t even properly educate our children. I think we have all been guilty of making (or allowing) our children to become lazy, indifferent, apathetic, complacent, etc., and that we have raised them to believe that they are “entitled.” I’m tired of whiney employees who complain about everything, because they believe they are “entitled.” I think it is sad that I can’t retire from my job, because the amount of my retirement will require that I find a job working 40 hour per week and paying at least $12 per hour just to make up the difference – and there are so many of those jobs out there just waiting for me (NOT!). I think that it is sad that I’ve completed college, I’ve completed a minimum of 20 hours of continuing job training per year (that equals 600 hours of training -- in addition to my initial job training), that I’ve been at my job for over 30 years (over 18 of those years in management) and I only earn $38,564.88 gross per year ($25,630.80 net) – with no cost of living increase since 2008 – health insurance and medical expenses have gone up since 2008, the cost of fuel has gone up since 2008, the cost of food has gone up since 2008, the cost of entertainment has gone up since 2008 – but not my income. I hate it that I have to live from pay-check to pay-check because I can’t afford my bills, gas, food, etc. So if that makes me a liberal that doesn’t love their country, then so be it. Personally – I believe that I am more patriotic than more than 75% of our country – I wouldn’t choose to live anywhere else, even if that means I have to live in the same country as Republicans -- 
. So like it or not, you’re stuck with me (LOL). The End! Debi
. So like it or not, you’re stuck with me (LOL). The End! DebiSo, my beloved sister-in-law responded:
Are you at work? If you are then when do you get the time to type such a lengthy retort? Also, I would love to know where you get some of your info and by the way the note was just someones opinion which we all have . I thought it was a bit thought provoking. I also didn’t agree with some of the person’s opinion, but like I said, I thought it was a thought provoking letter. And you’re stuck with me too!!
You know I just couldn't not answer, so my response was regarding the government bailouts:
But you also asked where I got some of my information. I've attached an article that had the information on the Government bailouts. I then attached a chart to that article that I calculated based on the information from that article. Love ya' -- Debi
My attachment:
History of U.S. Government Bailouts
Updated: April 15, 2009 12:02 pm EDT
With the flurry of recent government bailouts, we decided to try to put them in perspective. The circles below represent the size of U.S. government bailout, calculated in 2008 dollars. They are also in chronological order. Our chart focuses on U.S. government bailouts of U.S. corporations (and one city). We have not included instances where the U.S. government aided other nations.
| | Industry/Corporation | Year | What Happened | Cost in 2008 U.S. Dollars |
| ● | Penn Central Railroad | 1970 | In May 1970, Penn Central Railroad, then on the verge of bankruptcy, appealed to the Federal Reserve for aid on the grounds that it provided crucial national defense transportation services. The Nixon administration and the Federal Reserve supported providing financial assistance to Penn Central, but Congress refused to adopt the measure. Penn Central declared bankruptcy on June 21, 1970, which freed the corporation from its commercial paper obligations. To counteract the devastating ripple effects to the money market, the Federal Reserve Board told commercial banks it would provide the reserves needed to allow them to meet the credit needs of their customers. | $3.2 billion |
| ● | Lockheed | 1971 | In August 1971, Congress passed the Emergency Loan Guarantee Act, which could provide funds to any major business enterprise in crisis. Lockheed was the first recipient. Its failure would have meant significant job loss in California, a loss to the GNP and an impact on national defense. | $1.4 billion |
| ● | Franklin National Bank | 1974 | In the first five months of 1974 the bank lost $63.6 million. The Federal Reserve stepped in with a loan of $1.75 billion. | $7.8 billion |
| ● | New York City | 1975 | During the 1970s, New York City became over-extended and entered a period of financial crisis. In 1975 President Ford signed the New York City Seasonal Financing Act, which released $2.3 billion in loans to the city. | $9.4 billion |
| ● | Chrysler | 1980 | In 1979 Chrysler suffered a loss of $1.1 billion. That year the corporation requested aid from the government. In 1980 the Chrysler Loan Guarantee Act was passed, which provided $1.5 billion in loans to rescue Chrysler from insolvency. In addition, the government's aid was to be matched by U.S. and foreign banks. | $4.0 billion |
| ● | Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company | 1984 | Then the nation's eighth largest bank, Continental Illinois had suffered significant losses after purchasing $1 billion in energy loans from the failed Penn Square Bank of Oklahoma. The FDIC and Federal Reserve devised a plan to rescue the bank that included replacing the bank's top executives. | $9.5 billion |
| ● | Savings & Loan | 1989 | After the widespread failure of savings and loan institutions, President George H. W. Bush signed and Congress enacted the Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act in 1989. | $293.3 billion |
| ● | Airline Industry | 2001 | The terrorist attacks of September 11 crippled an already financially troubled industry. To bail out the airlines, President Bush signed into law the Air Transportation Safety and Stabilization Act, which compensated airlines for the mandatory grounding of aircraft after the attacks. The act released $5 billion in compensation and an additional $10 billion in loan guarantees or other federal credit instruments. | $18.6 billion |
| ● | Bear Stearns | 2008 | JP Morgan Chase and the federal government bailed out Bear Stearns when the financial giant neared collapse. JP Morgan purchased Bear Stearns for $236 million; the Federal Reserve provided a $30 billion credit line to ensure the sale could move forward. | $30 billion |
| ● | Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac | 2008 | On Sep. 7, 2008, Fannie and Freddie were essentially nationalized: placed under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Under the terms of the rescue, the Treasury has invested billions to cover the companies' losses. Initially, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson put a ceiling of $100 billion for investments in each company. In February, Tim Geithner raised it to $200 billion. The money was authorized by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. | $400 billion |
| ● | American International Group (A.I.G.) | 2008 | On four separate occasions, the government has offered aid to AIG to keep it from collapsing, rising from an initial $85 billion credit line from the Federal Reserve to a combined $180 billion effort between the Treasury ($70 billion) and Fed ($110 billion). ($40 billion of the Treasury’s commitment is also included in the TARP total.) | $180 billion |
| ● | Auto Industry | 2008 | In late September 2008, Congress approved a more than $630 billion spending bill, which included a measure for $25 billion in loans to the auto industry. These low-interest loans are intended to aid the industry in its push to build more fuel-efficient, environmentally-friendly vehicles. The Detroit 3 -- General Motors, Ford and Chrysler (2nd bailout for Chrysler) -- will be the primary beneficiaries. | $25 billion |
| ● | Troubled Asset Relief Program | 2008 | In October 2008, Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, which authorized the Treasury Department to spend $700 billion to combat the financial crisis. Treasury has been doling out the money via an alphabet soup of different programs. Here’s our running tally of companies getting TARP funds. | $700 billion |
| ● | Citigroup | 2008 | Citigroup received a $25 billion investment through the TARP in October and another $20 billion in November. (That $45 billion is also included in the TARP total) Additional aid has come in the form of government guarantees to limit losses from a $301 billion pool of toxic assets. In addition to the Treasury's $5 billion commitment, the FDIC has committed $10 billion and the Federal Reserve up to about $220 billion. | $280 billion |
| ● | Bank of America | 2009 | Bank of America has received $45 billion through the TARP (TARP was approved in 2008), which includes $10 billion originally meant for Merrill Lynch. (That $45 billion is also included in the TARP total) In addition, the government has made guarantees to limit losses from a $118 billion pool of troubled assets. In addition to the Treasury's $7.5 billion commitment, the FDIC has committed $2.5 billion and the Federal Reserve up to $87.2 billion. | $142.2 billion |
| Jesse Nankin, Eric Umansky, Krista Kjellman, Scott Klein President / Cost Breakdown | ||||
Penn Central Railroad (1970) President Nixon (R) $3.2 billion
Lockheed (1971) President Nixon (R) $1.4 billion
Franklin National Band (1974) President Nixon (R) / President Ford (R) $7.8 billion
New York City (1975) President Ford (R) $9.4 billion
Chrysler (1980) President Carter (D) $4.0 billion
Continental Illinois National Bank
and Trust Company (1984) President Reagan (R) $9.5 billion___
Savings and Loan (1989) President (George H. W.) Bush (R) $293.3 billion
Airline Industry (2001) President (George W.) Bush (R) $18.6 billion
Bear Sterns (2008) President Bush (R) $30.0 billion
Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac (2008) President Bush (R) $400.0 billion
American International Group – AIG (2008) President Bush (R) $180.0 billion
Auto Industry (2008) President Bush (R) $25.0 billion
Troubled Asset Relief Program – TARP (2008) President Bush (R) $700.0 billion
Citigroup (2008) President Bush (R) $280.0 billion
Bank of America (2009) President Obama (D) $142.2 billion
Republicans: 6 presidents $1,928.2 trillion
Democrats: 2 presidents $146.2 billion
Total: 8 presidents $2,074.4 trillion
So -- this is my blog for today. If you read this, tell me what you think about the subject of chain emails or a response to the content of today's blog. Later! Guppy Girl SC 57 -- Peace Out!!!
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