Pander Fest

"I am thinking now I might vote Democratic. Not only are they going to give everyone a chicken in every pot, but most of us will be done paying for anything - forever more!"

That was fun! I actually watched the first Democratic debate last night. Okay, I will confess. I fell asleep partway through the first time around. However, when I woke up, it was on again as CNN replayed it. So I watched it again. Seeing some parts of it twice was brutal, but I needed to find out how much stuff I would be getting for free if the Democrats win in 2016.

There were actually some instructive moments last night. Not many, but a few. There was even a moment of truth spoken. By Bernie Sanders no less. The topic was banks and how to control them. Then Bernie told his truth. "It is not how Congress can control the banks, it is how the banks control Congress." My opinion - It does not matter who is in the White House or who controls Congress, the bank lobbyists really work over the members. Net result? We are primed and ready for another big "shock" to hit our "too big to fail" banks. And what about Dodd-Frank? That law just added a blizzard of expense and paperwork to the little guys.

They even got a bit technical and historical with the bank question last night. The bill signed into law in 1933 (which few understand) was brought up - Glass-Steagall. It was the law some called the "bank firewall law". It was to keep the banks from co-mingling with investment businesses. In any event, when Hillary's hubby was in charge in 1999, he thought Glass-Steagall had seen its day. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was signed into law by Bill Clinton. It repealed two parts of Glass-Steagall. 

Some today blame the repeal of Glass-Steagall as a main reason for the 2008 near banking collapse and resulting Great Recession. I don't - I still blame the NINJNA loans. Barney Frank, Fannie Mae, toxic assets, and those damn NINJNA loans. That was the match which really started the fire. And with all the promises of free stuff last night, look for the return of NINJNA loans - in spades.

So who one last night? The Democrats did, as most kept their fire and ire on the Republicans. Hopefully before the next debate, the Republicans can learn to do the same, rather than practicing in fratricide. I also think the low information and no information crowd won. They left the debate licking their chops. As much free stuff as we have today (like Obama Phones), that is NOTHING compared to a President Sanders Administration. Free college, higher wages, free solar power, free everything, no more coal, blah, blah, blah.

The odd thing is this - I did not hear much about our debt or unfunded liabilities. Wait - that is not true. Bernie did address one portion of the unfunded liabilities. He wants to increase Social Security payments for a segment of the population. In particular, women. So the fantastic five who were up there did not seem to give a tinker's dam about the debt. Nope. Fix it later I assume.

So I watched it. Don't know if I will watch the next one. I might have to watch a show with some substance rather than fantasy or comedy - I like what I suffered through last night.