We live in a wonderfully ironic world. George W. Bush might have now nationalized more companies than Hugo Chavez. He certainly has nationalized companies with far greater worth. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and now AIG. Let alone the bailouts of Bear Stearns and all the rest.

Who knew George Bush would turn out to be such a socialist? You might even argue, communist. What happened, I thought the government was unnecessary? I thought "unfettered" markets would do their magic if you just deregulated them. Why are you fettering?

It turns out, all that talk about not needing big government flies right out the window when the shit hits the fan. Did we need government during Hurricane Katrina? Did we need the government during Sept. 11th? That was a day when we certainly could have used some more government help, like a president reading a briefing that said they were determined to attack us. And now, do we need the government when there is a financial meltdown?

You betcha. All of a sudden, the Republicans are huge advocates of big government coming to the rescue.

Why don't we toss a pair of bootstraps at AIG and see if that does the trick? Oh I see, that's just for poor and middle class people who need a little bit of help. They get the bootstraps and AIG gets the $85 billion government bailout.

So, now that we have basically bought these companies, what the hell are we going to do with them? Is the United States government going to run these companies indefinitely? Is the Bush administration saying that it's a terrible idea for the federal government to provide health insurance to everyone, but it's a great idea to provide other kinds of insurance? Remember, AIG is in the insurance business. Is health insurance the only kind of insurance the government shouldn't be involved in?

I'm for sensible government regulation of these industries, but I believe in capitalism. So, George Bush's socialism is wigging me out. He privatizes the army but socializes the mortgage industry. I understand how this came about, but does Bush have a plan? Do they have any idea how they are going to get out of this business or are they planning on running a quasi-socialist government from now on?

If other industries head south, will Bush nationalize those too? Who has more nationalized companies now -- the US or Russia?

Could George Bush's administration have been any more disastrous? He comes in promising to shrink the size of the government and let free markets reign supreme. He leaves while nationalizing more private companies than possibly any president in United States history. Could there be a clearer indication of the failure of conservative ideology?

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