The past week, the news that Merrill Lynch had hurried to pay out billions of dollars in bonuses before the end of the year, provoked a torrent of tirades and rage across America. Now, progressive blogs are in another uproar over the perceived lack of leadership from President Barack Obama in the fight for a stimulus program. Many defenders of President Obama demand to know what he might do different. And many seem not to feel, or do not yet understand, that the financial and banking system needs a complete reformation. Well, here’s my suggestion, in the form of a speech the President can give explaining a few crucial, truly transformative measures to the nation.

My fellow Americans,

On the day that a new American President was inaugurated, the Lords of the City of London decided to quietly announce in their newspaper of record, the Financial Times, that there are about to be major shifts in policies and practices.

On Monday the UK government declared total war on the economic crisis, and not a moment too soon. A long phony war ended abruptly with the financial system’s near-meltdown in October. Now, in the next phase of the crisis, the government is thankfully using a full arsenal of ammunition.

There are some very disturbing sounds coming from the President-Elect. Even more disturbing is that only a small number of people in the progressive blogsphere have picked up on what’s been said.

Stirling Newberry warned yesterday that Obama Puts New Bank Bailout in Stimulus Bill - allowing financial companies to use losses in this crisis to “recover” taxes paid on profits going back five years! As Newberry notes, “The Wall Street Journal calls it a bonanza.”

But even worse, is what Obama had to say about what he is considering now:

“We expect that discussion around entitlements will be a part, a central part” of efforts to curb federal spending, Mr. Obama said at a news conference. By February, he said, “we will have more to say about how we’re going to approach entitlement spending.”

Last night I stumbled upon a series of Wikipedia pages on the sub-prime mortgage crisis, financial crisis, global financial crisis, and economic crisis of 2007-2008.

The pages so far are OK, but I think the denizens of EP can add a lot to those pages (and I wouldn't be surprised if many of you already have). What I am especially worried about are attempts by wrong-wingers to rewrite certain parts, as I gather from the discussion pages has happened already. So, I appeal to everyone here to look at those Wikipedia pages every once in a while, and help keep them accurate.

Incredible. Watching a nation commit suicide. My nation. Our nation.

It now looks like Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate have decided that a new great depression is a trifling price to pay to get rid of the "barnacles" of organized labor. I am referring, of course, to South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint's comment during his inetrview with NPR yesterday, in which he said the auto makers were in trouble because they have "the barnacles of unionism wrapped around their necks."

As a DailyKos frontpager wrote,