This is the day to get involved!!!
Call your representatives! Or to make it easy, go to Vote No Bailout and write your letter there. This financial crisis strikes to the heart of this country and decisions taken today and in the next week will affect us for a generation or more. Whatever your convictions on this, please tell Congress to slow down, to make sure that there is a proper debate and that this isn't another rushed, desperate aquiescense to whoever is shouting the loudest.
Here's a couple information sources I recommend to help you understand the situation:
Sen. Bernie Sanders, Robert Scheer and Dean Baker on the Proposed $700 Billion Bailout of Wall Street, the Largest Government Bailout of Private Industry in US History
It’s being described as the largest government intervention in private markets since the Great Depression. The Bush administration has asked Congress to swiftly approve a massive $700 billion package to rescue the crippled financial institutions on Wall Street. Some analysts say the final cost to taxpayers could top one trillion dollars. Over the weekend, the size of the proposed bailout grew as the Bush administration said foreign banks, including Barclays and UBS, should be eligible for the bailout.
{See, hear, read it here}
Kevin Phillips
Recently, even people unaccustomed to paying mind to the world of finance suddenly began to learn a lot about terms like "sub-prime mortgages," "securitization," "derivatives" and, more ominously, "negative equity," and "the great unwind."
And now, when several blue-chip firms have failed in rapid succession, many Americans are getting another crash course in high finance as they try to understand the collapses, buy-outs, and government takeovers of respected household names like Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and American International Group (AIG).
Why has all this taken Main Street by surprise? In part, according to Kevin Phillips, because we've been served up years of faulty statistics and even faultier economic projects. This, Phillips maintains, has lead to a spiral of false economic security - Pollyanna Creep.
I wrote my letter based on an article by Dean Baker at Talking Points Memo, I think he provides an excellent starting point for everyone on this:
Progressive Conditions for a Bailout - Dean Baker (see below)
Here's the letter I sent:
The actions taken now will fundamentally affect this country for the next several decades. Please do not let the Bush administration and financial lobbyistst rush us into turning more of Congress' power over to the executive and creating another short-sighted catastrophe.
Economic experts like Dean Baker state that this does not have to be decided today or tomorrow. Please work to make sure the next actions are properly debated with the gravity and conviction that befits decisions of this magnitude.
Dean Baker presented an excellent set of principles that I urge you to work by in these coming days:
Principles to Guide the Bailout
1) Financial institutions should be forced to endure the bulk of the losses with taxpayer funds only used where absolutely necessary to sustain the orderly operation of the financial system.
2) The bailout must be designed to minimize the opportunity for gaming.
3) The bailout should be designed to minimize moral hazard.
4) In the case of delinquent mortgages that come into the government's possession, there should be an effort to work out an arrangement that allows the homeowner to remain in her house as owner. If this proves impossible, then former homeowners should be allowed to remain in their homes as renters paying the market rent. This should be done even if it leads to losses to the government.
5) There should be serious efforts to severely restrict executive compensation at any companies that directly benefit from the bailout.
Principles for Restructuring the Financial System
1) Combating asset bubbles must be one of the Fed's key responsibilities.
2) The government should impose a modest financial transactions tax, comparable to the one in the United Kingdom. This can both restrain excessive trading and raise more than $100 billion a year in revenue.
3) Regulatory agencies should require that potentially tradable assets (e.g. credit default swaps) actually be traded on exchanges.
4) There should be strict limits on leverage for all regulated financial institutions.
5) Fannie and Freddie should remain fully public institutions, returning them to a status comparable to Fannie's prior to its privatization in 1968.
6) The Fed should be restructured so that all the key decision makers (e.g. the open market committee) are appointed by democratically elected officials. Its responsibility is to manage the economy in the interest of the general public, not the financial sector.
(for details, see the entire article at http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/20/progressive_conditions_for_a_b/ )
I don't push things like this very often, but this is a critical time for our nation. Please do this now:
Go to Vote No Bailout and send a message to your representatives, or call them. Whatever you do, do it soon!!!
Here's a couple information sources I recommend to help you understand the situation:
Sen. Bernie Sanders, Robert Scheer and Dean Baker on the Proposed $700 Billion Bailout of Wall Street, the Largest Government Bailout of Private Industry in US History
It’s being described as the largest government intervention in private markets since the Great Depression. The Bush administration has asked Congress to swiftly approve a massive $700 billion package to rescue the crippled financial institutions on Wall Street. Some analysts say the final cost to taxpayers could top one trillion dollars. Over the weekend, the size of the proposed bailout grew as the Bush administration said foreign banks, including Barclays and UBS, should be eligible for the bailout.
{See, hear, read it here}
Kevin Phillips
Recently, even people unaccustomed to paying mind to the world of finance suddenly began to learn a lot about terms like "sub-prime mortgages," "securitization," "derivatives" and, more ominously, "negative equity," and "the great unwind."
And now, when several blue-chip firms have failed in rapid succession, many Americans are getting another crash course in high finance as they try to understand the collapses, buy-outs, and government takeovers of respected household names like Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and American International Group (AIG).
Why has all this taken Main Street by surprise? In part, according to Kevin Phillips, because we've been served up years of faulty statistics and even faultier economic projects. This, Phillips maintains, has lead to a spiral of false economic security - Pollyanna Creep.
I wrote my letter based on an article by Dean Baker at Talking Points Memo, I think he provides an excellent starting point for everyone on this:
Progressive Conditions for a Bailout - Dean Baker (see below)
Here's the letter I sent:
The actions taken now will fundamentally affect this country for the next several decades. Please do not let the Bush administration and financial lobbyistst rush us into turning more of Congress' power over to the executive and creating another short-sighted catastrophe.
Economic experts like Dean Baker state that this does not have to be decided today or tomorrow. Please work to make sure the next actions are properly debated with the gravity and conviction that befits decisions of this magnitude.
Dean Baker presented an excellent set of principles that I urge you to work by in these coming days:
Principles to Guide the Bailout
1) Financial institutions should be forced to endure the bulk of the losses with taxpayer funds only used where absolutely necessary to sustain the orderly operation of the financial system.
2) The bailout must be designed to minimize the opportunity for gaming.
3) The bailout should be designed to minimize moral hazard.
4) In the case of delinquent mortgages that come into the government's possession, there should be an effort to work out an arrangement that allows the homeowner to remain in her house as owner. If this proves impossible, then former homeowners should be allowed to remain in their homes as renters paying the market rent. This should be done even if it leads to losses to the government.
5) There should be serious efforts to severely restrict executive compensation at any companies that directly benefit from the bailout.
Principles for Restructuring the Financial System
1) Combating asset bubbles must be one of the Fed's key responsibilities.
2) The government should impose a modest financial transactions tax, comparable to the one in the United Kingdom. This can both restrain excessive trading and raise more than $100 billion a year in revenue.
3) Regulatory agencies should require that potentially tradable assets (e.g. credit default swaps) actually be traded on exchanges.
4) There should be strict limits on leverage for all regulated financial institutions.
5) Fannie and Freddie should remain fully public institutions, returning them to a status comparable to Fannie's prior to its privatization in 1968.
6) The Fed should be restructured so that all the key decision makers (e.g. the open market committee) are appointed by democratically elected officials. Its responsibility is to manage the economy in the interest of the general public, not the financial sector.
(for details, see the entire article at http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/20/progressive_conditions_for_a_b/ )
I don't push things like this very often, but this is a critical time for our nation. Please do this now:
Go to Vote No Bailout and send a message to your representatives, or call them. Whatever you do, do it soon!!!