[Dialogue] The Bail Out

[George Holcombe]

I think I've read the contributions on the website regarding the  
bailout, but I find this one more appealing, and I've never felt  
comfortable about just talking about it.  While it still ignores  
penalties and enforcement, it, at least, has some ways to get the  
government back in the hands of voters.

If interested you can send this to your congressman by going to http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/no_blank_check/?r=1606&id=912-483700-lPW0qRx


George Holcombe
14900 Yellowleaf Tr.
Austin, TX 78728
Home: 512/252-2756
Mobile 512/294-5952
geowanda at earthlink.net

No blank check for Wall Street.

Congress is on the brink of making a one-sided deal to give George W.  
Bush a blank check to bail out his pals - offering nearly (or perhaps  
more than) a trillion taxpayer dollars to Wall Street to cover its bad  
debts. That works out to somewhere between $2000 and $5000 from every  
American family. So what do the taxpayers get in return?

Nothing. No new regulation or oversight to help avoid this kind of  
crisis in the future. No public interest givebacks to help people  
whose homes are in the hands of the banks. Perhaps most shockingly of  
all, the taxpayers get absolutely no share in the profits if and when  
these finance giants bounce back, even though we are now assuming a  
great deal of the risk.

This is worse than a bad deal - this isn't a deal at all. This is a  
blank check to some of the richest companies in the world.

There is some good news, though: Congress doesn't have to agreet to a  
blank check. Instead, it can choose to impose a few sensible  
conditions on the bailout to ensure that it will be used responsibly.  
Here are a few suggestions courtesy of Robert Reich1:

If the taxpayers are shouldering the risk, the taxpayers should reap  
any eventual benefits. We accomplish this by giving the government an  
equity stake in every company we bail out proportionate to the amount  
we give them.
If we're paying (more than) our fair share, the CEOs and executives  
should have to, too. All of the fat cats who got us into this mess  
should relinquish their stock options and salaries until they start  
showing us, their investors, that they can once again be profitable.  
Future salaries should be linked to profitability.
No more campaign contributions from Wall Street executives and PACs.  
Taxpayer dollars should be used to get our nation out of a crisis.  
They cannot be used to fund giant, powerful lobby operations that will  
be used to strong arm Congress into making bad policy.
Better regulations start right now. Wall Street can't expect to take  
thousands of dollars out of your paycheck without agreeing to  
increased transparency and more stringent oversight - the kind that  
might have helped avoid this mess to begin with.
Bankruptcy judges get broader leeway to help homeowners. Why should we  
lose our homes so the CEOs can keep theirs?
If Wall Street doesn't like these conditions, then it is welcome to  
find private investors to help it out of this debacle. But if the  
American people are going to take this hit, then we must have a say in  
the terms of the deal - even if we don't have an army of high-paid  
lobbyists at our disposal like they do.

Congress must take swift and prudent action to avoid making a  
burgeoning crisis that much worse. Sign this petition today to make  
your voice heard to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny  
Hoyer, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Finance Chair Barney  
Frank, Senate Banking Chair Chris Dodd, and the de facto leaders of  
the two parties: Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. As elected  
officials, these people are all responsible to the taxpayers, not the  
Wall Street firms who line their campaign war chests. Please take  
action today.

Source:

1. What Wall Street Should Do To Get Its Blank Check, by Robert Reich





-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/dialogue_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20080921/8b6b5416/attachment.html