Proposed Financial Bailout Draws Howls from Left and Right

A strange thing happened, the other day. I received two emails strongly opposed to the Bush Administration’s proposed financial bailout. “What’s so strange about that?” you ask? One message came from TrueMajority and the other from RightMarch. Two groups, one on the left and the other on the right, both calling on Congress to reign in the President’s proposal to stabilize economic markets.

TrueMajority writes, “In his last days in office, George Bush is trying to scare Congress into giving away the treasury to Wall Street.” On their web site, TrueMajority continues:

Those are extreme words, but not as extreme as the reality — over the weekend a plan was concocted to give away $1.8 trillion dollars of tax money with NO limits on how it’s spent, and no guarantees we’ll ever see it again. And the Treasury Secretary had the gall to say limiting payouts to executives who created this mess would be a “deal breaker.”

This is a deal which SHOULD be broken. Or at least re-negotiated. Economists have already made clear that this is a bad deal for everyone except the corporations and wealthy investors whose greed created the crisis.

Click here to respond to the TrueMajority post by calling elected representatives.

In their alert, RightMarch wrote, “No Welfare For The Rich; Tell Congress NOT to Bail Out Firms at the Expense of Taxpayers.”

ALERT: If you have friends or family who have never called or written to their elected officials before, you need to forward this message and let them know: now is the time.

The Washington and Wall Street establishments are conspiring to saddle you, your children, and even your great-grandchildren with TRILLIONS of dollars of worthless debt. This is socialism for the rich folks, and we only have DAYS to stop it.

As the New York Times reported this weekend, “The Bush administration on Saturday formally proposed a vast bailout of financial institutions in the United States, requesting unfettered authority for the Treasury Department to buy up to $700 billion in distressed mortgage-related assets from the private firms.”

The proposal was short and simple: it would raise the national debt ceiling to $11.3 trillion. And it would place no restrictions on the administration other than requiring “semiannual reports” to Congress, granting the Treasury secretary unprecedented power to buy and resell mortgage debt.

The Times went on to report, “Congressional leaders are hoping to recess at the end of the week for the fall elections, after approving the bailout.”

AFTER APPROVING THE BAILOUT — in other words, after approving “unprecedented power, “no restrictions on the administration,” and “unfettered authority” to drive the American economy down, take over nearly the entire mortgage industry, and saddle our descendants for decades or even centuries with an even WORSE economic situation.

We only have THIS WEEK to stop this boondoggle that will make every dollar left in your wallet worth less than it’s ever been worth!

Click here to read the RightMarch post.

If that weren’t enough, the folks at WashClean got in the act, too.

It’s not enough that ordinary folk are about to bail out speculators who have made millions in the casino-like atmosphere of Wall Street.

Now Wall Street’s main trade and lobbying group – the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association – is lobbying Congress so that huge fees can be earned for assisting with the bailout! New York Times article.

Money is choking our democracy to death!

WashClean’s post is notable for its link to the 3-page text of the Bush-Paulson proposal.

All I can say is, “Wow.” Two messages, one from either side of the political spectrum, both saying much the same thing.

— MARK MESSINGER

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