Online petition: No Blank Check for Wall Street

[IndyOp]

Pass this around!

Online petition: No Blank Check for Wall Street

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.

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:

1. If the taxpayers are shouldering the risk, the taxpayers should reap any eventual benefits.
2. If we're paying (more than) our fair share, the CEOs and executives should have to, too.
3. No more campaign contributions from Wall Street executives and PACs.
4. Better regulations start right now.
5. Bankruptcy judges get broader leeway to help homeowners.

Online petition: No Blank Check for Wall Street

[flamingdem]

1. Did any other dems step up when he said this?

Who will stick their neck out? The dems seem to be going along (Dodd).

[IndyOp]

3. According to Robert Kuttner in an article on HuffPo, the Dems have cards to play.

The purpose of a petition is to get close to their ear and whisper "PLAY THE DAMNED CARDS! NOW!" --

Kuttner says that there are already serious defections in Republican ranks...

I hope MoveOn.org will jump on board tomorrow. The Credo petition that I linked to is good and MoveOn can get millions of sigs in a day or two...

One senior Congressional Democrat told me, "They have a gun to our heads." Paulson behaved as if he held all the cards, but in fact the Democrats have a lot of cards, too. The question is whether they have the nerve to challenge major flaws in Paulson's plan as a condition of enacting it.

Paulson also faces serious defections in Republican ranks, with several key senators and congressmen resisting a bailout of this scale. Sen. Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, speaking on CBS's Face the Nation, flatly blamed the crisis on greed and deregulation, and questioned the terms of Paulson's plan.

Calling Paulson's Bluff
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x386380

[flamingdem]

6. Good. They had better not let us down

This is THE issue of the election, more than the war and they have to handle it correctly.

[dee15644]

12. signed

I am sooo!!! furious. I can't even express in words how maddened I am !!
I believe this is a ploy by the republicans to pass this legislation and bail out the republican's base--WALL STREET. It will also hamstring the next president to be able to pass ANYTHING!!! The Dems will, and are, falling for it.

[Eric J in MN]

2. Wall St. executives have as much right to donate as anyone else. NT

NT

[calimary]

4. Done!

Since the CEOs and Boards of Directors led us into this, they should help lead us back out. Let's put some of that big-time CEO pay and stock options etc and golden parachutes to work for the rest of us. It's not like they can't afford it. If we have to pay for this, THEY DO, TOO! And they should be first in line to do that.

[az chela]

5. signed and sent

[flamingdem]

7. k n r

[MasonJar]

8. Petition

Please sign this petition asap and send it along to your friends. This must not be a blank check!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Triana]

9. DONE - K & R n/t

[OHDEM]

10. Thanks for posting!

I hope they grow a pair during this crucial time in our history! Is there a petition for letting them fall on their corrupt, greedy faces! I'm trying to understand why they keep saying this will trickle down when we've all been dealing with this already! People have already lost their homes & can't afford anything!

[Old and In the Way]

11. This is a play for the Social Security Trust Fund assets.

There are no government assets that can fund this $700BB grab.

K/R

[IndyOp]

14. You are the first person who I've heard mention this possibility -

Have you seen/heard it anywhere else?

:(

[Old and In the Way]

18. I,ve seen it posted here and elsewhere.

What's the other choices?

1) Raise taxes (not with this administration.
2) Print more monopoly money. (Could happen, but inflationary...big time.)
3) Buy gold (watch how the market reacts to that).
4) Find an asset that hasn't been touched. That leads us to SSTF.

[IndyOp]

19. What galls me about this is that Bush would LOVE to have as capstone of his

time in the Oval Office be the demise of Social Security.

I am enraged at the people who will suffer as a result, but galled in a near-literal meaning of the term to know that it will be something that Bush will brag about.

[cliffordu]

13. done

[ixion]

15. signed/sent/kicked/recommended

stop the robbery.

[Captiosus]

16. Signed, K & R, e-mailed to friends and family. (n/t)

[chill_wind]

17. Done. KEEP THS KICKED, DU. K & R

[chill_wind]

20. This petitition is missing some key language, though.

Whether implicit or not, it doesn't directly attack Sect 8 review:

"Sec. 8 Review. Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the acts of this act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administratve agency. "

You should make your feelings about that extremely clear to lawmakers, fast.

I used the additional message box to say they must oppose any bill that:

*Demands nothing from these firms in return.

**Holds the Treasury Secretary accountable to no one.** (Section 8. Review)

*Extends the most generous terms to Wall Street while offering nothing to Main Street.

[sce56]

21. Signed and passed on! K&R

[spelldmilk]

22. signed, sent and forwarded.

[chill_wind]

23. .

[Waiting For Everyman]

24. Thanks! Here's my message to them...

Please include:
6 month expiration on authority
Total public view of transactions
Total Congressional oversight
Ownership of debts to rework them
Hire government employees to do it
Roll back Bankruptcy Law changes
Moratorium on Foreclosures - 6 months
Refinance all in default/foreclosure
Programs for those who lost homes
Usury limits - 5%
Credit scores illegal
Unilateral contracts illegal
End overcharging for medical debts
End overcharging for major hardships
Abolish late fees
Abolish charge to make payments
Derivatives illegal
Tranching illegal
CEO/BOD disgorgement
New banking system - RFC model
Return all New Deal regulations
Increase VA, SSA benefit amounts
Increase Food Stamp/energy eligibility
Increase Unemployment
Minimum wage $10 with COLA
End outsourcing government jobs
Renegotiate DOHA Trade round

Otherwise "just say NO!"

[barbtries]

25. this petition doesn't address this:

Sec. 8. Review.

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

i'll sign it anyway, and put a note about this provision in the space provided. personally this is the part i find the most heinous.

[yurbud]

26. done

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

27. Done

Subject: No blank check for Wall Street.

Dear Friend,

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.

I just signed a petition calling on key members of Congress to impose a few sensible conditions to this bailout in order to protect the American people -- I hope you will too.

Please have a look and take action.