Bernie Sanders Bail Out Proposal

[liberalmuse]

Sanders Op-Ed: Billions for Bailouts! Who Pays? -- 09/19/2008

By Senator Bernie Sanders

The current financial crisis facing our country has been caused by the extreme right-wing economic policies pursued by the Bush administration. These policies, which include huge tax breaks for the rich, unfettered free trade and the wholesale deregulation of commerce, have resulted in a massive redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the very wealthy.

The middle class has really been under assault. Since President Bush has been in office, nearly 6 million Americans have slipped into poverty, median family income for working Americans has declined by more than $2,000, more than 7 million Americans have lost their health insurance, over 4 million have lost their pensions, foreclosures are at an all time high, total consumer debt has more than doubled, and we have a national debt of over $9.7 trillion dollars...

AND:

(1) The people who can best afford to pay and the people who have benefited most from Bush’s economic policies are the people who should provide the funds for the bailout. It would be immoral to ask the middle class, the people whose standard of living has declined under Bush, to pay for this bailout while the rich, once again, avoid their responsibilities. Further, if the government is going to save companies from bankruptcy, the taxpayers of this country should be rewarded for assuming the risk by sharing in the gains that result from this government bailout.

Specifically, to pay for the bailout, which is estimated to cost up to $1 trillion, the government should:

a) Impose a five-year, 10 percent surtax on income over $1 million a year for couples and over $500,000 for single taxpayers. That would raise more than $300 billion in revenue;...


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[Democrats_win]

1. "If a company is too big to fail it is too big to exist."

"We need to determine which companies fall in this category and then break them up."

This is the only man in America who makes any sense.

[randr]

2. If a "shortage" is due to falling housing values

and foreclosures, why not bail out the people who are living in the houses so they can make their mortgage payments?
A little trickle up so to speak.

[droidamus2]

9. One question?

Everybody is talking about those people having 'problems' paying their mortgages. I take that to mean those that are behind on their payments or are barely able to make their payments each month. I see no problem in helping those people but how about all the people that have been able to do it right and are not struggling quite as much as the less fortunate. If we are going to help those Americans with mortgages I think all holders should benefit. I would support some limit on which mortgage holders would be helped in the sense that those holding $10,000,000.00 mortgages on some McMansion in Beverly Hills should not be rewarded for extending themselves that far (sorry Ed McMahon). Deciding exactly how much and who gets would be an interesting exercise but I am sure it could be done.

[Pale Blue Dot]

3. I love Bernie, but this is NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

He admits that the bailout could cost $1 Trillion, and then proposes a tax surcharge that will raise $300B. That still leaves the rest of us on the hook for $700B! The rest of his proposals are great ideas, but ideas that will cost even more money. Where is this money coming from?

The bottom line is this: The bailout SHOULD NOT HAPPEN. The tax surcharge and the rest of his proposals SHOULD HAPPEN.

[keyrads]

4. BAIL OUT

Why should the middle class pay for this ridiculous mess ?
If we are going to be foolish enough to bail them out then the players in this game should pay for it .
Why not institute a tax on stock trades instead of penalizing the working people ?

[TomClash]

8. Welcome to DU nt

[drm604]

5. Excellent article.

I don't see much hope of any of this happening at the moment, but hopefully after Obama gets in we'll see things similar to this.

[flamingdem]

6. HA! The real socialist Bernie tells the wannabe socialist-fat cats what time it is

Go Bernie, hooray Vermont.

[TomClash]

7. He forgot a few things

1. End the Iraq War now (at least a $100b savings).

2. Increase the tax on capital gains to make it equal to the tax on income

3. A one-time 10% asset tax on people with assets in excess of $1m, excluding primary home and retirement funds.

4. Reduce homeland security funding.

This would go a long way in paying for the bailout.