I'm not a poker player but it's time to call their bluff. Congress

[aquamarina]

needs to grow a pair and just say no until they can get their hands around this and make decisions based on sound reasoning instead of panicked emotion.

Just sayin.

[dkofos]

1. I agree

[dkofos]

2. I agree

[gateley]

3. I agree, too. They keep saying this is "unprecedented" -- if that's the case,

we need to take a look at it through new, "unprecedented" eyes, instead of the old government/taxpayer bailout solution.

[Eric J in MN]

6. The crisis is phony, says author David Cay Johnston.

http://poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=13611

Ask this question -- are the credit markets really about to seize up?

If they are then lots of business owners should be eager to tell how their bank is calling their 90-day revolving loans, rejecting new loans and demanding more cash on deposit. I called businessmen I know yesterday and not one of them reported such problems. Indeed, Citibank offered yesterday to lend me tens of thousands of dollars on my signature at 2.99 percent, well below the nearly 5 percent inflation rate. That offer came after I said no last week to a 4.99 percent loan.

[LSparkle]

9. Yeah, "unprecedented" is Alan Greenspan's FAVORITE word ...

To cover up for the fact that HE SAW THIS COMING and
DID NOTHING.

[tama]

12. What was he supposed to do?

To be honest, he did plenty, dropped the interest rate to 1% and told people to game mortages for more cash and consumerism, heating up the housing bubble to point of explosion. Just to magickally avoid post dotcom depression and correction, to keep US afloat for few more years, at least most of Bush years.

So what was he supposed to do, other than he did? Declare US insolvent, Capitalism nonfunctional and tell people adopt international socialism or better, learn organic gardening?

[Eric J in MN]

13. Alan Greenspan encouraged Congress to pass the Bush tax cuts for the rich...

...which are ballooning the national debt and hurting the economy.

[tama]

15. Yep n/t

[LSparkle]

14. He was supportive of deregulation at every turn ...

I've heard many economists in the past few days say that
he must bear a large share of the blame for building this
house of cards that's now collapsing.

[tama]

18. And yep

but what was he supposed to do? He's a product of the system, just like all others.

[Eric J in MN]

4. Please tell your Senators and Rep to wait until next year...

...and then carefully decide how to help the economy.

No rush decisions.

[Karenina]

17. JOB ONE: AUDIT every one of those suckers

before they gat a penny. Put John Kerry in charge of the audit team!

[Eric J in MN]

19. Yes, and at very least, don't give our money to corporations which don't need it. NT

NT

[redqueen]

5. Emotion my ass... if they go along they are COMPLICIT in this mugging.

There is no way they're ignorant of Senator Dodd's bill.

There is no way they're ignorant of Rep. Kucinich's proposals.

There is no way they're ignorant of the American public's reaction.

There is NO way they're ignorant of the 32 words in that bill.



There are no excuses... they won't wiggle out of their complicity in this, as they did with the IWR.

[aquamarina]

16. I agree - and I sent the following letter to my senators

Boxer and Feinstein and my rep John Campbell (repuke) and Pelosi and Reid:

Dear __________________

Re Financial Crisis

I am furious. In good faith, I put 20% down when I bought my house four years ago - it has since lost more than 20% in value. However, Wall Street screws up AGAIN and we’re asked to bail them out AGAIN. (I am old enough to remember the S&L Crisis.) And not only are we asked to bail them out but apparently, if Secretary Paulson gets his way, we don’t even get a say in how the money is used. When I bought my house, I did so because I thought it would go up in value. However, that turned out to not be the case. And if I were to try to sell it today, I would lose a lot of money. I have not asked for a bailout but if we are going to bail out Wall Street, you can bet I’m going to ask for a little help as well.

Personally, I think it is outrageous to give Wall Street $700,000,000+ in taxpayer money without getting any say in how it is used. The Bush administration has proven over and over that they cannot be trusted with our money so I simply do not trust Secretary Paulson to enact a plan that will do right by the taxpayer. This “MBA” administration has singlehandedly driven the greatest economy on earth into the toilet.

I believe that instead of bailing out Wall Street and the financial wizards who run these companies, we should be punishing them for putting us in this situation. These companies perpetrated financial fraud, through deregulation and risky investments and should be made to pay for it. Let them dig into their piggybanks, sell some of their stocks, mansions, cars and jewels. Make them feel some of the pain they’ve inflicted upon us. These companies, these financial magicians are guilty of stealing. They are every bit as guilty of stealing from as a masked robber who holds up the local bank. They should be criminally prosecuted not rewarded.

However, if we are going to take over Fannie and Freddie then tough new mortgage regulations need to be instituted – starting with a freeze on foreclosures and the ability of homeowners to renegotiate their loans.

If we are going to take over Bear Sterns, Lehman and Goldman Sachs then tough new finance and investing regulations need to be instituted. CEO compensation should be tied directly to the performance of these companies. New transparent accounting rules need to be instituted.

Bank of American should NOT be allowed to buy out Countrywide AND Merrill Lynch in order to form yet another gigantic corporation that when it eventually fails will require yet another taxpayer bailout because if history is any indication it will probably happen.

If we are going to take over AIG, then all Americans get healthcare insurance.

Some other ideas include
- Tax energy company war profiteering shut down the unregulated speculation
- Impose a 10 percent surtax on income over $1 million a year for couples and $500,000 for single taxpayers.
- Impose higher tax rates on those earning interest income over $250,000 for couples and $125,000 for single taxpayers
- Impose income caps on corporate CEOs and other executive staff and tie pay to performance
- Give shareholders more say in CEO and executive staff compensation
- Impose monetary penalties on corporations that move offshore in order to avoid federal taxes
- Cap interest rates credit card companies can charge to prime + 10
- Cut the out of control military budget

I am hearing that Secretary Paulson wants a decision on this bailout by Friday. This is insane. After 9-11, Congress rammed through the Patriot Act without even reading it. Are we going to react in the same manner to the financial crisis only to have regrets later on? Is it at all possible for Congress to take a more long-term approach to this mess instead of the knee jerk reactions we are so accustomed to?

This is serious stuff, and I expect my Congress to take a hard look at the slash and burn deregulation that got us here and make the changes that will actually help us.

In the 1980s Ronald Regan liked to complain about welfare queens and how they took advantage of the system. It’s time we scrutinized these corporate/finance welfare queens in the same way.

So here’s my bottom line – NO BLANK CHECK FOR PAULSON AND BUSH!

Sincerely,

[ShortnFiery]

7. They need to just say "NO!" eom

[LSparkle]

8. With this gang, I agree completely

They've played "chicken" with us TOO MANY TIMES - it's time
for call them on it this time.

[lapfog_1]

10. They raised all in (but they are using YOUR money to do it!)

These guys are all about "Disaster capitalism"...

so IF there will be chaos and disaster if we wait on this, it follows that they would never ever tell us that anything is even wrong, and they would certainly not do anything that would really fix this.

So, chances that this is a bank heist the like of which have never been seen before is well over 90 percent.

I call with my no pair Ace high.

[Celtic_88]

11. Congress

I agree, its time to stop the spending like there is no tomorrow. The taxpayers will get stuck with the tab, while the fat cats make out like bandits.

[kenny blankenship]

20. I say if the problem is as big and hairy as they say it is-so bad that we must act immediately

then seize the banks. Immediately. Clearly a system this fucked up has been spun into the ground and needs thorough reworking. And the people who wrecked it can hardly be trusted with the kind of money it would take to reflate their collapsed bubble.

It's not an agreement: it's a seizure. The terms of any agreement with shareholders and bondholders can come later. They're using the threat of financial collapse to get the terms most favorable to them and once we agree to hand over the money, we can kiss any chance of forcing reforms on them goodbye.

Back in 1991 the Fed and the Comptroller forced the largest commercial bank in the country to face up to its tattered balance sheet (bad loans in Latin America and the S&L debacle) and married Citi off to Saudi Prince Walid bin Talal. That was a bank seizure done on the quiet. So just seize them.

If you want to call their bluff and force them to accept our terms, you need a threat equal to or greater than theirs. That would be the threat of seizure. Since we don't exactly know what our terms should be yet, seizure becomes more like a necessity to avoid giving away the store in a blind panic.

[ThoughtCriminal]

21. Poison Pill it with Reasonable Reform

Pass it with reinstatement of regulations that had worked for decades, prohibit golden parachutes and limitations on executive compensation, provide oversight and allow agency and judicial review.

Dare Bush to veto it!