Bernie Sanders: I fear a Pelosi/Reid/Bush bailout that will damage Obama while McCain can oppose it

seafan

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Sep-23-08 03:06 PM
Original message

Bernie Sanders: I fear a Pelosi/Reid/Bush bailout that will damage Obama while McCain can oppose it

Senator Bernie Sanders told this to Thom Hartmann today. I fully agree.

Sanders believes this is Bush's October Surprise:

To force this massive bailout through Congress as a craven political machination that forces Reid and Pelosi to capitulate, harms Obama's chances in November as a direct result, and also transfers massive wealth from the middle class to the greedy corporate bastards at the Wall Street casino. Bush's trifecta.

Sanders' worst case scenario is a watered down bailout provided by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, as they go along with Bush, yet again, because they don't want to be painted as refusing to *rescue* the economy. So, by throwing in a few crumbs for regular people, they jump in line behind Bush. This will hurt Obama terribly, because he will then have to maneuver somewhere in the middle, yet feel enormous pressure from the people to break with his party, which should not be occurring immediately before an election. Will he? Or won't he? It puts Obama in a very bad position, 6 weeks from the election. And IT IS UNNECESSARY.

Meanwhile, John "I'm a Deregulator" McCain can run around, saying that he opposes the bailout, and will erupt like a demon against Obama if Obama votes for the Reid/Pelosi/Bush watered-down bailout.

In view of this revelation in today's Roll Call:

(White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto} insisted that the plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over previous months and weeks by administration officials. He acknowledged lawmakers were getting only days to peruse it, but he said this should be enough.

THIS BAILOUT WAS PREPARED MONTHS AGO??? JUST TO BE BROUGHT OUT NOW AS BUSH'S OCTOBER SURPRISE????

There should no longer be ANY DOUBT that this rushed, corporate bailout has been planned long in advance, only to be trotted out six weeks before the most critical election in our country's history, to force Democrats to act in an uncharted, precarious environment that has been totally created by the insatiable greed and gluttony of Bush's corporate pals.

Here is what Senator Sanders thinks should be done to raise $800 billion that Paulson claims he **needs now, and needs the FULL amount**:

1. Tell Paulson and Bernanke that they must go to their wealthy friends for money for this bailout, and NOT to the middle class. Put a surtax on couples making more than $1 Million a year. Sanders stated that that, in itself, would raise around $300 Billion.

2. Congress should make sure that the distressed assets are discounted appropriately, before buying them back, so as not to reward the perpetrators of this mess. Bernanke is already screaming about this:

Bloomberg: Bernanke Urges Against U.S. Buying Assets at `Fire-Sale' Prices

Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke signaled that the government should buy devalued assets at above-market values to make its proposed $700 billion rescue package most effective in combating the financial crisis.

``Accounting rules require banks to value many assets at something close to a very low fire-sale price rather than the hold-to-maturity price,'' Bernanke said in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee today. ``If the Treasury bids for and then buys assets at a price close to the hold-to-maturity price, there will be substantial benefits.''

3. For proof that speculators are driving the system out of control, look at the wild gyrations followed by the rapid rise in oil prices that happened yesterday. That rapid price rise had NOTHING to do with supply and demand.

4. If an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.

For the love of America, people, bombard Reid and Pelosi to reject this bailout out of hand.