[Peace-discuss] Call your Cong. reps. early Monday

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The following is from Bob Fertik at Democrats.com. --CGE]

(1) Call your Representatives and Senators at 800-473-6711 or 202-224-3121 and 
say No Bailout!  [Senator Durbin 202.224.2152; Senator Obama 202.224.2854; 
Representative Johnson 202.225.2371]

(2) Email them too: http://democrats.com/stop-paulsons-plunder

After a week of high-drama negotiations, Congress and Hank Paulson issued 
Bailout version 1.1, which is just the original Paulson pig with a lot of lipstick.

Republicans say the deal will be profitable for taxpayers, but they are lying -- 
just as they did about the invasion of Iraq producing lower gas prices. It's a 
lie because Paulson has full power to pay too much for the securities and he 
will because his real goal is a bailout of bank executives and shareholders with 
our money -- a massive ($2,333 per person!) transfer of wealth from the poor and 
middle class to the rich.

Democrats say they got oversight, accountability, and limits on executive 
compensation but each of these provisions is so full of Republican-written [sic] 
loopholes (see details below) that they are meaningless -- just like all other 
restrictions imposed on the Bush Administration, from Iraq to wiretapping. And 
that's before Bush simply negates any restrictions he doesn't like with one of 
his unconstitutional (and hence impeachable) signing statements.

So our answer remains ABSOLUTELY NOT - just like many in Congress, both 
progressive Democrats and fiscally-responsible Republicans.

Do we risk a market meltdown? Politico says, "Treasury estimates that the 
program can’t be put in place for several weeks." That means the markets won't 
drop dead tomorrow if this bill fails, and Congress has "several weeks" to come 
up with a serious plan. Better yet, Congress can wait six weeks until after the 
election and listen to the voters in the meanwhile.

A serious plan would not buy mortgage-backed securities. Instead,

    1. The plan should work from the bottom up by restructuring all the 
fraudulent mortgages so homeowners can afford to stay in their homes.
    2. If banks are still failing, the government should temporarily nationalize 
them as they did during Sweden's financial crisis.

Just for the record, here are some of the loopholes that make the Democratic 
restrictions meaningless, as described by Politico:

    1. Installments? Nope! They are automatic unless there is a 2/3 vote in both 
chambers (to override a Bush veto).
    2. Oversight? Nope! The GAO will have a "presence" in Treasury but no power, 
and an "independent" inspector general will "monitor" the secretary’s decisions, 
even though all of Bush's "independent" IG's have stopped none of Bush's 
criminal activities.
    3. Executive pay limits? Nope! Paulson got "discretion so that these reforms 
don’t cripple his ability to draw a wide selection of companies into the program."
    4. Bankruptcy reform? Nope!
    5. Financial industry taxes to pay for the deal? Nope!

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