Stock Market Bailout? Thanks, But No Thanks!

A Letter That I Sent To Both My House Representative And To My Senator. I'm Sure That It Is A Bit Rambling But, I Didn't Have The Time To Really Refine It As This Is An Issue That May Be Pushed Through At A Moments Notice.

I Advise You To Do The Same To Prevent Unfettered Socialism From Getting A Stranglehold On Our Economy.

You May Use Mine If You'd Like, I'd Advise Rereading It And Cutting The Fat.


Senator McCaskill,

I have sent this to my Congressman Hulshoff as well. As my Democratic Senator I hope that you will not let this go through unchallenged.

These monies could be used for so many better things than bailing out a group of people who clearly manipulated the system for their own benefit.

Think of what the average American will be forced to give up no matter who wins the presidential race. Please do not let these criminals ramrod a forced vote on this issue without adding some restrictions that are much needed.

Please, please do not let the bailout proposition pass with section 8 still attached to it. Please consider your constituents in your decision for passing this bill.

Please do not make a rash judgment on this without first considering the ramifications that this bill will provoke.

Is this truly a necessary evil? Is it possible that the investment banks let things get out of hand on purpose? They want all the profits of the good times and none of the responsibility of the impending troubles ahead. Is this fair to the taxpayers? Why should we get to foot the bill for their mistakes while they get a handout and get to go about with business as usual?

They need to pay their act of contrition for the mess that they themselves created. I am expected to and so should they.

I expect that you will provide some guidance and put some provisions of oversight on how the money is distributed.

The deal proposed by Paulson is nothing short of outrageous. It includes no oversight of his own closed-door operations. It merely gives congressional blessing and funding to what he has already been doing, ad hoc. He plans to retain Wall Street firms as advisors to decide just how to cut deals to value and mop up Wall Street's dubious paper. There are to be no limits on executive compensation for the firms that get relief, and no equity share for the government in exchange for this massive infusion of capital. Both Obama and McCain have opposed the provision denying any judicial review of decisions made by Paulson -- a provision that evokes the Bush administration's suspension of normal constitutional safeguards in its conduct of foreign policy and national security. [...]


The differences between this proposed bailout and the three closest historical equivalents are immense. When the Reconstruction Finance Corporation of the 1930s pumped a total of $35 billion into U.S. corporations and financial institutions, there was close government supervision and quid pro quos at every step of the way. Much of the time, the RFC became a preferred shareholder, and often appointed board members. The Home Owners Loan Corporation, which eventually refinanced one in five mortgage loans, did not operate to bail out banks but to save homeowners. And the Resolution Trust Corporation of the 1980s, created to mop up the damage of the first speculative mortgage meltdown, the S&L collapse, did not pump in money to rescue bad investments; it sorted out good assets from bad after the fact, and made sure to purge bad executives as well as bad loans. And all three of these historic cases of public recapitalization were done without suspending judicial review.

Please don't let this pass without proper oversight.

Thank you for your time,