Letter to my Congressman re: the bailout

[freefall]

Dear Congressman Tierney,

It is my belief that most legislators are being duped by the Bush administration and their cronies into voting for a Wall Street Bailout bill that will do nothing to stop the current and coming economic woes. The bailout solution will also make it impossible to undertake measures that actually would make an difference to the economy and the average American. Additionally, if we do this we will lack resources to address the many other critical issues we face such as energy use, climate change and health care.

If this is such an emergency why is the Treasury Secretary only now, one week before adjournment and six weeks before an election, presenting a plan which has been in the works for six months to a year? Could it be another effort to rush another bad idea (see Patriot Act, Iraq occupation, etc.) through Congress without giving legislators or voters time to realize they are being had? See Representative Kaptur’s first rule for playing “Wall Street Bailout.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27yitK32ds
She gets the rest of the situation right as well and her solutions make sense.

I’m sure you and your staff have been exceptionally busy over the last several days trying to absorb mountains of information being dumped on you by the administration. You have probably had little time to read the opinions of the many dissenting voices which are available on the Internet. Perhaps you were not in the House Chamber when Representative Kaptur made her speech. However, before you vote on this travesty (based on Sunday’s Washington Post description) please take the time to expose yourself to some alternative ideas. After you view Representative Kaptur’s speech, please check with Senator Shelby and read the opinions of those 200 economists he’s talking about.

Here are a few more places to start:

http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/4578
Jerome A. Paris
“Thus the Paulson plan is unlikely to help much if it does not deal with the assets at the bottom of the toxic waste pile: not even the mortgages, but the houses themselves.” He goes on to say “…the only way to do this is to increase incomes…”

http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=2983
Leslie Christian
“The one thing I know with certainty is that the people and institutions that got us into this mess are not going to be the ones to get us out of it. Not the Federal Reserve, not Wall Street, not Congress, and not the Administration.”

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/100491/trickle-up%3A_what_a_progressive_bailout_would_look_like/
Joshua Holland
“It would keep families in their homes and loosen credit markets without rewarding Wall Street’s wheeler-dealers for their recklessness.”

Another person you might want to chat with is Senator Sanders. Among other good ideas is his call to break up the huge financial conglomerates. As Senator Sanders says, “If it is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.”

Representative Tierney I urge you to vote "No" on any plan that uses tax payer dollars to further bailout Wall Street. I believe Ms. Christian is right when she states that the Federal Reserve, Wall Street and the Administration will not get us out of this mess. I hope she is wrong about Congress.

Perhaps there are not the votes in Congress to take any of the common sense steps suggested above before the election. But by once again caving to the Administration, Democrats will once again demonstrate that they are willing to sacrifice the common good for special interests. I believe Democrats will be better off allowing Republicans to be seen as blocking sensible actions. Democrats can then try again after the election. On the other hand, it may be impossible for the Democrats to do anything after the election if they are seen as selling out the common good yet again.

Respectfully,

Freefall