I'm completely behind any push back like this. I think giving Paulson so much unchecked power is dangerous and stupid. How can we get our opinions on this routed to the right Senators?

http://ga3.org/campaign/congress_no_blank_check/iikkgiw4h7iewd3b?source=20080922_noblankchck

Above is a letter that you can sign and send to your Senators and Pelosi.

Email and call your senators. I never have written to my senators before. But this time, I urged them to not be tricked again by this rush to war / weapons of mass destruction ploy from this administration.

Cut off all medical, educational, legal and housing benefits to illegal aliens immediately. Deport all illegal immigrants now in jail.

Arrest, indict and try the CEOs and CFOs of Wall Street firms suspected of financial misdeeds.

Seize the assets of CEOs and CFOs when their chicanery is proven. Turn their ill-gotten gains over to the American people.

Fire Chris Cox, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, for his criminal negligence in allowing Wall Street to rape the American economy.

Replace him with Eliot Spitzer, who, before he was taken down by the money changers, was the only one going after the criminals on Wall Street.

Stop the Federal Reserve from bailing out multi-billion dollar companies at the taxpayers' expense.

Fire Ben Bernanke and let him get a job at NYU Film School.

Fire Hank Paulson and let him get a job as a celebrity chef.

"...and the group on Tuesday morning released a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi..."

Pelosi's response:

"Your proposal is off the table..."

-Wexler

The Republicans have always
been touting "freemarkets",
this financial mess is brought to you by the same
kind folks that brought us
the Savings and Loan debacle
of 1980's. This was wrapped
in a gilded package called
"deregulation". Welcome to
1929 and 30 and the Great
Depression.

As I watched Bernanke, Paulson and Company begging before Congree this morning, the first thought that came to mind was that here, indeed are Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - sent to us by the Burning Bush himself.

To hell with them all.
No bailout and no bail.
Send all the SOBs to jail.

Financial-market wise guys, who had been seized with fear, are suddenly drunk with hope. They are rallying explosively because they think they have successfully stampeded Washington into accepting the Wall Street Journal solution to the crisis: dump it all on the taxpayers. That is the meaning of the massive bailout Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has shopped around Congress. It would relieve the major banks and investment firms of their mountainous rotten assets and make the public swallow their losses--many hundreds of billions, maybe much more. What's not to like if you are a financial titan threatened with extinction?

If Wall Street gets away with this, it will represent an historic swindle of the American public--all sugar for the villains, lasting pain and damage for the victims. My advice to Washington politicians: Stop, take a deep breath and examine what you are being told to do by so-called "responsible opinion." If this deal succeeds, I predict it will become a transforming event in American politics--exposing the deep deformities in our democracy and launching a tidal wave of righteous anger and popular rebellion. As I have been saying for several months, this crisis has the potential to bring down one or both political parties, take your choice.

I agree that Congress needs to push back and demand oversight-- among other things to this bill, but it needs to be passed and soon.

It is easy enough to tell Paulson "no deal", but the consequences will affect all Americans and it will be devastating to most.

The financial crisis is already affecting many Americans and has been for months. As a small business owner, I have seen a slow down in my company. The businesses I sell to cannot get loans to expand which has caused us all to lay off employees. The inability to get loans will cause small/med/large business to go under and with that we will see massive layoffs nationwide.

Although I am skeptical of this plan, without it we may see a run on the banks and stocks. There will be no loans and credit cards will be a thing of the past. Businesses will fail quickly and bankruptcy will be the only option for many. We will see an increase in crime and homelessness.

It is too bad that things have gotten to this point. I take issue with politicians, the Administration and the media who say this crisis came without warning. There have been economist who have been warning of an Armageddon for over a year. One is an occasional guest on CNBC--he is usually dismissed and laughed at by the hosts. Now those same hosts say they were taken by surprise by this crisis as if they had no warning. Many of us who have small businesses know we have been in a recession for months and I think those politicians and those on CNBC who claimed we were not in a recession and we would see an upturn this summer were disingenuous.

Nobody should spend any money towards a bailout for at least 30 days.

It's going to take them that long to figure out how to do this. Bush already wore out his Chicken Little suit. The Guy With the Hair On Fire suit is pretty well shot, too.

-Wexler

I believe that provisions of the Glass-Stegall act need to be fully reinstated before there is any bailout. Then they need to figure out how to get more of the money into the hands of the people who are losing their homes instead of the companies that created the problem.
My fear is that the Dems will fold under pressure just like they've done on every other issue since 2004.

There’s no excuse for allowing the collapse of the U.S. economy to happen.

No amnesty, no pardons.

Pursue the Bush administration beyond January 20 until they are brought to justice.

FREE AMERICA

REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY

Let the bourgeois clean up their own mess. I'll have none of it... my pocket is sealed.

Molotov cocktail wishes and guillotine dreams to the greedy Wall Street elite.

Look into his eyes and you will see: Paulson has seven devils in him!

Three quotes from Thomas Jefferson:

I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.

I hope we shall crush ... in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must from time to time be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

You know those chain letters you send to 8 of your best friends? Well this will be my first. Also to my local Rep and Senator.

About one thing we may be sure. The U.S. deficit and national debt are going to soar. The credit rating of the United States, as this nation of non-savers has to borrow abroad to save its banks, and their banks, is going to fall. We are going to be a poorer nation and people.

As for the promises and plans of Barack Obama and John McCain -- be it for national health insurance or middle-class tax cuts -- they are going by the wayside. For the United States is as bankrupt as Lehman Brothers, with this difference: Uncle Sam can still borrow from abroad because foreigners see many juicy U.S. assets they would like to take off our hands with their hoards of ever-cheapening U.S. dollars.

Looking at the federal budget -- the five or six major items are Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense and interest on the debt. All are going up, as tax revenues fall. Add the cost of two wars and a bailout of U.S. banks that some estimate will cost $1 trillion to $2 trillion, and we appear to be looking at budget deficits ad infinitum.

"There is a great deal of ruin in a nation," Adam Smith once consoled a friend who lamented that Britain would be ruined if the 13 Colonies were lost.

We are about to test Smith's proposition.

Have we forgot the rush pushed by these boys a few years ago. War and the patriot act and the suspension of spying rules were all "must do now" power plays. Congress sold out then,I wonder if it will again.

I agree with Marcus Medler...this tactic by Bush et al is nothing more than use of 'the Shock Doctrine'. Use a crisis - natural or man-made - to push the country in a direction beneficial to only a few people.

Hear ye, hear ye ... Molotov Cocktails and Guilletine Dreams!

nnorman51 - thanks for the link! i submitted my petition. i hope more folks do it too!

heads definitely need to roll. criminal charges. at least the FBI is investigating now.

You are absolutely correct..Senator Obama was also ignored as he has been trying articulate his issues on the economy and the common man and woman for some time. But because it was not news worthy, it did not generate a lot of airtime. Most people in this country are not wealthy, and most of them including myself have been listening to the Senator of Illinois and stand by him for these reasons.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/dirty-secret-of-the-bailo_n_128294.html

I find these 11 changes to be quite adequate.
I would hope Republicans would joined in as these changes reflect their concerns.
For once the Republicans and Democrats in Congress have a chance act prudently dispite the administrations desire to rush this nonsense through.

Is it just me, or do these Wall Street beggars, and their Washington counterparts bear a striking resemblance to the fictional Ferengis? Perhaps these Ferengi Fascists should get on their knees and pray to the "Divine Treasury". Oh, I guess that's what they are doing, isn't it. I'm for sending the whole lot to the "Vault of Eternal Destitution". Thank you Star Trek for predicting "truth" stranger than fiction.

I wonder if the hit counters at Survivalist websites are clicking more frequently these days? Freeze dried food anyone?

Time to Nationalize Oil and Coal:

As our country slips deeper and deeper into debt, one industry continues to maintain its stranglehold on our economy and reap record profits, namely, the oil industry. This industry is built upon the exploitation of national and international natural resources and the profits benefit a very small percentage of the population at large. In this time of mounting debt and crisis in our markets, we have mortgaged our children’s and grandchildren’s futures and prosperity with a huge national debt that must be resolved and the way to do this is to nationalize the oil and coal industries. Instead of laying the burden on the individual citizen and taxpayer, we should use our natural resources to pay for this debt and in doing so allow the average citizen and small business to retain the majority of their personal income rather than paying higher taxes. Nationalization of coal and oil is the most responsible answer to the financial meltdown caused by the irresponsible and criminal deregulations of the past decade.
While the fuel crisis remains, the most responsible answer to that is for America to launch a new and viable hemp industry which will provide the basis for sustainable biofuel and a host of other products such as biodegradable plastics, clothing and food. Entirely new industries and markets will be created and the economy will grow in a more responsible and less destructive way. To ignore this most valuable of crops is absolutely absurd in this day and age. The internet is full of great articles that discuss the myriad of uses for hemp and the historical reasons behind its prohibition in America.
Outright greed is the only thing that stands in our way. The oil industry will fight both the hemp industry and nationalization tooth and nail, but their counterarguments no longer carrying any weight beyond the gold in their pockets. It’s time we made our natural resources work for us all rather than solely serving the privileged and irresponsible few.

This, my friends, is what is known as a "loophole."

"Asset purchase agreements of less than $1 billion and service contracts providing for fees of less than $10 million are exempt from this requirement."

So, select asset purchases can be, AND WILL BE, structured as to be under $1 billion and $10 mill respectively.

Beauty and folly are old companions. -Ben Franklin.

The people who seem to be pushing back are some of the Rupublicans.

Pushing back to keep the taxpayers from being on the hook to bail out the big investment firms, and pushing back to make Wall Street bear more of the burden.

Curious how the Democratic Leadership & Committee Chairpersons are not actually doing the Pushback, isn't it?

WASHINGTON - Key Republicans and Democrats reported agreement Thursday on an outline for a historic $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, but there was still resistance from rank-and-file House Republicans despite warnings of an impending panic.
...
“We’re very confident that we can act expeditiously,” said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the Banking Committee chairman.

Not everyone in the closed-door talks was as optimistic. Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the only House Republican in the bargaining meeting, stopped short of saying he agreed with the other lawmakers on an imminent deal.
...
“There really isn’t much of a deadlock to break,” said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

But there were fresh signs of trouble in the House Republican Caucus. A group of GOP lawmakers circulated an alternative designed to attract private money back into the credit markets with less government intrusion.

Under that proposal, the government would provide insurance to companies that agree to hold frozen assets, rather than purchase them directly as envisioned under the administration’s plan. The firms would have to pay insurance premiums to the Treasury Department for the coverage.

“The taxpayers haven’t done anything wrong,” said Rep Eric Cantor, R-Va., adding that rather than require them to bear the cost of the bailout, the alternative “pretty much puts the burden on Wall Street over time.”

Well..., I've NEVER been a Republican, but I have to admit to who's position I agree with more on this one.

Okay, first of all why should the American people pay for the bad decisions of these failing companies? I mean, where to do the government expect me to pull money from to rescue these people, out of my ass? This is just ridiculous. I and everyone else shouldn't have to pay for these people's dumb judgment!

I was under the impression that the state shouldn't hand out economic subsidies. Oh I forgot,that's only appliccable to ordinary "unrich" people, for they are truly expendable. Only people generating massive amounts of money, to enrichen themselves, are worth something in this version of Sodom and Gomorra.

Any patriots down for shedding a little blood for a true democracy? I am dead serious. Let's be willing to take the risk to say no to anything less. Frankly, Americans have lived way beyond planetary means for quite some time now. Most of our belts need to be tightened. Let's be heroes. Say "no" to the bailout, and yes to a real plan, well conceived by those who have a lesser personal stake in the outcome (academic economists, for example). It feels good to do the right thing...

If by "democracy", you mean a system that would permit 51% of the people to force the other 49% of the people to pay for everything, then, No.

However, I WOULD be up for forcing the government to abide by the spirit as well as the letter of that document they swear their oath to "preserve, protect and defend.."

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.
--E.B. White--