Posted on 10/02/2008 7:14:02 AM PDT by joanie-f
Lets boil this new and improved bailout bill that just passed the Senate down to its bare bones. Then, if youre moved to do so, it might just be time to pick up the phone and call your congressman, urging him to really stand up for the American taxpayer (not to mention do what is right). Admittedly, the do what is right aspect of this whole thing would represent a complete aberration where any decision-making in Washington is concerned, but you may just sleep better tonight, having at least engaged in a personal effort to revive that archaic concept.
The bill that was voted down on the floor of the House on Monday is essentially the same bill that was passed on the floor of the Senate last night, with one glaring exception: the addition of a myriad of you-scratch-my-back-Ill-scratch-yours pig-product codicils.
Translation:
Mondays bill: A $700 billion bailout for the congressional/special interest/Wall Street criminals who brought about this economic meltdown to begin with, with the $700 billion needed to keep the economy chugging to be paid by the American taxpayer. Todays bill: A $700 billion bailout for the congressional/special interest/Wall Street criminals who brought about this economic meltdown to begin with, with the $700 billion needed to keeping the economy chugging to be paid by the American taxpayer with the added stipulation that a huge number of businesses/organizations, with direct ties to congressmen whose votes are needed in order to pass the bill, will be granted enormous tax breaks.
Result: The fair share of taxes that would normally be paid by friends of Congress will now also be shifted onto the shoulders of the American taxpayer ...
... as if the American taxpayers portion of that gargantuan burden werent heavy enough already.
The self-serving corruption in Washington is so thick as to be impenetrable anymore.
The concept of public service? Capitalism and the free market system in America?
Turn out the lights on your way out. Its over.
~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed
Bears (sad, drumbeat) repeating.
Thank you for your lucid voice.
~ joanie
The financial mess is a symptom, not the disease. And hardly anyone seems to even recognize that fact. Even here.
Thanks, he’s one of the good one and I figured he was. Believe only a couple Hoosier reps went bad.
I just want him to be able to produce—if he wants—a print-out of e-mails opposed a few feet tall.
I have been talking to people about the Community Reinvestment Act a lot for the past couple of weeks. This is by far the best resource I have seen to educate people about it. I have it saved, and intend to use it liberally!
We need to put a real and lasting fear into our representatives. They need to understand that IF they support this atrocity, there will be repercussions. We will make it our sole goal in life to see them change careers.
Would that all Americans shared your 20/20 vision, and your passion!
~ joanie
Government is a disease masquerading as it’s own cure...
>I think calling is much more effective, with the main reason being the one you just illustrated. From what I hear, it’s much easier to get through by phone.<
joanie-f, I have made many calls to various Reps and Senators over the past two weeks. Yes, it is the more effective means of getting our message across. May I suggest that you call and encourage other to do so also.
Send in a tea bag or just the tag off the bag. A better idea might be to make a post card out of the front of the box and send it in.
My take on the bailout bill:
I think dems took advantage of this mess - the timing of the “crisis” was suspect to say the least. The financial problems have been building for a long time and easily could have been triggered a month ago, or 6 months ago. Paulson’s trip to Bush to get Bush to scream “fire” in a crowded theater pulled that trigger now. (not to mix metaphores or anything...) I suspect that if Obama wins, Paulson will be brought into his administration.
Paulson’s smart enough to know what’s going on - and he’s smart enough to know the effect this would have on the election. He also could have alerted Bush to this a year ago. It’s that old a situation.
I live in Florida - one of the places where toxic loans were made with abandon. Most of us here knew something bad was happening. People were being put into homes with “interest only” loans who would not be able to make payments past the first few months. It was a set up. But when you keep seeing the same pattern, there’s an incentive behind it. And that’s where Obama, Frannie and Freddie and congressional banking regulations come into play.
In short, like you - this does not have the feel of being an accident.
If the bailout is passed, it will benefit the people and agencies who got us into this mess. The only way it would work is if they are lying to us about the severity of the “crisis” I think that’s a possibility. If that’s NOT one of their lies, the bailout will postpone the problem. Postpone it to a time when we will have less money to do a real “bailout”.
Dem regulation insistence on making banks loans to people who never had a chance of making the payments was close to evil, but very effective in bringing down the financial system. Some people at the top understood the consequences of these choices. We’ll probably never know who they were...
But true government; government of, by and for the people; is not the problem.
The root of the problem is that our country, and most particularly our current political class, doesn't even understand why government even exists any more.
All Americans, if they care about the survival of this free republic, better get back to first principles - and act quickly - before it's too late.
Here's the starting point:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."
Here's step two:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Everyone we elect takes an oath to fulfill the above stated purpose of our Constitution.
It's time for us to DEMAND that they keep their oaths.
And thanks, as always, for your tireless work to see that the right leadership succeeds in this election, from the Presidency through the House and the Senate.
~ joanie
Been doing so since 9:00 this morning, with more calls yet to be made.
~ joanie
Pence isn’t the problem. It’s the 470 or so other criminals who’ve been successfuly paid off.
Pence isn’t the problem. It’s the 470 or so other criminals who’ve been successfuly paid off.
Thanks for the news about the busy phone lines. We need to hope that the voters are expressing justifiable outrage, and that congress hasn’t become too arrogant to listen. I’m counting on the former, but not confident of the latter.
~ joanie
“Bad as this bill is, the alternative is worse.”
What alternative is that? Is there a single coherent alternative? No. There are several. But they aren’t being considered by the new king of the financial universe, Hank Paulsen, Democrat.
His top priority is to buy back bad debt from foreign banks. This has not the slightest thing to with “helping homeowners”.
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