Dear Congress: Put the gun down now
Ok, it’s back to the beastly bailout business at hand and there is no time to waste. Crap Sandwich 2.0 is coming back to the House — and the MSM is heralding flip-floppers who are being bought off with Lord knows what.
My syndicated column this week tears into Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s Panic Mob and their hostage-taking tactics. You need to light up the switchboards. Every call makes a difference Let me quote Sen. Bob Bennett:
“I think the determinative factor in the House of Representatives will be the phone calls.”
Phone numbers are here. Tell Congress: Hold the line and drop the gun!
***
Dear Congress: Put the gun down now
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2008
Will 2008 be the year of the Chicken Little Congress? Or can the House of Representatives show the panic-driven Senate what it really means to be a deliberative body?
On Sept. 19, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson put a gun to America’s head: Pass his $700 billion bailout of the banking industry and give him unfettered new powers to buy up an ocean of privately-held toxic assets or all hell would break loose. Treasury officials warned that the market would lose a third of its value if not passed immediately.
“We could see falls of 3,000 or 4,000 points on the Dow,” a Republican official heaved. “We may not have another day,” Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hyperventilated. “We can’t afford to do nothing,” echoed all the other Democrat Henny Pennys and Republican Goosey Looseys in Paulson’s sway. It’s a “crap sandwich,” House GOP leader John Boehner sighed, but the costs of inaction would be worse.
On Sept. 29, the House refused to bite. The Dow dropped nearly 7 percent – a “record fall” in points (778), but nowhere near the apocalyptic levels predicted by Paulson’s fear-mongers. Half that drop occurred before the bailout rejection. The skies, however gray, did not fall. The world did not end. The dire predictions of Paulson and company did not come to pass. The next day, stocks (their barometer, mind you, not necessarily mine) rebounded. We’re about where we were in 2006. Stock market Armageddon? I think not.
Paulson’s monumental misjudgment is no surprise to those who have paid attention to him over the last year. This is the man who proclaimed the subprime crisis “largely contained” in April 2007; “near the bottom” in May 2007; and “largely contained” again in August 2007. This is the man who pledged that he had “no interest in bailing out lenders or property speculators” in October 2007 and couldn’t “think of any situation where the backdrop of the global economy was as healthy as it is today.”
This is the man who patted himself on the back for refusing to “put taxpayer money on the line” to rescue Lehman Brothers on Sept. 15 – and then turned around the next day and engineered the $85 billion taxpayer-funded bailout of AIG. This is the man who vowed he had “no plans to insert money” into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac –and then turned around and committed $200 billion in capital and credit lines to those corrupt, bloated, crumbling institutions.
This is the man who declared “the worst is likely to be behind us” in May 2008 – and then got down on his knees in front of Nancy Pelosi to pass a Mother of All Bailouts plan whose dollar figure was plucked from thin air. (“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”)
This is a man, in other words, whose crap sandwich should be taken with a huge grain of salt.
On Oct. 1, at the behest of Paulson, the Senate scurried to put Mother of All Bailouts 2.0 on the table. All but 25 members swallowed. The “world’s greatest deliberative body” had no time to hold hearings, consider alternatives, or study the history of similar failed bailouts around the world. The Do Something Now Or Else mob did, however, have time to quadruple the volume of pages and stuff the urgent, emergency package with business-as-usual earmarks, goodies, and sweeteners.
John McCain and Barack Obama both cited credit squeeze scare stories to rationalize the rush. McCain decried: “When small businesses and big businesses like Sonic [Drive-In burger] franchisees can’t borrow…It hurts the entire community.” The rest of the story? Sonic clarified “that during the past year GE Capital provided less than 10% of the lending to its franchisees…in fact, many franchisees maintain access to other diversified sources of financing. Furthermore, Sonic has not received any notification from GE Capital, either directly or indirectly, that it will stop financing new loans to Sonic franchisees.”
Lost in all the End is Nigh frenzy were dozens of local and regional headlines across the country reporting that in fact, the end is not nigh: “Wall Street Credit Crisis Rings Hollow on Main Street;” “No credit freeze on Kern’s Main Street;” “Community banks aren’t yet feeling pinch of Wall Street meltdown;” “Farmers still able to get banks’ loans;” “Small town Main Street doing better than Wall Street.”
Instead, the New York Times obsessed about the drop in auto loan approvals over the last year – from 83 percent in 2007 down to 63 percent. Catastrophe? No. If lenders are finally realizing they shouldn’t give money to bad risks, why is that a bad thing?
Getting credit is not a constitutional right.
Preserving home ownership should not be a government imperative to be pursued at all costs.
The House faces a choice: Put the gun down and give our economic problems the time they deserve to get fixed – or fork over untold billions to a thoroughly debunked Foxy Loxy and his den of wolves.
***
On Wednesday, Politico listed 12 members who might switch their vote from No to Yes: Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), Rep. John B. Shadegg (R-Ariz.), Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-Ohio), Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D-Calif.), Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.). House e-mail is not reliable. Make phone calls or send faxes. Call 202-224-3121 for the U.S. House of Representatives switchboard operator. Phone numbers for specific members are listed here.
Updates: Delahunt now says he will oppose the bill. LaTourette will try to strip pork projects from the bill. Frelinghuysen says he is “encouraged by many of the improvements made” in the Senate. Reps. Ramstad and Berkeley are both voting yes. So is Shadegg.
Here are some others reported to be undecided:
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H. (link)
Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Montana (link)
Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky. (link)
Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine (link)
Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M. (link)
Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H. (link)
Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn. (link)
Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn. (link)
Reps. Raul Grijalva, Ed Pastor and Harry Mitchell, all Democrats from Arizona (link)
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. (link)
Rep. John Tierney, D.-Mass (link)
Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah (link)
Reps. Neil Abercombie and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii (link)
Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-Penn. (link)
Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Penn. (link)
Rep. Patrick Tiberi, R-Ohio (link)
Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-New Jersey (link)
Rep. Cathy McMorris, R-Wash. (link)
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn. (link)
Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash (link)
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn. (link)
Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash. (link)
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn. (link)
***
Liveblogging the House floor debate here.
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We’ll be told it’s for our own good. We’ll be told it’s to save “Main Street”, which now sounds like “out of the shadows”. We’ll be told we have no choice.
What we won’t be told is that we won’t have to do it again. We won’t be told that deadbeat homeowners won’t stop taking loans they can’t pay. We won’t be told banks won’t give credit to companies or people who can’t pay back what they owe.
No. America, after my letters and calls, will be proper shagged… again.
I was immensely disappointed when Sara Palin talked about the “Greed” of Wall Street. Not once, but several times. And not the GREED of the Democrats in the House and Senate! Not once was Fanny or Freddie mentioned in the debate by name.
1) I had called both of my Senators and my Congressman several times previously (before their respective votes), but I also called the office of one of my Senators yesterday to find out why they voted “Yea” to the baliout. The staffer relayed the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) about the credit markets being “frozen”…that without passing this bill and getting the credit flowing again, companies would not be able to make payroll, etc. So, the Senator bought the Chicken Little lie and thought it was in the best interest of our state and country to pass this bill. I politely voiced my strong disagreement. I have to wonder what role George Soros played in the credit markets appearing “frozen”.
2) I suspect the Dems would not have gone through the Senate vote without first knowing what “sweeteners” were necessary to ensure passage in the House. The votes we see in public on CSPAN only come after the unseen conversations off-camera and behind the scenes. I suspect this bill’s passage has already been guaranteed, but I still pray that it fails.
It doesn’t help that McCain, Obama, and Biden all voted “Yea”, putting pressure on (and providing political cover for) House members to switch from “Nay” to “Yea”.
When Paulson came out with his “panic crisis”, liberals saw a perfect opportunity to move in on the market and mortgage companies, to take them over in regulations. So another part of the free-market will be gone. Slowly and surely, the market will be run and controlled by socialists. As a liberal politician, I would be smiling broadly. And, I would be on the phone to my “buddies” to see what pork they would like to see passed, in exchange for their support, of course. It’s sad to see people believe in these politicians and cheer away their liberties. History does repeat itself.
Have faith in Polosi….she has plenty of time to sink this ship.
Paulson’s epitaph.
Do you sleep Michelle?
Congratulations Michelle, this is one of your best columns yet.
She has the sleeping habits of Tyler Durden.
The first rule of blog club: You do not talk about blog club!
I’ll be on the phone as soon as our lazy, good for nothing representatives and their aids wake up and get to work.
Great column (again).
I agree. Sounded a bit like McCain and not herself on that issue.
Economists Raise Concerns About Bailout Plan:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,431645,00.html
But, alas, this is Bush’s last chance to fleece America, and the candidates are buying into it as a sign of good things to come. USSA, USSA!
Never got through to my Senators, but my Rep now has my opinion…twice
When I fill out my tax return next year, I think I won’t worry about ‘any particular data points; I’ll just choose a large number.’
and if you think all the earmarks you have heard of are bad in 2.0, just go and check out this. Yep that is right, with this bill I expect we will see at a minimum a corporate carbon tax coming soon.
If you can’t get through the congressional switchboard, use the direct numbers on their respective websites. Call their offices back in your home state. Call their campain offices. Call them all !!
Call early, call often !!
They keep saying that the Senate improved the Bailout bill, but putting mustard on a crap sandwich doesn’t make it taste any better.
Barney Frank, Dole and all the other individuals who had oversight on this issue and did nothing should not be part of the solution. They failed to take responsibility for helping to create this mess. The need to resign.
A man once said that one of the attributes on manliness is “confidence in the face of adversity”.
These members of our government sound like frightened little children.
The biggest problem with these “action” bills is they never seem to actually fix the problem that has brought them forth. They come about as a cry of we have to do something, especially in an election year. So they create a monster bill with a huge price tag (because everyone knows if it costs a lot is shows that a lot is being done /sarcasm)and say look we did this to fix the problem so re-elect us.
It reminds me of that scene in Blazzing Saddles where the Governor (Mel Brooks) finds out that the Sheriff of Rock Ridge has been killed and tells the members of his cabinet they need to do something now to protect their phony baloney jobs.
Also from blazing sadles;
Congress is really good at “HARUMPH,HARUMPH”
So very true, at this rate Mel Brooks should just head to the halls of Congress for some new material….He would have material for years!
The DOW has been oversold for years. The artificially inflated money supply is the cause. My last grafting of the Dow shows it should be at 9000. Do any of you old folks remember when a PE ratio of 15 was considered a proper level for a stock buy? Tightening the money supply may bring us back to a stable market. Don’t worry and hold the line on government spending.
OK, I expect this crap sandwich to pass.
What I don’t want is for the congressmen who are forcing it down my throat to be rewarded with yummy pork and prizes for themselves.
My question is this: Why would John McCain say yes to this, when he has adamantly said he would veto any pork-laden bill to cross his desk if he were president?
I called Rodney’s office yesterday and today I sent him an email. In it I told him not to be fooled by the sweeteners. Sweeteners are for beverages not bills.
We will soon see a methane and water vapor tax. They are more potent greenhouse gases. GEEEEES What country am I living in?
The Democrats started this mess, and now too many Republicans are providing cover for them. I think they are all a bit concerned about Nov. 4th and this is the way it is coming across.
CA is about to close shop. Can’t get a credit line to borrow money to keep us afloat. Credit is tight because these banks are waiting for a bailout.
Talk about a gun to the head mentality. Arnold, is an inept piece of “republican” trash…..
I just spoke to Knollenberg’s office (R-MI). The aid said she did not know at this moment how he would vote, so I wouldn’t say he is “undecided”, but that he just hasn’t informed his staff yet. He voted no previously.
I outlined my opposition and told the aid to pass along the need for accountability in this whole fiasco.
I pray this bill does not pass.
If “main street” company can’t pay it’s employees because it can’t get a loan from a bank, then “main street” company shouldn’t be in business. Only a company running in the red needs to borrow money to pay its employees.
It’s no different from individuals who borrow money from their credit cards to pay their mortgage or utility bills.
The second scare to “main street” is the banks saying they’ll cut off credit. Go ahead. Companies will be in better positions if they start paying things with the money they make.
It’s like the old saying of cutting off your nose despite your face. Let’s see how long they’ll survive with that “blackmail” tactic.
Isn’t Shadegg the guy that keeps introducing a bill that would require Congress to indicate where the Constitution grants them authority to pass the laws they’re trying to pass? Kinda sounds like he’s contradicting himself. A lot of respect lost there.
Hope it applies to congress. They already produce more methane than a Kansas feedlot.
Excellent article, Michelle. This bill must die. If stupidity were more painful, it might be less prevalent.
Great article, Michelle!
Unfortunately, I think this bill is going to pass especially if the stock market is down only 1 point come voting time. What a bunch of whining babies! They all want to cover their behinds, one way or the other!
We must keep the pressure on this Congress to leave our free market free. If these clowns don’t hear from you every day, they will assume that you have either come to agree with them or have finally grown complacent.
Getting Congress to do the will of the people is much like potty training a chicken. You will only appear to succeed at house-breaking a chicken if you follow the chicken around all day and put it on the toilet every time it needs to go. The moment you stop, the chicken will go back to crapping in the house.
Called Tom Davis’s office he will be voting YES….he doesn’t care he is not running again….I let his receptionist or whatever know he will take down the GOP with his vote…..there will be no money from my house if this bill goes through.
The stupidity of this bill is overwhelming. Does anyone ever remember the fundamentals of econ.101 in college? Did our congress people ever take an economics course in college? The speed of money transfer determines the wealth of the country. Government spending creates inflation and eventually slows the economy.
Of course the pols will support it. There is little downside, almost all upside. If they vote “no” and the market sinks another 10%-20%, they will be at home facing teed off voters come election time. If they vote “yes”, and the market still sinks 10%-20%, they will say “I did everything I could to help YOU so re-elect me and I will do more to solve this crisis”. If the market takes off, they claim it is due to their “hard work in passing this bill”. Even if the market starts to crash again in a year, so what, they got re-elected and know the idiot voters out there will have forgotten by the next election. This bill does not cost them 1 red cent (ie no skin in the game). It’s taxpayer $. Every single pol voting for this Bill should be putting their job on the line if it does not work (just like us working stiffs wold be required to do). See how many would support it if told, “if the bill does nto do what you say you must resign and never run for office again”. Different story then.
I admit I don’t know the end result of doing nothing, but I see the situation now kind of like giving a herion junkie a fix when he has already gone through 1 day of a 3 day DT withdrawal. It will relieve him of the pain for a while but eventually the pain will return if he is to finally break the addiction. Just my opinion.
Villains, according to Lou Dobbs, there are still more of us, then them. He put up all the numbers on his web page to contact your House Representative. The People, who are telling the Politicians, and in turn the Media, to use the World Is Coming to an End scenario, to Scare “American Tax Payers” to give them Billions and Billions of OUR Dollars oink, oink, oink. The Politicians don’t have any Political Cover, for this Bail Out Bill Boondoggle. Will they put their Political Careers on the line? Look who is spreading the FEAR- Lobbyist after your Tax Dollars.
The Housing Bubble cannot be re inflated. Ask any notable economist.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/14106.html
If the people who vote to pass this fleecing of the taxpayer right before an election get reelected, we deserve whatever comes next, ie amnesty, cap and trade, complete loss of our Republic.
Call your liberal Congressman in the local district office. A staffer at my liberal’s office said the calls were overwhelmingly against this bill. He voted for the original, but may have some pause now.
I’ve raised plenty of chickens and the only answer is to not let them in the house to begin with. They poop constantly, and without warning. Instead of a chicken, perhaps we need to choose a more domesticated pet!
Family Man remember most of the lying crapweasels are lawyers and probably cheated their way through an economics or statistics class (provided it was a requirement in their colleges or universities). I am still working on Congressman Simpson’s office to vote no on this MOAB with his staffers declaring he was undecided yesterday. He doesn’t have the guts to tell us flat out and it bugs the hell out of me, but Senator Crapo did the same thing and I have a feeling phone calls to his offices worked.
Our congress can do other things without using direct taxpayers money. They could consolidate the debt and sell it off in bundle packages using long term tax credits as an incentive.
REP McCotter yesterday the housing bubble is already starting to restrict. 700 Billion Dollars, will not last, re inflating the Bubble would take so much more then 700 Billion Dollars or what is it now with Pork added in 850 Billion Dollars. This is a short term fix to buy time then what do they do? What they should be doing in the first place how many economist have weighed in and stated this action could make things worse then we are out 850 Billion more dollars and still in a recession. The politicians trying to look like they are doing something, making things worse. They are so concerned with their Appearance on this issue. If they cave into the Lobbyist. What happens when this Bill causes everything to go sideways? The only direction this action can take the Financial Markets. Who takes responsibility for making it worse? The Market is correcting itself we are going to have to sacrifice for the bad actions of bad players. Why don’t we focus on bringing them in and holding them accountable, instead of trying to bail them out. I have a list of people I would like to see fit for Orange Jump Suits. Below is McCotter explaining in the simplest terms, for anyone who would listen. Why this isn’t a very good idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjYmiEdoU_M
The fact that these fools keep getting elected proves how stupid we are.
don’t think it matters who we elect they all support it.
Rob, please do not include me in your “we”. I vote against Kennedy, Kerry and my worthless congressman Neal every time they come up for election.
Rob we only get one vote unlike those that support most Democrat incumbents and many conservatives have had it with the lesser of two evils option. I know we have in our household.
This is Idaho. Why are these characters representing us? Sali is good for a no vote.
Well, maybe I was not as clear as I should have been. By “doing nothing” I meant completely butt-out. I don’t beleive this bill is the best solution so I was not assuming hte false dichotomy of this bill or nothing. However, I would certainly like to see them slow down and consider more alternatives. Actually get input from non partisan experts. Not buy into the “we must act now before the sky falls” nonsense.
I can’t begin to take this issue seriously until our government does likewise. When I see politicians and bureaucrats resigning in shame then I will believe there is a serious problem.
Yep.
I called my representative and let him know If he votes for this piece of crap that I would make it my goal in life to see him defeated in November. I’m sick of this s***.
Fixed it for ya!
Hmmm. Even Forbes is running articles stating the “credit crunch” is not as dire as predicted by the pols.
http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/02/credit-crunch-roundup-markets-equity-cx_md_1002markets34.html?partner=yahootix
Just once I wish congress would have consequences for their monumental idiocy.
Makes sense…That’s why It will never happen.
It occurred to me this week: I don’t believe Congress officials when I am promised sunshine and roses; why should I believe them when they predict gloom and doom? Let the markets work.
Second point: I have zero tolerance for officials who can be “bought off” by pork to influence them to change their vote. This should be a clean bill, voted on for it’s merits; not based on how much money is earmarked for wooden arrow toy manufacturers…
Good luck with that – politicians have no shame.
I vaguely remember something from the 1960s that goes something like, “We, the unwilling, are led by the unqualified, to do the unnecessary for the ungrateful.” The 60s radicals have become the leaders they hated. They have become elitists who will not listen to and hold in contempt the people and the professional economists who both know this bill is wrong.
Call early and often; do not go down without a fight!
Congress, working hard to displace Haiti in corruption.
I’ve been calling and getting thru… shouldn’t these lines be tied up? Please everyone make the call too!!!
I just talked with Congressman Simpson’s office we’re boned! The next 30 days I will be working my butt off to see that everyone in our community throws this lying crapweasel out of office. Now listening to the GOP House leadership telling us they are going to sell us all out. We once again have taxation without representation know that our representatives don’t listen to the constituents. The Fox News idiots are also spreading the big lie that the public is softening on this bailout BS.
I’m with you Boomer. Every one out there please do the same in your own state.
Meanwhile Wells Fargo just bought Wachovia. No FDIC, No govt involvement, no borrowing (just selling stocks). Somebody has faith in our future.
I called my representative, a blue dog Democrat around Central New York. I was surprised they answered the phone on the second ring.
I told them I see he had voted for the last package, this one was much worse hundred billion dollars in added pork and anybody that voted for it would not get my vote.
Not only would they not get my vote I would actively campaign against him.Rep. Arcuri
The federal government created this over exuberant economic bubble in order to bring in more tax money for their stupid programs. Cutoff the hyper economy and you will cut the federal programs.
I AGREE WHOLE HEARTEDLY
Inflation is now running at a 5% to 8% level. If this bill passes look for 10% next years. Run the numbers and tell me I’m wrong. Where are you going to put your money? Government spending will hyper inflate the economy and slow it down at the same time. I don’t know of any safe investment that will beat inflation.
Got an email from my Congressman, Dan Lungrin yesterday, saying he would support the bailout. Sent him an email today asking him to oppose it because it was 25% pork. Didn’t see him on any of the lists above.
I also agree with some POSTERS… Too much mention of WALL STREET greed by SARAH, not any mention of how FANNIE/FREDDIE got this mess started by HEAD UP THEIR BUTTS DEMMS… But to a brighter note… Heard just now… If not enough votes to pass the HOUSE, it might be TABLED… Not sure, but could be a BLINK… KEEP CALLIN’!!!
Who can’t get credit? We keep hearing about people that can’t get credit, but no one is actually standing in front of a camera saying “I got rejected.” What kind of crappy modern journalists can’t find someone to boohoo on national TV about being rejected for credit if it’s really happening?
I got two personal and two business credit card offers along with a preapproved home equity credit line in yesterday’s junk mail! Credit is flowing as usual, it’s the Congress that’s bunk.
Pharmaceutical companies that make heart-burn and ulcer medicine?
HOUSE prices TOO HIGH. TUITION prices TOO HIGH!
let them crash, come down. let 600k houses return to 300k levels. So we can actually buy them with 30k down! people who budget, save, work hard, and are responsible! teach our kids!
stop living the debt life!
We don’t have true journalists. Journalism may mix fantasy and truth, with resulting ethical dilemmas. I’m afraid their dilemma is their pay check.
Keep calling, folks. My retiring congressman is re-considering his earlier yes vote for this smelly piece of socialist garbage. I got through on his hometown line.
I also called the campaign office for the Republican candidate for his seat and explained while I was very supportive and putting signs out for him all over the place, I wanted to be sure he was leaning on the current occupant of the office to vote NO! and/or HELL NO!. I was told by both offices that they were receiving many calls like mine.
KEEP IT UP PEOPLE! Don’t lose heart and don’t give up.
I called my Representative yesterday and again today. I said vote YES. He intends to vote yes just as he did on Monday.
Sanity will return and it will pass.
I hear this billion-dollar bailout/rescue is to boost consumer confidence. What about just telling people to stop, take a deep breath, there is nothing to fear but fear itself, that everything will be fine, and get back to work.
Delahunt ‘s office still saying he wil hold to his NO vote….My nephew interviewed him for the Cape Cod Times the other day …his Dad just sent me the story ….Delahunt votes no; will support improved solution
.I hope he gave him a good kick from me to keep him in line!!!
Me thinks Delahunt was thinking about illegal aliens first but if it keeps him on the right side of this bill and voting NO then good!
The last time the gov’t interfered in the tightening of the markets, it extended the Great Depression out to 10 years instead of 18 months or so.
Take an economics course DIMWIT.
If they pass this bill they can get rid of the title “do nothing congress“. Too bad it had to be this bill that got that monkey off their back.
Needs to be in bill:
Fire Paulson
Fire Cox
Frank resigns
Pelosi resigns
Reid resigns
Dodds resigns
A 60 cooling off period in which leading Economist review the situation and make alternate proposals for reestablishing faith in the markets.
JD that liquid was diarrhea, not mustard.
Heard about the pork additions. I guess our financial crisis might not be so critical after all if there’s plenty of opportunity for the government to rip off the taxpayer.
I keep feeling more and more like this “crisis” is the financial equivalent of the Clone Wars
.
French PM says world ‘on edge of abyss’
And Froggy feels More government spending and More government regulation will solve the problem. Well the French are the people who put back-up lights on tanks and let 11,000 of their elderly die in a heatwave rather than cut their vacation short.
Good of the French to care.
America First
America Alone
America Come Home
This bill is a shotgun instead of a rifle. Back in the days of the Savings and Loan rescue, only $1.8B of insurance funds, NOT taxpayer money, was needed to resolve $100B of bad assets. When you call, suggest this proven approach, in addition to telling them to vote NO on the crap sandwich.
From Lou Dobbs:
And to make it easier to call:
Marci Kaptur is pushing a sane plan right now!!
Come on people,what’s a trillion dollars to save you from armageddon and bail out all of these poor companies who only tried to help the poor and opressed..sarcasm off. I have written,called and emailed til I am blue in the face and believe me for the most part these Washington elitists could care less what we think as they “know better”. The American public needs to wake up and realize that phone calls etc are pretty much meaningless.What is needed is a show of force-no no no,I’m not talking an armed uprising but people in the street outside of these congress critter and senate overlord offices by the tens of thousands.I would surely give up a days pay to get my point across.Here is a little quote from something written 232 years ago by men much wiser than our current day politicians;
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
I am making a list of the names of those who switched their vote, and will be watching for the Pork Sandwiches we know will be coming as payback.
It occurred to me watching the debate on the floor, just how many congressmen say, and I quote: “The American people expect us to do our jobs….” What the heck have they been doing? Is this a admission that they have not been doing their jobs?
Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
Easy read. The date? September 30, 1999
Bring back the Chain Gangs: Make the SOBs do some honest work once in their lives.
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America First
America Alone
America Come Home
MARs: Middle American Radical
Is Hank Paulson related to Hugo Chavez?
Why can’t our leaders see or correctly represent this bailout for what it really is, nothing short of subsidy nationalization of our financial system.
We’re being forced to trade tough economics for a new form of government less free than before.
Great Article Michelle. I think we are toast on this one–even the two conservative Texas senators (Hutchison and Cornyn) voted for the “C**P Sandwich” bailout. My representative–Sylvestre Reyes–a former Border Patrol chief who is in favor of Shamnesty–is bulletproof in El Paso, and is retiring anyway–he’ll vote for the sandwich on his way out. A 1/3 drop in the stock market and the housing values looks better than the bailout to me.
This bailout seems bad–but $700 billion pales in comparison to what will happen when the O’Bummer wins in November. The destruction of our economy, the weakening of our military, the Shamnesty for the undocumented immigrants (aka ILLEGAL ALIENS), the socialization of America will make this bill look like the good old days–a minor speed bump in comparison to a train wreck.
I hope I’m wrong on the election results–but it looks like 2006 in spades (bridge term–not racist) to me–deja vu all over again. We will wish for Jimmy Carter again after Obama and the Marxists get done with us–he will look like a great conservative then–dementia and all.
Maybe the “SarahCuda” will get her chance (Reagan II?) after the country has HAD ENOUGH YET? with the Dimocrats who brought on this economic failure. She looked pretty tough in last night’s debate against Biden.
John Bibb
The bottom line is that neither body of congress has done the job for which they were put in to office. There are specific individuals that have either ignorantly, or maliciously aided and abetted the fleecing of American taxpayers. For what purpose? Personal enrichment or political power, which ultimately ends in personal financial enrichment.
For these same individuals to now claim they are trying to help the American taxpayers is laughable. Listen to what the Democrat leaders are saying. Pelosi is doing a crybaby act for busniesses. The very same businesses she and her party have targeted for tax increases, and have demonized repeatedly as leeches on society. Now, she’s worried about their “future.” Gimme a break!
The only future these Democrats are worried about, is the future of the tax base for which they will continue to rob. We do need to act now. Act now, and vote these criminal enablers out of office. They are incapable of enacting any kind of reform without lining their own pockets, or putting something in a bill that will insure their progression towards total socialism. I smell an angry revolt coming…
The similarities of our current crop of dregs representing us and our Founding Fathers are slim to none.I don’t see how you could think that I even came close to equating the two.Why can’t we clean house and get rid of K street and all the lobbyists? The instructions are all in our constitution,which seems to be perverted from its true meaning more and more.
On a local basis I agree with you wholeheartedly as the pol has to answer to his constituents.He/She knows that they know where his office is,see him at the store etc. and there will always be immediate consequences for his actions How many “conservative” pols have you seen go to DC and morph into a “Beltway Boy” beholden to the lobbyists and the good graces of his fellow “Club Members” Why can’t we hold their feet to the fire once they get to Washington? As a nation we should all vote for term limits as with all the wisdom that our Founding Fathers had they couldn’t have ever imagined in their wildest dreams that somebody would have the desire to become a career politician.
It just passed.
We can hold their feet to the fire it is call the ballot box. If they become part of the problem get rid of them.
I did what I could I called and called,I hope not to to no avail.
I didn’t.
The bill passes, President Bush signs it and the Dow Jones industrials are ending down 157 points at the 10,325 level after being up more than 300 while the House vote was under way.
Why? Would any of us put money into a savings account know the bank doesn’t have to pay it back at full value if at all? God Help America, Please?
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America First
America Alone
America Come Home
MARs: Middle American Radical