In a congress that has shown no fiscal restraint, they have now proposed the most ridiculous piece of legislation yet. As I write, congress is working overtime to compromise on a $700 BILLION bailout of the financial industry. The only thing standing in the way of passage of this enormous bailout are House Republicans joined by a few House Democrats who have received tens-of-thousands of call from constituents demanding no such bailout. But even as Democratic leadership is poised to side with the president they are introducing a new $56 Billion Economic Stimulus Package.
Now I'm not opposed to a stimulus package, after all if they are handing out money freely, I'm not going to turn it down. But that's not the point...
If the government passes this bailout package at the level that it is currently at, that will mean we have spent over $1 Trillion in economic bailouts in less than one month. An additional $56 BILLION may not seem like much, but the more our nation spends, the more it will drive down the dollar. The lower the dollar, the more US property ownership will flow overseas and the higher the cost of a barrel of oil. The last rebate did not work, and a rebate passed at this time is nothing more than an attempt to buy votes.
If the Congress is hell-bent on pushing an economic stimulus package then why in the world would they not consider lowering their bailout demands versus adding more spending? Realistically, what the hell is the difference between a $644 Billion Bailout and a $700 Billion Bailout?
But that would apparently be too simple. Now I personally believe that their has to be some form of a economic protection against this toxic debt on Wall Street. However, how did they arrive at $700 Billion? If the money is not all needed at once, then why must we pass the entire package?
Earlier in the week Senate Democrats jumped the bailout plan citing that as a nation they have a responsibility to study the issue. Yet, 5 days later these same Democratic leaders are attacking the house members who are saying: Stop, Slow Down, And Let's Rethink This. Prior to yesterday, the Senate Banking Committee and leadership fully expected House members to just fall in line without actually discussing the issue with them. Every news agency reported yesterday morning that House Members phones had been lit up by tens of thousands of calls opposed to the bailout. CNN, reporting from Montana announced that one representatives office had received over 2,000 phone calls without a single call for support of the bailout. At this point, no member of the house, who is up for re-election is willing to sign off on this bailout considering that they will have to answer to their constituency within 40 days.
Moreover, what frightens me is the fact that the very leadership that ignored this problem as warning signs arose, is now telling us how to fix it. I agree, some form of a bailout package must be passed, but the current notion that we must pass such a large bailout package and then add more to our budgetary deficit by passing an additional stimulus package is ridiculous. If current leadership had any common sense left they would include any stimulus package as part of a smaller, more controlled and monitored bailout package.
For his part, Senator Obama supports the proposed stimulus package as is, stating that adding it to the bailout package would slow down the bill. In reality, that is ridiculous. If anything, the inclusion of specific taxpayer incentives into the bailout bill would help the bill move forward and probably garner more that the 4% public support the bill currently has.
The only thing standing in the way of this fleecing appears to be House Republicans and a handful of House Democrats who are standing up for and listening to their constituents. These members of Congress need our support and those congressional leaders ready to sign off on this bailout as it stands, should be promptly escorted to the exit.
J Brown
September 26th, 2008
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2 comments:
Chris Dodd tyhe sentae banking committee chairnam criricized mcCain for political grandstanding.
Chris Dodd as you recall accepted over 160,000 in campaign donations from Fannie Mae,a sweet heart mortgae deal from countrywide and I read he accepted a donatiom from the failed Lehman Bros.
Can we trust Chris Dodd to do the right thing and for that matter Obama ?
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/09/27/baracks-fannie-mae-buddies/#more-5092
Here are videos of the House Democrats defending the corrupt actions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
As for Dodd, I am one of his constituents. I wrote him over a year ago to complain that he wasn't investigating hedge funds and that he wasn't reigning in credit card or mortgage companies. I never got a response. He also received a "favorable" deal on his personal home mortgage (as did Obama). Finally, Dodd ran his race for the presidency largely with monies he got from the banking and finance industries. And now he is acting all innocent and surprised at what has happened to our markets! But worst of all, he is directly invovled with writing the new bill to deal with these problems. This outrageous and I am grateful for McCain and those with him who have put the breaks on this highway robbery!
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