OUT OF THE FRYING PAN

The big news today is that our great leaders have at last created the final Wall Street bailout plan. Lo and behold, it is very nearly the same plan BushCo proposed in the first place.

“Oh no,” the administration says. “This plan includes Congressional oversight.”

“Oh, yes, it does.” I say, “But did you think we wouldn’t notice that it takes a veto-proof Congressional approval level of any oversight changes our representatives want to make in the executive branch approach? Or that Shrub routinely over-rides even veto proof legislation with signing statements he says give him the right to ignore any law Congress passes?”

Or maybe they think we won’t notice that the negotiations that produced this plan excluded any consideration of renegotiating mortgages to assure that homeowners can keep their homes? Or maybe they think that their ban on CEO bonuses until things settle down will mollify us.

Maybe they think that being told that we will regain at least some of our money when the assets are resold will calm us down, but why should it? When you buy something worthless, your hope of getting much back from future sales isn’t what I’d call a great prospect.

Basically, what this deal would do is throw Wall Street out of the frying pan into the lifeboat and the middle class out of the frying pan into the fire. Are we’re supposed to bend over and kiss the corporate bums on the way down?

If this deal goes through and no one follows it up with some hard slamming regulation of the loan and brokerage industry, it won’t be long before we’re faced with another big “crisis”. If the system doesn’t adjust to give Main Street a lift, we won’t even be able to see Wall Street from here, let alone participate in it.

I recently received an email titled “The Birk Solution”. Maybe you did, too. If not, you should know that it was written by a fellow named T. J. Birkenmeier. It was written to address the AIG bailout -- you remember that long ago time – about three weeks ago when we were told that the $85,000,000,000 bailout for them would solve our problems.

His suggestion was that instead of bailing out AIG, the government should send each of the country’s 200,000,000 adults $425,000. Sounds great, doesn’t it? I was certainly ready to jump on his bandwagon and demand that the government just send us each our share of the $700,000,000,000 bailout of Wall Street, but guess what? I did the math, and the bailout for AIG really amounted to $425 per each of 200,000,000 adults, and the Wall Street bailout would amount to $3,500 each. Not exactly a solution to the problem!!

The real bottom line for me, and the language that will go into today’s message for our friends in Congress, is that unless this bailout, rescue, loan or whatever they want to call it generates some real potential for return, reigns in the banking industry so it can’t continue to base its values on poor paper, and does something to keep the littlest guys from having to suffer the most, it isn’t worth any more than any of the rest of the paper that’s been created throughout this process.

Congress has to have some real power in the future, Wall Street has to have some real constraints in the future, and the country needs to base its value on real assets again instead of believing that piles of paper represent true wealth.

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” – Patrick Henry


Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi

The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle

Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR