Sep 27 2008

Bernie Sanders’ Sane Solution: Between Bailout and Collapse

(10 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has proposed what looks to me like the most sane and reasonable solution to our financial mess.  

Instead of being between a rock and a hard place, between a fraudulent bailout of the criminal banksters and a total collapse, Great Depression 2, destruction of the financial systems of the U.S. and the world, we have the middle ground sanity of Bernie Sanders.  His proposal for, if not solving, at least helping to heal our dire financial straits is the best I’ve seen.

Wall Street Bailout – 09/26/2008

There is little public support for President Bush’s $700 billion bailout. Just 30 percent support Bush’s package, according to an Associated Press poll released Friday. More than 4,000 of you have taken our survey, and those results are even more remarkable. Are you confident that taxpayers would be treated fairly if Congress and the Bush administration agree on a bailout? You aren’t. Do you think a bailout would help the economy? No. Do you favor a surtax on individuals who make more than $500,000 a year and couples earning more than $1 million to pay for a Wall Street bailout? More than 91 percent agree with the proposal by Senator Bernie Sanders. What’s more, as of late Friday, more than 40,000 (as of late Friday)of you co-signed Bernie’s letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson suggesting a tax on the very wealthy.

Follow below the fold to learn more and see if you want to sign on and support Sanders’ proposal.

Sanders describes his position:

For years, as a member of the House Banking Committee and now as a member of the Senate Budget Committee, I have heard the Bush Administration tell us how “robust” our economy was and how strong the “fundamentals” were. That was until a few days ago. Now, we are being told that if Congress does not act immediately and approve the $700 billion Wall Street bailout proposal these “free marketers” have just written up, there will be an unprecedented economic meltdown in the United States and an unraveling of the global economy.

…snip

These are the last days of the Bush Administration, the most dishonest and incompetent in modern American history. It is imperative that, at this important moment, Congress stand up for the middle class and for fiscal integrity. The future of our country is at stake.

Sanders has a 4 part proposal: 1) taxes on the rich, 2) reinstate strong regulatory systems, 3) address needs of those harmed by this crisis with a WPA type jobs program fixing our infrastructure and working on renewable energies, and 4) examine, assess and break up those companies seen as “too big to fail.”

Read more from Sanders at Wall Street Bailout.

And you can read the actual wording of the letter-petition to Secretary Paulson and sign it here.

I hope you’ll join me in trying this rational solution.  A few days ago I was saying to myself, “Just let it collapse.  The system is so corrupt that perhaps the only way to change it is to let it self-destruct, clean out all the rot and start again.

Then I saw Sanders’ Proposal.  And I thought, let’s see if we can give this New “New Deal” a chance.

Thanks for reading.  

60 comments

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    • dharmasyd on September 27, 2008 at 10:14
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    • dharmasyd on September 27, 2008 at 10:20
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    of Sanders talking about his plan here.  

    I still haven’t learned how to post these things.  If anyone else wants to do so, muchas gracias!

    • pfiore8 on September 27, 2008 at 11:57
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    but jobs around research and development for sustainable energy, agriculture, species preservation (including plants), water usage. . . and maybe some a companies that make big ass reflectors to take up the job of those melting ice caps. because, well i just don’t believe in inevitable . . .

  4. I’ve been there and signed!  Yes, I think it’s a good plan and he’s in a good position to push it.  I will e-mail it around, too!

    Kucinich also had some good ideas, such as,

    . . . .In the next few days I will push for a plan that includes equity for every American in any taxpayer investment in this so-called bail-out plan. Since the bailout will cost each and every American about $2,300, I have proposed the creation of a United States Mutual Trust Fund, which will take control of $700 billion in stock assets, convert those assets to shares, and distribute $2,300 worth of shares to new individual savings accounts in the name of each and every American.

    I will also insist that all of the following issues be considered in whatever Congress passes:

    1. Reinstatement of the provisions of Glass-Steagall, which forbade speculation

    2. Re-regulation of the finance, insurance, and real estate industries

    3. Accountability on the part of those who took the companies down:

    a) resignations of management

    b) givebacks of executive compensation packages

    c) limitations on executive compensation

    d) admission by CEO’s of what went wrong and how, prior to any government bailout

    4. Demands for transparencey

    a) with respect to analyzing the transactions which took the companies down

    b) with respect to Treasury’s dealings with the companies pre and post-bailout

    5. An equity position for the taxpayers

    a) some form of ownership of assets

    6. Some credible formula for evaluating the price of the assets that the government is buying.

    7. A sunset clause on the legislation

    8. Full public disclosure by members of Congress of assets held, with possible conflicts put in blind trust.

    9. A ban on political campaign contributions from officers of corporations receiving bailouts

    10. A requirement that 2008 cycle candidates return political contributions to officers and representatives of corporations receiving bailouts

    And, most importantly, some mechanism for direct assistance to homeowners saddled with unreasonable or unmanageable mortgages, as well as protection for renters who have lived up to their obligation but fall victim to financial tragedy when the property they live in undergoes foreclosure

    These are just some thoughts on the run. You will hear more from me tomorrow.  (emphasis mine)

    And this:

    Dennis Kucinich “We Need to Use a Jeweler’s Eye” on the Bailout

    I like that “Jeweler’s Eye.”

    So, at least we have some that are fighting for us, dharmasyd!

  5. Citizens Dumping Personal Junk on Wall Street to Protest Bailout

    By Sarah Lai Stirland, Wired.com. Posted September 25, 2008.

    The Bush Administration has angered thousands of Americans with its vague $700 billion bailout proposal.

    An e-mail that began as a rallying cry from a lone journalist to an influential circle of friends to protest the U.S. government bailout of Wall Street has ignited a national day of street protests. Some demonstrators plan to dump their rubbish in front of the bronze bull sculpture near Wall Street in downtown Manhattan Thursday.

    “People are going to bring their own personal junk that they think is worth as much as the junk financial instruments that the government is proposing to buy from the Wall Street banks,” says Andrew Boyd, an activist and freelance online-video artist for nonprofit groups in Manhattan. “We’re hoping that people show up with their 8-track cassette collections, their old Spice Girl CDs, their surf boards that got bit by sharks and old Enron stock certificates.” . . . .

  6. Forwarding to CodePink lists ASAP! And my husband and I both signed.

  7. provisions.

    The current, administration plan redistributes wealth from us to the wealthiest (who get bailed out).  The irony that free marketers get bailed out under the plan have previously been discussed to death.

    So a tax on the wealthiest ($500,000/yr for individuals, $1,000,000/yr for couples) at least tries to undo a part of the redistribution.  Is that enough?  No.

    I’m sorry to say that I’m not going to be even slightly happy until the shareholders in these companies lose their money, their executives have to pay back (going back 5 years), the companies are broken up, and taxpayers receive equity in the smaller companies that result.

    I’m willing to keep the economy afloat.  I am not willing to pay for a boondoggle.  But, guess what.  I want to be paid back at the very least the approximately $10,000 the current “plan” will cost me and my spouse.

    • dharmasyd on September 28, 2008 at 06:01
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    • dharmasyd on September 28, 2008 at 07:31
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    …You mentioned, asked about, that 401K in another comment or essay during the last week or so.  

    I want to say, I hear you, well, at least as much as I can, being someone else, somewhere else; and yet as you say–

    I am not alone, I know.

    Somehow, and this may be the saving grace, we are all together in this…

    I was born 6 days after Hitler had himself anointed Chancellor of Germany and 6 weeks before Roosevelt said those (never can become trite) words, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

    These two events are like the bookends of my life.  No.  You will not have to go back to work at 80 or 90.  So many will be looking for work that noone will hire anyone that age.  

    But I know you can be okay.  Think outside that 401K.  I did, and it worked for me…although some might not think my life is working…LOL!

    I don’t think I can say what I want to say in a small comment here–don’t even know that I can.  But I do know there is much to say and much to explore…maybe I’ll do a diary on these rambling thoughts.  For now, just love & blessings.

  10. Bernie is dead right about this. Instead of mouthing the platitudes of main street he actually has come up with some valuable fixes. The crap that comes out of all the pols mouths under the guise of protecting the taxpayer is so twisted that it makes my head spin. It’s all about maintaining the crooks and keeping th game going. The laws were there to protect main street, these so called representatives have removed all barriers and paved the way for this to happen. Transparency seems to have occurred despite their bs as nobody likes this. It’s ‘complexity’ is nothing more then the mechanics of the swindle. Restoring Glass Seagall and using the Sherman Act to bust up these corporate dinosaurs is essential. Reloading the matrix is insane.      

  11. Watched this — worth watching!  

    Rep. George Miller Defends Democrats’ Conduct on Paulson’s Plunder

    ~~~~~

    And, now, this:

    Pelosi Announces Agreement to Paulson’s Plunder

    . . . .House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the $700 billion accord just after midnight but said it still has to be put on paper. . . . .

    The plan calls for the Treasury Department to buy deeply distressed mortgage-backed securities and other bad debts held by banks and other investors. The money should help troubled lenders make new loans and keep credit lines open. The government would later try to sell the discounted loan packages at the best possible price. . . .

    The legislation would place “reasonable” limits on severance packages for executives of companies that benefit from the rescue plan, said a senior administration official who was authorized to speak only on background. It would affect fired executives of financial firms, and executives of firms that go bankrupt. Some of the provisions would be retroactive and some prospective, the official said.

    Also, the government would receive stock warrants in return for the bailout relief, giving taxpayers a chance to share in financial companies’ future profits.

    To help struggling homeowners, the plan would require the government to try renegotiating the bad mortgages it acquires with the aim of lowering borrowers’ monthly payments so they can keep their homes.

    The measure’s main elements were proposed a week ago by the Bush administration, with Paulson heading efforts to push it through the Democratic-controlled Congress. Democrats insisted on greater congressional oversight, more taxpayer protections, help for homeowners facing possible foreclosure, and restrictions on executives’ compensation.

    To some degree, all those items were added. (?????)  (emphasis mine)

    It’s being written up now.  It’s not sounding good from what I can tell — more like we’re being screwed again!

    I think we need to get on the phones tomorrow — big time!  

    • ctrenta on September 28, 2008 at 23:25
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    • Valtin on September 29, 2008 at 04:16
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    But if you really wanted a socialist answer to this crisis, you’d start with the nationalization of the banking system, such nationalization to come without compensation to those who have a net worth over $500,000 (assets over liabilities).

  14. I just somehow lost a comment to you, but I will re-create it in the a.m.  I am simply too tired to go through the steps again tonight!

    So, until then, have a pleasant evening and “goodnight.”  

    Cheers! (For a better future, not just for us, but for the children, the grandchildren, the great grandhildren, who have been gawd foresaken by the greatest GREED we have ever seen.)  

    (For your edification only — I grew up believing that “people were really good at heart” (sound familiar) — it took me years and years and years to understand that, NO, some people are simply evil at heart — such a hard lesson!)

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