Go Viral on Your Senators Day!

(6 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

I KNOW people tire of hearing the same thing 24/7 but I hope the collective will stands with the 200+ Economists from the University of Chicago who explain below just WHY they think it is counterproductive and counterintuitive to pass this shortsighted bill. (bill under the page break)

I hope today you all call and email your Senators and tell them “No way!”

I hope today you remind Congress that a softer reaming is still a reaming.

The doggie will link you to a site that has Congressional and Senatorial links for contacting them.

David Sarota on Huffpo explains the top 5 reasons not to pass it. I strongly suggest clicking over to read his whole article.

From Huffpo:

1. BAILOUT’S INHERENT FISCAL INSANITY COULD MAKE PROBLEM WORSE

When an individual consumer uses a new credit card to pay off astounding debt from an old credit card, it’s akin to check kiting, which is is illegal…

2. EXPERTS ON BOTH THE LEFT AND RIGHT SAY THIS BAILOUT COULD MAKE THINGS WORSE

…Treasury Department admits it has absolutely no factual basis for requesting $700 billion – an amount equivalent to about 5 percent of our entire economy. Additionally, the Washington Post reports that “Banks throughout the United States carried on with the business of making loans yesterday even as federal officials warned again that their industry is on the verge of collapse, suggesting that the overheated language on Capitol Hill may not reflect the reality on many Main Streets.”….

3. THERE ARE CLEARLY BETTER AND SAFER ALTERNATIVES

The mantra throughout the week has been that America has “no choice” but to pass Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s $700 billion giveaway – that, in effect, there are no alternatives. But that’s an out-and-out lie – one with a motive: Making it seem as if the only thing we can do is hand the keys to the federal treasury over to both parties’ corporate campaign contributors.

The truth is, there are a number of alternatives.

4. ANY INCUMBENT VOTING FOR THIS PUTS THEMSELVES AT RISK OF BEING THROWN OUT OF OFFICE

…So, in short, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this bill being “politicized” by coming down the pike right before an election – in fact, I think it’s a good thing because the election – and the fear of being thrown out of office forces our politicians to at least consider what the public wants. I mean, really – would we rather have this decision made after the election, when the public can be completely ignored?…

5. CORRUPTION AND SLEAZE ARE SWIRLING AROUND THESE BAILOUTS – AND AMERICA KNOWS IT

If this bill passes, it will be a profound referendum on the dominance of money over democracy in America. That – and that alone – would be the only thing an objective observer could take away from the whole thing.

snip

Such a vote will confirm that the only people these politicians believe they are responsible for representing are are the fat-cat recipients of the $700 billion – the same fat cats who underwrite their political campaigns, the same fat-cats who engineered this crisis, and want to keep profiteering off it. Any lawmaker who takes that position is selling out the country, as is any issue-based political non-profit group – liberal or conservative – that uses its resources to defend a “yes” vote rather than demand a “no” vote. This is a bill that forces taxpayers to absorb all of the pain, and Wall Street executives to reap all of the gain.

Read this as well, if you can take the overkill, or if you haven’t read it through other links here and abroad the web.

University of Chicago Original Document

(This letter was sent to Congress on Wed Sept 24 2008 regarding the Treasury plan as outlined on that date. It does not reflect all signatories views on subesquent plans or modifications of the bill)

To the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate:

As economists, we want to express to Congress our great concern for the plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson to deal with the financial crisis. We are well aware of the difficulty of the current financial situation and we agree with the need for bold action to ensure that the financial system continues to function. We see three fatal pitfalls in the currently proposed plan:

1) Its fairness. The plan is a subsidy to investors at taxpayers’ expense. Investors who took risks to earn profits must also bear the losses.  Not every business failure carries systemic risk. The government can ensure a well-functioning financial industry, able to make new loans to creditworthy borrowers, without bailing out particular investors and institutions whose choices proved unwise.

2) Its ambiguity. Neither the mission of the new agency nor its oversight are clear. If  taxpayers are to buy illiquid and opaque assets from troubled sellers, the terms, occasions, and methods of such purchases must be crystal clear ahead of time and carefully monitored afterwards.

3) Its long-term effects.  If the plan is enacted, its effects will be with us for a generation. For all their recent troubles, America’s dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity.  Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted.

For these reasons we ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider the right course of action, and to wisely determine the future of the financial industry and the U.S. economy for years to come.

Signed (updated at 9/27/2008 6:00PM CT)

Anyone who has bought a car, or haggled at a garage sale, or even bought (gasp) a home….

Do NOT let them SHOCK DOCTRINE us into complacency, nor hold us HOSTAGE in a situation we KNOW they depend on US alive to get their MONEY.

or as AG would say:

Wake UP!

DO SOMETHING!

Make your call today, and I’ll give that doggie a bone!