FAILOUT ON BAILOUT
Hi Rachael,, I FELL MY CONCERN IS VERY IMPORTANT AND I AM WRITING TO ALL SENATORS WHO WILL LISTEN TO ME. Here goes my take on what can be done. WHY CAN'T THE GOVERNMENT BUY THE BAD MORTGAGES AND RE-WRITE THEM FOR THE HOME OWNERS AT AN AFFORDABLE RATE, SAY 5%. MY GRANDPARENTS HAD THAT DONE AFTER THE 1929 CRASH AND NOT ONLY DID THEY PAY OFF THEIR HOME THEY WERE ABLE TO AFFORD TO OPEN A BUSINESS. I FEEL AS IF WE, THE AMERICAN PUBLIC ARE BEING FREIGHTENED INTO BELIEVING THIS BILL HAS TO GO THROUGH OR WE BURN AND CRASH. I'M SURE WE WILL TO SOME EXTENT. BUT GUESS WHAT TO ALL THE WALL STREET FAT CATS. WE HAVE ALREADY BURNT AND CRASHED. I LOST MY JOB IN JUNE, WITH IT WENT MY HEALTH INSURANCE. I LIVE IN A STATE WITH THE 2ND HIGHEST RATE OF UNEMPLOYMENT. MY DISABLED HUSBAND HAS BEEN TRYING TO GET TOTAL DISABILITY FOR 10 YEARS ONLY TO KEEP GETTING DENIED. WE LIVE ON FOOD STAMPS. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT, WE ARE GETTING BY BECAUSE WE ARE AMERICANS AND WE ARE STRONG ND IT'S WHAT WE DO IN A CRISIS. GET UP AND KEEP ON KEEPING ON. NOW I HAVE TO WONDER THIS CRASH, IS IT REALLY US LITTLE GUYS OR IS IT WALL STREET HOT SHOTS. I WONDER IF ONE OF THEM WOULD LIKE TO BE ME FOR EVEN 1 WEEK. NOT THAT I WANT TO TRADE PLACES, NO WAY DO I WANTS TO BE THAT CALIBER OF PERSON. THEY REALLY HAVE TO STOP THINKING WE ARE STUPID AND INSULTING OUR INTELLIGENCE. WE WILL SURVIVE, WE ALREADY ARE. I FOR ONE DON'T WANT THEM TO CONTINUE TO EAT SURF & TURF WHILE I HAVE BEEN EATING MAC & CHEESE SINCE JUNE. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL THOSE GUYS THEY MISSED IT. JUST LIKE JOHN MC CAIN MISSED THE WHOLE POINT WHEN HE DECIDED TO DISRUPT THINGS ON THE HILL LAST WEEK. I FEEL CONFIDENT THAT JUST AS I AM GETTING BY SO WILL OTHERS. AS I SAID, WE ARE AMERICANS, WE ARE STRONG. WE WILL NOT BE JUMPING OUT WINDOWS IF THE MARKET CRASHED. CAN WE SAY THE SAME FOR THOSE ON WALL STREET. WALL STREET SHOULD HAVE IT'S NAME CHANGED TO MAIN STREET AS A CONSTANT REMINDER OF WHAT THEY HAVE DONE. THANKS FOR LISTENING. MARILYN FROM WELAKA, FLORIDA

They don't care particularly about the weapons aboard the Ukrainian freighter they took over, they just want cash:

thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/q-a-with-a-pirate-we-just-want-the-money/

George W. Bush has taken down the American empire, the last undisputed superpower, more effectively than its enemies ever could have.

EDIT: Thanks to Dan Savage's brother for pointing out this headline from The Onion, originally published January 17, 2001:

"Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity Is Finally Over'"

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28784

Current top headline on Spiegel-Online: "The whole world's hopes rest on the second vote. Warning, threatening and begging: Politicians and federal reserve bankers around the world are appealing to the U.S. Congress to agree as quickly as possible on the temporarily failed 700-billion-dollar aid package for the financial sector."

Me again: The only stock I owned was in two small banks in the tiny town where my parents grew up. It was intended to be a conservative long-term investment. Wachovia bought one of the banks, with Wachovia's non-money money. That stock has gone down over 90% in value since Feb. 2007.

Hi Rachel. A friend proposed this great idea for a bailout which would be to the American Family - not the District of Criminals:

Take that $700B and give it to every US citizen to use in any way they wish to. According to his calculations, it would amount to approximately $250,000 each. We would then be able to catch up on bills, buy homes, buy cars, invest as we see fit, start small businesses, bolster existing businesses, etc. This would stimulate our sick economy for sure.

Just tuned in for a few minutes to your new show.

Wow!!!!!!

How did you get on the air?

Those of us who like to think positive once in awhile might just wait until you are off the air.

Keith Olberdoof and you must have taken crap tv 101 together.

The same useless drivel from Air America that is somehow pandered to the US public as news. Want to talk about a failure in leadership - and the "news" from this reporter is solely focused on the Republican party. Somehow it escaped her mind - and his reporting - that a significant portion (read approximately 1/3 of the house democrats) voted no and to make matters worse many of Nacy Pelosi's leadership (read democratic US House committee chairman) voted no. Gee, why no mention of this as a "leadership failure"?

Want to place blame, start with the Clinton administration and their failed HUD program of November 2000 that was hailed as "new regulations to provided $2.4 trillion in mortgages for affordable housing for 28.1 million families." This allowed Fannie and Freddie (huge Democratic party contributors - see public records concerning contributions) to take part in the largest federal expansion of housing aid ever. This has been supported by leading Democrats ever since. Barney Frank is quoted as saying in 2003 "I do not see [any] possibility of serious financial losses to the treasury." and personally vouched for the "soundness of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Moreover, Mr. Frank said the federal government has "probably done too little rather than too much to push them [Freddie & Fannie] to meet goals of affordable housing." (read government regulation that forced lending institutions including Fannie & Freddie to lend to sub-prime borrowers or face the risk of congressional interference in their business). Earlier this year Mr. Dodd, a leading Democrat in the Senate praised Fannie and Freddie for "riding to the rescue" when other financial institutions were cutting back on mortgage loans. He also said that they "need to do more" to help sub-prime borrowers get better loans. The magic words "affordable housing" and the ugly word "redlining" directly led to politicians directing where loans and investments should go by arm twisting private and semi-private lending institutions through vehicles such as the Community Reinvestment Act and other coercive actions and threats to restrict their business and business practices. Freddie and Fannie, backed by and "implicit" taxpayer guarantee, bought hundreds of billions of these sub-prime loans, repackaged them into comparable credit worthiness bundles, and then resold them to investors.

But somehow Ms. Pelosi sees this mess as President Bush's fault. Let’s examine this a little further. As far back as 1992, then President Clinton is quoted as saying, Democrats have been "resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me... to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." In 2003, President Bush proposed what the NY Times called “the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago." The plan called for a new regulator for Fannie and Freddie, one that could boost capital mandates and look at how they managed risk. This came after regulators uncovered a scheme by Fannie and Freddie executives to overstate earnings by $10.6 billion to boost exec bonuses. What did the Democratic leadership do with this proposal - they killed it. Mr. Frank (then ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee) is quoted as saying "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not facing any kind of financial crisis." Mr. Melvin Watt, a Democrat from N. Carolina accused the Bush administration of "weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing." And somehow the Speaker of the House has the gall to blame this on the Bush administration as
“…the costs of the Bush administration's failed economic policies — policies built on budgetary recklessness, on an anything goes mentality, with no regulation, no supervision and no discipline in the system."

A real reporter would have researched her vote on the matter when more oversight and regulation of Freddie and Fannie was proposed by the Bush administration – my guess is it wouldn’t be flattering to her or her party.

Want to blame the Republicans in general and Senator McCain in specific for failing to deal with this crisis. Think again. In 2005, then Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan testified in front of Congress: “We are placing the total financial system of the future at substantial risk.” That same year, Senator McCain, one of three sponsors of a Freddie-Fannie reform bill (S.190), said: “If congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system and the economy as a whole.” In response, Mr. H. Reid, a democrat from Nevada, accused the GOP of trying to “cripple the ability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to carry out their mission of expanding home ownership.” The bill that Senator McCain sponsored failed to pass.

Fannie and Freddie are entities that were created and largely regulated by a Democratically controlled Congress, managed by mostly former Democratic party officials, and have been very large contributors to the Democratic party.

As usual Air America never lets facts get in the way of a good “spin job” and neither does the Democratic party. Let’s see, the Democrats created Freddie and Fannie, their majority in Congress for most of the existence of these entities has been the regulator, the Democrats are the largest recipients of Freddie/Fannie political contributions - as is Presidential candidate Obama, Fannie and Freddie are managed largely by former Democratic party officials (one of whom now sits on Mr. Obama’s election campaign committee) and the Democratic party has smothered all attempts at more oversight and regulation - and then they attempt to hoodwink, no - commit outright fraud, by blaming the Bush administration and the Republicans for this debacle. It seems the American public has the memory span of about 15 minutes and the Democrats use this to their advantage at every opportunity, and Air America helps them do it.

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!

It is common knowledge that the people begging for the bailout and will be deciding where and in whose bank accounts that enormous amount of money gets allocated, are the same people that ran their financial house so negligently that they forced themselves into the situation where they need taxpayer help to guarantee their survival as an institution!

Everybody says that giving Wall Street a bank-busting 700 Billions of taxpayer dollars to buy up all those millions of useless mortgages, that nobody can pay for, and also to infuse money into the markets so they can extend credit, is going to be the best thing we can do for Main Street, because it will give money back to the banks, that couldn't use their own money wisely to begin with, so they can lend it out as credit again to help small businesses, home purchases, and car buyers, etc!

Here's a novel ides, instead of throwing 700 billion dollar's worth of good money after all that bad and hoping it works out THIS time, why not give some money to the people directly?

There are 300+ million people in the US, why not give each one of voting age a check from the Government for one million dollars? The Government will collect most of it back as taxes first on that million dollar income and then on the a sundry of other taxes as we spend it. The people can finally pay off their homes instead of being foreclosed on, that would go a long way in eliminating, most - if not ALL, of the inventory of those useless paper mortgages! The housing market becomes liquid again and home values would increase. They will use more of that money to pay their bills instead of having to file bankruptcy - saving the industry untold millions in lost revenue and help unclog our legal system in the same process!

Yes! People with some extra money will invest again and maybe those that could never have done so in the past will now be added to the equation and Wall Street ALSO wins by having a larger investor pool!

The BEST argument is that giving each voting age American a million dollars will create more revenue and tax streams from the ground up by people SPENDING again, and $300 million is certainly a lot, lot cheaper and a better use than giving Wall Street $700 Billion that we don't have as a reward for their incompetence and is more palatable to Americans than rewarding the unfettered greed of financial conglomerates and Wall Street speculators!

The people win, the Government wins, Wall Street wins and we don't have to spend 10-20 times that 300 million on a bailout that would have questionable results at best!

I can't think of a more sensible thing to do to help Americans and get the economy back on track than presenting individual Americans with a gift of enough money to finally get a step up from the poverty that this economy is creating for those of us who are trapped because we live on Main Street and not on Wall Street and who have little or no support from either!!

I have wondered what Americans define as "leadership" ever since my Appalachian high school graduation, when it turned out you could get money for it. Viz., to wit: apparently there were some small local college scholarships for students at my high school who displayed "leadership." I was shocked. If only I'd known they existed, I might have been able to do something to win some of that sorely needed money! Strangely enough, all those scholarships went to the student council president and prom queen, just like all the other scholarships. So "leadership" is a popularity contest judged by uninformed voters? I started asking around, to find out what "leadership" the local worthies were seeking, what their criteria were for awarding that money. Not one of the teachers, including the teachers who had in fact submitted the names of the student council president and the prom queen to the business community for the scholarships, could tell me what the "leadership" in question was. Clearly, name recognition. Probably, not getting caught. Maybe, clear skin, a tight butt and a different outfit every day (PALIN 2012!!!!). As you get older, does "leadership" mean a high sales quota?

Now McCain is playing around with that same word in Columbus, OH.

Senators and congress do not be fooled. You are being lead to the bridge to nowhere and being asked to jump off. Backing the Wall Street bailout is political suicide. If there is to be any bailout it should only be as an insurance policy to protect depositor’s, pension funds, 401Ks and tax payers’ mortgages, that is it! Wall Street is virtually based. It is speculation, greed, popular opinion, manipulation, persuasion and anticipation of a return. NO BAILOUT! Keep telling Wall Street its coming until the market stabilizes. Continue to calm the American people as you have been doing. Remember the original Bailout was authored by Bush the same person who rushed us into a war with Iraq. Your failure is the Bush administration's success. Let the banks buy each other out then write an anti-trust bill to bust them up and force them to become smaller competitive companies that will never threaten our economy again. Henry Paulson, the Bush appointed secretary of the treasury comes from the same problem that needs to be corrected. He can not be trusted! He already received his money and golden parachute from Goldman Sachs and now you want to turn over $700 billion dollars for him to disburse without or with little controls and no legal remedy if all goes wrong. Where is the accountability? The new bill with all of its added bells and whistles is still a bad bill. It is just more lipstick on a bloody pig. There is a solution however the bailout is not it. We are going to be in crisis mode no matter what we do. There should be no need to lose $700 billion on top of it. New markets will emerge. Let the old markets die a painful death as they so rightfully deserve. The mere thought of a bailout sent the market to rally today. Why isn’t that telling you something? Purchasing bad loans, loans that Wall Street can no longer package and sell only passes the non-recoupable loss to the taxpayer and you are about to sign off on this. It is overwhelming the American people do not want the bailout and you will be held accountable for supporting a bill the American people do not want. The American people are counting on you to lead and lead them with courage, integrity, honesty and resolve. This is why you have our vote. We trust you not to lose it.