I felt it was high time for me to pay a call to our esteemed U.S. Senators to inquire about the recent financial melt down on Wall St. Since as a taxpayer I will be expected to step up and bail out a bunch of corrupted greed mongers I believe I deserve an explanation from those who got us into this unbelievable mess in the first place.
Dear Senator,
In the past two weeks I feel as if I have been hit by two devastating hurricanes. Many residents in the Houston and Galveston areas are still without power and most continue to struggle with Ike's aftermath. The nation's fourth largest city and its surrounding areas have taken a tremendous beating.
Just when we were beginning to think we could see the light at the end of Ike's tunnel we now find ourselves suddenly blindsided by another hurricane. This one did not sweep in from the Gulf. This unexpected monster came hurdling down from Wall St. and its aftermath could prove far more cataclysmic than Ike.
What is this business about a financial bailout using the taxpayer's money? It seems to me that a group of greedy and corrupted fat cats on Wall St., with the blessings of their supporters and cheerleaders in Congress, raped and pillaged the United States and now taxpayers are being asked to pay for the carnage. And we're supposed to turn over nearly $1 trillion and say "we trust you to clean up after yourselves."
Please.
See what Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine has to say about the Wall Street debacle.
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My letter continues:
The vast majority of the American people pay our taxes, mortgages, car loans, utility and credit card bills on time. If we fail to, we know that no one will bail us out. The IRS and the state's tax-assessor will come after us, the bank will take our home and car, and utility companies will turn off our power. Credit card companies will charge us late fees and higher interest rates. Our credit rating will suffer.
Somehow the rules that govern the American people do not apply to those on Wall St. and some in the Bush Administration. The financial fat cats that behaved as irresponsibly as a group of drunken, stoned and spoiled frat boys are going to get paid for destroying the frat house, the entire campus and its surrounding city?
Why should the American people trust a Congress that has supported deregulation brought upon by us by former Texas U.S. Senator Phil Gramm? Tom Delay's open invitation to lobbyists to participate in our lawmaking process did not help either. Nor did Dick Cheney's generous offer to energy tycoons to assist in writing our nation's energy policy. Unspeakable corporate influence, deregulation, no oversight and accountability are the culprits that fueled the present financial melt down. Greed visibly rushed in when all of the controls disappeared.
Paul Krugman weighs in.
The letter continues:
This past weekend when the shocking financial market reality began to settle on the minds of Americans we could hear and read the same ol', same ol' drivel from the usual politicians who are trying to point fingers and blame others for a mess that happened on their watch.
Why should we believe the very group that enabled the current catastrophe on Wall St. can fix it? Why would the American people trust that an Administration and Congress who misled us into the worst foreign policy debacle could actually manage a financial crisis of this magnitude? Indeed, how do we know that the present financial melt down is not yet another politically ginned up and fake calamity? This is an Election year, after all.
Not surprising, reports in the media today reveal that the current language in a bailout provision spell a continued culture of irresponsibility and potential corruption with no oversight, accountability or transparency whatsoever. The paragraph below sounds more like something that would have been written in a dictatorship or monarchy.
"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."
It is both ironic and starkly revealing that those of you who have voted against affordable health care insurance, veteran's benefits, education and any legislation, for that matter, that would give average and working class people an economic lifeline, are getting ready to line up behind corporate socialism.
How about a little socialism and protection for the taxpayers? It is outrageous enough to expect us to be asked to pay for the unspeakable melt down that should have never, never happened.
We are not going to let you steal our money that easily, Senator.
Any bailout bill should require, in no uncertain terms and language, congressional oversight, complete transparency as well as some equity provisions for payback to the taxpayers.
Sincerely yours,
Enough is enough.
The video above was created by Daily Kos diarist TruthandHope.
Under the Bush Administration's Watch:
9/11
Iraq
Katrina
Financial 9/11
Enough is enough.
The American people deserve far, far better than this.
UPDATE: Financial melt down might be another ginned up crisis, according to reports on Daily Kos.
