Fortune Talkback: Bailout backlash

I’ve been sick of people getting hand outs for years, long before this mess. I’ve worked a full time job as well as a part time job for almost 25 years. I only owe on my home with no other debts at all. You know how I get by? I live within my means and I make small but steady deposits to regular old savings accounts, which slowly add up. I have one television (19″) and don’t buy every piece of crap that comes along. These bailouts burn me up. Everyone shares in this greed binge. We will pay for this mess for decades to come. My poor kids…not much future for them.

Understand this.

These crooks in wall street gambled with our money on Credit Default Swap (CDS) and Hedge fund. This why they are in trouble. Yes, mortgage crisis are part of it. But this is what they are not telling you or Bush administration is that stupid. Buying up bad mortgage debt is a very small fix. Whoever was involved in CDS desk and these bad hedge fund should be proscuted as criminals.

As a small business owner let me state that credit is not the issue. The issue is a healthy economy and this financial institution bailout will actually be detrimental to small business.

With a bailout, banks will act the same as they have acted for the last 5 years – a) paying commission to their loan officers for “big loans” independent of the true credit rating of the borrower, b) high charges for your money!, c) three to five day transfers on your money so they can take the cream off the top during the transfer. So, this bailout will not change the issues that small business owners have with banks. But a bailout will do something else – it will make it harder for small innovative business to find investors. Why – when you are guaranteed that investing in “paper” will have the government bail you out – why would you invest in something that is physically real that would provide real jobs?

I’m no economist, but…..In addition to, or instead of, bailing out Wall Street, let’s allow Main Streeters to bail themselves out. Allow a one-time, tax-free and penalty-free 401k/retirement account withdrawal up to 25% of the account’s worth. So, everyday people get money for bills, mortgages and spending to energize the economy and housing market and the government (AKA, the people) doesn’t have to pay for it. A 25% cap would ensure banks/financial institutions aren’t liquidated and account holders don’t spend their entire retirement savings. Yea? Nay?

What is this government doing?? Bailout who??? If there is a finacial crisis brewing then take that $700 billion and give every taxpayer, every property owner, ect. a $2,300.00 prepaid credit card and let them spend the money!! Why give $700 billion to the stupid morons that put “THEMSELVES” in a crisis in the first place… So we bail them out and what, another year or two there going to come back and ask for $1.4 trillion?? Give me a break!!

It should be “a new era of class fury,” and the backlash will help matters, but we’re unlikely to see the extended intensity postulated by Easton. People are just too busy, and too uninformed. This could be overcome with skilled organization, but organizing groups are not developed to the point necessary. Maybe someday soon.

If we buy their bad debt the money goes into the company. Like any company there are no walls between the company and CEO, the very people you love to hate.
So you rewarding the very people who caused this mess! Dumb huh!
Vote Libertarian, don’t vote for these two corrupt parties!

I believe Mr. Buffett should bail out this money grubbing entity. He has the cash, and IF HE HAS SUCH EXPERTISE, let him put his money where his mouth is!!! After all, if he’s so fabulous with $$$ he should have been aware of this plundering – and HE should have stepped up to the plate himself!!!! After all, we peons who are suffering need a reason to ADMIRE his philanthropy.!!! Put up Warren! Rescue your other money mongers by entrusting your walth!!!

Have any of you clowns in public office ever really read this document?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Make it so…

Give a starving man one meal and see what you get.

Why are we fighting another country? When our own American Government will destroy our country with there greed. They need to fine all the people responsible and get the money that way. I don’t want to give my tax dollars for Wall street and Main street’s bail out. If charges are not forth coming then why bother.Where did the honest politician go? In the pockets of the oil companies and rich.

Now, I see it makes no difference who wins this election! They are all the same!
We, the people have been betrayed by our elected representative, The Senate of The United States.
I was for Barack. Now, we might as well elect Palin for President. McCain will never make past two years.
Maybe a Moose Killer is just as good as a social worker.
I am personally disgusted that the voice of the People have hd no voice that was listened or allowed to vote. Bush the criminal will esape Justice and they’ll push some pig up for the slaughter and the people will feel some vindication.
Disgusting and we’ll get what we deserve for electing these people in the first place.
With 55 trillion on the back burner. Just wait for a month or so for the real disaster to rear it’s ugly head.
Time to take care of ourselves. Our government has sold us out.
Forget any help and grow your own. Why wait? Live like it is, not what these traitors say is coming our way. Like Help?
No one can fix this god awful mess. It has to die, to be reborn.
55 Trillion USD! Go figure!

to Dave, from Hollis:
I offer up someone who knows a thing or two about economics (Nobel Prize winner):
Joseph Stiglitz. He seems to think that this package is merely postponing the inevitible. It is propping up a broken system. We are heading towards a recession and spending billions of dollars to postpone it, will not help, it can only hurt. Take a look at this commentary:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/17/stiglitz.crisis/

Yes, that is pre-bailout plan, but he’s been talking a lot about the bailout since he wrote this.

If “our excessive spending” got us to the point we are at. Then What makes them think that spending 700 Billion will get us out. I don’t think so. It sounds more like a SCARE TACTIC against the American people into thinking we “made a mistake”. Ok So lets say we did pay out the Billions. How many years is it going to take to before we are back to square one and needing to spend a So called proposed 700 Billion x 2 financial Bail out again….??????? More Debt doesn’t solve anything, it just prolongs it. I think all the deceitful and small print finally caught up to the these banks and now they are having to sell there company’s. What ever happen to the good old days when a smile and a hand shake was all you needed to seal a Deal, minus the excessive taxes.. Last time I looked, The Stock market was and is a risk. You play you pay. No one made you play the market. I am not saying don’t involve your self with it. If you loose then you can only blame your self. Take the fall and move on.

I say NO BAILOUT. I think Obama should be against the bailout, and McCain even more so (fiscal conservative my ass). The corporations/wall street firms didn’t want regulation and government intervention before, they’ve been gradually hacking away at it for years, they shouldn’t get it now. All those people who worshiped Reagan and his Reaganomics, they’ve now seen the end result. The wall street quacks and their greed got themselves into this mess, they need to get themselves out. Why don’t these execs, who make upwards of $ 100 million per year or more, put their money back in their “system” to prop it up and fix it. Of course they won’t. Until they all donate all their money to the markets, the taxpayers shouldn’t donate any. We don’t even have the money in the treasury to cover this, we’re already trillions in debt (thanks, Bush). I say let’s all just be grown ups and deal with our mistakes and failures and start back at the beginning and build something worthwhile, rather than an economy based on greed and gambling and nothingness.

I completely denounce ANY type of bailout for these wall street firms. They caused this crisis with illegal activities with the aid of several presidential administrations and are now asking us to bail them out. Since when does the United States reward criminal behavior? If I robbed somebody, I would be sent to jail and made to re-pay the funds. Why is there no talk of addressing the criminal activity? Because they are all Bush’s friends. Simply stated they took huge risks and lost. No different than me going to Vegas and betting my nest egg and losing it all. I wouldn’t get a bailout and neither should they. I think they run the risk of losing the American people if they pass this bill.

Correction to “Bart-Long Beach, IN” post.

Fingers were moving faster than my brain. Post should have said…NOT PUTTING A POLITICIAN…

POCITICIAN must have been a subconscious vote for Pocahontas; the daughter of Powhatan, an important chief of the Algonquians. Now that I think about it, she’d probably do a better job than the Washington Clown Company.

My vote is for Pocahontas.

Our “political leaders” and “economic experts” didn’t get it right after the ’70’s energy crisis or ’90’s S&L crisis. Why should we think they have the right solution now?

Politicians have very little, if any, accountability. I’ll wager most of our state and national elected officials are more concerned with being re-elected. Throwing taxpayer money at problems is the American political way and does help a re-election bid.

If taxpayer $$ will be used, how about making an ownership interest in the company a condition for financial help AND NOT PUTTING A POCITICIAN IN CHARGE OF THE COMPANY? Hire the likes of Buffet, Pickens, and Jim Rogers to sit on the boards of the companies as watchdogs and after a pre-determined # of years put the ownership interest up for sale to get some of the taxpayer $$ back.

Want me to support the bailout? Here are the things nobody has explained to me that keep me from supporting it:

1) Can you guarantee the bailout will work? If not, why should I support it?
2) Why should we trust the people who facilitated this problem to fix it?
3) Why is it better to give banks $700 billion to cover their bad investments, rather than give every American mortgage holder a $50,000 trust to bring their bad mortgage current or pay down mortgages of people who are current? Wouldn’t that benefit the banks and free up the credit markets (by restoring the value of the bad paper) just as well as paying the banks directly, and with greater benefit to “Main Street”? Any overage on an individual mortgage (where less than $50,000 is owed) could be designated for future health care, college or retirement costs.
4) Why should we bail out banks if Congress doesn’t pass the Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights (which the Bush Administration opposes) to protect us from ambush rate hikes and other usurious practices?
5) Why doesn’t the bailout plan include regulations on how banks extend credit going forward, based on consumers’ prior credit history and ability to pay?

As i said before if government was truly concerned with the economy they would give each taxpayer 1 million dollars. You would see a tremendous boost in the economy immediately. Instead of investing in oil we would buy gas to get to work. No real estate investments, mortgage payments. No investments in foreign stock markets, investments in college funds, food clothing etc. That is how an honest government should save the economy and let the greedy criminals sink.

This bailout for Wall Street is scary. It doesn’t matter how loudly you yell. We know this is a bailout for the wealthy and the corporate traitors that sold out America. If anyone thinks we the people believe otherwise you are crazy. We do understand that government is going to whatever it wants regardless what the people want. This is nothing more than government sanctioned theft.

700 billion[ha! ha!. we’re talking 55 trillion in debt!

If the US Govt gave all Americans just $100,00, it would be an enormous help for all the struggling citizens of America, but unfortunately the wealthy elite minority will see to it that the ordinary person gets no “bailout”

Personally let the chips FALL, no one offered help to all those whom lost with ENRON.

Backlash – of course there will be, a big messy one I’m sure. I am, and am sure many others, are tired of the same old story that we are irresponsible and need to be told what is good for us.

Now the politicians are playing the same tired game by attaching other important budget issues to the Wall Street Free For All But The Taxpayers Act. They go back to vote Wednesday. Then they can all say it’s not their fault, we needed the other budget issues to pass. Oh for crying out loud. Why don’t they just say the taxpayers have weapons of mass destruction, declare us the enemy by the War Powers Act and take everything we have worked for. If politicians would take off the red/white/and blue glasses they would see that this is an enormous, unregulated giveaway to save the irresponsible wealthy from losing a penny and that they need to take care of taxpayers first. The percentage of gross income I pay in taxes is more than Warren Buffet and is fast approaching more than half my gross income. By the way – why is it the wealthy are the only people who can say where their tax dollars go, in the form of deductions?? Politicians say we need to pamper our rich because their money creates our economy. Oh stop, please. Trickle down economics isn’t working any more. We the people are a powerful labor force that built this country. They say if they are taxed equally with “us” they will take their money elsewhere. Let’s see, jobs have left our country in droves for the name of tax breaks, lower wages and little responsibility for the workers in other countries they are now hiring. Employers are hiring illegal aliens because they work for minimum wage or less. If the wealthy don’t like paying their share and being responsible for extremely greedy policies that sucked in many then let them leave the country.

Some people can’t pay their mortgages because they lost their job to no fault of their own. Replacement jobs are often at entry level wages, won’t support one much less a family.
The only responsible move our politicians can make is to not bail out Wall Street, banks, auto makers and other big companies that have lined up at the dollar trough. They have had many years of flush profit. Like my family, they needed to save for what they wanted and for a rainy day – but didn’t. Congress could start taking action on issues that affect the real Taxpayers – health care costs, health insurance that costs more and more and pays less and less, job exportation tax breaks, illegal immigration, job security. They should not enter an experimental process that is very expensive with no known total cost and no known result and unknown repercussions. They could be destroying the American Dream for generations with this irresponsible decision, but only for the middle class and poor of our country.

This is common discussion throughout America these days. The overall consensus of those that work for a living is to let them all go down. Doesn’t affect the average American because we are responsible on a much larger scale with much less money. We live without credit cards and mortgages we can’t afford. In this country we should all be priviledged to a job that has a decent wage ladder. The bail out should be for those who lost their retirement funds in 401’s, people who are losing their homes to no fault of their own from job exportation or downsizing, the people who are unemployed to no fault of their own and the American taxpayer.

This is the Country that pays billions of dollars a year in foreign aide. It’s time our government heard us and started investing our money in us.

Yes, backlash is the word of the day and will be much more expensive than our politicians believe. We are completely fed up at the attitude that Government knows best while it sells us down the river. We are not stupid. We vote and campaign. And we are incredibly strong in traditional loyal American beliefs. After all, our ancestors threw the Boston Tea Party. Maybe we should all quit our jobs and go on welfare. With no working class the wealthy would have to pay that bill at least or face revolution.

Requesting a Bailout for banks is a scam.
First, the banks made home loans to people they knew could not afford the loans, and would get crushed when the interest rates reset higher. The banks pocketed the fees, looked the other way, and were counting on people to dig deeper to pay them even more interest and fees down the road.

When people failed as predicted, they did what the banks didn’t expect them to do. People acted like banks. They walked away from vampiric loans and homes, instead of becoming slaves to the banks.

Remember, the banking industry is the one that made it harder for people to file bankruptcy in the first place a couple years ago, then the started the bad loan making, thinking they had the customer trapped.

Now the banks can’t collect their interest on reset loans, can’t get fees from the re financings they were counting on, and are stuck with the loans they made.

Reap what you sow banks.

There is depositor insurance to protect our savings, there is not insurance to protect you from your own greed and mistakes. So you look to lobby Congress to use tax payer money to pay for your mistakes.

No sir. Bad banks go out of business, the smart, strong banks survive.

The only legislation that the US needs to free up credit is for them to order banks to honor all credit applications that meet standard credit requirements. If you qualify, the bank MUST lend you the money.

Liquidity problem solved, for those that qualify.

I think it’s very clear from the number of calls to Congress on the bailout that Americans are FED UP with D.C. and that includes our “so-called” representatives. They have turned their backs on the public, ignoring our needs and our calls to them, then vote whatever the corporate lobbyists want. We get “form letter” from them based on having to choose 1 of 10 topics — another form of ignoring us. The only reason this bill did not pass (despite 99% of the public against the bailout and thousands of telephone calls is the UPCOMING ELECTION. And YES, WE ARE ANGRY!

You failed to address the HUGE negative impact of illegal immigration on the economic situation of American. We have lost our jobs, health insurance, and homes to foreclosure because they are now working all the construction jobs. Our schools, hospitals, highways, and courts are crowded with them.

TAXPAYERS are paying $383.3 BILLION per year to SUBSIDIZE big business’ “cheap illegal labor”. We’re paying for their food stamps, welfare, HUd housing (60% illegal), SSI (which they didn’t pay into), free public schools at $15,000 per year per child, free college tuition, and FREE LEGAL DEFENSE while they rape (1 million, to include chldren), rob, and murder Americans (9,000 per year), form gangs with impunity, and drive drunk with up to 12 DUI’s, killing even more Americans.

CONGRESS HAS IGNORED 90% OF AMERICANS CALLING FOR A HALT TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. THEY JUST VOTE MORE AMNESTY AND MORE HANDOUTS. These people DO NOT represent us and need to be FIRED. Go to the border patrol site http://capwiz.com/usbc and input your ZIP CODE to see how YOUR REPRESENTATIVE voted. While 90% of the people want illegal immigration stopped and violaters deported, 90% of Congress votes pro-amnesty.

52 million American adults and 15 million children have no health insurance; yet we pay for medicaid and free hospitalization for illegals.
11 million American children go to bed hungry at night; yet we pay for illegal’s food stamps. 2$ of illegals work picking fruit, but 40% of them are on welfare. They are destroying this country with the BLESSING OF THE ENTIRE CONGRESS.

Soon none of the states will be able to balance their budgets, because most illegals don’t pay taxes. Swartzenegger is proposing a new tax every week, but with 90% of the population growth in California being illegal, he will never succeed.

Lastly, population growth has EXPLODED in the U.S. because of “anchor babies”. One in 4 babies born in TX is an “anchor baby”, which the U.S. will have to feed, clothe and educate, not to mention building more schools and more prisons (30% of prisoners are illegal). Why aren’t these criminals deported, rather than us paying for their incarceration? We have to hire more teachers, more court officials, more policemen, more social services workers.

CONGRESS HAS RUINED THIS COUNTRY’S ECONOMY ON PURPOSE IN THE NAME OF CHEAP LABOR FOR BIG BUSINESS, and YES! WE ARE VERRRRRY RESENTFUL!

ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT

THE BASTARDS ARE GOING TO VOTE AGAIN WED NITE ON THE BAIL OUT: NOW CALLED THE ‘RESCUE PLAN’

MORE DC LAWYER CROOK SPIN:

MARKETING THE WORD ‘RESCUE PLAN’ IT’S STILL THE SAME ‘BAIL OUT’ PLAN TO SCREW YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.

THEY ADDED SOME ‘FDIC’ STUFF TO MAKE IT FLY……. BUT IT’S NOTHING MORE THAN A BAIL OUT FOR THE CROOKS ON WALL STREET.

PLEASE TAKE A STAND FOR AMERICA CALL YOUR SELL OUT LEADERS AND TELL THEM NO NO NO NO NO PERIOD

Absolutely NO to the Bailout.

I have not found one single person who believes the Bailout is a good idea, and I’ve spoken with dozens over the past few days. They do not want this.

Screw the “Bailouts”.

There is no REAL accounting of that supposed 700Billion figure, it was made out of thin air.

You spend BILLIONS on wars, BILLIONS for Illegal Immigrants, BILLIONS for Pet Pork Barrel Projects, BILLIONS for International Aid we couldn’t afford, BILLIONS for weapons and no bid contracts, BILLIONS for spying on Americans in the name of “Defending the Homeland”…..

And now you guys expect the AMERICAN PEOPLE to bail you out of your messes and protect your Banks?????????

Screw you.

NO ON BAILOUT.

YOUR Media and News Outlets are attempting to use SCARE TACTICS against the American people into thinking we “made a mistake” by not supporting the “Bailout”

YOU ARE EXTORTING AMERICA by threatening us with a “Depression”.

But you have been CAUGHT. We see the Market reactions and see the manipulation right in our faces.

BAILOUTS do not address the core problems. Bailout are just throwing more DEBT….at DEBT.

You can’t solve debt with debt.

You don’t address gas prices, inflation, cost of living,food prices, rent, housing, etc.

No, you want to Bailout the BANKS. You want to save your own, while we still flounder.

You won’t create jobs or infrastructure. You won’t create Energy alternative, won’t create things we can export, won’t create REAL products.

Nope, YOU Import junk from other countries and turn America into a huge shopping mall with devalued currency.

So we are collectively telling you to F*** YOURSELVES.

NO more lies.

Americans…we can take this hit. We NEED to take this hit, or else we okay them to loot us and fleece us of EVERYTHING, when we hardly have anything left.

This MUST NOT stand people. We have been railroaded by them for too long, Republicans AND Democrats.

No MORE Robbery, no more extortion, no more News Outlets threatening us and attempting to PROGRAM our minds that we bailout… “or else something really bad will happen”.

We are NOT responding to threats and the TANKING of our country anymore.

Let it be known.

In any society there are always people who expect others to pay for their lifestyles, yet contribute little themselves.

They borrow money promising to pay it back, but either they cannot (because they are not able to earn enough money to do so) or they have mitigating circumstances (something came up!) or they have absolutely no intention of doing so.

The current meltdown is caused by people who have no intention of paying back their loans to people who had no intention of paying back their loans to people who had no intention of paying back their loans.

See the circular reasoning?

The dishonest people got bit by their own kind!!

So what about the honest people who were working for them all this while?

Without honest people to do the real work, the dishonest people would have failed a long time ago.

That’s why we cannot allow the bail out. The dishonest people have to be flushed out so the honest people can once again work – for honest people.

The financial sector is so infested with dishonest people that the sheer mass of them has condemned the system to fail.

I can’t believe we came that close to such an unbelievable disaster. God bless those House representatives who finally found the courage to stand up to those greedy Wall Street maniacs.

Those of you concerned about losing your savings in the stock market – I do feel bad for you, but remember that those people who cared nothing for anyone but themselves – gambling other’s money with no intention of paying off their debts are finally getting their due.
They’ve already lost your money & a bailout is not going to get it back for you. It’s time for them to pay for their crimes. NO BAILOUT!

I don’t buy the media hype about a bailout hurting the average person. Some will lose jobs, but we will be able to retool a lot quicker if we stop rewarding the criminal & scam artists and start rewarding the people who actually work hard to produce valuable goods & services.

It’s not the politics of envy; it’s the politics of fairness. The average worker/taxpayer isn’t looking for a mega-mansion, a yacht, and a private jet; they just want their fair share of the economic pie, and they don’t like that so much of it is being siphoned off by a tiny, greedy minority. Why should people who gambled and lost with other people’s money be rewarded with millions while those whose money they gambled with are struggling to keep a roof over their heads (if they still have one)? “Socialization of risk and privatization of reward” is exactly what it is, and it’s fundamentally unfair.

And I don’t think it’s “soak-the-rich” sentiment so much as “soak-the-unjustly-rich” sentiment. I don’t think anybody wants to “soak” Bill Gates or Warren Buffett – because there’s a feeling that they earned their wealth by being smart and successful, and truly contributing to the economy. But people who get rich by failing – those who make tens or hundreds of millions in salary and bonuses while their companies or investments go down the tubes – are the ones people want to “soak”.

And as for “the fact that homeowners living beyond their means… contributed to the economic crisis”: those homeowners were living beyond their means in large part because banks and other financial institutions not only allowed but encouraged them to do so; they were told, in effect, that it was not beyond their means. The average person has only a limited grasp of the complexities of finance. Financial institutions have the duty and responsibility of evaluating and managing the risk, for borrowers and investors alike, as only they have the resources and expertise to do so. That they willfully and recklessly failed to fulfill this duty is no reason to blame their customers, who after all were just following the advice of the “experts”.

Nina Easton came close to understanding the point of view of the working men and women. But, by arguing that all American’s must pay for the excesses of Wall Street and Main Street even though they represent a small minority is wrong. I didn’t buy a house I couldn’t afford and I didn’t invest in packaged mortgages that went sour. So why should I pay?
She also says that worker productivity went up 20%, but that means workers were replaced with automation and lost their jobs. All these free-trade deals which favored the workers in foreign nations over U.S. workers means lost jobs here. If those workers bought their homes based on their current income and then lost that job, because Wall Street and corporate CEO’s saw better profits overseas, who is to blame? That worker had to find another job and it probably paid less. And let’s not forget all those National Guard troops who have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan multiple times and are now receiving military pay instead of the pay received from their civilian employer. How many have lost their homes, because they couldn’t make the mortgage payments.
The bottom line is that Wall Street doesn’t care about the working people. They just want to accumulate as much of the wealth produced by the working class as they can. And now they have the gall to expect Main Street to bailout their irresponsible and greedy machinations.

Over the course of the Bush administration, his big business buddies have been given free rein to ravage the average american like never before. He has allowed deregulation to run amok, reduced oversight to nothing, and has encouraged a make a proffit by whatever means it takes mentality! Now all his big business buddies are choking on their own glutoney!! They have enjoyed the greatest proffit party in history, and now it’s time to pay the pipper! Don’t look for simpathy from middle america, we’re still trying to keep our homes and keep our jobs.

At the moment, I don’t care so much about whether the bill was or wasn’t passed.

What’s most disappointing to me is that the House wasn’t able to develop a bill that would (a) fix the problems and (b) also pass the House.

That failure to find a *successful plan* on *common ground* is an indictment of our representatives’ leadership and collaboration skills. With leaders like this, it’s no wonder that our economy is going to pot.

‘“a new era of class fury that could hurt U.S. companies, business leaders, and wealthy investors for years.” Do you think that’s true?’

Hopefully.

It’s not that Americans don’t understand the bailout package…we’ve just had enough of the government’s foolish decisions and wasteful spending. The only way to wake up the game-players at the top is to let them suffer along with the rest of us. Change is worth the pain.

George W. Bush is looking like the little boy who cried wolf too many times:

WOLF #1 – We need the Patriot Act to PROTECT you.

WOLF #2 – Iraq has Weapons of Mass Destruction.

WOLF #3 – Henry Paulson needs $700 billion of your hard-earned money to bail-out fat cats Wall Streeters who have already walked all over you.

Well, at least Wolf #3 is pretty obvious to most.

Please contact your elected representatives and let them know how angry you are and to not support the bail-out.

If Wolf #3 is real, then W gets what he deserves! If we wait and see, the truth will be revealed and that is that the economy is not going to collapse. There are other, better solutions.

1) Raise FDIC limits to $250k
2) Have the SEC overrule FASB and mark mortgages to models not a fictitious market.
3) Have Bernanke temporarily increase the Fed reseve ratios to provide liquidity.

The costs of solutions #1 through #3 = zero dollars.

Big Media, Big Government and Big Money are missing it – there isn’t resentment to Wall Street – this is America. You take your risk and if you make money, great. However, if you take a big risk and lose your shirt, then that is part of the process. Just don’t expect the American taxpayer to help pertuate your poor decisions. That is what people are expressing – not class warfare. Everyone wants a chance to make it big, but when you tax us to death, that hurts our personal opportunities. Bail out – no thank you.

I’m a real estate broker and have seen this coming for years. I noticed how in the interviews with the Wall Street Brokers, they blame irresponsible homebuyers. It was irresponsible lending plus it was Wall Street who created all these mortgages to begin with. It also funny, when it comes to helping homeowners the want to call it “bailout” but when they want wall street to be helped…they want to call it “workout” and they just want to help Main Street. Since when did Wall Street care about Main Street?
I say let the banks who are in trouble fail and the smaller solvent banks take over daily operataions.
Talk about companies being too big to fail…Look how Bank of America, and Citi Bank, already too big to fail are getting bigger by aquiring the failed businesses and with the support of the government.
Arpi

Yes, a backlash would be very deserved. I’ve been watching the news, now the bail out has failed come the warnings the we won’t have any credit. Doom and gloom. When government policy closed my job in 89 because of a spotted owl my family suffered, we lost everything. By the time we knew we had to file bankruptcy no lawyer would help without a large fee up front. We didn’t have the fee so we suffered 20 years of collections and garnishments for the bills and medical bills. We couldn’t get any help from the government that caused the problem, just like many logging families. We still “qualify” for logger retraining but they never had any money to pay for but a few to retrain!! Bottom line, we live without credit. We will never have our dream home, yet we work everyday. Oh yeah, we had “opportunities” to get into high interest mortgages that pretty much guaranteed taking all our money until we couldn’t pay any more due to old age, then take it back. Now Lawyers and Government are warning ME?????? I’m tired of the priveledged in society telling me what’s good for my country and my family. They willingly “experimented” on the logging families that lost all. They have not helped us, the people. They let the financial institutions use agressive preying tactics to make billions and when they are ready to implode, bail them out??? Now they want to “experiment” on us again?? Why do they so frantically want to help the rich??? Hold the line people, don’t let them steal it all from you until they put policies in place for the people. People shouldn’t lose their jobs because of Government policies that reward employers for taking our jobs overseas or because illegal immigrants do it for minimum wage. People shouldn’t have to take jobs as less than 1/3 of a living wage because of those job losses. People shouldn’t have their credit ruined due to Government policies that take those jobs. The elected officials need to hear from all of us that they need to take care of our Country first and start spending our tax dollars (the rich don’t pay what we pay) on US. They need to evenout the playing field between us and the wealthy. They need to revamp the credit rating system to protect the innocent victims. Give the 700 Billion to us, we can feed the economy to our advantage.

The best way to help the economy give every American $ 500.000 and we will build up the economy in no time and chiper.

Corporate America now faces a major blowback due to its decades of corruption. Hallelujah! The biggest welfare queens on the planet ride in limousines and sit on the boards of major corporations. Wall Street, the Corporate Elite, and the Washington power-brokers are all thugs and thieves. I pray that God takes away their gold and gives them poverty. Let the elite eat hamburger!

You guys at Fortune must be as conveniently blind as the rest of the media! Don’t you see it? The populace has inundated its representatives with e-Mails, phone calls, marches on local offices, and even snail mail stating BY A VAST MAJORITY that they do NOT want the bailout to occur! GET IT??? My wife and I advised our Congressman we would vote his derriere out of office if he voted YES. Lets hope he sticks to his guns and DOESN’T listen to the POTUS or the PRESS.

The average American knows very little when it comes to financial matters of this scope. It amazes me that so many are so vocal and yet so ignorant of this subject. So the vote failed, and while idiots all over the country celebrate, American businesses lose $1 trillion in market value in one day. Yay? The losses will continue tomorrow… And the next day, and on and on until this bill passes. Meanwhile, did you notice that the #4 bank in the US disappeared today? Do you have any clue what will happen as industry leaders fail over the coming days? No, probably not. Have you checked on your retirement lately? Your housing prices, your chances of getting a loan for your child’s college education? World markets? Well guess what, they’re getting worse by the day because this bill didn’t pass. Credit lines are being frozen, payrolls will not be able to be paid, and employees will be laid off. These things and the passage of this bill are ALL linked together. If you’re going to be vocal about something, learn about it first. At least listen to the experts in these fields. I don’t believe that any of you know more about global financial situations than Warren Buffet, but you talk like you do. How many of you even listened to what he said? How many of you even know WHO Warren Buffet is? I have to wonder… I’m disappointed with the failure in Washington on Monday, but I’m alarmed at the ignorance of the vast numbers of Americans who just screwed themselves and the rest of us over by talking about things that they don’t understand. This is not about “bailing out” Wall Street, it’s about trying to stabilize the financial infrastructure of the entire economy. If you’re ignorant about that, read up on it. Our politicians are challenged enough without getting advice from the uneducated masses.

WHY ARE CON-ARTIST SUCCESSFUL? They state they’re helping you.

Actually, they’re helping themselves to your money.

Wall Street, and politicians care less about me.

They only care about their own pockets.

Our only strength- THE VOTE !!!

May the HOUSE REPUBLICANS remain strong. This is their Profiles in Courage moment. Do they stand by CAPITALISM or the US fall to SOCIALISM when times are tough?

My IRA and 401 has lost money.

So! If you can’t stand the Fire stay out of the Kitchen!!!

Ever heard of a Savings Account (FDIC Insured).

GREED…..GREED…..GREED…..GREED

GREED is the only LANGUAGE Wall Street understands.

ANALOGY- Are we to bailout Trump? (gold laden offices, private plane, mansions, limo, over-the-top weddings etc.) when times get tough? He has employees w/ savings, homes, bills, etc.

I am ANGRY! Employees are paid a pitence (living pay-check to pay-check) while Wall Street live like members of the Kings Court.

King George Bush tax collector, Paulson threaten us with doom if we don’t comply. This is the United States not Europe!

*** Capitalism has served this country well. It can make a wise-pauper rich and a greedy-fool poor.

Now it’s OUR turn to be a ‘GREAT GENERATION’

Our Parents & Grand parents fought the Nazis and Japanese in World war 2. They we’re called the ‘greatest generation’ for making such a sacrifice for us: their children and future off spring!

Now it’s OUR turn to FIGHT for our children, Grand children and Grand children’s FREEDOM & FUTURES by fighting the FRAUDSTERS & BANKSTERS & Crooks located world wide that would make our future generations SERFS & SLAVES to them & THEIR offspring!

Stop crying about your 401K’s & YOUR retirement! you SELFISH bastards! look towards the future…. for your offspring and SUCK IT IN…. NOW!!!

You got that ’soldier’!!!!!

No one is shooting at YOU or trying to GAS YOU!……(yet)

THIS IS WAR………. Now it’s YOUR turn to step up to the plate and FIGHT! Just like the world war 2 generation did!

This war is the SAME fight for FREEDOM except the Nazis &
Japanese wore military UNIFORMS…..

The ENEMY today Is dressed in 4 grand business suits! & flying in Business jets!

If you loose ‘your’ 401K for your off springs future FREEDOM is it such a big price to pay????

Now Put it in your head NO RETIREMENT for me…… I will not be a selfish BASTARD & screw over my offspring!!!

Now get in this WAR and make those calls, letters & Faxes! NO BAIL OUT PERIOD!

Take a stand!!! Don’t let wall street try to scare you with the Dow dropping who cares!

This is a full blown WAR! Don’t let the CROOKS win! They will use ANY ‘Tactic’ like dropping the Dow….. against YOU to win!

Stand TALL just like the WW2 generation did!

“The reality is that conservative House members were less interested in the ear-ache they got from Pelosi than the earful they’ve been getting from constituents.”
Or maybe there are House members who “choose” to listen to THEIR BOSS!!!…
No matter that it is loss of their political future, their personal conviction, or just “Party” politics, the result was (without doubt) correct!

Hahaha!!! I love it! We shoved it back in their fatcat faces! Do we know where we go from here? NO. But neither do we know where we’re going if the bailout passes. The point is, we the little guys have spoken. No raiding the taxpayer to bail out the greedy gamblers. Let them fall. We the true Americans will rebuild what is left.

The champions and cheerleaders of free market ideology are now excepting themselves from the good of creative destruction.
The hypocrisy galls to the point of violence to sooth the burn.
Long live creative destruction.

None of these buyout deals currently on the table in Congress meets
my threshold until I see the Wall Street guys who invented these sub- prime mortgage derivatives and other financial exotica being perp- walked down lower Broadway with their suit coats pulled over their
head, John Gotti-style. I want them to lose Everything. No golden
parachutes, no black cars, nothing. On cable TV, weeping and wailing.
Food stamps and emergency shelters. Auctioneers selling their homes
in Westchester and North Jersey and the Upper East Side and the
Hamptons, sheriffs locking them out of their house, blonde wives
freaking out, BMW/Mercedes dealers repossessing the car. If possible,
placed in stocks on the town square where people can throw rocks at
them. Especially this arrogant Paulsen asshole.

Neither party has the balls to do this, because they are equally at
fault. They are all in the pocket of the money guys. McCain, Obama,
Dems, Repubs, ducking for cover, Congress tripping over themselves to
end the crisis. (Note: already stipulated that Bush is a
catastrophic, clueless, pathetic chimpanzee.) Why in hell should
some working stiff in East Nowhereville, Nebraska, with no
investments, no 401K, no IRA, no savings, and no control over payroll
deductions subsidize this disaster? When you know damn well these
weasels knew exactly what they were doing. Whether you blame the
greedy bankers or the irresponsible mortgage loan recipients, what
the hell does that have to do with Joe Shmoe in Kokomo? So, Paulsen
and his cronies walk, and the taxpayer drones cover the spread?

Bernanke and Paulson have been discredited. Legislators now need to recess and get on the campaign trail not to campaign, but for fact finding, constituant meetings. Americans once again must prove they are the land of the free and the home of the brave. Fearmongering has today been voted down. What will fill it’s place?
Election season is coming and legislators have done nothing but prove they are hard of hearing.
Forget bailout, let Wall Street find it’s own bootstraps, while we the people once again deliberate and debate what direction we want the country to take.

What if all the middle class taxpayers stopped paying their federal income taxes if this bill passed? It would be the strongest message we could send to the Wall Street tycoons and incompetent legislators.

It would enforce the enacting of a flat tax and the rich would pay based upon consumption.

Accountant, auditors and tax attorneys would be out of work but this is part of the group of people who are supposed to identify these risks in this Wall Street melt down and the Enron issue and well, they just don’t seem to be up to the task.

This is the only way I see any good coming out of this.

And I hope the furor stays a long time. Not only do these financial institutions demand a bailout – or else; they have no intention of helping oot the majority of Americans. they still scam everyone with their abusive credit card interest rate hikes and fees and their puppet credit reporting agencies.
These so-called financial wizards should be sent back to what accounts once were, simple middle-American pencil pushers.

If the American public begins to activiely care as a whole and are willing to act, the business world and politicians better develop consciences quickly

What hasn’t been adequately explained to me by reporters or legislators debating the bailout is why it is necessary to back the companies holding the mortgage securities of questionable value in order to unfreeze more conventional lending for businesses and consumer loans. Why can’t we let the companies with bad debt like Lehman just fail and instead just provide security to other banks who want to provide more conventional car loans, home loans, and business loans. In addition, we should provide security to those who have primary residences that are part of the bad debt pool. But I don’t see why we need to save the companies that bought all the subprime paper in order to do these things.

I think it is probably going to be impractical to limit CEO pay, but let these companies with the bad debt fail and their boards will be a lot more circumspect about future pay bonuses. If we bail them out, we’re just telling them there is no risk in this business and just keep doing what you’ve been doing

IF THEY GAVE EVERY TAXPAYER A MILLION DOLLARS TO DO A PERSONAL BAILOUT, THAT WOULD BE LESS THAN 300 MILLION!!!!!

okay folks…. enough of the anger. This situation is a lot like the titanic, and we can spend a lot of time wondering why the captain was steering the ship into the iceberg, or we can jump to the helm and move ourselves out of the way. So many conservatives have problems realizing that a country is a lot like a ship where you don’t get to live in splendid isolation, but you have to worry about your neighbors, and not just the ones by the name of Jose. Everyone decries the lack of financial responsibility which got us here. The fact is that the only thing that will take care of this is if each and everyone in the US takes responsibility for this mess regardless of how we got here. Come on folks, this affects us all, even if you are not a student of history, this will affect your pension, this will affect your businesses, and we all should be nervous about our jobs. The US is a ship, and we all need to shut up and man the buckets to keep this barge afloat!

I dont view the “bailout” as a bailout of financial companies. We need to help our financial system. You may think it doesnt affect you, but when you have no retirement money left, you will wish it was done. Besides, thousands and thousands of people will lose their jobs. Stop feeding into the media labelling of a Wall Street bailout – its saving our financial system which so many things depend upon.

Let the fat cats pay for the bailout.They have lived off of greed to long.Let the free market rule and the chips fall where they may.

Well, when a bank makes a loan to a homeowner, one of the requirements is that there be 3 to 6 months expenses in the bank, to cover expenses in case something happens. Well, here are the Wall Street Brokers, the Fortune 500 corporations that are scrambling to borrow money…..to meet payrolls and other expenses…Don’t they have reserve capitol??? You can bet that these top dogs, getting the 6 and 7 figure salaries get their check first. NO BAILOUT. We were told by Bush we couldn’t afford 15 billion per year to provide basic healthcare to all of our citizens, but we can afford 700 billion dollars to bail out Wall Street, because of pure stupidity and greed? I don’t think so. NO BAILOUT

The real problems are:

The institutions are unable to evaluate the actual worth of the securitized credit instruments so the weight on the financials’ balance sheets is huge yet opaque …

The unknown number of mortgages that will go south contributes to this since the instruments are based on the repayment of said mortgages

The solution which I think is pretty obvious … Set a floor on mortgage values by:

First making this program universal and mandatory … no exceptions for any mortgage or financial institution

Going guarantor for every mortgage at the rate of 50 cents on the dollar … meaning if foreclosure happens then the federal government will pay the holder of the mortgage 50 cents of the principal. This would apply to only homes that are actual homesteads. Sorry but F*** the speculators.

Making the 50 cents on the dollar an inescapable obligation for those who borrowed. Since this is a debt to the government, it doesn’t matter how long it takes to collect, they will collect it through wage garnishment, ineligibility for entitlement programs, tax return garnishment, etc. Much like student loans.

Issuing government bonds based on the obligations incurred by paying out the guaranteed 50% and pay a decent interest rate on the bonds as well as issue in small enough denominations that every day citizens can buy these bonds instead of making the Wall Street thieves the sole beneficiaries

Since the houses are now owned by the federal government and the monies paid out to the mortgage holders are from the bonds issued, the houses should be sold at the flat 50% mortgage value to any citizen within the US who hasn’t been foreclosed on and is a first-time home buyer. Payments are 30-year fixed and have the interest rate paid out on the bonds … but this bond-backed mortgage is not tax-deductible in any way

Any financial institution that is so insolvent that they can’t handle this should be let to fail, the limited liability shield pierced and all the assets of the management and shareholders should be assessed at their percentage of ownership. After all they made the profits — time to regurgitate the profits

RICO prosecutions and asset seizures for financial and mortgage industry employees who participated in the fraud.

This is pretty draconian but would be very effective. There is now a floor value on the CDOs since we’ve set a 50% minimum recoup on the mortgages and sequentially, a 50% value on the CDOs which are based on the mortgages. It doesn’t reward a single person who benefited fraudulently from the debacle (including the home owners who obviously lied about their income). It puts houses in the hands of those who can afford them and stabilizes the housing market since excess inventory is being soaked up very rapidly at these prices and with guaranteed financing available … And the bonds issued provide a return for those of us who weren’t complete lying idiots … Not pain free but at least depression averted …

But given the collusion between the rich banking aristocrats and their congressional lackeys, I doubt this ever happens …

Oh yes, very true. We need businesses to create jobs; we need prudent regulation of corporations (not what we currently see from the SEC) to ensure that “runaway capitalism” that benefits the few and is ruinous for the many, does not happen again. We need LEADERSHIP, something sadly lacking in the White House and Congress for a very long time. We’re all tired of the hypocrisy and lip service. Our Senators and Congressmen have platinum/Rolls Royce retirement plans and healthcare benefits, receive all sorts of handouts, perks and donations from lobbyists. And court us in election season while doing what’s “good” for big business at the expense of the middle class and poor. I live in a state where my needs and concerns are always ignored so I’ll be voting all our miserable representatives out of office in November. And if they are not re-elected and the next group of representatives don’t get it right, I’ll vote against them too. This isn’t just about greedy CEO’s and corporations, this is about weak-willed, greedy and non-caring politicians who purportedly represent all of us. What a joke! Please don’t tell me I need to stop spending more than I make. We don’t. We pay our bills, live in a modest house, drive 10 year old cards, have tried to invest prudently and “diversify”, and now we are faced with near ruination. I’m disgusted by all 100 senators and the entire House of Representatives. Every single one of them is partially responsible for the mess. And I don’t want to bail out individuals facing foreclosure who bought too much house for their incomes or were flipping houses. If you were too stupid not to figure out what you could afford, you deserve to be bankrupt!

The rich have ripped off the nation horribly since the time of Reagon, and especially during the past 8 years. A backlash is well deserved. However, Main Street has lived byond its means for years, with huge air conditioned houses, 2 car garages and gas guzzlers while the baby boomers careen towards retirement that the nation can not afford. America lives beyond its means with a horendous flow of dollars to China and to oil producers while we continue to maintain military bases in 60 nations. American workers can not compete with third world workers’ wages. Thank you globalization and thank you, Bill Clinton.

WE NEED A MAJOR RE-ORDERING TO LIVE WITHIN OUR MEANS OR WE WILL GO DOWN, as ever power before us has gone down.

This whole mess is disgusting and the result of something profoundly more fundamental than just money. An investment culture that lacked any sense of accountability or restraint. Worse yet, at some point people lost the moral responsibilty and ownership of their jobs – trading them in for bonuses. Obama may be on to something – maybe we need to restore some dignity to the American way of making a buck. Dignity, ethical responsibility, and a sense of moral duty to our neighbors not to wreck havoc on their meal ticket. Its been a long time coming – I for one said that the dow would be below 10,000 within 5 years back in ‘03 – it sucks to be right but when people are selling free money with promises of the american dream, then turning around and turning those “assets” into derivatives, which then inflate in value because they all get AAA ratings thanks to the brand name on their letterhead and everyone wants a piece of the action… I’m all for a free market but when did snake oil salesman get control of our white house, our banks, and our stock market? I mean wasn’t it obvious that there was no real tangible value to this scheme?

If you think of this current financial mess–and I mean not just the visible part, but the entire system of financial behavior that undergirds it–as an ecological metaphor, it becomes easy to see the obvious: it isn’t (and wasn’t) sustainable.

Everyone (except the deniers) gets the concept of peak oil: keep drilling, keep extracting, push consumption to the limits, and eventually the oil supply slows to a trickle.

Push economy the same way–grind and squeeze and intensify, under the ecologically false notion of endless growth–and the same thing happens: the gear-works goes ’sproing!’

Don’t try to pass off the anger and shock as some kind of class fury–however tempting that perspective. This blow-up indicts all of us. The fact is that thrift is ecological, and our entire culture has lost sight of that. If it wasn’t going to be one ecological near-catastrophe, it was going to be another. (It may yet well be.)

Sure, let’s put a band-aid on the current cut, but let’s none of us imagine that it cures the real disease.

Looks like it’s not passing…..This is a great beginning at getting our house of cards back in order. If for a second you think this bill will help long run, you are dead wrong. Forget the bail-out and let the market’s tank and just hope that this country’s foundation is not made of quicksand. Let the cat-6 hurricane make landfall and we can then pick up the pieces from there. If this bill eventually gets passed, it will be nothing but another patch to the underside of a drifting rubber boat, and the further out it drifts before finally capsizing, the longer it’s going to take for us to swim back to shore. Let the markets work assuming it’s not to late………….

We did it! All of our phone calls and emails to Congress opposing this bailout have made a difference! At least this one time the voice of the American electorate has been heard! Long live Democracy!

“Other People’s Money”
Keep the heat on the elected Representatives.They’ll keep running the ‘dead dog’ up the flag pole until the people in control get what they want.Their Best Interest is only that, Their Best Interest.
If we can’t afford it, we do not need it. Leave this mess until after January. It will make no difference to the working people. Only those who are addicted to their gambling with,
‘Other People’s Money’.

No it won’t alter financial institutions greed and avarice…just delay it for a while they grovel for more of the Great American Giveaway (GAG). This is still a country run by the rich for the rich and is not likely to change until Congress adopts Palin’s policy of “no lobbyists in my office”.

I wish that everyone would realize that this is something that stated with lack of regulation that allowed Wall Street do what they want, what did you expect would happen? Of course they don’t care! the time when big business cared about the ecconomy and people died a long time ago! without rules they took advantage of the system. Main street should not blame wall street but understand that they will be taken advantage of, if there are no rules to protect them. This bailout was a plan to keep the ecconomy rolling, things are bad, but they can get ALOT worse! and if our employers cannot afford to make payroll because they do not have liquidity we will all suffer the consequences. I hate that in order to avoid this from happeneing we need to “save” wall street, but that is better then a depression!

It has been the trend for CEOs to downsize, outsource, shrink, merge, destroy, and abandon (via golden parachute) corporations for a few decades now. The damage comes not from the Main Street backlash, but at the hands we’ve rewarded for practices that have ever more garanteed that products are not made in American and that American’s are ever less capable of serving the economic role of consumer.

It’s funny to see the new worry about class warfare. There’s been class warfare since the 1980s. It’s been the “upper class” (so they think) waging it. The “people” are just now fighting back. What goes around……

Just as the Great Depression of the pas, the current situation is merely a wealth transfer. Who really thinks that the Dupont’s, the Morgan Stanley’s, the Rockefeller’s, thus the richest 2% of the US were really hurt by the depression? And who really thinks that the richest 2% will be hurt by the current financial crisis? A wealth transfer of $700 billion, out of the pockets of main street people into the pockets of wall street’s richest 2%. Class fury? With $700 billion the richest 2% could care less.

Again I am expressing my objections to the bailout. CEO’s regardless of contracts should not get any “golden parachutes”. If they got the company into the mess, why should they be rewarded. If this is the “best and brightest” we are in serious trouble. Give them $50 and a mobile home.

The intentions of bailing out the U.S. banking industry are a knee-jerk reaction to wanting to keep things status quo. I do not agree with any sort of bailout process or funding of a program that will take one nickel out of my pocket.

Greedy bank practices and the lack of enforcement to weak existing banking laws appear to be the root-cause of this dilemma. Cull-out all violations, bring charges and swift justice to all involved, enact new banking regulation and then see where this market segment stands.

I totally oppose throwing good money after bad. I will not endorse any legislation nor support any congressional leaders that simply intend to throw money at this problem.

Let accountability come first; let the market adjust to where it belongs rather than artificially propping it up.

Criminals all. Thieves. When do the executions begin?

I am a small transport business and would like to be bailed out for the amount I owe on my transportation vehicles, $35,000 to purchase my vehicles as I go out of business – Do you believe my govenrment will use my tax dollars to bail me out or does “corporate America, wall street and business need this $35,000 for their $700 billion gift from me and all the taxpayers making less that $250,000 to several billion?????????

Timing was the essence, and Congress blew it big time!

The sad truth is that there is no $700 billion. Nobody has it. The Fed doesn’t have it, the banks that failed sure don’t have it, and the government doesn’t have it. Watch my mouth move very slowly, America: “This is your future tax money that they want to spend.” Have you noticed that every time Bush or Paulson opens their mouth they talk about moving quickly to spend your money to save their pals? Why don’t we try moving very slowly this time. Why don’t we ask congress to move very slowly and deliberately away from our money. Why are these titans of American banking and politics above the market? Because the sky is falling. If you don’t pay this money right now the sky will fall. No, sorry…it will not. Only the rich are being bailed out on this one. Stop the insanity. Stop the bailout.

As I had called out a Financial Armageddon, here in Fortune, back in February, I am uriging everyone to stand behind this bailout pogram for we are on the brink of another depression. The Congress needs to act on a package very soon. International investors are pulling out of Wall Street at a very fast and high rate. For their failure to pass a bailout plan by Saturday, a day before the Asian Markets opened, it has already caused a panic on Wall Street and to investors abroad. This has inflicted a wound that will take a long time to heal. If they don’t come to a conclusion today, then everyone better strap up their cash for the months ahead. The Democratic Congress can pass the plan the plans by themselves but they really need to come together as one party. If they would’ve passed it on Saturday, it would’ve staved off the turmoil we are seeing.
Hear me now, believe me later.

It should hurt “corporate” corrupt greedy business that have sucked us dry for decades. “Let them now eat cake” that they forced us to do.

The media should be making sure that we the “investors” know the names of the companies we are bailing out so we can pull or money from them and get them out of the business.

Thomas Jefferson was correct when he said something to the affect: “We should have a revolution every 20 years to keep the government honest.”

Kick out congress and divide the $700 billion to each homeowner(not each person) and we will all be able to pay off our mortgages and use our money to actually buy American and stimulate the economy the right way.

NO GOLDEN PARACHUTES!!

The problem isn’t that regular folks are only now realizing how wealthy Wall Streeters get while adding nothing of value to the world. That’s been known forever. It’s that 1) regular folks now realize that Wall Street doesn’t care, 2) there’s galling hypocrisy in free market fat cats running to the government now while condemning the government for the last 200 years, and 3) that regular folks, and especially people with very little money, are being BLAMED for living beyond their means. This is nuts. Also, the rich hate the poor. It’s a truism.

We need to hear more from third party candidates, they also have good ideas. Let Ralph Nader debate. And Ron Paul too, and other good Americans who have been talking about this for a long time, people who have concrete proposals to help ourselves out.

http://votenader.org

most americans are seeing their liquidity & their way of life erode faster than galveston foundations during hurricane ike. most of us feel powerless to do anything about this because we’ve lost control of our government. politicians aren’t responding to their constituents nor are they making time to ask for our opinions. they already know how we feel & are avoiding the discussion, hoping they can get by this upcoming election cycle. from now on, I plan to engage any politician I can in hardball questions. In addition, any company that tries to sell me a product will have to answer more questions than color & price. I do believe that it’s time for Americans to take ironclad control of their fiscal affairs.

Dear United States Government:

How much more is it going to take before you, the American government realize that America is falling apart?

Things aren´t going very well at all for us down here on Main Street.

We all understand that we must help and aid those in need, but when did the definition of those in need, change and include only the outer perimeter of the United States? Or, in more recent days, the upper political and financial echelon?

Look around you mighty United States Government. If things continue to follow the current path, eventually, there surely won´t be an America for you to lead. Hope and trust is fleeting fast and we; the American public needs help now!

We are your constituents, and yet we have no voice. We pay you an exorbitant salary through our tax dollars, yet we go without. We lose our pensions, while fat cat executives pocket millions. You take our hard earned money, and apply it to items that have no bearing on us. You spend our money like water, yet, when we need aid, you are not there.

We, the general public, scramble to be able to purchase basic necessities, while you, as elected officials, have them handed to you.

We, the general public, down here at Main Street, want to work. We want to provide for our families. However, many of your policies have cut our legs out from under us. What are our options? Overworking? Going without? Crime? Fraud?

Many people are currently living on unemployment benefits, which do not rise with current costs. They are living on these benefits, due to failed policies, due to jobs leaving our country, due to lack of oversight, and due to special interest taking precedent over the American hard worker.

Also, many people are attempting to live on minimum wage. A wage that is obscenely behind in the times. The cost of practically everything has risen. Do you realize that this is under $15,000 a year? How are we expected to keep up? You, the American Government, expect us to save money for retirement. How?

And, many people are having a tough time just finding a job.

I ask you, elected officials, when or what was your last raise or cost of living increase? Was it just a few pennies, or was it counted in dollars?

At one time we were prosperous. That was a time before we chose to place energy commodities above a life, in the name of democracy and a time when, the problems in America were mostly overlooked or ignored.

It’s time to start focusing on America NOW! It’s time to start focusing on America ONLY!

Sure, we, the American public, care about what happens outside our country. But, we cannot help anyone, if we cannot help ourselves.

On the other hand, we, the American people, also care about what happens inside our country. Even though, we rarely have a say so on anything. You, the American Government, are supposed to be working, not against us, not with us, but for us.

The housing crisis and Wall Street woes are only the beginning O’ mighty Government. Neither a fat cat bureaucratic bailout, nor printing more money is the answer. And, beware, the American people are speaking in droves concerning this bailout, (and, regardless what you attempt to call it, it is still a bailout), the backlash that WILL occur, will come from the hands of the people.

It’s common sense Washington D.C. Why don’t you realize that jobs and stopping job loss is the answer to most of these questions? Stop letting companies take jobs away from us. Start bringing jobs to America, instead of creating policies that enable them to leave with little or no repercussions. With everyone working, prosperous times would be inevitable.

Basically, start investing in America ONLY, and America will respond.

Do you, as elected officials, even care or think about us?

Do you realize that most of us would be happy with less that half of your salary? I would wager to say that if being a statesman paid $35,000 a year, we would certainly have less people running for office. And, those who did would only be the ones who sincerely cared.

Do you, as an elected official, truly feel that you are worth what we are paying you? Are you truly worth a triple digit income, paid for by the American people? Why don’t all of you take a pay cut? We could save millions.

And now, for the big question;

What is the difference between Republican and Democrat? They are both supposed to stand up for the American people, which, neither is. They are like little kids in a school yard. “No, you don’t get to play with my toys, unless…” or “I’m taking my ball and going home!”

One final statement…

While the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. Eventually, this will change as the poor can no longer contribute and enable the richer to get richer. God help us then.

Just remember Marie-Antoinette’s immortal words, “Let them eat cake,” and we all know where that led.

Sincerely,

Joe P. Taxpayer

Why don’t they use the bailout money to create jobs? With everyone working, prosperity is inevitable. Mortgages would get paid, and forclosures would decrease. What part of THERE ARE NO JOBS don’t they understand! Create jobs and the problems with the economy will cease. Oh, that’s right, we’re dealing with DC’s lack of common sense.

I am most concerned about the new “powers” that are being bestowed. The last time new “powers” were bestowed, it was called the Patriot Act.

Trust no one. Question authority.

It’s funny watching this all unfold. You can see the fear in the eyes of EVERY politician that is supporting this and pushing it in the media. Their voices crack, they appear to be on the verge of tears. But they are beholden to their corporate masters, they have NO choice, and they know it. Their masters are demanding the money, and they will pay. That is why they are pushing this through regardless what their we, their constituents, want. They know that which they have managed to push into the fringe conspiracy theory realm is now public knowledge very clear public knowledge. We elect fictional character puppets, who divide us on our personal beliefs, which NONE of them share, and conquer us with overblown fear. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!

In a word, Yes.

Fully justified.

I wonder how much on this problem and the proposed solution are related to lobbying. Who is really watching out for the interests of the us – taxpayer and voters. Prehaps the real fear of Wall Street and Washington is people might actually do something with their vote other than take it for granted.

My concern is the CEO’s getting their greedy hands on the bail out money. Enron is still very fresh in our minds.

And don’t forget how much money the oil companies and their CEO’s have been making from the American public.

Unless we work on the fundamentals of our economy and adequately regulate internal markets (like real estate as an investment market for example), this bailout is only going to spell disaster in the form of inflation, lack of money to pay mortgages with, further corruption…how do you just lose $700billion? Who’s doing the auditing on this?

I am disgusted with these morons they don’t even know if it will work. VOTE OUT all incumbents! If everybody saw this coming and did not Try shout to shout it from the rooftop’s then SHAME ON YOU! Where was the media when politicians and Wall Street was selling US down the river? What happen to the investigative reporting? Where the hell were all these educated talking heads? We need a viable third party and put Ron Paul in charge!

Lets call this what is is. The people involved with this bailout is committing the crime of treason against the American people and our country. They should be put in prison and all their assets used to “try” to correct their mistakes. It is time people start being responsible for their irresponsibility. Let your vote do the talking and vote anyone who supported this bailout out of office.

I am joining the ranks of the “disgusted with Washington politics” gang and do believe it is time for a change (and the democrats are just as guilty as everyone else, maybe even more so). Wall Street and the mortgage industry have betrayed the public trust and Congress sat back and let them do it. I am generally opposed to excessive government regulation but the financial industry has proven that it does not have the integrity to regulate itself. Obviously no code of ethics beyond “grab all you can while you can” exists. Wall Street executives need to be held personally liable for this castrophe and their assets frozen and their passports revoked until approiate legal action can be taken. Seizing of assets and jail should be their only future. This should go for a lot of the folks in Congress as well. Time for term limits in Congress, 12 years, no more. These folks are getting too settled in, fat and happy at the expense of the middle class. My intention at this point is to vote against every incumbent running for office this election, regardless of party affiliation. They are all guilty.

We Americans have ourselves to blame for the problems we’re in presently. We’ve all lived a life of only considering the moment, not the long-term consequences of our actions. As a country, we have a horrible rate of savings. We consume much more then any other country in the world, and we lay the bill for our selfish actions at the feet of future generations. Suddenly we’re being told that the bills are coming due much earlier then we thought, and we have to deal with the consequences now. I totally agree that excessive corporate pay is irresponsible. But we all agreed that that was the “American Way”, and accepted that simple excuse for acting irrationally. We’ve been told what to think for decades now, and it’s well past time for us to start to once again think and do for ourselves. Whoever wins in November, we CAN NOT allow Washington to do our thinking for us! Perhaps with this latest crisis, Americans will once again take responsibility for their actions.

Corporate America’s slogan… “Give me Liberty or give me a large cash settlement!”. Of course there will be a backlash and this won’t stop the coming recession or even make it any easier to get through. I have no doubt that, regardless of what hapens in the financial markets, that the real economy will dry up as everyone sits tight to see how things shake out. I cewrtainly expect my company’s business to dry up. I can imagine corporate executives saying “You want me to invest 100 million in Information technology? Get outta here”

This is just one more glaring example of capitalism out of control. Karl Marx was right when he said that capitalism would implode. Far too long corporations run by overpaid CEO’s have been allowed carte blanch, and in the words of Lee Iaccoca; “we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind…Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks but I don’t need it).” (Where Have all the Leaders Gone?, 2007)all in the name of capitalism. This is just one more reason the Employee Free Choice Act should be passed unanimously by the Senate to help restore the balance, and force companies to share in the wealth. Working class people settled this country, (farmers, blacksmiths, etc.) and it is the working class that will keep this country running.

” Do you think that’s true?

Indeed I do. I, for one, will be checking to see and if any of my state representatives voted for the bailout, then I will not be voting for them when the time comes.

No, and I don’t see it as “populist”. I don’t support the bailout – not because I’m angry with the rich, or because I want to strike a blow in the holy name of class warfare, but because I believe in personal responsibility, and the root of this bailout is all about excusing the poor decisions of large institutions to ride the mortgage gravy train under the guise that our nation cannot function without these institutions.

Just the same way that I don’t support a bailout for a homeowner who got into a mortgage he or she could not afford, I also do not support an investment firm bailout for bad mortgages that they cannot afford. These people were lobbying like crazy to prevent regulation in the market, and now they’re panhandling for taxpayer dollars when things turn upside down. Whatever happened to “not guaranteed, may lose value?” Why must the buck stop with me? Would a market devoid of easy credit be that bad? Why are people so convinced that we really NEED these institutions?

This would piss off a good man.

It just burns the h*ll out of me.

I couldn’t say if this is going to create a general backlash, but I can tell you it will effect my attitude for years to come.

SIZE MATTERS, and big is now bad. I am keeping my money in a small local bank, I am buying produce at the local farmer’s market, I am buying bread at the local only-has-one-store bakery, – you get the idea.

Oh, and I moved every dime out of the stock market a while ago and it aint never going back.

“…and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Seems like I read this somewhere before. As I have been able to determine by the information available, “the people” (myself included) do not want this bailout in any shape form or fashion. I do have the mental capacity, regardless of what our government may think, to make this decision and understand the possible consequences. I am willing; as one of the people, to take on the consequences and live with them so that my children, and theirs, might have a better life. No Bailout! Let these companies stand or fall on their own. They made their decisions. Let them live with them like I am willing to live with mine.

Why do people blame those few that failed to pay their mortgage for this mess?

This economic failure is far wider, deeper and global than the “average Joe” can comprehend if that’s what they believe!! The investment community has begged, borrowed and stolen money to keep this bubble floating.

The failed mortgages were just the straw. What boils my blood is that the least able are once again expected to pay the manor’s debts.

I thought that our First Revolution was supposed to build a country where the peons didn’t have to pay for the excesses of the King. Apparently, we NEED a Second Revolution to fix this!!

I Am For Financial Bail out Providing these terms are meet in full! 1. All CEO’s should give up 70% of their assets to help bail out the corp. they have failed. 2. Salaries caped at $150,000 per year. 3. Those that have failed their corp. Terminated without pay. 4. All CEO’s that have put this country in the current mess that its now in be held accountable and jailed for a financial crime that could have been avoided. Thank you very much. Have a wonderful day!

Too little, and way too late. The widespread impression is that Wallstreet will escape unscathed, and that the taxpayers will be the ones to foot the bill. A segment of the U.S. business world is getting the recognition (notoriety?) it richly deserves, but not the punishment. Those who escaped with muti-million dollar payouts had best keep their profiles low-to-invisible. The palpable anger of the middle class is only begiining to be felt. And to think you had a chance to elect Ron Paul, and blew it!!

The absolute best any politician can say at this point is that they are saving the wealthy and corporations. If this is not passed, these entities will begin to fall. They are telling us that we (average and poor America) will also be hurt.
Question: Are these entities not aware that they have been torturing us for the last 5 years?

If my daughter had my credit card & over spent the limit, would I allow her to keep my credit card & give her more money? Let’s not be ridiculous! Of course not! Why should any American tax payer give a single cent to bail out the US stock market & failing US banks because these entities over spent their limits? The Federal & state governments need to do their jobs & prosecute the greedy thieves – not bail them out!

Of Course! Whenever there is excess at one side of the economy, there is bound to be excess at the other. In this case, the re-action will be as large and long lasting as the original. Like times before this, those with wealth will have to be very careful about flaunting it – it’s not in good taste anymore.

One should protect the guy that saved with limited knowledge and only promised returns of slew bankers. let Wall street fail, in wild-wild-west: Hang them high!

Proper control over Wall street is needed once and for all. Let us never ever forget what they have done upon us that worked hard, saved for old age and now lost most. Their golden parachutes… that money is mine, return it now or face future consequences.

So, the new “rescue plan” is supposed to tell Wall Street that the “party is over…”, yet they will continue to do business as usual, but has anyone thought about the fact that Wall Street may turn on the government under the new rules and regs? I think that might be showing in this morning’s DOW drop of 300 points. Instead of pumping the funds into the accounts of irresponsible people, why not give Main Street the $700 billion and let us boost the economy in our own way instead of punishing us?

The bail out will back fire on the upper management of these Corporations in a way they have never seen.
If prison time for the greedy CEOs and any Management involved is not in the bail out, Government will be the ones to suffer. A blanket replacement of every Politician and the biggest push for impeachment in ever state in this union.

Yes, I think there will be a backlash… but it won’t have much influence. Given the power of big business to influence Washington coupled with the inherent greed of both, I suspect there will be little change. I’m generally not in favor of “more government oversight”, but the laws that allowed this fiasco to take place were woefully inadequate and the lack of fiscal oversight by the Government simply let greed run it’s natural course. It should be painfully obvious to anyone with the ability to add two plus two, that federal oversight of our financial markets needs tough reform. And as for the bailout, I say let the free markets go where they may. America needs a swift kick in the pants and lessons need to be learned by Wall Street and Main street alike. After the carnage, we will emerge stronger and smarter. An economy based primarily on real estate is a house of cards and it needs to fall. Let the foreclosures continue and let the real estate values fall. It needs to happen.

I have to admit I’m not a financial wizard so I don’t know exactly what will happen one way or the other. I am financially sound because I don’t do credit. No cash/no buy! The government can’t possibly run the companies they want to bail out. If I ran my business the way the government is run I would have been sued many times over. This is suppose to be a government run by the people for the people. That’s B.S. It’s run by a bunch of greedy morons that only want whats best for themselves. NO BAILOUT IN ANY FORM. LET THE CARDS FALL WHERE THEY MAY!!!!!!

I sure hope there is a backlash. FINALLY, people are realizing these corporations, wealthy investors and this administration are PIRATES and they have been PLUNDERING this country for years! They are like locusts that decimate the land, they are parasites on the backs of working people. I know I won’t stand for it.

I am a life-long Republican, but TOO MUCH IS ENOUGH!!! The outrageous excesses perpetrated in the last few years by Wall Street and Corporate America on the rest of the population are beyond the pale and deserve all the scorn and fury that Main Street can heap upon them. I am deeply ashamed that our Government allowed – and sometimes encouraged – these things to happen. Now we are ALL going to pay for it, and when we’re done, we will be no better off than we are now.

We have once again to bail out those who have. It is common place that the working class must always bolster and fix what the upper class has screwed up. It drives home the point that many americans are just sick and tired of having to fix there mistakes. If I did this with my home budget, these very same people I am bailing out, would kick me to the street. So yes, there will and should be a major backlash on thoe who have once agian dropped the ball.

It is time for the American people to stand up and say NO MORE! Our elected officials do not live on MY street. Where was the ‘bailout’ when record numbers of homes were being foreclosed? When jobs were being lost? If I called the government and said I can’t pay my mortgage because I lost my job, do you think they would bail me out??? If they are using OUR money then stimulate the economy by helping US — If all homeowners mortgage rates were reduced to under 5% that would stimulate the economy and help the average American. Guarantee small business loans, reward those banks and lending institutions that are healthy because they have done the right thing all along. Let the large, greedy ones fail as they should. Middle America would benefit, and we would send a clear message to those that helped make this mess that we will not stand for this anymore!

The President is forcing the American taxpayers to buy the trash that no one wants. A national referendum will show a resounding no to the rescue plan (if could be so-called). One cannot help but notice that Bush’s family happens to have strong ties to oil business. God bless America.

Everyone talks about the war we are fighting in the Middle East. In my opinin we are fighting a war at home and the enemy is IRRESPONSIBILITY. To blame one particular group or person for this country’s financial woes is irresponsible. ALL Americans needs to ask themselves ‘What can I do to be a more financially responsible person?’ If you have a $400k house you can’t afford then you should not be spending $250 on a pair of shoes. You should be doing everything in your power to pay the mortgage. If you are in credit card debt you should not be going out to eat every weekend. If you buy the same magazine every month, subscribe to the magazine and save yourself $30. Set up savings accounts for Xmas spending so you don’t get into even more credit card debt after the holidays. Parents need to teach their children to be financially responsible. Parents, make teenagers get a job and make them pay for their own gas so they can have a better understanding of this country’s money problems. Throw money into savings and money market accounts for the long term. This ENTIRE country has to work together to help our economy recover. It’s OUR economy. It’s OUR money. It’s OUR country. WE ALL NEED TO STEP UP AND MAKE AN EFFORT.

This is insane and no one wants it! Let the market crash, too much credit is what got us into this mess and more bailouts will just compound the problem in the long run. They are just trying to buy enough time to avoid the fire….

There is no one getting fired or locked up for this theft. Our jobs were given away in the name of “Free Market”, now they are giving away our money in the name of welfare for Wall Street.

Here they go again. “Our” congress protecting the big money people who control them. Democrat/Republican alike. Wall Street can stand on its head and spin around. If I make a bad decision I have to live with it. Not the Big Boys. Here how much money do you need the taxpayer will give it to you!! Vote everyone of these out who vote for this. Don’t tell me I have to keep the rich, rich while telling me that the market works with no rules. Fat hogs on wall street getter fatter while the rest of the country pays their feed bill.

The majority of people don’t want a Wall Street bailout. Congress is saying “You don’t know what you’re doing” and ignoring the will of the people. They are partly right – we apparently didn’t know what we were doing when we elected them. I hope we won’t make that same mistake again.

I’d like to offer free career counseling to any politician who keeps saying “something must be done”. They will be looking for a new job November 5 if they vote for this ridiculous bailout, in any form it takes.

Any congressman or senator voting for this massive boondoggle MUST be voted out of office this coming November.

The “plan,” such as it is, will not work and the taxpayers will be asked to fork over trillions of dollars again and again.

We voted these idiots into office and these same buffoons are now telling us how to fix things. To fix things, the very first step is to throw this collection of morons and thieves out of office – if not into prison.

SEC oversite, more transparency! More BS to come folks! How can they possibly oversee something that has been offshore outsourced etc. The Sarbanes auditors know nothing of software and would never be able to tell if the IT books are being cooked. The IT people that have all been let go because of outsourcing overseas are the only ones that are trained to see any faults. The government is blowing more smoke up our tails. We need to bring our jobs back in country and monitor WALL Street. We can start with Systems and Networks and get the American Society of Quality involved. At the moment, the SEC execs are lunching at Delmonico’s with the WALL street thieves. It’s hiring the wolf to watch the hen house!

OK we took our deposits out of Washington Mutual and Wachovia and bankrupted those banks. Now it’s timt to bankrupt Chase, Well Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup, MetLife, U.S. Bancorp, Bank of New York Mellon and Sun Trust.

Our money has in God we trust written on it and right now He is the only one we can trust. If we take our money out of these Wall Street Banks and put it in local banks that would pretty much end the bail out of the Wall Street super rich.

I say move your money today. Show congress by voting with your bank account.

I have long believed that executive pay and benefits should be capped at publicly held corporations. Hopefully this bailout will shed light on the abuses and excess pay (including options abuse and seperation clauses) that executives and boardmembers give to themselves. Without regulation, executives simply cannot help themselves from helping themselves at our expense.

I believe this will cause future problems down the line for all Americans, where are we getting all this money. They say from the tax payers but in all truth we are going to barrow it again from China. also this will cause further inflation, further American debt, and the us will have to print more paper money. this again will lower the American dollar. President bush stated if this doesn’t pass we will see Americans loose jobs, homes will be foreclosed on etc.. apparently he has still no hold on the American worker because Americas has been loosing jobs and loosing their homes for a a long time . is he just now waking up he stalled when we were attacked on 911 he has stall on the economy the only thing he hasn’t stalled on was making money for his oil buddies. There are many other ways to solve this instead of throwing money we don’t have into the system. This is a huge global recession, why give money to the greedy when they have caused this not the middle class. This will not help the flow of credit but put money into big business ceos and stock holders pockets.

Everything about this crisis is outrageous. Once again, it’s the working class Americans who will have to pay for the greed of Wall St. and their political cronies. While a “bailout” of some sort is necessary to avoid a total meltdown of the entire system, much more needs to be done to insure that it can’t conntinue, and those responsible must be punished. NO “golden parachutes” past, present, or future. Before any bailout can proceed, any of those involved should be forced to pay their fair share and return the obscene sums of money they they acquired by financially raping the American people. Then serve prison time.
Paulson should resign or be fired just for suggesting that we give him 700 billiion with no oversight.

I am totally disgusted!! Vote out the incumbents!! What happens when a small business gets in trouble because of BAD business? They go under and someone else takes their place.(ie capitalism). Let these disgustingly greedy CEOs go to prison for endangering the gemeral welfare of the people(part of the preamble of the constitution). NO BAILOUTS for scumbags!!!

Yes, it will.

The average American is utterly furious about this.

Congress is giving us taxation without representation on this issue Remember what happened last time that was forced on Americans?

No bailout! When markets are high, we are rewarded. When markets are low, Wallstreet is rewarded. We spend more than we earn, consume more than we produce, and borrow more than we save. The Fed and Wallstreet are fools to think that this can go on forever. We need the markets to correct themselves.

The kicker about this bill is the fact that base wages were not how CEO’s typically raked up millions in a year.

How it is done:

There are provisions out there for tax deductions for “performance based bonuses” such as stock options, it is tricky but it is common practice. Most CEO’s in the past couple of years have gotten these “bonuses” even when the company was tanking. Loopholes like these put into place by our government create a viscious loop where the working class gets messed over.

Another point. How the hell were salaries over $500,000 ever allowed to be given a tax break for any company anyways, I don’t care what they feed us this is bull. Let’s do a little role play.

I am a CEO for a big company. We had to pay “far too many” taxes last year, we shouldn’t have to do that. Here is a great idea, give me a higher salary there is a tax bonus. Oh and also give me stock options at a lower market value, I think that is a way to relieve our tax burden.

You know just for a little icing, lets lay off thousands of people as well. We have to cut corners as it is, and we need to fund these tax relief ideas.

Who votes for my idea??? Man, I should be a CEO.

These captains of finance through Hubris and Greed lent money to people who should have never been leant to in order to further their own short term profits using computer models that could not all the scenarios in the real world, when common sense should have said enought. They made enormous bonuses out of this activity for years before they crashed and burned and took the US financial system with them. Now we are rewarding that activity and bailing them out.

I hope they don’t think that they can revive the securization model that brought them to the edge to revive lending and the financial world. The chocolate covered dog poop in the candy box of securities only works until buyer figure out that the poop (bad loans) is in there with the good ones in the basket of securities that investors used to buy at auction.

Its simple to me, just send a message loud and clear, vote this in and on November teh 4th. Everyone votes independent. Then its Obama and McCain’s necks on the line if thsi goes through. It woudl be a fantastic show of democracy!

I’m confused. Wasn’t the FDIC established to Bailout Depositors? The FDIC now has, approximately, 55 Million$. When that money runs out let FDIC go to FED for replenishment of money, as needed. Why this NEW Authority to Treasury to disburse money when FDIC already in place to do so, on a Need basis? Wall Street, let it go under!!! Savings Protect, Gambles Never!

Let’s see: A few months ago 300 Billion bailout for Stearns Bear, another 700 Billion this past weekend, 25 Billion sop to the US automakers …. AND SOMEHOW not ONE so-called “Representative” in the Senate or Congress is responsible? Dem Barney Frank and Dem Chris Dodd …. if they were Republicans …. would be crucified in the so-called MSM. As it stands, nobody in Congress is responsible for anything.

No bailout for the rich!!! Congress is placing an additional hidden tax on us all right under our noses by devaluing the dollar faster than ever before by increasing the money supply, creating $$ out of thin air. Inflation is the increase in the money supply, increases in prices is the net result of $$ that have become worth less. Wake up Americans, it’s not just the corporate greed that is doing us in but also the politicians of both houses who are drunk with $$ from their favorite lobby. Do you think that they would get this excited if this wern’t an election year?
All involved need to be prosecuted, fired, voted out, etc. They are literally stealing our hard earned money, retirement $$ included. How many more lies are we going to swallow from teh politicians, big business , and their puppets in the media???

UNLESS YOU HAVE $300 PER MONTH YOU WISH OR CAN MUSTER FROM YOUR ACCOUNT TO GIVE THOSE PIGS, WHICH IS WHAT IS ESTIMATED WILL AT LEAST COST YOU, THEN YOUR ONLY, AND I REPEAT ONLY CHOICE YOU ARE GIVEN HERE IS TO TAKE YOUR MONEY AND HIDE IT…

Since this is now a done deal…
1) Everyone involved with causing this over the past few years, politician and business person alike, should go to jail.
2) All current incumbents should get voted out of office this election, have their assets seized and put into the workforce like the rest of us.
Since they think this is such a good idea, why not make them work for a living like the rest of us?

That 700 billon? Don’t give it to the greedy little pigs who’ve been rolling in it so long, split it up and give it to the people. That’s enough money for every working adult over the age of 18 to have enough money to cover anything they should need or want. That would boost our economy in the best sort of way.

Giving a bailout to these companies who are run by CEO’s getting giant checks for nothing is tantamount to patting a murderer on the head and telling them to “run along and play”. As a taxpayer and a working American, I am disgusted.

I am enraged … not only with Wall Street but with the Democrats. They resisted efforts of reform and ignored warnings that the house of cards was going to collapse. When Pelosi said that no blame should be laid at the Democrats feet, she showed the arrogance that has been a common theme with members of congress … both with Republicans and Democrats. If one does not acknowledge errors, nothing can change in future behavior.

I will vote against all incumbants who are in office come Nov. 4. Here in New York, it’s all Democrats.

For several years I’ve been telling anyone who would listen that executive pay packages risk a class war in America. The “Average Joe” is not stupid. They see what goes on, and the natural reaction is “Hey, pay me a few million dollars to drive a company into the ground. I can do that as well as them!” The complete disconnect between performance and pay in excessive compensation packages, and the unbounded greed that created them is finally reaping the predictable result.

It is quite amazing that no politician is bringing up the fact that Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Clinton administration pushed financial institutions to make bad loans to low income and no income folks to allow every one home ownership right with disregards to whether or not if they can afford it. The same no good fat pigs are trying to help us out of this mess now by once again bailing out wall street. Why are the republicans playing ” Dead ” ? Why is no one pointing the fingers to those who caused the problem ? Why didn’t Bush’s administration enforce the regulations ?I am sick and tired of all of them, Republicans and democrats are at fault. We as Americans with common sense need to take action. We need to clean house. Fire them all and start fresh. When our favorite sports team does not perform up to par we ask for coaches and general managers to be replaced. Why is it that our politicians don’t perform well but yet term after term they get reelected ?
We need a new party, PEOPLE’s PARTY to keep both republicans and democtrats honest.

We are witnessing the implosion of America. There was a Russian Tsar who once said the United States would fall without a single shoot being fired. What did he know that our government does not? This county was founded on a saying, a government of the people, for the people, by the people. It needs to change to, a government of the rich, for the rich, by the rich. An the truth is we have nobody to blame but ourselves. For so long the middle class American has ridden along, content with having a good life while the rich get richer. There is no Corp executive out there worth over 2 million a year. When I see an executive making 10 million a year that just tells be the company they work for could be selling their product for allot less. The mortgage companies new exactly what they were doing when they OK’ed loans that should have been refused. Why do you think they sell the loan five times the first year? So everyone could get their price of the pie. Middle Class American needs to let their voice be heard. It is time our Government started listening to what we have to say. America’s middle class does not need to pay for the back handed tactics of Corp America. Our Government needs to wake up and remember who they represent.

We had to borrow the money from China for the economic stimulus (yeah right)package, so where is the money coming from to bail out the financial sector?? Good ol’boy politics as usual, and hard working, middle class Americans who pay their bills, just got stuck with another one!!!

There is no doubt there was a lot of excess of many kinds and a lot of overpaid CEOs on Wall St.

However, Main St. is kidding itself if they think the problem was caused by Wall St. I would like to remind everyone the problem was caused by the following: Main St making a bad investment decision and buying homes, often on speculation, and taking on mortgages it could not afford thinking home prices would rise forever, then defaulting on those mortgages, i.e, not paying one’s debts (I assume Main St is comprised of adults, in which case they cannot blame the seller for selling them the homes, nor the lenders who lent them the money).

Wall St doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Like a dept store, a hardware store, a law firm, etc, it exists to serve Main St because Main St and Main St’s employers need money. Wall St helps provide the liquidity that Main St is asking for. If America could live within its means and be free of debt, there would be far less need for Wall St.

Furthermore, Main St. might want to realize that given the amount of debt Main St. has taken on in the form of mortgages, and loans, and credit card debt, as well as the amount of debt Main St.’s employers have taken on, there would be dire consequences, on Main St. in particular, if the financial markets failed to function. The Great Depression, with mass unemployment, mass starvation, etc, all that would recur instantly without healthy and functioning financial markets.

All this talk about insulating Main St. from Wall St or letting Wall St suffer the consequences of its own stupidity…all this talk is borne out of ignorance and self-denial. The problem facing America is a culture of excess consumption based on debt.

For my country, my childern, and myself.

I will NOT vote for ANYONE who approved this!

The bailout is a crime against the taxpayers of this country. We are a 2 income family in New England that has always practiced financial responsibility and they can’t have my money! I say let these companies fail. Let the free market win and lets have a fire sale. The government wants us to believe we’ll suffer a long recession if we don’t bail them out. I’m OK with that! I’ll do it to make a point and if we all get onboard, we can FINALLY turn Washington around to act on behalf of the people who work hard to live within their means and lead financially responsible lives. Regulate these bastards so this doesn’t happen again, cap executive salaries, I’m all for that. But John Q. Public shouldn’t pay for the irresponsible ways of these idiots.

NO BAILOUT!

I no longer care about the health of U. S. companies, business “leaders” or wealthy investors. I used to think that the French Revolution was extreme and excessively violent. I now understand the feelings that the common man must have experienced. Louis XVI and his darling Marie got exactly what they deserved. I only hope I live long enough to see the same happen to corporate boards and CEO’s and the entire bunch of crooks in Washington that are in bed with them.

So is everyone still going to vote for McCain or Obama? Once this bill is passed neither of them will claim it’s their work and they will both point fingers at one another. Ron Paul says, “No” to this kind of stuff all the time and he is usually the only one that does it. I am voting for Ron Paul because he has clearly indicated from the start of all this that he would never ever support such a deal regardless of what it means for him personally, regardless of what it means for him professionally.

I don’t know if it will, but it should. Main Street — struggling to pay for heat, gas and food — just the basics is called once again to bail out the high-flyers who can spend five figures on a single meal. This is not what democracy was intended to be about.

Sounds to me like everyone here is smarter that those Buffoons in Washinton and I agree with all of you…however we the people need to make sure our voices are heard…so contact Obamas campaign, McCains campaign….your Senator or House Representative and let them know you will not support them if they don’t support you…all is easy to find on the Internet…just type in US Senate, Congress etc

It is time we Americans stop being treated like we don’t have the sense to know what is going on.

There is something inherently wrong with this bailout…true accountabilty from Wall Street to Washington…and if we don’t fix this now by taking back our rights as citizens to be represented by our leaders than we might as well hang it up now.

On a final note…like all of Bush’s “crisis” issues I find the timing of this one very suspect since we all know this has been a problem for quite sometime and it was never addressed but here we are just a few months from him leaving office and now he needs $700 billion to bailout his buddies on Wall Street? this looks to me not only like a golden parachute but studded with diamonds.

I certainly do not want to lose my retirement funds but that is all long term savings anyway right? I would also like to be able to get a loan for a home or a car or my small business but if it means giving the Fed a blank check every time they feel like it, then forget it. I do not need a loan to get by nor do I need my retirement right now. Let those people pay for their own problems, don’t use force and brutality (taxes) on me to pay for this mess.

My wife and I work at a factory in Missouri. We each earn a modest income that doesn’t get us very far anymore. It seems to all go for increased gas, food, electricy etc etc. I don’t contribute to 401K any longer as it is just a means for the wealthy to take my money. I do not support any bailout because it is just to bail out the wealthy. I am encouraging all family and friends to vote any politician that supports this bailout out of office. The people have the power to stop corporate and politcal corruption and greed we just have to ban together as Americans.

avoiding specifics for brevity I get the distinct impression that these people running our country have no idea what they are doing. that sentiment has nothing to do with partisan sway and it really annoys reading and listening party blamin for what is essentially unbridled greed taking advantage of unlimited sources of desperate need. this has nothing to do with the gop or anything else, we are a land of people in trouble. stop pointing fingers and realize that which built and sustains this country is now in our face. the iranian nitwit was correct about one thing, we are in trouble. and I agree that the bailout infuriating but the alternatives are scary. fundamental issues at stake here, not partisan malarkey.

The news headline $700 billion dollars sold to the Taxpayers of America – for bad loans! says all there is to be said.

Again the every day worker and small business will be paying this debt that was incurred by poor business practices and loan sharks who set these corporations up to fall because they knew OUR GOVERNMENT WOULD BAIL THEM OUT read the laws – it was done with the deregulation of banks and the stop of the USURY LAW – you want a real truth about how this came to happen – it is greed of the rich – and now we are slowly eliminating our middle class.

As two years ago when the sub prime mortgages started surfacing as problems and today we have the problem with so many foreclosures as predicted; this bailout will in time take away again money from out tax payers, money for education, money for our postal workers, money for welfare and foodstamps, money for the medicare and social security, money for elderly, money for our hospitals, money to support our soldiers. This is only a fraction of things that this will effect.

Short term bandaids don’t fix the gaping open bleeding wound!

I have voted Republican for 28 years. Never again.

I certainly hope American consumers at all levels of income learn a lesson from this. Don’t spend over your wallet. Don’t buy everything they try to cram down your throat. Demand a new way of doing business by doing your own business differently.

It’s not s bailout! It’s a stick up on hard working Americans!

To all who claim we small businesses will suffer if we don’t use credit: I own a yarn shop. I pay my credit card bill in full every month. I will survive just fine on no credit. what ever profit I make from sales this month will be what I buy next month. Is that so hard to figure out? This bailout will be worse than foregoing the credit. If no one wants my yarn, I won’t buy anymore. I can put my $878.00 Social Security Check into a Certificate of Deposit instead. That is my only income other than my yarn sales. Let’s let some of the billionaires figure out how to survive on that! This bailout will reduce the value of the money I have saved for my retirement in the form of a modest amount of CD’s. About one third of my assests are in a pension which I doubt will be worth much in the next five years, if ever. Hyperinflation follows every time the government prints out more fake money (no gold to back it up). by the way, if I could get a job, I would not be in the yarn business. The real solution is for Americans to start making the products we buy again and receive a resonable wage for out labors.

Let the Wall Street crowd cleanup their own mess! If I hear about one more golden parachute worth millions I am gonna puke!

It is amazing what is going on. So called leaders are not listening to the American public. Paulson is worried if these scum bags do not have golden parachute they will not take part in this? So what let them go belly up then. Congress can go to hell too, they are lining there pockets at our expense. I am only 43 and I never thought I would live to see the day when US becomes a 3rd world country. Like to see all these morons voted starting with Pilosi, Dodd, Reid, but will never happen I am afraid.

I’m an expatriate American. I’ve withdrawn all my retirement assets from the stock market. I’ve had enough of the fraudulent and cynical behaviour of far too many business people. I’m going to use the money withdrawn to pay cash for a house to live in (not speculate on). I’m going to invest in LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS, not large corporations. I’ve stopped patronising any big corporation I can possibly avoid, even if I have to pay more to buy from a small business, where I can expect honest behaviour. Support local businesses; deal with people you know.

I do not want 700 billion on my credit card, put there by mindless politicians. The economy is like mother nature, leave it alone and it will weed out the unecessay things. like greedy corporations who make stupid decisions.
A “buy in” is nothing but a “bail out” with a political slant.
NO – NO – NO

This is a war against any congressman who backs this bill, this is a war against Wall street. This is a war against Corporate America. Middle America still has their wallets and votes to fight with and we will and we have to win. It’s us against them and WE CAN WIN because our wallets and votes can bring these traitors down to their knees. Use your weapons, Middle America, tie up your purse strings, vote against those who vote against us!

No banker in his right mind would make a loan on the prospect that it MIGHT be! I refuse to guarantee a debt I cannot pay. Yet, Congress is now acting in the same way as the robber barons, and they don’t even know the value of the collateral to be taken!

I told my congressmen to vote NO! At least I’ll be able to tell my grandchildren I refused this debt, but was forced by the robber barons and Congress to put my grandchildren into debt. A debt even they will not be able to re-pay.

The White House and Congress is treating the symptoms and not the disease. Unfortunately, the are my current doctors through no choice of mine.

Don’t let this happen! Email not only your congressmen, but all who orchestrated this “Financial (Iraq) Crisis.”

Richard Ferguson
Cleveland Heights, OH

The first thing to recognize is that these characters on Wall Street, these “Captains of Industry” and “Financial Giants” are infants, children, and utterly ill-equipped to look beyond their next glut. Having these fools in charge of our economy is no better than putting a child in charge of your diet. They don’t grow businesses, they don’t invest, not as rule. What they do is feed. And they feed on us. There is a place for investment, and there is such a thing as an investor, but they are found much more rarely on Wall Street than anyone of those pompous fools currently there is capable of admitting. We must return to a scene where an investor is someone interested in the future existence of a company and is not just a parasite sucking until the victim is dead.

People will forget. After a few months, most will grow complacent and go back to sports, Pro Wrestling, video games, soap operas, or whatever self-indulgent diversion normally occupies their time. This is a country where a major retailer like Circuit City publicly fires all of their “best” employees to save a buck, and the next day their parking lot is still full of apathetic customers…

What ever happened to the trickle down effect? Main Street should bearly feel the what’s happening here, and yet… We the people are told we could loose a lifetime of work if we do not support all of this. What happened to the Market…now it is simplely marketing.

I think (as a 63-y.o. Caucasian female, who took Social Security early in order to survive and works part-time for a small local newspaper) that it’s time for the smaller, more innovative corporations to rise through their principles. Let the big guys go down, if they aren’t smart enough to revise their strategies to use “real” money (if there is any such thing). Of course, one way to immediately have a whole bunch of money stay in this country is to END THE IRAQ WAR. It wouldn’t solve all the problems, but we’d have our best and brightest home with their families. Let the Iraqis rebuild their own nation.

I have no idea, but I find it amazing that “corporate America” is adamantly against any kind of “socialism,” even democratic socialism. Please explain to me what this bail-out plan is. Surely corporate socialism? Had the $700 billion bail-out been for health care or education, “corporate America” would have unleashed its power to defeat it at any cost.

SAVE WALL STREET, NO!!! THEY SHOULD HANG THE CROOKS WITH A RED,WHITE AND BULE ROPE.

No bailout for these crooks. Acording to this survey 51% of the american people are against this! That is not going to make any difference at all. when the minority rules as it does in this country anymore, this is what you get!

Folks, this is what happens when people get greedy. Once Democracy and Capitalism is turned into Materialism, we get into a “bubble” situation like this every once in a while. It happened in Europe, Asia, Latin America, now it’s the USA’s turn. Believe it or not, with or without the bailout, everybody will be hurt. That’s the sad truth from my experience abroad during financial crises. Better be prepared

I left the States a few months after Bush first seized control of the US government back in 2001.

That was a long time ago and the US has been in a downward spiral ever since. Now it is better described as ‘freefall’.

Should we bail out Wall Street? NO.

Will the bail out happen? Yes.

Will the bailout invoke a fury from working American? I hope so.

But the part that everyone is missing is what the FED and bankers have hidden behind the 700 billion figure.

‘The draft legislation (Bailout) doesn’t mention the Fed in the three- line section that would provide the interest-payment authority. The bill says that the part of the 2006 law giving the Fed the power “is amended by striking `October 1, 2011′ and inserting `October 1, 2008′.”’
Read more here – BLOOMBERG http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=ak0Npsdf78js&refer=home

What does this mean?
All banks are required to hold a proportion of their customers’ deposits in an account at the federal reserve (a private Bank). The federal reserve can set the the interest rate to what ever they wish.

Hmmm, hmm, hmmm, what a big smoke screen.
Even more power to the Federal Reserve.

The Bush administration used “mushroom cloud” scare tactics to start an unnecessary war and this “financial crisis” is more of the same. Not Bush, Cheney, Paulson, Bernanke, or any of the congressional politicians have yet demonstrated the reality of a true financial crisis impacting middle America. Paulson was CEO of Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs does about $21 Billion of business with AIG; and when the $85 Billion rescue of AIG was negotiated, Paulson’s replacement at Goldman Sachs was in the room. This whole mess is a Wall Street problem and Wall Street should fix it. All of these big investment companies should restructure, merge or sink. Middle America did not create the problem, and Middle America should not pay for the fix!

What do I think? I’ll tell you what I’m doing about it. Next filing season, my husband and I are not filing a federal return. Enough is enough. We’ll pay our states and local taxes, but we’re paying our federal taxes to our home state of Wisconsin. The state can take it or leave it, but the Fed isn’t getting another dime from us. The rich are, well, rich. They can take care of themselves. We’re gonna do our part to derail this gravy train before it leaves the station.

Democrats and Republicans are equally to blame for the mess we’re in right now. Our votes don’t count for a thing anymore, only our tax dollars. Our taxes are the only thing that we have left in the fight against corporate greed.

It’s the money, people! That’s what matters to a bunch of bankers and politicians. They’ll keep on scamming us until we end it ourselves. Me and my husband have already made our decision. How about you?

I am truly disappointed. I thought our elected officials would see through the Fear Factor Lies of Mr. Bush and his gang of thugs! Well, it is obvious that neither They or Mr. Bush, his cronies, the Wall Street bunch and the rest of our dear elected officials could care less of what the people are saying. They will vote for this garbage and they will pass this regardless of the opposition by them American People. I think that we as Americans should stand up and remove them all from office. Here’s a real solution, take $85 Billion, less than the proposed $700 Billion and divide that amongst every eligible American 18 and over, that amounts to about $235,000 thousand dollars. We, the American Consumer could do alot to boost the econmy with that money and do a better job than Wall Street or Corporate America will ever do. We could pay down our mortgages or at least reduce the debt to a more manageable size just by appyling $100 thousand to the balance. This would help alleviate the financials books and put money into the financial system. We could all buy a new fuel efficient car which would save on oil consumption, help in reducing CO2 and create or sustain jobs and we would still have money left over to pay for our childrens education, investments and savings and our pensions. Let the Free Markets work they way it is intended. Let the Capitalist burn for their greed. No bail out or what they now want to call buy-in. It’s all a bunch of lies! No, instead the idiots at Washington, insist on taking care of their own. This is just the classic recipe: “The Rich keep getting Richer on the backs of the Middle Class”. I think it’s time to revolt and create a new form of Government. Neither the Republicans or the Democrates are in touch with the real people of this Great Country. Sorry, to tell you, I believed it would be different, but I can no longer believe in our government! They are not about real change, they are NO different from Mr. Bush. NO better than McCain/Palin, or Obama/Biden and no different from the rest of our elected politicians. Truly disgusted,

The bottom of the housing market is calculatable. Take the price of your home in 2003, and add 6.7% per year-the real rate of inflation-it doubles in about 11-12 years at that real rate of inflation. That’s the real rate before they started taking everything out of it 20 years ago.

That means by 2013, your 2003 $300K home should be worth about $550-595K, today about $425K. If your house is “worth” more, you’re over inflation, and expect another 5-10% haircut.

In my neighborhood, we will be there in about six months, in time for the summer buying season.

So where’s the beef?

This is a psychology move that has to do with the economy. If the bailout frees up cash for middle America to go to business this next quarter, and finance operations that couldn’t be financed, THAT’S ANOTHER STORY–I’m all for freeing up our assets, our credit cards and our maintaining business at the small and medium levels. There is some anecdotal information that some small businesses, especially those that use the home as a source of capital are hurting.

But so far, the unemployment figures are not escalating beyond control, so you wonder who’s lying to who, or who’s just fearmongering.

And where is the bottom for the housing market, which has been declining for a year?

Well you have a way to calculate that.

And, if housing falls even further next year, THEN you can go bargain hunting that second home, for those who can get credit.

We’ll be “well” by 2013, and by the way, the Congress and the Secretary can use the above guage to figure the real value of assets.

And I won’t accept a golden parachute.

So am I the only one who notices an analogy to the Iraq war here: we are being rushed into an major decision with little debate or alternatives.
To continue the analogy, the Bush administration is also using dubious information to garner support. Many of these “bad” loans are defaulting because the banks are refusing to modify the terms to realistic market rates. Many of these homeowners made regular payments until the rates on the ARM’s shifted up, greatly increasing their payments. A $100,000 30 year mortgage will generate a bit over $350,000 in payments. Yet banks are being so myopic that they would rather foreclose on the the loan and be lucky to get $50,000 for the property.
Loan modifications are a win for all parties involved. The taxpayers win because it decreases amount of “bad” loans needing rescue, homeowners win because they can keep their homes, banks win because they will receive considerably more money in the long term than they could ever realize through foreclose, and investors also win because their mortgage backed products will no longer be worthless.
NO bank should be considered for taxpayer bailout until it attempts to modify all of its “bad” loans to market rates.
I believe Bush that all of these loans cannot be salvaged as much as I believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destrutiion. NOT!

NO BAILOUT!!! I’d rather stand in a SOUP LINE than give anymore of my hard earned money to the GREAT black hole we call government and Wall Street. Say the final good bye to the American Middle Class.

As long as the American public know that this so called bailout benefits the rich and the powerful and will in NO WAY be beneficial to the same degree to the taxpayer..this is an affront to the hard working ordinary American who in most cases is just trying to survive. M.J.C

We need a securites tax to pay 700 billion. It would be simple, effective, and tax those who made the mess in the first place. All the tax would have to be is 0.2%.

Ive been struggling in small biz my hole life. I’ve never really made much and never once got bailed out when I screwed up. Given the level of ignorance among our so called leaders, the pathetic non-answers they give and the blatant lies about how strong the economy is, it seems readily apparent this is just another phony plan to distribute billions to the few. It could not be clearer that we the people, are screwed. We need a revolution and we need it fast cause this ship is sinking

Ok, if I had 700 Billion dollars (or even a few hundred million), here’s how I would spend it.
I would but the mortgage backed equity at it’s current market rate (that’s about 22% for these exotic loans we are talking about here). That means I just paid $220,000 for a loan on a million dollar home, But the home is probably not worth a million anymore, giving average losses let’s say the property is only worth $800K now.
So I, as the lender, renegotiate with the lender and reduce their loan 60% (or $600K) and get a low fixed rate. The mortgage-backed equity I now have is a much better value in that the loan-to-value is better and the buyer’s debt-to-earnings are better, increasing their credit score (slightly). I can now sell this back to a bank at a profit. (even if I get 50% of the total loan amount, I get $300K for “washing” the loan).

Homeowner gets a lower loan, better terms. Bank gets the bad loans off their books. And after the initial startup, the system MAKES MONEY.

I am watching very closely which banks are getting this bailout. If I have momey in one of the bailed out companies, I plan to close my account and place it with a bank that has not been bailed out. If there isn’t one, then I will invest it in my matress. Enough is enough. DC doesn’t care what we think, and they haven’t for a long time now. It’s time to forcfully take back our country. “Let them eat cake” Ha!

The joke is, at least to some extent, on them. Watch for ORGANIZED consumer boycotts involving the withholding of mortgage and other loan payments, and increasing expenses incurred by banks related to the foreclosure and repo processes. ‘Moral hazard’ will become more than an abstraction as angry masses will no longer play by the rules, ruin the houses that are being taken from them before they are evicted, or simply refuse to leave. They will gain increasing support, even from those who manage to stay above water, and perhaps even from local police and law enforcement officials– many of whom will, themselves,be under stress from wage and benefit cuts, lay-offs and rising costs of living. The game is over, although the bail-out gives the Wall Street frat boys a little more time to steal what they can from the US Taxpayer/Treasury: directly in the form of cash delivered in envelopes by Paulson, and indirectly in the form of currency debasement and hyperinflation.
We are not, however powerless.
Wake up, fight back, organize, insist, resist, demand justice, help and protect your neighbor in every (peaceful) way you can imagine. You could be next. The unprecedented corruption and deception of corporate finance industry has now been leveraged by the actions of our elected officials, who have checked their collective spines at the door and are now OPENLY pimping for the bankster lobbyists. What an opportunity to revive MLK’s strategy of non-violent civil disobedience in the name of justice. Organize and refuse to pay tribute to the self-indulgent, arrogant and immoral bankers and politicians. We can bring them all to their knees if we just refuse to turn on each other, think and act strategically for ourselves and our neighbors, and adopt compassion as the central tenet of a community-based project for survival and crises management — and then, later, to rebuild and re-engineer our communities from the ground up.

Let me tell you a little story. My husband decided to join the US Army in 2005. We were stationed in Fort Sill, OK and decided to buy a home there. We knew we could either rent or sell it when it came time to be stationed somewhere else later on.

Well, later on came in June of 2008. We are now stationed in Fort Lewis, WA and you guessed….my home in Oklahoma is sitting empty with a for sale sign in the yard since May. No interest in buyers or renters. I can’t afford to pay rent on an apartment in Washington plus the mortgage on an empty house in Oklahoma.

Do you think this bailout solution will help me at all? I don’t live in that house anymore, so decidedly no, it will not help me at all. I’m going to end up in default by Christmas and there’s not a thing I can do to stop it.

I’m going to pull my money from the market and invest it in my matress. I don’t know how the unemployed are going to be able to buy a house. Maybe DC does. They are idiots. The rich get richer. But, not on my investments. I’m going to start investing in myself, just like the elite do.

Ask yourself why trucking industry (the backbone of the economy) has not received one dollar of bailout money. Ask yourself why president opened borders to Mexican truck drivers to compete with American truckers at the same time.

This bailout is just a continual raping and pillaging of you Americans and has been going on for years and starts and stops at the top.

I bet this bailout is one last time at the trough and is final straw to intentionally break country’s back to destroy the U.S. as we know it, declare a national emergency (martial law), and usher in the North American Union consisting of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. This administration has been working on this plan since day one.

Follow the war chests that have been built.

Ask yourself what George H.W. Bush meant when he said ‘a New World Order’ and ‘a thousand points of light’ every chance he could.

Why do you think we went to Iraq which is second largest producer of oil? We did not go there for oil. We went there to shut it down. What better way to control it.

This is all just tip of iceberg of the corrupted elite leaders.

You americans call yourself free?

-ss

Many, many years from now historians will look back and marvel that the one group who was most responsible for America’s decline was the same group that sought to benefit most from her pain.

If you’re inclined to vote for your local “conservative” Republican, before you do, have the sense to look back at the record and see that those same “free market” principles he or she is trumpeting today are exactly what led us to this point.

Don’t give future historians another thing to marvel at: that America actually rewarded the right for killing the American dream.

The Government is helping the companies that caused the problem, the people who made bad decisions, and having us regular struggling folks foot the bill. Sure there will be main street resentment! There is power in where you spend and invest your money. Grassroots economics I call it.

Well, it is obvious that Mr. Bush, his cronies, the Wall Street bunch and our dear elected officials could care less of what the people are saying. They will pass this regardless of our opposition. We as Americans should stand up and remove them all from office. Think, take 85,000 Billion and divide that amongst every eligible American 18 and over, that amounts to about 235,000 thousand dollars. We, the American Consumer could do alot to boost the econmy with that money. We could pay down our mortgages or at least reduce the debt to a more manageable size just by appyling 100,00 thousand. This would alleviate the financials books. We could buy a new car which would create or sustain jobs and we would still have money left over to pay for our childrens education, investments and savings. No, instead the idiots at Washington, take care of their own. “The rich keep getting richer on the backs of the Middle Class”. I think it’s time to revolt and create a new form of Government. Neither the Republicans or the Democrates are in touch with the real people of this Great Country

It is always about the Rich, forget about the working class. The government has always taken advantage so why should we believe them now. The little people always suffer, I want to know how much this is going to effect the ecomony as well as our taxes.

I would be happy if all of the Wall Street Fat Cats, and all the US congressmen and congresswomen involved in this, get summarily canned. And not one of them deserves a DIME of any sort of golden parachute. Not in the future, and not due to any existing “contracts” they have already written. I am not the slightest bit interested in supporting this bailout. I would rather our country suffer a while but regain solid financial founding (on a gold or silver standard) and stop living in a land where the rich get richer, our rights and our future are sold to the highest bidder (here or mainly abroad these days), and the only ones that have to pay are the average middle-class or poor citizen. This new “revised” bailout is just more of the same illegal and immoral misrepresentation we have come to expect from what used to be the United States.

Unfortunately, my vote, nobodies vote, counts one Iota at this point. The whole govornment system is rigged. Not that anyone is going to ask us anyway, before signing the new bailout deal into law.
I am ashamed to be an American. We, the people, have done nothing while this corruption overtook us all and permeated every level of our life. We get what we deserve.

A lot of you are hitting all around the real point here. We have lost control of our government. The politicians on Capitol Hill are spitting in our face! We have clearly told them NOT to do this ill advised “bailout”, and they simply ignore us without even ackowledging what we said!

As for those of you talking about “voting” these corrupt criminals out of office, save your breath. The main reason we are in this trouble is these politicians are “buying” votes with the peoples money.

Yes, that is what a “Democracy” is. Sit on your ass and vote for the politician that will give you more of the peoples money. Try voting against the locusts!

We have allowed “Democracy” to loot our treasury, and destroy America.

In these turbulent times for the majority of us in the lower caste of our economy, the bailout plan only goes to prove that the rich get richer and the poor make the rich richer. The fact is that there are far more of us living in debt paycheck to paycheck than there are overpaid corporate execs…this bailout plan and the comments I have read thus far are true indicators of social unrest in the works. How can we expect anyone in power to perceive this when they certainly couldn’t perceive the impending financial crisis?

For myself and my many friends, this whole act by a myopic congress has cemented a few solid ideals that we intend to now live by: withdraw all monies and close out our bank accounts. Every transaction that cannot be performed by cash or trade, we don’t intend to engage in credit transactions. Companies that we continually see and hear barraging media with their high priced ads, junk mail – avoid them. It’s come down to our money in our hands and not in someone elses’ who obviously doesn’t have the savvy to keep us out of these perilous times and at best provide weak and iffy solutions.

Perhaps the “fairest” solution to the entire matter that would satisfy the “majority” of taxpayers – zero balance the economy. All debts are zeroed, everything reset at zero and move forward from that date on. It would be much easier to identify the real problems that have brought us to the bailout rather than try to put a bandage on a problem when we don’t have a cure.

I just feel very strongly that in these current times in an unstable world, every program and bill and stimulus package has just made the overall situation worse. While Capitalism and its ideals are indeedmuch better than some other options in the world climate, the basic tenements of it need to be re-written and revised. It’s obvious that in its present form, it isn’t working “for the good of the people.”

New legislation would need to be enacted to make the crime not worth the time. Zero balancing giving everyone a second chance – the ones that can’t get their finances right after zero balancing would be subject to the harsh new legislation – not just some phony credit reporting system like Experian, TransUnion, etc. Other than state and federal tax liens, there are no real laws with teeth that make true restitution.

Lastly, we need to FINALLY rid ourselves of these career politicians who don’t have a feel for the true pulse of our modern day society. The politicians who conjured up this bailout have been in some position of power long before this whole mess ever came to light. Not the kind of politicians I want at the helm of our country in the 21st century.

It is not just the $700B. It is also the $500B for Fannie and Freddie, and the $85B for AIG. That comes to $6K for each adult who was sweet talked with their own $600 gift in May. Maybe people don’t think a 90% loss is a good value?

These wall street titans and CEOs have taken for years now, and we and our children are now left with the bill for their GREED! This is a criminal and also seditious, we need to be gin prosecuting white collar fraud and crime as vigorously as we prosecute murder.

Now is the Time to Unite and Say with ONE Voice…

…NO to the bailout and NO to any congressman or senator who votes in favor of this disastrous piece of legislation that will redistribute hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars out of the hands of honest Americans and grant the federal government massive new powers to control and manipulate markets.

Don’t bail out these Wall Street firms … PUT THEIR CEO’S AND OFFICERS IN JAIL and Seize their personal assets ….. EVERYTHING … WIPE THEM OUT !!! Don’t leave these CEO’s and Officers with two nickels to rub together !! Let whatever is left of these “poor” firms work their own way out of the mess they have created. Those that eventually fail … the Nation will be better off without them.

I would like to see the current crisis galvanize middle America to engage in some good old-fashioned civil disobedience. Refuse to spend any money except on necessities. Refuse to go to work for a week. Vote out every single encumbent on November 4th. It’s time we said ENOUGH. Companies get bigger and better tax relief every year, but they *never* pass that on to their employees. EVER. Executive pay and bonuses are larger than the GDP of some small nations, yet employees often do not get even a 3% yearly salary increase. Drugs are so expensive, some people risk their health and lives and do without because they can’t afford the meds, yet pharma companies spend *billions* on advertising, lobbying, and their executives. Banks penalize you with a monthly fee for every month you don’t keep $5,000 minimum in your banking account, while the wealthy are practically GIVEN money. We have less and less regulation because big business *owns* most politicians and if they don’t, the lobbyists do. So I say it’s time we took our country BACK from our government and big business.

Put the FREE LOADING high rolling upper class thugs in prison. That’s what happens to the poor and middle class people when they steal. The richest 1% parasites have been living off the rest of us for long enough. This is now class warfare.

Personally, I think it’s about time. In fact, I’ve been writing about it for months now on my blog, regarding the greed in corporations as well as in Washington, D.C. They are feeding on one another, this latest bailout package is just more proof of it to the average American.

I can only hope the people see past the political rhetoric given by the Democratic and Republican Parties and vote in a real candidate who will give this country the real changes needed.

We see the rabid attack dogs on the right now making a bailout a Democratic plan and using it to score “points”. Look people, it was President Bush, your fool who cheerlead your insane notions of an unfettered “free market” that led to this mess. Pelosi and Frank have been getting email from liberals like me all week in opposition to bailing out the market. The only reason they are even considering that bailout is because they are being told that the alternative is a complete and catastrophic collapse of the market, the dollar, our banking and credit system. But..they have made it quite clear that they WILL NOT pass any bailout package without clear majority of Republican support. So, you drooling morons, echoing the Fox/Fixed News nonsense had better realize that your cheerleading might just result in exactly what you are asking for. Personally, I’m all for it. I actually want the opportunity to make you pay for your criminal conduct, imprisoning or executing as many of you as we can lay hands on, and changing the laws so that you are viewed much like people view old Nazi SS members. That will likely take a complete meltdown and something like the French Revolution to bring about. For anyone acquainted with history, however, the similarities between us and pre-revolutionary France, right down to insane free trade policies, should be very familiar.

As others have expressed, not one single person I’ve talked to here in middle class America thinks these companies should get a bailout-all of the greed and corruption screams out for regulations. Sen. Dodd and Congressman Frank should be fired from their positions. If Republicans were in charge you’d have every major news outlet screaming for investigations-they’re as culpable in their quietness as any time I’ve seen in my life. I’m one vote but let’s kick the majority of these senators and congressmen out who had anything to do with this.

I run 2 small businesses and make mid 6 figures and can hardly afford even a modest lifestyle for me, my wife and 2 kids. It makes me sick to have made it this far only to find that it’s got me nowhere because of our piss poor economy. The US is absolutely screwed…

I hope they let Wall Street fall on its face. These crooks have taken America for all we have and now its time for them to pay. If they fall hard, maybe WE can regain what is rightfully ours!

CM

When I had a problem my dad always said to me, you made your bed now lie in it. The many millionaires in this country made their beds – now let them lie in their beds however painful. There are many wealthy people like Buffet, Gates and others – let them bail out their greedy friends. The Wall Street conspirators are the enemies of the common folk in the USA, not the friends of the working class. What comes to mind are the fat checks these elite people have collected for years for little to no real work – enough is enough. Paulson himself has collected many millions as the boss of Goldman Sachs. Let Paulson and those like him bail out his ilk.

Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)? I can’t think of a more appropriate name for this legislative garbage.

NO BAILOUT! This won’t work because it doesn’t address the entire breadth of the financial crisis; only the latest area of concern. Congress should clearly disclose to the public that there are significant risks in
the financial system that the government is not able to address. There should be no illusion that the $700 billion estimate proposed by the
Administration will be enough to end the debt crisis. It could very well be just a drop in the bucket.

There are currently $14.8 trillion in residential and commercial mortgages in
America. But beyond mortgages, there is another $20.4 trillion in consumer and corporate debt. This means that mortgages represent only 42% of the privatesector debt problem in America. Then there are other sectors in the financial industry that are in danger of collapse; e.g., the notional (face value) amount of derivatives held by U.S. commercial banks is $180.3 trillion — mostly held by banks that are severely leveraged.

This is one big pickle that’ll only leave a more sour taste in the American taxpayer’s palate.

Rather than protecting imprudent institutions and speculators, Congress should protect prudent individuals and savers by strengthening existing safety nets, including the FDIC for bank deposits, SIPC for brokerage accounts and state guarantee associations that cover insurance policies.

Save the people worth saving!

It’s not just Wall Street vs. Main Street, it’s Main Street vs. Main Street. People who couldn’t afford homes and knew they couldn’t bought them anyway. Those that wanted even more re-financed them to buy more stuff. And when they didn’t feel like paying anymore, they just stopped and walked away. No real money was put down on the homes, so what did they care? Those of us who work hard, buy within our means and still pay mortgages that are 100% overinflated when compared with current foreclosure prices should be mad at our “neighbors” who walked out, not Wall Street.

Nothing is ever what it appears to be on the surface. We are told “The Bill” suggests we will hold corporate salaries of bailed companies @ $500,000 because as explained you have to pay for talent – But will we utilize the Same Greedy, Fraudelent and Probably Criminal Talent that brought our country to this point while lining their collective pockets ?? — We are told that “The Bill” creates a discretionary opportunity for the people (but really the govt.) to take some stake/ownership in the failed companies that are recipients of these funds – But lets say that I am a corp. that has not criminally, fraudently or greedily attempted to Rip off the American People and I am not failing, But the govt. now has an ownership stake in my largest competitor – Who Will Stop the Probable Massive Unfair Advantage my previously failed competitor will receive from the government that now has partial ownership and won’t worry about the interest of the Corporations that did not fail “We The People” ?? We are told that there will be transparency in every thing that the group that has flexible and immediate power to move forward as they see fit — Paulsen, Bernake, Head of the SEC and the head of the Housing Authority Correct ?? (All of them looked the other way and are Part of the Problem – People who should also be exiting out the same door that Bush does in Jan. 09) Who will be the eyes of “We The People” ?? We need people overseeing this process that have only our interest as the priority – What is wrong with this picture ?? This is an Iceberg of Titanic proportions.

They’re all blabbing on televison now, trying to change the name of this piece of garbage from a “bailout” because that doesn’t sit well with the American people. Politicians, business executives and most media commentators truely believe the American people are morons. We must be. We keep reelecting people who represent interests that directly harm nearly the entire American populace, and yet they’re shocked by our anger. Let’s shock them into retirement – it’s long overdue.

As long as this is a capitalistic nation the capitalists will run it. If we do not like capitalism, maybe we should start to move toward socialism.

Of course Americans are outraged. These people who are now asking the taxpayers to save their hides were, up to a few weeks ago, living lives of obscene wealth, financed by reckless, irresponsible, and unbridled greed. They showed no allegiance to any nation or law. They had no concern about the fate of their fellow man. They only bowed before their False God: MONEY. And now, we the taxpayers—the hardworking, honest, ‘little people’—have to pay for the mess they created. Congress is acting as though we actually HAVE $700 billion to throw into this financial black hole. You’ll never convince me the same crooks who ruined our economy—the so-called experts in money management—won’t come groveling up to the feed trough, only to come out richer at our expense! I trust Henry Paulson about as far a I can throw a Steinway grand piano—and that ain’t far! He stands to gain/lose up to $500 million—THAT’S A HALF-BILLION DOLLARS!—no wonder he’s on his knees begging for the bailout…. Everyone needs to wake up—this economy is toast! We’re all going to need to work together for years to get thing back on track. We’ve been let down by our government—Democrats and Republicans alike. Wake up my fellow Americans!

NO Bailout!! We are a two income household that has never missed a house payment. The only debt we have is a student loan and a small ($4,000 limit) credit card. Yet we are having to live below our means because greedy Wall street has dug America a hole and now we’ve got to bail them out. I couldn’t even afford to buy my own house right now because prices are so inflated. So now you’re asking us to shoulder a $700 billion tax bill so we can keep those prices inflated and our kids will have to live below their means also?? This is absolutely obscene!! I’ve written to all the Representatives for my state even though I know my words are wasted on them. I feel completely powerless in a country where the people are supposed to have the power. This is the ultimate F&%# you to middle America by Wall Street and our Government. So you bet there will be backlash.

I certainly hope so. The average American family, person and community has been tormented for so long by the “few” in control. I am a fairly moderate person. But this bailout has truly upset me. We, the taxpayers are going to be left paying the bill for these selfish individuals and the government’s lax of monitoring. The American people will have to pay out more money to save the mismanagement of these loan institutions, while the upper management walks away with their millions. This whole situation smacks of the horrors of bankruptcy within the airline industry where people who play the great rescuers come on board, strip the workers of pay and then walk away with their “rewards” for “saving” the company. In the end, the workers are screwed. Yep, the government’s way of supporting business leaders, wealthy investors, U.S. companies. I am a registered Republican, but after this unbelievable display of “Big Business” rescue, I finally understand what the Democrats are saying. The rich just keep on rolling in the money, while the average American can barely make it. Our adult children struggle to survive, the retired will see their just retirement become equal less than they have anticipated because…….we Americans have to bailout those selfish individuals who played with the lives of the American people.

The proposed $700 billion bailout plan will result, very quickly, in the collapse of the dollar and hyperinflation.

The US economy does not have $700 billion in spare cash to buy up the $700 billion in Treasury notes that need to be issued to finance this bailout. If our economy did have that kind of surplus money, we would not be in this “liquidity crisis” that is locking up our financial system.
We will need foreign investors to buy even more of our debt. But already a huge amount of our national debt and private debt is being held by foreigners, including sovereign
governments like China. When the Federal Reserve prints up an additional $700 billion in money to
be be sold as Treasury notes, the result is a significant devaluing of the dollar. (Consider, too, that the Bush administration is already running up a $400 BILLION budget deficit this year that needs to be financed, so that brings us up to $1.1 TRILLION for the year.) That means the dollars that foreign investors hold will be worth less. But foreign investors aren’t stupid, they can see this coming. To protect themselves they will start selling off dollars before they get devalued.
Once the dollar starts dropping, the decline will accelerate, as no one wants to be stuck with dollars as they spiral down. (This is what happened to stocks in financial companies recently, the downward trend scared investors and everyone starting bailing out.) When the dollar is going down, no one wants to be the “last man standing”, the one still holding dollars that are now worth a fraction of what they were after everyone else has dumped theirs. It’s going to be “sell quick or be left holding the bag.” Thus, a collapse of the dollar.

With a collapsed dollar and the Fed still printing money to finance this $700 billion bailout, we end up with hyperinflation.

This bailout will not work. Bush bought his way out of a recession 2001 and is going to stick it to us one last time before he leaves office and buy his way out of yet another recession…

Everytime you do this, the next recession just gets worse… I’m no economist but can anyone tell me what happens when you intentionally cause inflation by printing $700 billion? I could have sworn it will create a RECESSION. THIS IS MADNESS!

I find it odd no one will speak of the white elephant in the room. The whole flaw of capitalism; CREDIT. Refusing to pay people what their labor is worth, thus, creating more products than there is in the hand of the consumer to buy, gives us a need for credit. WHICH WE DON’T NEED!!!

Maybe there is a lesson to be learned in the US. If we, the average person, wants universal single payer health care, we need to deregulate the health care industry and watch it destroy itself (a dragon eating its own tail). Then, after it fails and the greedy capitalist run to us for salvation, we can buy the entire health care industry and finally have socialized health care in the US.

What are we going to do about these loans our country can’t pay. Great idea: TAKE OUT A LOAN.

I will not vote for anyone who approved this.

1. the bail out will not solve the problem.

2. giving more money to people who already ran themselves and their businesses into the ground will not magically change their ways . They will simply burn through the money that was given to them.

3. The only way the situation will improve in the long term, will be to let the failed buisnesses close, and the foolish homeowners lose their houses. you are not helping a drug addict by giving them money for drugs.

4. The bailout is going to attempt to buy up the bad assets, so credit can flow freely again. the problem is that the people who need the credit are the ones who caused this mess and shouldn’t have recieved it in the first place.

5. Paulson himself said it was very UNLIKELY that the taxpayers would ever be able to recover the full amount spent on the bailout.

6. In the past 25 years when has anything the government took control of worked better. The government should step aside and let the free market weed out the foolish people.

7. even if the bailout goes through it will not stop the crisis, Nothing else in the market will have changed, we simply gave alot of money to people who will waste it. Most of the housing in this country is over priced by atleast 50%. Until this is corrected the crisis will continue

8. Bailout or no bailout people will suffer in the crisis, the bailout will simply shield the people that should suffer the most.

9. I fully understand that mainstreet wil be afffected just as bad as wallstreet, but this is the only way the crisis can be solved in the long term. Let it collapse the people who made wise choices will survive. If you granted foolish loans, or signed on to loan for a house that was more then 27% of your net income, then you deserve to be homless or bankrupt.

10. Everyone knew this was coming, and now they are trying to find short term covers for themselves. The EXPERTS that are telling you we need this bailout are some the people that caused the problem, IGNORE THEM>

The government just made a liar out of every parent out there who tries to tell their children that there are rules that must be followed and, if you don’t follow them, there are consequences for your actions. The big corps can do evil and be rewarded for it. Abe Lincoln had great foresight. Here’s what he said about corporations getting too much power in America:

“Corporations have been enthroned. An era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people…until wealth is aggregated in a few hands…and the Republic is destroyed.”

Yep…we’re darned close to destroying our Republic. Just as Ol’ Abe predicted.

Wall Street companies are on fire. The American people’s government should pay only fire sale prices for bail out. Companies which demanded lower regulation to maximize profit whould not expect help without lots of strings.

Jus like our dear ex First lady Nancy Reagan was fond of saying JUST SAY NO TO THIS STINKING BAILOUT – This is the time to say no and the worst time as we all know to make a decision is when you are under duress.

Hank Paulson and all his banking cronies got us into this mess – why should we trust them to get us out of it? It makes no sense – most Americans wouldn’t know credit default swap from a duck confit, yet they are expected to hand over 700 billion to these criminals.

In the past, our bankers have been great for telling other countries,(think back to Asia Pac crisis a few years ago) to not bail out their institutions – now they are the ones crying for help. That is not democracy, it is socialism, This is America, not Russia.

Banks like JP Morgan and Wells Fargo are fine – don’t reward the companies who took too many risks with our money and failed miserably.

Michael P (Kennett Square)

Yes. Let’s get this “bailout” done. If that’s the plan, let’s buy these toxic assets at 5 cents on the dollar and get it going (we’ll sell them later for 10 cents). In the process, I want to see the corporate executives and boards “feel the pain”. Loss of multi-million dollar pay agreements, pensions, fringes and perks. Just like those folks who have had homes foreclosed, jobs lost or over spent their earnings. No Million dollar pay check for non performance. Also in the process, let’s get back to the “5 year business plan” instead of “next weeks business plan”. Better planning and anticipating future conditions would have made this situation less of an issue. We can do it!

I’ve read before that there has been and will continue to be a widening gap between the middle-class and below and the wealthy. It’s time to close the gap. I propose first that any and all who have a direct hand in this financial crises be made to sell entirely EVERYTHING they own to help pay off the debt. Give them a modest home with two cars…one car that is not quite certain if it will be running at any given moment. Oh, make sure they have to contribute to their 401K’s – which is invested in the STOCK MARKET for their retirements. Make them live like real people live. The elitists don’t even know what the inside of a grocery store looks like! The bailout is a scam and will prolong the inevitable. Let them die.

Oh, and to the presidential candidates that say it will, eventually come to Main Street? Well, hate to tell you this guys, but it’s already here. I’ve been facing layoffs at my job for the last year and 1/2 and so far made it unscathed – but there’s another round coming up in December, just in time for the holidays.

The middle class can be prepared to buckle down and do what we have to in order to survive. Seems the Wall Street and corportate types are having a hard time swallowing that bitter pill. They better get another glass of water…………….

No bailout! I am no fan of the conservative Republicans, but this time they got it right. Does no one remember that just a few months ago we were coming to grips with a major energy crisis? That is still out there and will take every bit of creativity and funding we can find. Lets let the big banks fail — do whatever we need to prop up regional dn local banks and then get back to dealing with the real crisis of energy. Not to mention war, global warming, etc. etc. What a shame that the Democrats did not stand up to Bush on this one either. Ugh.

To think that our government is representative is laughable. Look at the polls and how many Americans actually support this thing. To think that the architect of the bailout is the former CEO of Goldman. Who do they think they’re kidding? When can Detroit expect its check?

Of course there will be a backlash. For the past 8 years – Wall Street lobbied the current administration to remove restrictions that were put in place after 1929. It took them less than a decade to take the ‘goose that lays the golden eggs’ to the brink of bankrupcy.

We clearly cannot trust the rich. They lobby for only their own self interests. Their greed drove them to destroy our economy for their own profits. Now they should pay the price for their greed.

We should go back to the old tax solutions – where the rich pay up to 90% of their income in taxes. It is a privilege to make money in this country – and they should (1) pay for this privilege, and (2) they should pay for the damage that they have done.

There will be a backlasha gainst business, but it will be dwarfed by the backlash against any politicians that vote in favor of using our government’s operating budget to reward those who have invested unwisely.

We must be serious about a new ultra-conservative federal gov’t in order to prosper in the global marketplace. We need penalties for fraud and to eliminate tax loopholes, while allowing profitable rewards for those who truly innovate products, services, employment at home. This form of gov’t requires no personal income tax — simply requires laws and enforcement. We’ve never had this – but now we have the most liberal gov’t ever that sends the message “if you are connected with the elite we’ll bail you out.” If I had $1 million, I’d run for president and fix this myself. I’d bring this gov’t down, become the professional workers’ hero and the lobbyists’ worst nightmare. That is the change we need – not bailouts.

They should put the bailout on the ballot in November and let the people decide instead of Washington. After all, we do pay their salary.

Wall Street managed to get themselves into this mess with a extreme greed and a lack of government regulation and that combination hasen’t changed. Given that, 700 Billion won’t solve the problem it will just line a lot more pockets on Sall Street and guess who gets to pay the tab. Enough is enough. Wall Street needs to take some responsibility for this.

I will be pulling everything I can out of the stock market and putting it into other forms of long term savings. I don’t trust any of them anymore, the government or the corporations. “Put your retirement in the stock market, join your company’s 401k” they told us. Now almost 40% of it is gone. It will take a 66% return on what I have left to get back to where I was (the math works against you when you’re trying to recover losses.) Many leading economists are saying the days of double-digit returns in the stock market are over and I think they’re probably right. But more than that I just don’t trust these creeps with my money anymore. And I’ll be doing everything I can to support local small businesses and to hell with Big Corporate America.

To be honest I think we should allow these companies to melt down. A $700 billion dollar price tag comes out to about $2300 per person in the United States that we’ll have added to the $2000 per person cost of the Iraq War so far. For some people, $4300 isn’t a lot of money but there are an awful lot of Americans who have no chance of coming up with that kind of disposable income.

Proponents of this bill would like you to believe that we’ll all be doomed if it isn’t passed, that it will make it impossible to get loans like we can now. That’s a load of bull. The only thing it would make difficult is getting the type of loans that have gotten us into this mess in the first place – the kinds that have little to no chance of being paid back. All we have to do is live within our means until the market gets back on track – is that really so hard? Does a family of four need a palace to live in? Personally, I’d prefer to spend wisely for a few years than add billions of dollars to the growing pile of debts in front of us.

I’m not an enemy of government regulation, I just think that it should be done intelligently. When allowed complete freedom from oversight, the interests of businesses overlap little with the best interests of society. CEOs will serve themselves far more effectively than they serve the common good, and I believe there need to be strong yet sensible rules in place that don’t reward the mentality of “profit at any price”. By the same token, however, once a business has fallen to its own poor operating practices I don’t think we should be shoring it up. Government intervention in the markets during the Great Depression resulted in the crisis being prolonged, making it take even longer for companies to get back on their feet following the initial crash. The bank rush, which was an entirely separate event, has little meaning today in the age of FDIC insurance. I’m not a libertarian by any means and I think Ron Paul is a poor student of history, but when he wrote that we need to let the markets straighten themselves out, he was right.

Of course this bailout will not help. What needs to be done is for those banks to go under, and have the Government take possession of those institutes immediately. Fire the CEO- WITH NO SEVERANCE PACKAGES! There is not job in which you should be compensated for failing. Doing so with taxpayer money is disgusting. If people could not afford their loans in the first place, then there is no reason they should have gotten it in the first place. I pay my mortgage and don’t ask anyone to help me out, because I knew how much I could spend on my home at A COMFORTABLE level and did not spend money I did not have. If these people would have done this as well, then they would not be in trouble, and the banks would have gotten their payments, and we would not have to bail anyone out. People need to stop being so sensitive about their mistakes and learn how to put on their “big boy pants” to do whatever they needed to get the job done. When a person says that they are doing what they have to do right now,it is because they didn’t do what they were supposed to do then.

Im a dentist in a hard-hit area of Michigan and have had issues with payroll taxes and the IRS. My practice has suffered recently and because of this, some of my payroll tax remittances to the IRS have not been as timely as the IRS required. I have had my Senator Debbie Stabenow contact the IRS on my behalf to attempt to reduce the penalties. I would not expect them to be waived because there must be an incentive to pay as required. Surely in these times when Wall Street financiers may have to get a 10 foot shorter yacht than they would like, that maybe the IRS would understand MY pain as well. Well I was told that an economic slowdown was not an excuse for not paying timely. The penalty stands and if not remitted IMMEDIATELY that I could suffer liens…. I guess this is what passes for America nowadays. What a country!!!

I hate to say this but I do think we have to approve the bailout. The thought of what might happen if we don’t is very scary. It’s easy to let me anger say to decline the bailout. However, imagine the credit markets getting even tighter and banks not lending to businesses that need the line of credit for daily operations and to meet payroll.

We don’t need higher unemployment and we don’t need more bankrupt business. The spiral down trend has to be stopped the the bailout is the first step.

With that said it is time to take a serious look at executive pay and our politicians. How a CEO and other executives can take millions per year in bonus money and stock options is beyond me. Greed is out of control in the Board Room. I’m from Overland Park Kansas and a CEO was terminated from a large employer in our city and he walked away with tens of millions in dollars and the FIRED CEO also get $1 Million Dollars per year for life. Where is the logic and where is the governance of the compensation review boards? The good ol boy network has to be stopped! This is happening in Board Rooms all over the country and these guys should be held liable for driving their companies in the ground.

Next, we need to vote every current Congressman and Senator out of office. These guys are just as guilty as the CEO’s and Board of Directors that are running our businesses and country into the ground!

Of course this bailout will not work. It is a band aid to get us through the election. I will not last beyond Feb or March.It does nothing for the “Root cause” which is not the banking industry, but the fact people cannot afford to live even with multiple household salaries.

LET THE MELTDOWN HAPPEN!

Nobody I know wants any kind of bailout. I’ve only been seeing articles saying that the vast majority of Americans feel the same way. Are the stories all wrong? We the people don’t want ANY bailout, so it’s appalling that Congress is telling us that a bailout deal is imminent. It’s mind-boggling. Americans don’t want the bailout, but the leaders don’t seem to care at all. Is it because they know that our system is so broken that they’ll remain immune from accountability come election time?

Why the sudden rush? Bernanke and Paulson saw this coming months ago – yet did nothing. Now it’s a crisis. I say let ‘em stew while a proper response to the problem is worked out – and that response should include letting the weak institutions go under. It’s call capitalism – supposedly one of the things that makes this country great. My money will be leaving the system should this bailout to Paulson’s buddies pass.

Stop the bailout.

Why is Warren Buffett pulling for a bailout package? He just put 5 Billion in to Goldman.

What a rip this bailout is for every hard working American that pays bills on time.

The resentment will hurt Wall Street for a log time.

We’re in big trouble here folks. If we don’t bite down and bear the pain of our present condition and instead bailout Wall Street we might as well re-label this country the United Socialist States of America! I pray that one of the two major party candidates has the guts to say no to this although I doubt it. I guess we all should have voted for Ron Paul! (Of course he is against it)

The bailout is a necessary evil. After Hurricane Ivan, I couldn’t get a grant from FEMA because I made too much. I couldn’t get a loan because I made too little. I had over 13,000 worth of damage to my home and could have used a little help with the over 3,000 hurricane deductable. In 2007 I paid over 23,000 in income taxes. Now I must bail out people who make 17 million in three weeks. Enough is enough. I’m mad as hell at this circumstance and how it came about.

The “bailout” will not make things well again. It will not work in the long run and one year from today or even sooner the Fed and the Treasury will ask for another 2 trillion dollars.

Notice how when Bush asked for the money, he threatened with imminent collapse of the financial system, yet he did not guarantee that once that money is given to him things will be stable. Because he can’t and because they won’t.

Also, the lower end of what he is asking is for is 700 billion but he would have the authority spend all the way up to 1.8 trillion, just short of 2 trillion, once the document is signed.

Once the Fed prints all these new dollars, and we borrow from China the whole amount (we don’t have the money), the dollar will collapse, inflation will go through the roof, foreign investors will pull their money out of American assets and bonds and we will be in even worse shape. And then it will be time to count the losses in the Credit Default Swap market.

The bailout will only postpone the meltdown a few more months and will only make us poorer while it happens. Financial crimes were committed and the consequences are inescapable. It is the end of an era and the beginning of a darker one and there is nothing we can do at this point to forestall the inevitable.

The elected members of “our” federal government depend on big contributions from a small percentage of the population to fund their re-election every 2, 4 or 6 years. They buy our votes with promises they rarely keep, often on issues (e.g. abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research, school prayer) that motivate people to ignore their own economic self-interest, and then go back to rewarding their major contributors until the next election cycle comes around.

While the approval rating of congress and the president are both at record low levels, voters remain convinced that their senators and representative are part of the solution, not part of the problem. Republicans cling to the notion that their party is on the right track while Democrats assume that any and all change must be good. Neither party wants to talk about social security, medicare, defense spending, health care, the national debt, education, or national infrastructure in anything more than vague 60 second sound bites. Both would rather Wall Street could have waited six weeks for this bailout so both parties could avoid the voters connections the dots that point back to both parties being closer to Wall Street than Main Street. Still, they can depend on voters to support the status quo to return to power the incumbents who enabled this disaster.

So be mad. Be very, very mad. It will raise your blood pressure. It will decrease your standard of living. It will also harden your resolve to return to power those from both parties who will continue to sell us out. Wall Street and K Street are laughing in our faces.

As Mick Jagger wrote 40 years ago:

Raise your glass to the hard working people
Let’s drink to the uncounted heads
Let’s think of the wavering millions
Who need leaders but get gamblers instead

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio

This is a case of life imitating art – specifically the Albert Brooks movie “Lost in America.” In that movie, Albert Brooks plays a disillusioned California advertising executive who persuades his wife that they should quit their jobs and sell their house which has appreciated dramatically. They use the money to buy a Winnebago and, inspired by the movie “Easy Rider,” plan to use the remainder of the money (the “nest egg”) to travel America in the RV the rest of their lives. They leave California to the tune of “Born to be Wild.” They get as far as Las Vegas where the wife loses the nest egg playing roulette. The next scene has the Albert Brooks character trying to persuade the casino manager to give them back their nest egg as part of an advertising campaign to tout the casino as “the casino with a heart.” The casino manager chuckles, explains why he can’t do that, comps their room and meals and shows him the door. Today our casino managers (Paulson, Bernanke and the rest of the American government) are proving that the stock market is “the casino with a heart” and, if you are a high enough roller, you get your nest egg back if you lose it at the roulette table. You can bet that will make other losing players in the casino unhappy for a very long time.

Regarding David B’s comment “There should not be huge backlash against corporations because they are not the ultimate villains. The fundamental reason for this crisis is that average Americans bought into the speculative froth of the housing market and used “voodoo mortgages” to finance over-priced houses…”

Wrongo! My family has no mortgage, We own our house! We have no current debt because we live within our means and there are many of us out there! The idea that you must continue to borrow money to live well in America is a falsehood propagated by the big banks and corporate America. Wall street brokers also promote the idea the the only way to retire with enough is to invest heavily in the stock market. I find it scary that mortgage backed securities and paper are the backing for 25% of large insurance corporations like The Hartford (for example).
This is one average American that is going to actively backlash against the brokers and bankers of Wall Street and their GREED. I can only hope that others Average Americans catch on that they don’t need them. Who you think dreamed up these Voodoo mortgages? It wasn’t my neighbor, my wife, or my coworker (all average Americans BTW)- it was greedy investment firms, mortgage lenders and bankers.

Thank God I’m a Canadian whose banking system was not seduced into selling junk debt.

But the biggest obscenity in all of this is the multi million dollar salaries and bonuses of corporate directors, even when they produce disastrous results. What will it take break the back of this cartel. Every year they get together to set the minimum price for their services and the board of directors go along with the charade saying ” that’s the price of top executive talent “.

Well enough is enough, perhaps these companies should be run by management comittees with a cap of a few hundred thousand dollars and based on results.

Bill Clinton declared that we had “ended welfare as we know it” back in the 90’s. What we didn’t know is that he and the corporatists decided that the recipients of the welfare would change from the poor and disenfranchised to the rich and enfranchised wealthy elite who could afford their own government. The welfare queens were harmless compared to the welfare wealthy. It is about time our policial leaders decided to serve all of the people and not just the people that can buy access.

Excuse me did we not bail out the S&L’s awhile ago? ahh, what happened with Enron? why were gasoline prices so high this summer? How many American jobs have been shipped off-shore? What ‘bailout’ plan is there for these dis-placed Americans? Did they get million dollar golden parachutes? I pay my mortgage and my bills every month, no one has offered me a ‘bail out’ to help with my escalating expenses. what makes these folks think that the middle class is the deep-pockets for their folly & greed? Perhaps some of the golden parachute money should be used to fund the bailout – spread the pain. They are not giving us facts, they’re threatening us. “if we don’t act, blah, blah” Well no one asked if we were in agreement with deregulation and privatation. It doens’t seem that to much good has come of any of these polices. Goodness, you can’t even buy meat anymore because you don’t know what disease it may be carrying. You can’t buy toys for your kids because they are now made over in China and who knows what lethal substances they may contain. Is it just me or has the absolutely unmitigated greed of a few but the majority in jeapardy? Sick of it in CT.

I believe the ballout is preventing a saving market readjustment that is necessary to prevent rampant inflation. When are we going to learn to use our own brains and stop relying on the white house.

Maybe Wall street will mature and stop calling debt a security. Investing in repackaged mortgages is like betting on Larry The Cable Guy’s mortgage payment or going to Vegas and playing slots. Wall Street must revert back to truly investing nstead of merely trading. Selling stock before the company is able to use the money is worthless and only for the Vegas Strip!!!

It is not my responsibility as a taxp payer to save Wall Street. I have consistently lived below my means so that if a crisis came I could survive. I have kept my credit debt to a student loan, a mortgage and a small home equity loan. I don’t have massive houses, I don’t jet the world. And I don’t want to have to eat dog food when I retire so that greedy, evil theives can support the overabundant life style they are accustomed to. Its wrong, just plain wrong. You want a good definition of “sin”? Go read the Hebrew prophets and then look at Wall Street.

For many years corporate America was regarded by people living in the East Block behind ‘the Iron Curtain’ as a standard of rational, logical, unbiased by ideology business making. I had always imagined that the private owners of companies would have never allowed any unnecessary waisting of their money. Then I was reading about extremely high CEO salaries and I stopped understanding capitalism in the making. Simply these salaries were out of proportion to any possible human abilities which could be in this way rewarded. Now comes this crisis and one realizes ’something is rotten in the kingdom of Denmark’. It is a pity – one should act. Communism proved to be totally inefficient now what happens with the capitalism ?

I certainly hope so. For far too long their Chicago bred ideology has favored the very richest few oligarchs over workers and other citizens.

Agreed. No bailout for these crooked fat cats on Wall Street. It is obvious the first plan did not work and now millions of people are without housing and we are left with a huge foreclosure mess that effects everyone. I think we should load up all of these Wall Street a$$holes in buses and taken them on a road trip to all the tent cities that have sprung up almost in every state and show them what Wall Street has done to Main Street America. We have a few of these cities here in California. To bail out these banks would just put the “Governments” stamp of approval on Wall Streets disgusting conduct and its effects on everyone. In California people facing foreclosure are now turning to shot gun/stand-off type tactics out of desperation in order to save their homes and livlihoods. This problem must be addressed with common sense and not lining the pockets of Wall Street bank CEO’s and their predecessors with billions. These banks need to endure the status of their failure. Tax Payers should not and must not pay for Wall Streets badly inflated and fraudulent investments. Tax payer dollars should be spent on helping actual homeowners that are facing foreclosure, housing regulation, healthcare and education. Main Street trusted Wall Street because Wall Street supposedly followed laws and regulations set forth by our Government. Now it seems these laws and regulations were non-existant and the Government wants to pay to fix it. NO WAY. No Bailout for Wall Street. If you want to maintain even 1 oz. of Main Street confidence the powers that be should put the 700 Billion where it matters most and that is Main Street USA. November is right around the corner and votes will count this time and the voters live on Main Street not Wall Street.

Unfortunately, Congress must pass this bailout in a suspect effort to save the economy. And then the Amercan people should vote out the congressional leaders who got us into this mess.

This bail-out just proves that the middleclass,low income are just pawns & peons.This shouldn’t be a shock to any of us.When you think about the fact that we always pay for everything. I think that we, the middleclass should say,no more & not vote for any Republican or Demoncrat,vote for an independent,the ones that want less government. We may have to have a revolt,totally,because obviously they have not paid any attention to the polls,they have way too much power & We the people need to take back that power.

The people in these companies most be held reponsible for what they have done. This is the S&L, Tyco and Enron all rolled together but 200 times worse. It has already cost the American poeple trillions in lost savings, home equity, etc. while these people walked away with billions. If they are not prosecuted and the greed is left to continue this will never end.

I consider myself left of liberal. My idea of a fantasy debate would be between Ron Paul and Ralph Nader. I totally oppose the bailout. I find myself agreeing with politicians and individuals on this one issue, “NO BAILOUT”. The same politicians, individuals and I probably don’t agree on much of anything else, i.e. I support single payer health care, free higher education, I oppose our foreign policy of blind support for Israel, regardless of what is does in the occupied territories and to the Israeli-Arabs. Of course, I oppose this war. Strange to be in solidarity on this one bailout issue with conservative republicans, but I am. Vehemently.

Jailtime, public floggings and heavy property loss should be the direction for corporate America and their greedy executives. Salaries worth millions are not, and have not been fitting for industry leaders. The public has been duped. We need to make a serious example of these perpetrators. Anyone involved should be brought to task. Everything they own must be siezed and sold to pay for their actions. Public humiliation may be the only thing these characters understand.

i am very much against the bailout of wall street without a plan to pay off all the middle class debt and solve falling hourly wages. you can’t get the economy going without the people having more money to spend in the short and long term. high school economics told me that. we need job bills much more than bailout bills.

The people always want scapegoats, although I think the problem is more universal – too many people want too much, and now; it seems like a majority want more and more, and of course, those with more power get even more, and are more visible. The ones screaming for blood are often the ones with garages full of junk, with no room for their expensive cars.

This is not to say the leaders weren’t greedy and shortsighted, only that they weren’t really much different than average, only more successful in their greed.

Where are the benefits for those who have lived conservatively and managed their money? Where are the benefits for those who chose NOT TO go out and buy bigger houses and faster cars? Where are the benfits for the corporations who did NOT give their CEOs billions of dollars when they ran their companies in the ground?

William Black wrote a book a few years back called “The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One” which describes the kinds of goings on that led to this problem. He wrote about the S&L crisis in the 80s (he was involved in solving it), he put the book out in the 2000s because he could see the whole cycle repeating itself.

I’ve had it with these people. This must be the biggest bank heist in history. Given their track record up to now why should I believe their dire warnings of “bail us out or else”? This is bank robbery and we need to treat these people just like we treat the guys with the ski mask and gun — maybe punish them more severely because their crimes are huge and premeditated.

For 30 years, I worked with a large corporation on Wall Street. I was 17 when I started. I started with great benefits. By the time I retired, this “Great” corporation was making record profits. While making all this money, they told us they could no longer afford to pay for all our benifits. They started making us pay a percentage of our benefits while giving us less coverage They layed off long term employees saying that their position was no longer necessary, then hired younger people at lower pay to do those same jobs. They then voted themselves raises while they froze our salaries and had the nerve to have a meeting to tell us this.

These greedy companies don’t deserve help. The work place atmosphere has reverted back to the 1920’s and these big shot CEO’s don’t deserve compensation for creating a slave atmosphere at work. “If you don’t work overtime off the clock, If you won’t work weekends, if you don’t give us your life, They threaten to get someone else who will.”

The employees who do the actual work and get you your big profits are getting tired of your greed and large golden parachutes while they loose their pensions,jobs and savings plans.

Something needs to be done to save the econonmy.. nothing needs to be done to save the big shots that caused this problem.

The traders who manipulate the market for personal gain should be prosecuted and held accountable.
The banks who convinced people they could afford outrageously expensive houses with adjustable rate mortages should be held accountable. It’s criminal what they all did.

Backlash? I sure hope so. If they screwed up their jobs, or gambled with company money, most Americans would be fired. Wall Street executives drive the whole country into bankrupcy and retire with muli-million dollar golden parachutes. It’s not a matter of envy, it’s a matter of justice! Never again should such a small group of people be allowed to place the entire economy in jeapordy by throwing financial dice.

The backlash is inevitable. It seems that everyone that supports this bail out is heavily invested in Wall Street. Either they have made their fortune on Wall Street or on studying Wall Street. Wall street has designed the “cure” and Wall Street will be the primary beneficiary of it too, even though Wall Street got us into this mess. It looks like Wall street has taken over the country.

Is it any wonder that people will want to take it back?

WE/I do not support this bail out at all. I am the voice of 6 other stay-at-home women whom we decided would to continue contact our elected officials in the 3rd biggest state in the nation on their behalf, as well as mine. WHAT? you will not let the banks fail…why not? Let’s see what happens then. Since we are at a HISTORICAL moment, let the financial institutions fail. Taxpayers/People are going to bailout banks?????????? HUH and then STILL lose their homes……..NO WAY! Historically, Romans were problem solvers, USA is just simply greed and self-gratification for few. An ideal that our fore-fathers attempted to anticipate against for future generations and our western civilization. NO BAILOUT !!! I feel so powerless as an American citizen, I am not quite sure anymore why I let others have so much power. All I can do is write letters????? Ugh!
Catherine Frembling + group
(nobody)

A bailout of Wall Street when Americans are losing their homes? Unacceptable! Main Street before Wall Street. Let those guys with the golden parachutes sink with their badly run companies that were invested in “Instruments” that should never have been created in the first place. They built a house of cards and they deserve to go down.

When Wall Street PAYS hundreds of millions in CAMPAIGN contributions, gets their LOBBYISTS to actually WRITE LEGISLATION, and after giving $2 Billion in compensation over 5 years to just 5(!!!) firms, we have to BAIL OUT wall street?

Us? We are going to PUNISH Congress this November!! NO INCUMBENT will receive our votes!!

Please notice how Congress IGNORES Soc Sec, Medicare, Mass Transit (but endless billions to Wall Street, the Pentagon – for weapons that the Politicians are AFRAID to USE – and joy rides and photographic adventures for NASA. Do we NEED the moon or Mars with SOOO many problems here at home?

We rot from within, with a Corrupt 2 Party system and an electorate that is BRAIN-DEAD.

Heck Yeah! There will undoubtedly be a backlash. Furthermore it’s about time. When workers are making 5% of what there corporate leaders bring home (worker $50,000 per year corporate leader $1,000,000), there is a definite gap that needs fixed. Let’s face it, NO ONE whose decisions cause a company to flounder deserves any pay at all.

Example: If I work at a light bulb factory running a forklift. By not paying attention, I run into and destroy the entire inventory causing the company to consider closing. Then I am fired! No ifs ands or buts. The government will not pay my salary and let me keep that job. That would not be right. Therefore if it is not right for me, it is not right for them.

Friends… this is Elementary school type basic logic. You don’t reward bad behavior.

Loan Company’s money with interest and a reasonable pay back time, but only if they restructure with new management and no golden parachutes. Yes!

Give a pseudo government agency (Federal Reserve is run by banks not government) unlimited power to give money to there friends with no repercussions… NO!

All of Wall Street is nothing more than a casino, where the rich bundle our money and gamble/experiment with it. There is NO other purpose for its existance.
I say let it all blow away, ditch the Fed Reserve, and let’s go back to a manufacturing economy instead of this “market” economy.
Name one country (other than the devious Swiss with their Nazi gold) that prospers without actually making things and growing crops. NONE.
Give the cubicle keypounders a hard hat, the economists a shovel, and replace the accountants and lawyers with engineers and researchers.
Get back to what made America great.
Nothing else will do the trick.

If we do bail these companies out, then executive salaries should be capped at the same amount the Chief Executive of the United States earns. And no bonuses until the final dime of taxpaper bailout has been paid back with interest. This goes for the auto and airline industries also. If these executives don’t like this, then get out. There are many younger people out there who would love the opportunity to run a large company, and I doubt they could do a worse job then the executives that have run these companies into bankruptcy.

Our congress has been asleep at the wheel, languising in corporte special intrest money. Now that the “chickens have come home to roost”, they want to borrow more from future taxpayers. I find it ironic that the economic mess we are now in was caused by abusive borrowing practices, and to solve the problem, they are asking the public to borrow more. Does anyone else see the irony in this. With Paulson, a former Wall St. executive leading the “Bail out”, isn’t it like the fox gaurding the hen house?

Yes Main Street has a definite dislike (bodering on hatred) for the effete Wall Street crowd and rightfully so. Society’s poor are used to being abused and screwed, but the damages here are to the middle class who have clout and persuasion to fight back! The majority of these people have worked for what they have in life – golden parachutes are fairyland concepts to them. Main Street America is fired up and refuses to take it anymore. Presidential candidates with 5 homes and 13 cars are part of the “mega haves” that the average American doesn’t understand. Jane and John Doe are strapped to buy gas for their cars needed to go to work. They see their home values, IRAs, 401Ks declining. Once considered as a sound form of retirement funds, now the book value decreases without reason. It is heartening to know that so many people are motivated to speak out. Hopefully they will continue to take actions such as voting and be engaged. This is no time for SILENCE!

If AIG, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc. had been small with balance sheets measured millions and not trillions, this would have never been an issue. They got too big and we all depended on them. Let that be a lesson to us, the system is flawed in some way. Not capitalism, mind you, I’m still convinced that this is the way to go, but we need an overhaul. Something that puts the focus on small businesses and consumers. Focus on creating opportunities in this way and facilitating the throughput between localized or niche markets and the people.

Stick this parasitical scum in jail. I will never again have faith in any politician because they are all bought and paid for by these Wall Street crooks. Did Congress bring in any competent economists to help them with their decision? No. This is just the same old bribery and corruption that has brought down greater nations that this in the past!

You bet. The ‘bailout’ will result in even more inflation and foreign debt and they will demand the remaining real assets of the U.S. instead of more ‘funny money’…like national forests, minerals, toll roads, and oil reserves.This is not about helping the American economy, but financing globalists and some of these ‘American institutions’ are so in name only.
4 years ago I paid $1.28 for heating oil; this year I’ll pay almost $5/gallon. And this ‘bailout’ will prevent the creation of cheap and abundant elctricity using renewable technologies to convert to an electrical based economy that does not have a multinational corporate hand on the spigot. We had wealth in this country when we produced goods; we went down the tubes when we exported our manufacturing capacity. That’s how you create a banana republic, by dismantaling a sefl-sufficient and diverse economy.

I just listened to Sen. Dodd on one of the major news channels talking about the bail out. These FOOLS are still allowing the CEO’s of these failed corporations to draw million dollar salaries and in some cases golden parachutes!! That is outrageous!!! There should be salary caps in place and ZERO golden parachutes. The greedy CEO’s in charge of these companies should be paid on performance. A percentage of profits period! I think it’s time for an election revolution. These FOOLS need to be voted out and someone with some common sense and who really cares about “main street America” elected in their place.

All Americans are focused upon our walks in life and as such expect everyone to perform their jobs, follow the law, and contribute to society in general. When we get backdoored with issues as horrendous we know this is a systemic failure which transcends business activity and borders upon traitorous activities. The difference is the magnitude of the situation which if affecting all parts of life and threatens huge portions of the nation with financial ruin, homelessness and chaos. The great depression was of course extremely bad yet people possessed survival skills which have gone by the wayside for most. Our cell phone toting society is largely unaware of gardening, cooking, sewing, farming, ranching, or any activity which can be accomplished using manual labor, hence the panic of actually having to do for ourselves. I actually know folks who eat all their meals in restaurants without a clue on how to use a stove. For those in our society younger than us aged folks, there’s a reason why schools formally taught home economics because it was just that, learning how to live economically. Modern society provides all types of advantages over the days of yore yet when times get tough, we can’t eat our Ipods nor our cell phones and someday soon, Dominoes may no longer deliver!!!

Wall Street and the overly paid executives have had it easy for too long, and now it is time for their free ride to end and for them to enter the rat race with the rest of us. We should no longer allow the CEO of a major corporation to still reap the huge bonuses while the worker on the ground floor must say good-bye to theirs due to low company profits.

Who is going to bail me out? With my income, I wouldn’t have been given 5 minutes consideration in one of these financial institutions. But now I will be asked to participate in bailing them out of their financial catastrophe. There is nothing right about this situation. If the government really wants to do something constructive — take over the loans of the homeowners who are struggling to make ends meet, give them a new payment plan that helps them get back on their feet, and let the lending institutions go to hell.

Banks deserve everything they get and I’m so mad I almost don’t care what happens to the economy if we refuse the bail them out. And it’s not just the banks, It’s also all the corrupt supporting institutions like mortgage brokers and lawyers and Tilte companies and unscrupulous real estate agents that work together with banks to rip off their clients.

The government is lying to us; they’re not going to make any money off this. President Bush gets up and tries to persuade the nation? He has no credibility. Why shouold we believe someone who lied to us about a 3 trillion dollar war?

In addtion to real estate, banks rip us off in so many other ways with all their fees. Banks used to make their money solely on interest from our deposits. They still do earn interest off our deposits while offering a pitance of interest to depositors, interest that doesn’t even keep up with inflation; but in addition to that they charge high fees for everything and actually depend on our mistakes to earn money. In the computer age, can you please explain to me the justification for charging multiple bounce fees of $32.50 when I have several other accounts with the same bank with money in them? This should be ILLEGAL period. We should outlaw overdraft protection fees. Overdraft protection is not a protection at all; it’s a system of extracting money from consumers for something that costs the bank practically nothing. Why should I pay $10 $20 or $30 for a compluter to automatically move my own money from one of my own accounts to another one of my own accounts? Computers are supposed to save the money of labor, but instead they’re used as tools to extract money for bank owners and managers for so called service products. In addition, teller machine fees, credit card transaction fees for small business owners, credit card interest rates, late fees, etc. etc. etc.

This kind of unscrupuloous extraction is thoughout our society. For example, when cable TV first came out, the idea was that you paid for TV programs instead of having to watch commercials. It has now evolved into another extraction of money. We pay high fees for cable TV plus we have to watch annoying commercails sometimes so frequently that you can’t even enjoy the program. Another expample is traffick tickets. Do you know that the charters of some towns state that the major source of income will be speeding tickets. So they designate a section of road, set a low speed limit, place the patrol cars, and extract their free money. It should be illegal for any type of deterent to be used as a money collection source. If society decides speed limits are important for our safety then why do we have cars built with the capacity of traveling faster than 65 mph? And how about all of the fees that utility companies add on now? Deregulation wasn’t good for anyone except the owners and managers of deregulated companies allowed by our government representatives to employ more and more money extraction methods.

There are perhaps thousands of examples of money extraction methods used in mortgages, real estate transactions, bank transactions, and many other business activites based which provide nothing uninvented in return. And the reason they work is that we let them work. Some stop accepting it as normal, don’t pay it, withdraw your money, reduce your usage, give up the TV for a while, whatever you have to do, just don’t buy into it, and just don’t let them do it anymore.

It really pisses me off to see so many people showing anger for something they knew was happening and did nothing to stop it because the nation was prospering. It’s like the criminal that enjoys doing the crime but then crys and feels sorry for themselves when they get caught.
I’m quite sure there will be those that see my comment and will add theirs, saying that they didn’t know, Horsecrap! Anybody with half a brain knew what was going on and did nothing to stop it, me included. I understand economics and I know that this bailout is crucial and I know what would happen if we didn’t have it. Those that aren’t business savy aren’t going to understand why.
Even those that will admit that they knew what was going on will also say, what could I have done to stop it? The answer is simple and it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort, write a letter to your congressperson or senator. That’s what those people are there for. If you dont get a satisfactory answer or you dont think that this person is paying attention to you then you have the right to change history by voting, for or against! Those that dont vote, dont have the right to bitch!

This makes me sick! Warren Buffett wants this to pass because all he relies on is his investments. He’s a billionaire because of it. Us hard working americans are not making money from the stock market, we’re making it because we work and now we have to take on the bill of these greedy scum bags. The mortgage companies could have made adjustments in their rates before all this happened and the investors would have been the only losers, now they are making us all losers and they’re still not going to lower their interest rates and now there’s mortgage insurance, which makes buying a home impossible for most. This won’t help main street!

I am willing to cut back on everything, lose my retirement( I am 59) just to not save the crooks in wall street. They think they can do anything because we Americans are as greedy as they are and willing to come to their rescue. I am not. I do not care what happens, it is time for Americans to take their country back from immoral and unethical corporations.

Instead of the giving the $700M to bail out Wall Street, why not give every paying income tax payer $750,000.00 instead of the $600.00 that we received early in the year, so they can payoff there homes and what ever have you, then the money at least would be going back into the system. This way every American would be back on there feet. We’ve lost 605,000 jobs, how in the world are these people going to pay off their mortgages?

I am the great great granddaughter of an American patriarch who established Savings & Trust company’s in Rochester, NY. For most of my life I was raised with certain privileges that fiscal foundation brings. I was taught to give back to my community, always, because of this. And now I am the owner of a cottage company, bootstrapping my way towards a success. Republican policies and the general business ‘ethics’ decline in my lifetime has me angry to point of taking politic action and my spending dollar action against corporate America. There are no ethics in the majority of these huge companies. Greed has replaced integrity and for years we the public, even those of us taking stock looses now, are disgusted with the whole. A new corporate America has been not so silently building awaiting this catastrophe… a green, eco-primary corporate America, of which I am one small example. Responsibility, integrity and care for one another are on the edge of the horizon for the fiscal marketplace… because a new Corporate ETHIC rises on that horizon. One that is acutely aware that consumers are now making purchasing choice according to how they are treated by the big companies who have authored this calamity. I am proud of my Ancestors… I am so disgusted with my government and big business that my spending power has become precious. I know my neighbors feel exactly the same.

This kind of thing will continue for as long as we legally give corporations the same rights as individual human beings, as though it is some thing that is not alive that is responsible for this mess, not the very real wealthy people who run the corporations. They have committed crimes, but you can’t put a corporation in jail. We need to change this in our legal system and hold individual real people accountable. Backlash??? I don’t think they have seen the half of the long-term psychological consequences of this.

America is facing one of the most profound economic crises in the country’s history. As citizens of Kansas we look to our elected officials to make the right decision for our country and state. There are many factors that must be considered while making these decisions, one I hope that is not ignored is the precedent that will be set by approving this $700 billion budget request made by the Executive branch.

Many great thinkers had their hands in developing what is the American political psyche. One of the most important and longstanding principles on which this country was founded was that of property rights. Locke, Madison, Hamilton… and the list goes on. I do not believe in the strict libertarian principles of property rights that contemporary thinkers such as Robert Nozick would want the United States government to subscribe to. I do believe that the federal government can play a positive role in a citizens life, not just the minimal state that some would propose.

With that prefaced, I do believe in the importance of a hard day’s work and being rewarded for ones honest and just labor. I believe that a person has the right to reap the rewards of their dedication to a craft or business. Company executives who have worked their way up the corporate ladder and made a positive impact in their companies standing deserve just compensation for their effort. When a man plants a crop, tends to it and nurtures it into existence, he deserves to own that crop.

These insurance and banking companies have sewn a volatile seed. One that they were unable to predict, one that not only destroyed their own yield, but has crept its way into the pastures of other markets. They have poisoned our economy with unjust tactics driven by greed and apathetic judgment. As a competent citizen of the United States I cannot justify rewarding this behavior. Some may say the means justify the ends, but in this instance the means is defying a basic principle on which this country was founded, that of property rights.

The executive is proposing that I spend my hard earned money on rescuing a corrupt and unjust business. I work forty hours a week as a clerk at a local convenience store, just to pay rent and bills, while taking 18 credit hours at Kansas State University.

Imagine that there are two students in my political thought class. There is an exam coming up and student 1 decides to spend two hours a day for the next week in the library preparing, student 2 decides not to study and goes to Aggieville for 2 hours every night instead.

Student 1 passes, getting 100 out 100 points, student 2 fails getting 50 out of 100 points. Imagine now that student 2 decides to protest to the professor. He claims that the consequences of his risky behavior (the nights at the bars) should be alleviated by taking 25 points from student 1 and applying that towards his own grade.

In essence the executive branch wants to take from the hardworking “studious” citizens of America, and give to the irresponsible “carousing” corporations. This is unjust and undermines the American principle of property rights.

If this bill is passed and dangerous precedent is set, I can only hope the last safeguard of democracy and property rights is spurned into action. I hope the Supreme Court acts to find this bill unconstitutional.

If the bailout includes packages for these people who have created this mess and there is no accountability, then the backlash is inevitable. If a teacher misappropriated funds given to him to spend on his students education, how long do you think that teacher would keep his job? If a small business owner had bad credit because of mismanaging his money, who would be willing to bail him out or would he have to just go under and deal with what he created?
I think the bailout is necessary to save our economy AND I strongly feel that any bailout that uses our tax monies will reflect in a return to us as in health care and/or refunds to the average hardworking American who has trusted an untrustworthy government for 8 years!

Absolutely. As well it should. America is tired of bailing out the filthy rich with our hard earned money. Let the rich suffer for a change, take everything they have to make up for the shortfalls they caused, then maybe it wouldn’t hurt the taxpayers so much. Let them find out what it is like to have to go without to try to make ends meet and then still lose their homes.

Absolutely. I am mad as hell that I’m stuck with the bill for a drunken orgy of unregulated, reckless greed by Wall Street. Why should I be responsible for those that weren’t? This bailout bill (if passed) better be a bitter pill for any institution that is helped by it. Full regulation, preferred stock, forced insurance premiums… that seems like a good start to me. How about adding a forced dividend on those preferred stocks?

Thank God for the House Republicans and Blue Dog Dems who put up a fight to protect us all.

It’s time for lots of people to start going to jail. Forget the big payouts. Too many people have their hand in the till, and have gotten away with it for years. It’s time to close the cookie jar and put the corrupt behind bars.

The resentment will not hurt Wall Street enough. With Congress in their pockets, the parasites on Wall Street will continue to sell off America and reap profits as “globalists”. The 700 billion dollar band aid will not work and the pain will only be worse for all involved when this sham system proves itself unsustainable once and for all. Mainstreet should be just as angry with itself for overextending itself using the credit so readily offered by wall street. We continue to support politicians that lie to us so that we can claim “innocence” when the fiascos they create at the behest of business blow up in our faces. Ultimately, the rich & powerful don’t give a damn about the the other 99% of us and will do what they want.

Certainly I wish my knowledge of this bailout was much more understood, and that my verbaige was at a much more intelligent level. However As a 51 year old just trying to get by, I must say that I do believe this whole situation is just the wealthy trying to take care of their own. Yes the help is most likely needed, but no one could ever convince me that it is my responsibility to have to pay for this. If our government insists on helping all these mis-managed companies when they are in trouble, then why isn’t that same government standing around collecting their portion of the profits when they were coming in at record numbers? Certainly that sort of mentality will be looked at as just some dumb working class stiff spewing his stupid comments.

“Politics of envy”…This is the type of comment that makes my blood boil Mr. Romney. The middle class has been attacked from every angle, jobs going overseas, wages being cut in half, losing healthcare… It`s not “envy” Mr. Romney it`s fairness, something you seem to have no clue about that is making Main Street angry.

No, there is one thing that remains a constant in the fabric of the American society, a collective short term memory.

I believe that this bailout suggests that Wall Street investment banks are now a government-endorsed ruling class.

Yes, this will result in class warfare. My anger burns that Congress is pushing against the will of the people and I am searching for a target to unleash my fury against. I will not accept that we the people are impotent in this republic.

It will certainly give the Democrats a reason for the top 5% of the taxpayers to pay 98% of the taxes. Until they pack up and leave, that is.

Not just NO but Hell NO with the $700 billion bailout package.

Save the $700 billion.

Americans, put a piece of leather in your mouth and byte down hard and get ready.

What do I think? I think that middle America means nothing to Wshington or to Wall Street. While they are being “rescued”, and receiving some fine compensation for their greed and corruption, we are struggling! Most of us do not live beyond our means- we live modestly and struggle to pay our bills – really struggle. Our credit scores have sunk, but our bills are paid. MY SUGGESTION – SEND A MESSAGE THAT THEY WILL HEAR – STOP PAYING YOUR MORTGAGE NOW!

I doubt that most of those in the backlash were not alive during the “Great Depression” of the 1930s when the government failed to act soon enough and allowed over 9,000 banks to fail, the unempolyment rate was over 25% and there was no money to be had. No money for loans to meet payrolls, buy material for jobs, to get a loan. It could happen again.

Every person in this country should close their bank accounts on Monday if they bailout wall street.

We as taxpayers have to start reigning in the greed of Corparate America.They plus the unions are the reasons that prices are way out of touch for the average american.Who in their right mind needs millions upon millions to live in this day and age?How many homes can you live in and how many cars can you drive at one time?

It’s true on my block! From this day forward I will spend every dime I get on the necessities of life, a self sustained life. I have declared no more junk, no more stuff. Our credit cards are paid off and the house is next. If they want to play games with money they can play with their own money. I’ve sold all of my stock and took out loans against my 401k so I pay myself back. I will now invest in surviving so my child doesn’t starve while the idiot politicians give all the money and breaks to Wall Street. I am divorcing the mainstream and so are my closest friends, family and coworkers. We can make it without wall street but wall street cannot make it without us. It’s time for wall street to understand that!

I think most poor and middle class Americans have been galvanized by the presidential election, and as a result are paying much more attention to the congressional bailout. And yes, I think there will be a backlash, but it will be a backlash against Congress and the Republicans. Why? Because they can do something about Congress with their vote. There’s little, if anything, they can do about the wealthy who control Wall Street. What are they going to do? Write angry letters? Protest at annual stockholders meetings. Refuse to bank at their institutions? No, the wealthy are too insulated. The only alternative the poor and the middle class have is to educate themselves about the issues, register to vote and show up at the polls in large numbers, and vote their outrage by electing Barack Obama and progressive, pro-regulation, pro-middle class Democrats.

First the Bush administration used the terror that followed 9/11 to push through the Patriot Act, which weakened the constitution. Next they used their lies about WMD, nuclear ambitions, and links to al Quaeda to terrorize the nation into accepting their criminal invasion of Iraq. Now they’re playing the same game by threatening us with the collapse of our economy if we don’t hand over 1/2 of our nation’s wealth to their reckless, greed driven, NEVER SATISFIED cronies on Wall Street. Same criminal pattern, different day. Read Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” for the most thorough examination of the way it works. This criminal administration and their Democratic sidekicks should all be driven out, and many of them belong in jail. Neither the Democratic presidential candidate nor the Republican are the answer–these parties offer just two slightly different sides of the same coin. We’re in big trouble here.

As far as I am concerned, yes. I will do all I can to stay away from the “big guys”.

There should not be huge backlash against corporations because they are not the ultimate villains. The fundamental reason for this crisis is that average Americans bought into the speculative froth of the housing market and used “voodoo mortgages” to finance over-priced houses. Main Street needs to look itself squarely in a mirror an admit its share of the blame.

For too long, we have let the rich and their corporations get away with not participating, evading, in the same social and economic responsibilities we adhere to ourselves.

On Wall Street you can sell things you don’t own, borough money with no collateral and rename profits so as not to pay taxes. Corporations are trying to convince us that they will “send our jobs over seas” if we don’t lower their taxes here while, for the last 8 years, their taxes have been slashed and jobs STILL went over seas.

Game over! It’s time to smack them down to manageable size. Wall Street needs to operate under the SAME laws and basic principles as the rest of America. If you spill something, clean it. If you can’t afford something, don’t buy it. If you want to prosper later, start planning now.

9.28- no one has helped me but me, I don’t expect anything from Wall Street or Washington. Talk about setting up a revolution..here we are, its us the majority against them the minority. I can reduce my spending, can they? And for politics, now all bets are off. Don’t ask me to re-elect those who are lynching us, the American people.GerryC. Phx.,Az

It seems that Wall Street feels it is now big enough and impervious enough so that it can “Game” the American government anc the American public. Fie on the greedy moguls that have brought us here. Game them right back, and let the truly guilty ones stew in their own juices.

No welfare for the wealthy! There will be a great protest of peasants with pitch forks if this happens. I was told that they could give each Americans a check for 800,000 instead of the 700 billions to walstreet fat cats. Give the money to the little people and watch the economy boom from the bottom up.

Steve

Mad as hell and not taking it anymore. Yes, there will be a backlash especially if it works marginally or not at all. This better be a home run on the part of those in charge. I mean a big win for the middle class and all of America. If not duck, the middle class is furious. Backlash maybe too mild a term, might want to consider revolt.

I can’t believe this is happening. We’re are so deep in debt already and now we, the taxpayer, are expected – yet demanded – to bailout wealthy executives and bad management teams. For what consequence, so they can sit back and ride in on the millions they get for destroying our economy and peoples lives. The time to march and kick out everyone of our elected representatives is now… Get rid of the whole lot of them… They tax us to dead, the companies nickle and dimes us out of every penny, the news lies to us, and what do we get? We get to clean up someone else Sh*t…. This stinks…

i, for one, am sick of a certain group of people, who are so greedy and inconsiderate of others, that they will ruin an entire economy, and all who depend on it, for as much money as they can finagle and swindle through “creative accounting”. if it were possible to hang the turkeys, i would definitely provide the rope.

Come the Glorious CounterRevolution, they will all hang. Or so one can fantisize.

I say that as a lifelong conservative activist, who has been disgusted with Wall Street ever since Michelle Malkin posted that video of the WSJ board discussing immigration as though everyone who disagreed with the WSJ’s extreme position was a troglodyte. I may (or may not) be as bright as they think they are, but I do recognize self-serving elitist groupthink.

DON’T BAIL THEM OUT TAKE THEM OVER AND MAKE THEM TAX PAYER OWNED TO PAY THAT MUCH AND NOT OWN THEM IS JUST DUMB