Mad Bomber to the Rescue!

by Travis Prinzi on September 24, 2008

We’re SAVED!  Nobody panic, nobody fear.  John S. McCain has suspended his campaign to rush back to Washington to save us all from the … um … from the free market.  Wait…

Did you ever dream that the sitting Republican president would propose the most socialist plan in recent memory, and that the current Republican nominee would suspend a campaign because the government needs to fix a financial problem?  Anyone have any questions as to why I’m voting third party this year?

I got an email from a former fellow blogger.  (BHT readers will remember “JackAz,” I assume.)  It’s a nice summary of the problem of a bailout and a call to action.  Here it is:

Many of you know I follow financials and market information very closely, which is why I happen to know about this $700 billion bailout Hank Paulson is trying to ram through Congress.

This email contains:
1) What this new law entails (without the details which are still being worked through in a panicked 2 day session)
2) What is about to happen, if we don’t act
3) A request to inform your fellow Americans this is about to happen
4) All contact information for every Senator and House Representative for the entire Unites States.

The New Bill (as yet unnamed) in plain text.

This is a bill – not yet passed – but if it passes, it will become law. Keep this fact in mind. The bill is sold to us as one designed to help the American taxpayer who is losing their home. But, that is not what it does.

Now, read this part of the bill:

Sec. 8. Review: Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Take a moment to re-read that. This new LAW would place the Secretary of the Treasury ABOVE THE LAW.

So, this bill is being sold to us, the taxpayer, as if it would protect the American public. Ask yourself, if this new law is so helpful to the American taxpayer, why are we not allowed to review the decisions he is making with OUR tax-money? Why aren’t courts or oversight committees allowed to see what exactly it is he will be doing? So far, the bill doesn’t include anything to actually help those whose homes are in foreclosure, or about to be in foreclosure.

Now, this is what it DOES do:

1) Creates a NEW TAXPAYER FUNDED account, called the “RTC.”
2) In this account, trillions in bad debt is funneled from companies who failed due to irresponsibly risky decisions
3) In this account, billions in loans is dumped related to STRESSED COMMERCIAL real estate
4) In this account, financial institutions will compete for how little they will accept for their bad debts
5) With this law, the secretary will decide how much of your money he will pay for bad loans, regardless of the true market value.

To make this crystal clear: this account will be used to take YOUR money and then with that money (taken from you), PURCHASE the very liabilities that Wall Street can’t sell to any other business or country. And why can’t they sell them? Why can’t they sell them? Because everyone who has looked at them has decided they are not worth buying. 

In a free market, these companies would fail. They made risky bets that blew-up, and now they are weak. From the ashes, new stronger companies would emerge to fill the void. Yes, it would hurt for a while – but that is the nature of a free-market. This bill spits in the face of the very foundation on which our great country was built. It is designed to bail-out bankrupt institutions that ruined the fiscal health of the country! We are told that this bill is the lesser of two evils then I guess the greater “evil” is allowing the free markets to work as designed. The greater evil is apparently allowing the market to punish these blockheads for their stupid decisions.

What is maddening about this situation is that the U.S.A already has rules and regulations in place – rules created because of the Great Depression – to prevent this from happening again. So why is this happening again?

It’s simple really: it’s because the people you elected turned a blind eye and chose not to enforce the law while everyone was making a killing. For example, you may have heard recently that the SEC is “banning illegal naked short selling” in the market place. Well, here’s a news flash – Naked Short Selling has always been ILLEGAL. Why are you placing a ban on something you are supposed to ARREST people for? (Will their next ban be on STEALING?)

Clearly, this bill does not represent the best interests of the American taxpayer. It represents the best interest of the Wall Street bankers who made stupid business decisions that have ruined their companies.

1) This new Law places Secretary Paulsen above the law; “Decisions… non-reviewable … agency discretion …may NOT be reviewed by ANY COURT OF LAW OR ANY ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCY”
2) Wall Street, where “Greed is Good”, is getting YOUR money, to ensure they keep their 5 mansions, private jets, multi-million dollar yacht, and bonuses: (Goldman Sachs, alone, paid bonuses of 18 billion in 2007 and 16 billion in 2006)
3) The U.S.A – the BASTION of “free market” capitalism – is utterly preventing the free market to actually WORK. If you think America is a free-market economy, stop that false belief right now. Even SOCIALIST GOVERNMENTS would not embark down this path of socialist “financialism”

So, what can we do at this point?

First: Forward this email. No matter how embarrassed or worried you might feel about it, forward it to other Americans so they can at least be AWARE this is happening. If they get irritated with you, they are choosing to live in ignorance.

Second: Call your representatives. They are the people who are supposed to do YOUR bidding. Call them, make them justify this new Law. Don’t believe them if they tell you, “this is the best we can do.”

This law is not good for you, it will not prevent a crash, it will not cause home value to suddenly turn around. It will cause a short term rally in the stock market, it will allow rich bankers to off-load bad debts, and it will allow Wall Street to recover catastrophic stock losses while the big money sells into the rally (while they work hard to convince you to leave your 401K invested).

I can assure you this: if this law passes, America will fundamentally turn its back on the very premise on which our country was founded: Free-Market Capitalism.

The markets will correct themselves regardless of any action the government attempts to make. It is unavoidable. Nothing goes “up” forever, and we all recognize this.

Ever wonder why congress and our government makes these panic changes over weekends? Well, I’m not sure about you, but I’m not usually watching the markets or the news right now. I’m usually outside playing with my son or enjoying time with my friends and neighbors. Tomorrow I’ll be watching the game. Frankly, I’d rather be at my neighbor’s BBQ than sitting here writing this. But this time, there is something more important to do.

The good news is, some of our voice is being heard. It is not hopeless: Rep Marcy Kaptur, Ohio: http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=mbD62gNi9WE

You can get the contact information for your congressmen here:
http://www.house.gov
http://www.senate.gov

BTW, if they refuse to take your calls, make note of it and let me know. This is expressly illegal because they were elected to represent your interests in the government of the United States of America.

For more detailed information, please visit: http://www.fedupusa.org/

{ 2 trackbacks }

The Boar’s Head Tavern » Jackaz on the Bailout
September 25, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Christians blogging about bans, bannings and boycotts | blogs4God
October 1, 2008 at 8:05 am

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Phillip Winn September 25, 2008 at 4:13 pm

This isn’t a failure of free markets. This is the result of government intervention in the free market, specifically with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac (requiring high percentages of loans to be made to lower-income buyers), as well as each of the large banks currently in trouble, plus two more.

The free market may sometimes develop problem on its own, and yes, then we should let companies fail, but in this case this is so far from a free market, it’s tough to determine what’s best to do.

Giving $700B to one man with no oversight sure as heck ain’t it, though!

Reply

Travis Prinzi September 25, 2008 at 9:53 pm

Phillip, correct on all counts! (My opening comment was meant as more an attention-grabber than an accurate account of what happened.)

Reply

lonelypilgrim September 26, 2008 at 12:01 am

One nice thing about this is seeing some of the GOP legislators calling this plan socialist and breaking from big business, hence showing that being pro-big business is not the same thing as being pro-free enterprise.

Reply

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