By Cindy Sheehan
Politicians, whether Democrats or Republicans, place their own self-interest as their highest priority. Because our society is sharply divided between the "haves," who enjoy a monopoly on power and influence, and the "have-nots," who are alienated from the political process, politicians -- for the sake of their own survival -- have cynically sided with the corporations in the belief that their own political prospects will be enhanced.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20905.htm
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Why Is Congress Even Listening To Those Who Caused The Wreck On How To Fix It?
Isn't it a miracle what can happen when the people actually speak out. Votes change in Congress. And please take careful note of this fact -- the stock market was down 600 points BEFORE Congress even voted, and reason is that investors KNOW that Paulson's plunder plan does not address any of the real problems, and were as afraid it might pass as not. It was a non-starter, it needs to be torn up and we need to draft a new plan from scratch.
Now it is up to us, we the people, to provide the real leadership that is so lacking in Congress, to push for real and substantial progressive policy change, and the underlying principle must be this, and this is what we need to tell them, with our newfound vocal power.
No More Bailout Votes Until Congress Hears From Some Real Economists.
Action Page:
http://www.usalone.net/cindy/real_economists.php
And here are the tollfree numbers for Congress again, 800 828-0498,
800-473-6711, now that we know that they WILL actually listen, at least enough of them, when we DO actually speak out in greater and greater numbers and loudly enough. They need to hear from us again now, more that EVER, to tell them what they need to do instead. Please make your calls and send your emails. And if your representatives voted for the bailout the first time, lambast them, and if they voted "No", thank them profusely.
And we again thank Cindy Sheehan, who is so seriously challenging Nancy Pelosi for the congressional seat in San Francisco right now, for her own leadership in making this action page happen.
Before Congress does anything else they MUST take the time to hear from some real economists, like Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz, who offers real wisdom in this article from his article last week in the Nation magazine. Here are some excerpts:
With lack of oversight and transparency the cause of the current problem, how could they make a proposal so short in both? If a quick consensus is required, why not include provisions to stop the source of bleeding, to aid the millions of Americans that are losing their homes? Why not spend as much on them as on Wall Street? Do they still believe in trickle-down economics, when for the past eight years money has been trickling up to the wizards of Wall Street? Why not enact bankruptcy reform, to help Americans write down the value of the mortgage on their overvalued home? No one benefits from these costly foreclosures.
The Scandinavian countries showed the way, almost two decades ago. By issuing preferred shares with warrants (options), one reduces the public's downside risk and insures that they participate in some of the upside potential. This approach is not only proven, it provides both incentives and wherewithal to resume lending. It furthermore avoids the hopeless task of trying to value millions of complex mortgages and even more complex products in which they are embedded, and it deals with the "lemons" problem - the government getting stuck with the worst or most overpriced assets.
Finally, we need to impose a special financial sector tax to pay for the bailouts conducted so far. We also need to create a reserve fund so that poor taxpayers won't have to be called upon again to finance Wall Street's foolishness.
-- End Stiglitz Excepts --
We need open, public and TRANSPARENT hearings so the American people can hear from REAL experts like Joseph E. Stiglitz, and decide in the clear light of day what is to be done with OUR economic destiny, and not in secret back rooms like it's been done so far, where they confiscate all the Blackberrys to keep us all in the dark.
And THEN they write the legislation. And they don't leave town until they do it, because we're not going to reelect any of them anyway unless they do.
Here is a donations page for also for Cindy Sheehan. Many of you have donated very generously, but many of you have NOT. And time is so short.
Cindy Sheehan Donations:
http://www.usalone.net/cindy/donations.php
And what if you don't have any money? No excuses. Do you have a telephone? Does it allow you to place outgoing tollfree calls? So after you call Congress, Cindy needs phonebankers, lots of phone bankers, now. NOW, now. Use the link on the page above to volunteer.
What Congress is being stampeded into doing, again, is EXACTLY backwards. Would you buy a "hen protection plan" from one of the foxes? There is a real simple solution to this whole mess. These institutions are in trouble mostly because they were looted by their own corporate executives. We march an army of forensic accountants in there, and tell those Wall Street pigs that if they don't find the money fast they are all going to jail.
And then we file negligence and breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits against them all, to recoup every dime that disappeared. Our dear Secretary of the Treasury Paulson pulled down hundreds of millions all by himself. And now he wants the American people to make up the difference out of OUR pockets? He can practically finance the bailout PERSONALLY. And if there were any justice in the world he would.
Important Update: Despite what the lying media would have you believe about the House servers limiting emails, ALL of our email messages are getting through, and our action pages now have a special process in place to make sure they do go through. So keep on speaking out and never, ever give up!
The corporate media has also been propagating the most despicable lie about the backwards bailout we are all so opposed to, that the stock market dropped BECAUSE the House rejected it. That black hearted and categorical lie is just being used as propaganda to try to scare the American people, and Congress, into taking a very bad deal.
The FACT is that the market was already down 600 points before the vote was even taken. And then it went UP 500 points the next day AFTER the rejection. And now that the Senate has betrayed us all by caving in, it's down 350 points again in one day.
Bottom line: Any bailout must be financed by the Wall Street profiteers who created this disaster, not by those of us struggling to earn a simple wage on Main Street. And that is why we are demanding, with this action page, that any bailout be financed by a nominal tax of just 1/4 of one percent on securities transactions, so that those who speculated us into economic ruin can start to pay it back.
Action Page:
http://www.usalone.net/cindy/stet_financing.php
It is also critically important that we AGAIN saturate all phone lines with our protests right up until the last minute. Here are the tollfree numbers again , 800-828-0498 or 800-473-6711, and if you can't get through there, here there is an instant phone number lookup on the same action page above where you can get all their direct lines.
Don't EVER let them be able to say that the calls were starting to tail off, or going the other way, because we did not make every call we could have made. Lie, lies, and more propaganda lies to try to lull people back into inaction.
Of course we have to do something, and relatively quickly. But the point is to not rush pell mell into doing the WRONG thing, and thereby just make things worse. And so far Congress has refused to even seriously consider alternatives. Operating on timetable of being in a rush to get out of town to campaign for reelection should be a disqualifier standing alone, if there really is an urgent national crisis. And whatever vague and flimsy constraints that Congress may have added to the original dictatorial power grab are just a signing statement away from the trash can.
Even worse, to grease this looting of the public treasury past any member of Congress with any remaining policy courage, they have loaded in 100 billion dollars of wish list pet projects, some worthwhile, some most decidedly not. But if any are worthwhile they should be passed on their own, NOT traded away for a 700 billion dollar further policy disaster in the making.
Make no mistake. This is nothing more than quick drug fix for the greed money junkies on Wall Street. And if we don't do everything we can to stop it, they'll blow through it so fast it will make head spin, none of the underlying problems will be addressed, and then there will truly be no more money left to fix the real problem or anything else. As a country, we are already mortgaged up to the hilt.
So whatever the outcome of the final vote, we need to focus completely on job one, which is systematically replacing each and every member of Congress who has betrayed us so completely. And that starts by throwing everything we can throw behind the candidacy of Cindy Sheehan, who is speaking out so valiantly against this wrong-footed bailout, and who can remove Nancy Pelosi from Congress by taking the congressional race in San Francisco.
Here is a donations page for for Cindy Sheehan. Many of you have donated very generously, but many of you have NOT. And time is so short.
Cindy Sheehan Donations:
http://www.usalone.net/cindy/donations.php
And what if you don't have any money? No excuses. Do you have a telephone? Does it allow you to place outgoing tollfree calls? So after you call Congress, Cindy needs phonebankers, lots of phone bankers, now. NOW, now. Use the link on the page above to volunteer.
What Congress is being stampeded into doing, again, is EXACTLY backwards. Would you buy a "hen protection plan" from one of the foxes? There is a real simple solution to this whole mess. These institutions are in trouble mostly because they were looted by their own corporate executives. We march an army of forensic accountants in there, and tell those Wall Street pigs that if they don't find the money fast they are all going to jail.
And then we file negligence and breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits against them all, to recoup every dime that disappeared. Our dear Secretary of the Treasury Paulson pulled down hundreds of millions all by himself. And now he wants the American people to make up the difference out of OUR pockets? He can practically finance the bailout PERSONALLY. And if there were any justice in the world he would.
And let them all know, that their job description is NOT ignoring the will of the American people.
Paid for by Cindy Sheehan for Congress
Donations to Cindy Sheehan for Congress are not tax-deductible
Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this alert as widely as possible.
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