Anyway, with that off my to do list, how can these Congress critters be oblivious to:
Bailout Could Deepen Crisis, CBO Chief Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..id=topnews

I wrote and faxed this in today; feel free to use it and PLEASE contact your Senators and Representive about your views on this issue(keep the heat up in other words)
Dear Senators and Representatives;

I am writing this to you -as well as the Senators and Representative for whom I am a constituent(Senators Boxer and Feinstein, Representative Susan Davis) to indicate that:
1. House Speaker Pelosi is completely correct is not bringing any ‘bailout’ legislation to the floor for a vote unless a majority of Republican lawmakers support such.

2. To object to how the Dodd/Franks legislation does not go far enough -badly- to insure oversight and benefits to the taxpayers in any ‘bailout’ of ‘distressed debts’. The way the bill determines how much it pays for assets needs to be changed. Right now this bill is a bailout which won’t actually bail out either the financial industry or the economy.

3. To the whole concept of legislation that NO ONE can say will actually resolve the problem, which is NOT a liquidity issue but a solvency and fraud issue. Please think back to the Bush Administration’s actions regarding the OCC and State efforts to protect the taxpayers of those States.

4. When the CBO says that the costs associated with such legislation are indeterminate, alarm bells MUST sound loudly. When the figure of $700B and it’s associated raising of the nation’s debt limit becomes 70 per cent of the nation’s GDP, we are on a path where the U.S. dollar will lose it’s status as the world’s reserve currency.

5. All de-leveraging roads ultimately lead to deflation and debt destruction, which was the natural and progressive path that sliced 25% off the commodity index and caused the dollar rally this summer. The bailout proposal reversed that course in one fell swoop and reintroduced the specter of hyperinflation. That will work until it doesn’t, which is to say that the patience and appetite of foreign holders of deteriorating dollar-denominated assets is extremely strained. If they scream “Uncle Sam” and debase our currency, the caveats of a fiat currency hit home in a hurry. If they don’t, the dollar will rally and asset classes of all shapes and sizes will deflate in kind.

6. That ANYTHING coming from the Bush Administration is taken with any grain of truth by Congress -after all that has occurred- is amazing; don’t you ever learn?

7. Fed Chairman Bernanke’s comments that not passing such legislation will result in a recession is laughable; the public already knows we are in a recession; we don’t need a ‘measuring guide’ to tell us so, we are living it.

8. What Senator Sanders has proposed in his four basic principles regarding such legislation and what Robert Reich has written about -”Unless Americans on Main Street have more money in their pockets, Wall Street’s bad debts will continue to rise — which means the Bailout of All Bailouts grows even larger, which means taxpayers take on even more risk and cost” – NEEDS to be in such legislation IF that legislation is passed.
And Paulson’s arrogance about ‘details can be addressed later’ only shows how a person worth $700M has no business in proposing anything to do with working American’s.

9. The statement by White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto, who insisted that the plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over previous MONTHS and weeks by administration officials should tell you the game that is being played. And the ludicrous statement that “lawmakers were getting only days to peruse it, but (he) said this should be enough.” should also bring the demand that Congress have months to analyze and craft legislation addressing economic issues that have such an impact on the nation’s future. Remember the concern for posterity? $700 billion to bailout those who can’t remember -or ignored- “Risk management trumps reward chasing and profiting is a privilege rather than a right.” but somehow $7 billion can’t be found to insure children without health insurance?

Sincerely,
Bruce Sims
To:
Senator Feinstein
Senator Boxer
Senate Majority Leader Reid
Senator Obama
Senator Sherrod Brown
Senator Dodd
Senator Schumer
Senator Sanders
Senator Kerry
Senator Durbin
House Speaker Pelosi
Representative Susan Davis
Representative Barney Frank
Representative Maxine Waters
Representative Hensarling

Fax numbers for the above:
Schumer 202-228-3027
Durbin fax (202) 228-0400
John Kerry (202) 224-8525
Feinstein (202) 228-3954
boxer – (202) 224-0454
reid 202-224-7327
Pelosi (202) 225-8259
Davis (202) 225-2948
dodd (202) 224-1083
obama (202) 228-4260
Sherrod Brown (202) 228-6321
Sanders 2022280776 -swent
Barney Frank (202) 225-0182
Maxine Waters (202) 225-7854
Hensarling 202-226-4888

1. Health Care for All: Insurance companies make money not providing health care. As the co-author of HR 676, a universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health care system, Medicare for All, I understand millions of Americans want health care that is accessible and affordable.

Medicare for All will help businesses large and small, create jobs as well as save the jobs of thousands of people including those of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers who are currently leaving medicine because it is run by the insurance companies. $1 in every 3 dollars of the $2.4 trillion spent annually in America for health care goes to the insurance companies. If we take that money ($800 billion in unproductive wasteful spending) and put it directly into care, we will have enough money to cover everyone. We are already paying for Medicare for all, but not receiving it. HR 676 changes that!

2. Prescription Drug Benefit for Seniors: HR 6800 is the MEDS Act, which provides a fully paid prescription drug benefit, under Medicare, for all seniors. I wrote this bill to help alleviate the economic pressure that comes from the high cost of prescription drugs. We can pay for it by letting the government negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies as well as by permitting re-importation.

3. Stop the Oil Companies’ Price Gouging: As you know, I was the first one to step up to challenge of the corrupt price gouging and market speculation of the oil companies by proposing a windfall profits tax, on oil and natural gas companies, with revenues put into tax credits for the purchase of fuel-efficient American-made cars. However, it may be that nationalization is the only way to put an end to the oil companies’ sharp practices.

4. Protecting the American Homestead: As Chairman of the Domestic Policy Oversight Subcommittee, I am working to protect your basic right to have a roof over your head, whether as an owner or renter. I have investigated and helped to expose the manipulation of mortgage markets, and I am crafting a new federal policy so that neighborhoods with the highest number of foreclosures get the most help.

5. Jobs for All: Congressman LaTourette and I have co-authored the bi-partisan New Deal-type jobs program, HR 3400, “Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure.” It will create millions of good-paying new jobs rebuilding our roads, bridges, water systems and sewer systems.

6. American Manufacturing Policy: I am drafting the American Manufacturing Policy Act, which for the first time, will state that the maintenance of U.S. steel, automotive, and aerospace industries are vital to our national economic security and must be maintained through integrated public-private cooperation, new trade policies, and investment.

7. Works Green Administration: I am also drafting plans for a green New Deal jobs program, in which the government creates millions of jobs by incentivizing the design, engineering, manufacturing, distribution and maintenance of millions of wind and solar micro-technologies for millions of homes and businesses, dramatically lowering energy costs and reducing our dependence on oil.

8. Fair Trade: The U.S. has lost millions of good-paying jobs, and more jobs have been out-sourced. As you know, I have helped to lead the way in opposition to trade giveaways. I strongly urge repeal of NAFTA. We must include workers’ rights, human rights and environmental quality principles in all trade pacts. We must also protect the Great Lakes’ water resources from the reach of multi-national corporations.

9. Education for All: I know families need help with the rising cost of day care. That is why I introduced HR 4060, a universal pre-kindergarten program to ensure that all children ages 3-5 have access to full-day, quality day care.

10. Protecting Pensions: I am working to change bankruptcy laws so pensioners’ claims will be first, ahead of banks, and that corporate executives who misuse workers’ pension funds are subject to criminal penalties. I want to fully fund the Pension Benefit Guarantee Board.

11. Social Security: From my first moments in Congress, I have exposed Wall Street’s efforts to privatize Social Security and attacked it in the Democratic Caucus when it was being proposed. Can you imagine where seniors would be today if Social Security had been turned over to the stock market? Social Security is solid through 2032 without any changes.

12. Protect Bank Deposits: I will work to make sure the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has sufficient funds to provide for insurance of deposits up to $200,000 at all banks and savings and loans. This is an urgent matter since so many banks are said to be vulnerable.

13. Protect Investors: Bring back strong regulation to Wall Street. As Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee, I challenged the Wall Street hedge fund speculators as a threat to small investors. I intend to keep active watch over the machinations on Wall Street.

14. Strength through Peace: You’ll remember when I led the effort against the ill-conceived Iraq war, which has now cost more than 4,100 US soldiers’ lives, cost U.S. taxpayers between $3 trillion and $5 trillion, and resulted in the deaths of more than a million Iraqis. We must bring our troops home and end the war. We must engage in diplomacy. We must reduce the military budget, and we must stop outrageous cost overruns by the likes of Halliburton.

15. Safety in America: I am proud of my work for peace. In July 2001, I introduced a bill, which today is HR 808, that for the first time creates a comprehensive plan to deal with the issues of violence in American society, particularly domestic violence, spousal abuse, child abuse, gang violence, gun violence, racial violence, and violence against gays by establishing a Cabinet-level Department of Peace and Restorative Justice. This proposal has sparked a national movement and when implemented will save tax payers millions of dollars.

16. Monetary Policy: It is long past the time that we looked at the implications of our debt based monetary system, the privatization of money created by the 1913 Federal Reserve Act, the banks fractional reserve system and our debt-based economic system. Unless we have dramatic reform of monetary policy, the entire economic system will continue to accelerate wealth upwards. I am currently working on drafting legislation for an ‘American Monetary Act’ to address these and other issues in order to protect the economic wellbeing of America.

from your link:

forbes writes on part of the reason that the American public is so skeptical of the Bush administration’s bailout proposal:

In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.

“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”

The financial sector is and will be completely out of control or there is not point to play. Most of the big boys stole their wads and will laugh all the way to their Cayman Island banks.

Screw financial markets.

The idea of “credit” needs to be seriously re examined.

there are real solutions to them but everything gets caught up in these witless political atmospherics that they are never heard or discussed

it would be unpleasant. make us feel bad. might not be good for the democrat’s chances come election day,….

We know they won’t work and we do them anyway.

i have no explanation for this. not even a bad one.