Take Back America from Wall Street

Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts Sep 26, 2008 - 03:52 AM GMT

Best Financial Markets Analysis Article It is time to take back America from Wall Street and return it to Main Street USA.

Treasury Secretary Paulson is attempting to ram down the throats of US taxpayers, a $700 billion bailout of Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup (C), Morgan Stanley (MS) and other many other banks that participated in questionable if not fraudulent mortgage lending schemes.

Those corporations have padded their own pocketbooks and handed out billions of dollars in bonuses and stock options over the past few years, all based on mythical profits.

Now those same corporations are asking U.S. taxpayers to bail out their bad lending practices to the tune of $700 billion. No Deal!

Mad Rush To Judgment

This past week has been noting short of amazing. President Bush appeared before the nation stressing a sense of urgency. Paulson and Fed chairman Bernanke have done the same thing before Congress. Inquiring minds are asking "Why The Rush?"

The answer is simple: If people see the actual details of the proposal they will understand it is a bad deal for the taxpayer and a great deal for Wall Street.

It is the very same mad rush to judgment that kicked of the War in Iraq. Does anyone remember talk of "mushroom clouds"? Does anyone remember Dick Cheney saying "We know where they are"? This week we see the same action from Paulson and Bernanke.

The only difference is the message this time is about "financial mushroom clouds". The rush is needed because if anyone looked at the deal they could see taxpayers being left holding the bag.

Break In The Ranks

Tonight we see an unprecedented break in the ranks from current Fed Governor Richard Fisher who says Bank Rescue Plan Would Worsen Fiscal 'Chasm' .

It is not often a Fed governor tells the Fed chairman to go to hell. But that is what happened just tonight.

Former Fed Governor William Poole has stated "These are grand ideas that cannot be executed. There will be one stumbling block after another. I am very leery of jumping in with emergency measures like this."

190+ Economists Slam Bailout

Over 190 top economists in the country have slammed this bailout on grounds of fairness, ambiguity, and long term effects .

Bloomberg is reporting Hundreds of Economists Urge Congress Not to Rush on Rescue Plan .

More than 150 prominent U.S. economists, including three Nobel Prize winners, urged Congress to hold off on passing a $700 billion financial market rescue plan until it can be studied more closely.

In a letter yesterday to congressional leaders, 166 academic economists said they oppose Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan because it's a ``subsidy'' for business, it's ambiguous and it may have adverse market consequences in the long term. They also expressed alarm at the haste of lawmakers and the Bush administration to pass legislation.

David I. Levine, a professor of economics at University of California-Berkeley, says the current plan being discussed has the wrong structure.

Erik Brynjolfsson, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School, said his main objection "is the breathtaking amount of unchecked discretion it gives to the Secretary of the Treasury. It is unprecedented in a modern democracy."

"I suspect that part of what we're seeing in the freezing up of lending markets is strategic behavior on the part of big financial players who stand to benefit from the bailout," said David K. Levine, an economist at Washington University in St. Louis, who studies liquidity constraints and game theory.

Strategic Game Playing At Taxpayer Expense

Read that last paragraph above carefully. It is critical so I will repeat it " I suspect that part of what we're seeing in the freezing up of lending markets is strategic behavior on the part of big financial players who stand to benefit from the bailout, " said David K. Levine, an economist at Washington University in St. Louis, who studies liquidity constraints and game theory.

Tonight Washington Mutual went under. There have been 7 bank failures announce this year, all of them on a Friday. This one is on a Thursday. Game playing to create a sense of urgency? You tell me. What I will tell you is there is no need to rush into a $700 billion package when 190 economists, a current Fed governor, and a former Fed Governor all perceive the bailout for what it is: A bailout of Wall Street that will cost at a bare minimum $2,000 for every man woman and child in the United States.

Long Term Interest Rates Rise

Long term interest rates are already up a half point on news of this bill. They will rise more if it passes. Mortgages are tied to the 10 year treasury rate. You can already thank Paulson for your adjustable rate mortgage going up a half point if this bailout passes. Can you afford that?

Letter From Economists

Click here to see the Letter From Economists to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate. http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/john.cochrane/research/Papers/mortgage_protest.htm

What is it that Paulson knows that 190+ economists don't? After all Paulson was telling us all how safe the US Banking system was just a few weeks ago.

I will tell you what Paulson knows: He knows the longer and closer the taxpayer looks at this bill the angrier the taxpayer will become.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Has sold You Down The River

Sadly, I must tell you that House Speaker Pelosi is standing behind Paulson and backing this absurd deal. See House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Sells Out

Please let her know what you think. Everyone in the country should Email Nancy Pelosi: Email Nancy Pelosi . If that email bounces, please try this one Email Nancy Pelosi .

Heck, please do both. Let her know how you really feel about her sellout to corporate interests on the taxpayer's back. Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House. She should take all of American voters interests in mind. She is failing to do so. Let her know. After you Email her please call her up. Here is here phone number (202) 225-4965. You might also want to try her district number (415) 556-4862.

Tell her it is time to scrap the Paulson Plan and start all over.

Barney Frank Is Another Sellout

Barney Frank, as Democrat, is head of the House Financial Services Committee. Ironically he has been the biggest cheerleader over the years of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He also happens to be the biggest cheerleader of the Paulson plan.

Here are the phone numbers for Barney Frank.
Washington, DC 20515
tel: (202) 225-5931
fax: (202) 225-0182

Newton, MA 02458
tel: (617) 332-3920
fax: (617) 332-2822

tel: (508) 999-6462
fax: (508) 999-6468

Taunton, MA 02780
tel: (508) 822-4796
fax: (508) 822-8186

Please do yourself and the United States of America a big favor. All you have to do is pick up the phone. Tell him how disgusted you are with his sellout of America. Tell him it is time to scrap the Paulson Plan and start all over.

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill Weighs In

ABC News Is reporting O'Neill: Bush Doesn't Get Financial Crisis, 'It Shows'

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said today that our nation's leaders -- especially President Bush -- are "in a panic" and haven't thought through the $700 billion bailout plan in a rush to pass it by the end of the week.

"I don't think he understands or knows much about any of this and it shows," O'Neill said.

O'Neill, who served as Bush's first treasury secretary until being fired over diverging views with the president about tax cuts and other issues, didn't have favorable things to say about the economic policies of either presidential candidate, Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain.

"I think most of what has been said by both campaigns about economic stuff is ill-informed and ill-advised," he said. Asked for specific problems, O'Neill said: "Everything."

"It is possible to re-liquefy the credit system without 'We the People' owning $700 billion worth of homes," he said.

CEO of BB&T Bank Weighs In

If you are not convinced by now what a taxpayer ripoff the Pasulson Plan is, then this should clinch the deal.

Bloomberg is reporting Paulson Plan Aimed at Helping 'Poorly Run' Banks, BB&T Says .

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's proposed $700 billion bank rescue aims to help "poorly run" companies and the primary beneficiaries would be Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, said BB&T Corp. Chief Executive Officer John Allison in a critique of the plan.

Treasury "is totally dominated by Wall Street investment bankers" and "cannot be relied on to objectively assess" the impact of government policy on the financial industry, Allison wrote in a Sept. 23 letter to Congress. The letter was verified by Bob Denham, a spokesman for BB&T, North Carolina's third- largest bank.

Allison, 60, said Congress should "hear from well-run financial institutions" as lawmakers consider the plan, which seeks to ease the credit crunch by buying troubled mortgage- related assets. Under Allison, Winston-Salem, North Carolina- based BB&T avoided the subprime mortgage market, whose collapse led to the credit crisis. BB&T has risen 26 percent this year, the best showing in the 24-company KBW Bank Index.

History In The Making!

Your voice is being heard, possibly for the first time ever.

Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, has received nearly 17,000 e-mail messages, nearly all opposed to the bailout, her office said. More than 2,000 constituents called Ms. Boxer's California office on Tuesday alone; just 40 favored the bailout. Her Washington office received 918 calls. Just one supported the rescue plan.

Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, said he had been getting 2,000 e-mail messages and telephone calls a day, roughly 95 percent opposed. When Senator Bernard Sanders, the Vermont independent who votes with Democrats, posted a petition on his Web site asking Mr. Paulson to require that taxpayers receive an equity stake in the bailed-out companies, more than 20,000 people signed.

“We certainly have never brought in 20,000 names in a day and a half,” Mr. Sanders said, sounding astonished. “For us, that's off the wall.”

It is much the same on the Republican side. Aides to Senator Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican who has called the bailout plan “un-American,” said the senator had received more constituent reaction to the bailout plan than to any issue since the immigration debate.

Ron Paul Says "Call Them"

If you have not yet done so, please read Ron Paul Says "Call Them!" Well don't just read it, Call Them! Let them know you are mad as hell and if they vote for this boondoggle you will vote them out of office.

Flood Them With Calls, Faxes, and Emails!

I do not know about you, but I am, mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore.

This is what I want you to do.

Contact The House

THIS IS CRITICAL: Please fax AND phone your congressman . Do not bother with any members of the House except for Nancy Pelosi.

Call them with this simple message " If you vote for this bill, you will lose my vote ".

Click Here For Congresional Phone And Fax Numbers

Senate Fax List

Please fax everyone on this list.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R) 202-224-3416 or 202-224-5137 (try both not sure which is correct)
Sen. Harry Reid (D) 202-224-7327
Sen. Jim DeMint (R) 202-228-5143
Sen. John Ensign (R) 202-228-2193
Sen. Jim Bunning (R) 202-228-1373
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) 202-224-6020
Sen John McCain (R) 202-228-2862

Sen. Barack Obama 202-228-4260
Sen. John D. Rockefeller 202-224-7665
Sen. Dianne Feinstein 202-228-3954
Sen. Ron Wyden 202-228-2717
Sen. Evan Bayh 202-228-1377
Sen. Barbara Mikulski 202-224-8858
Sen. Bill Nelson 202-228-2183
Sen. John Kerry 202-224-8525
Sen. Daniel Inouye 202-224-6747
Sen. Hillary Clinton 202-228-0282

Those inclined should also fax their own senators as well.

Please send this email to 10 others and have them do the same.
Thanks
We can STILL make a difference.

Ongoing Campaigns

Please act on ALL of the following.

Every Fax Counts! Do your share!

Fate May Rest With Shelby

Another Mad Rush To Judgment

Senator Sanders' Petition Against Paulson

Fax Now!
Call Now!

If you do not have internet faxing get it.

I went with MetroFax . 1000 pages at a very cheap price.
If you are reading this most likely you can afford $12.
Sign up today and fax to your heart's content.

Sample Fax

Dear Senator/Congressional Leader

The Paulson plan is not workable. It is a sellout to corporate America at taxpayer expense.

Mad Rush To Financial Judgment

Today President Bush and Treasury Secretary Paulson are preaching the same story.

There can be no delay.
Sweeping new Powers for the Fed are needed.
The Treasury needs $700 billion dollars.
There is no time to study alternatives.

Senators, in your heart you know all of the above are lies. It was the very same mad rush to judgment that started the Iraq War. We do not need and cannot afford a financial mad rush to judgment.

Thee odds of failure on the Paulson plan are 100%. The Paulson plan will not create any jobs or help homeowners pay their bills. Instead it diverts $700 billion of taxpayer funds to failed banks that took excessive risks. The sheer size of the bailout will cause interest rates to rise, further adding to taxpayer woes.

Long term interest rates are already up a half point on news of this bill. They will rise more if it passes. How is that supposed to help homeowners?

Robbing taxpayers to pay failed banks cannot possibly work!

Printing money and giving it away cannot work either. If it did work, Zimbabwe would be the most prosperous nation in the world.

190+ Economists Slam Bailout

Over 190 top economists in the country have slammed this bailout on grounds of fairness, ambiguity, and long term effects.

http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/john.cochrane/research/Papers/mortgage_protest.htm

What is it that Paulson knows that 190+ economists don't? After all Paulson was telling us all how safe the US Banking system was just a few weeks ago.

Paul Oneil Is Against The Plan

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said today that our nation's leaders -- especially President Bush -- are "in a panic" and haven't thought through the $700 billion bailout plan in a rush to pass it by the end of the week.

"I don't think he understands or knows much about any of this and it shows. It is possible to re-liquefy the credit system without 'We the People' owning $700 billion worth of homes," he said.

BB&T Corp. Chief Executive Officer John Allison critiques the plan

Treasury "is totally dominated by Wall Street investment bankers" and "cannot be relied on to objectively assess" the impact of government policy on the financial industry, Allison wrote in a Sept. 23 letter to Congress.

The letter was verified by Bob Denham, a spokesman for BB&T, North Carolina's third-largest bank.

Our prayers are with you that you have the courage to stand up do what you know you must do: Block This Bill.

I cannot and will not vote for any member of Congress who votes for this bill in its current form or anything remotely close to the current form.

It is time to scrap the Paulson Plan and start all over.

Your Name
Your Phone Number

If you do not have internet faxing get it.

I went with MetroFax . 1000 pages at a very cheap price.
If you are reading this most likely you can afford $12.
Sign up today and fax to your heart's content.

Be a part of history!

A grass roots campaign like this has never killed a major bill. You can help do it.
Flood them with calls, emails, and faxes.
Just Do It!

It is time to Take Back America from Wall Street and return a piece of the pie to Main Street USA.

By Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Mike Shedlock / Mish is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management . Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction.

Visit Sitka Pacific's Account Management Page to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

I do weekly podcasts every Thursday on HoweStreet and a brief 7 minute segment on Saturday on CKNW AM 980 in Vancouver.

When not writing about stocks or the economy I spends a great deal of time on photography and in the garden. I have over 80 magazine and book cover credits. Some of my Wisconsin and gardening images can be seen at MichaelShedlock.com .

Mike Shedlock Archive

Comments

Citizen
26 Sep 08, 12:00

Letter to Nancy Pelosi

This is the letter I sent to Nancy Pelosi:

I am writing to express my concern for our economy and democracy. As a citizen of this Great Nation, and a student of history I am aware that the Federal Reserve Bank is NOT a legitimate part of the Government. In the period of time that the Federal Reserve has been "responsible" for our financial well-being the cost to our country has consistent inflation of the monetary supply (with a corresponding erosion of savings on the part of our nations citizens), and an increase in financial inequality. This is fundamentally due to the nature of the Central bank, a private corporation, which is (let's be honest), only interested in it's own obscene profits. Fractional Reserve Lending is the infection which is killing our country and the rest of the world too. These privileges and the consequential results they have for our nation are not necessary for a functional economy. They are not allowed by our Constitution, and should be abolished just as we might act to heal an outbreak of plague.

I am asking that you - as our elected representative - to bring this issue into the debate on how we can resolve the current chapter of our hundred year national economic crisis.

Sadly, I do not think you will have the courage to do this.

The current (Fascist) business model, which is a feature of the Central bank regime we are presently living under, is not a legitimate way to operate our economic system. It is an insult to the Constitution, and makes a mockery of our Nations founders. The public is outraged by the events that are occurring, the ignorant are being informed, and we will have real change, regardless of the resistance mounted by the financial power of these Corporate Criminals.

Do not pretend that the answer is not obvious. You are smarter than that, and the people of the world are waking up to the fraud and extortion. The lies are not going to remain hidden, the truth is being revealed. Short term political solutions, that lead to long term slavery, are not acceptable.

If you are not able to understand this - you have no right to represent us.

The current administration, and others before it, is killing the Constitution in order to save itself from the hell it is creating. This is insane, and cannot lead to good. Good will return no matter what evil is done to our nation, and the citizens of the World. I doubt that you will personally ever see this letter I am addressing to you, but if you do know that I am not alone with these views. I am not crazy, or criminal, or a minority. Change is coming, big change, and you could facilitate it if you behave in honest and ethical ways to renew that contract which our Constitution displays for all to see, and for you to adhere to. That is your oath of office.

Do the right thing and you will be able to live with yourself.

_________________________________________________________

The famous parable of (exponential) growth, or a simple explanation for the reasons why continual expansion is unlikely or impossible.

(Fractional Reserve lending IS an exponential growth system)

The Inventor of Chess and the Emperor of China

To appreciate the implications of this (or any) geometric trend, it is useful to recall the legend of the inventor of chess and his patron, the emperor of China. The emperor had so fallen in love with his new game that he offered the inventor a reward of anything he wanted in the kingdom.

"Just one grain of rice on the first square, Your Majesty."

"Just one grain of rice?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, just one grain of rice on the first square, and two grains of rice on the second square."

"That's it -- one and two grains of rice?"

"Well, okay, and four grains on the third square, and so on."

The emperor immediately granted the inventor's seemingly humble request. One version of the story has the emperor going bankrupt because the doubling of grains of rice for each square ultimately equaled 18 million trillion grains of rice. At ten grains of rice per square inch, this requires rice fields covering twice the surface area of the Earth, oceans included.

The other version of the story has the inventor losing his head. It's not yet clear which outcome we're headed for.

But there is one thing we should note: It was fairly uneventful as the emperor and the inventor went through the first half of the chessboard. After thirty-two squares, the emperor had given the inventor about 4 billion grains of rice. That's a reasonable quantity -- about one large field's worth -- and the emperor did start to take notice.

But the emperor could still remain an emperor. And the inventor could still retain his head. It was as they headed into the second half of the chessboard that at least one of them got into trouble.

Randy Lewis
27 Sep 08, 05:03

Same Message: Different Letter
I appreciate everything you said in your article, and I wanted to share a letter I wrote which I faxed to the very same people. I am saddened that I don't feel it will make a difference. But here's what I wrote and feel free to copy and send to everyone you know:

I am writing today to urge you to vote against the upcoming Wall Street bailout package that Congress is debating. There is so much wrong about this bill that everyone I talked to about this is frightened; voting for any kind of assistance to an industry which has created their own problems is unprecedented. Allowing the government to participate in the free-market system is not only downright un-American, socializing the credit industry goes against all the principles of our free-market system.

In 2001, the Administration forced through the Patriot Act capitalizing on the fear of the World Trade Center attacks. In 2003, the Administration hand-picked its own intelligence to invade a sovereign country in the name of oil and Halliburton (ironic, isn’t it that the President and Vice President both come from oil-industry backgrounds?). In 2008, Congress capitulated in allowing the Administration to shield telecommunication companies from violating our civil rights. Congress approved all these actions, and has seen public backlash because We the People believe that you are being manipulated and spineless, subservient to an Imperial Presidency. Now, in September 2008, I believe the Administration is trying to manipulate you again by rushing you to approve a bailout for Goldman-Sachs et al.—once lead by the same people that are requesting our tax dollars to bail out their cronies!?! That is ridiculous. Please don’t buy in to their lies.

I understand that Article 8 of Secretary Paulson’s and Chairmen Bernanke’s proposal will prevent any type of judicial or administrative review of our tax dollars. You cannot let that happen. Can you seriously come back to your constituents and tell them that you have given the very men who caused this problem $700,000,000,000 with no oversight and no responsibility to do help the folks that put you in office?

Please don’t let this happen. Please vote against the bailout. Please do not get pressured or stampeded into supporting this dangerous and anti-American power grab. Please do not reward the elite to create their own welfare package--with no accountability-- at the expense of our children’s future.

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