Our dear neocon, conservative, "Free Market, Free Trade, Free Money", bathtub-loving republican friends who hate government with a vengeance and have done everything they can to destroy it, changed their mind on Sunday.
Now they want government bailouts for their own admitted immorality (arrogantly called "moral hazard"), obvious greed, massive Wall Street and bank misconduct, fraud and gross mismanagement.
Bloomberg reported yesterday that the Federal Reserve is now lending to the 20 largest investment banks in the US. Some are privately owned and have never, ever, publicly disclosed their balance sheets or financial conditions. "Opening up lending to firms other than commercial banks represents a shift in the Fed's 94-year history," Bloomberg reported.
Somebody needs to find out if what the Fed is doing is even legal.
Bloomberg Report link
The Fed may be privately owned, but it acts and speaks with the full power and authority of the U.S.Government.
Since "we the people" ARE the government, I will speak as one of many voices of that government. And I say absolutely, positively NO, NO, NO. NO WAY.
These people made their bed and their billions on the backs of us all. Now they get to loose it. I cheerfully say, "F* You".
Now that that is off my chest, I realize that something has to be done. We need banks, and a stock market. I am actually an ardent capitalist and see that properly functioning, well regulated banks, stock markets, commodity markets and corporations are our best tools for dealing with global warming, energy independence, crumbling infrastructure and a raft of other problems.
So here's a deal (what a deal). First, anyone who wants a bailout must bend over and kiss my bare ass while the beans I've been reduced to eating because of their incompetence and greed, produce plenty of gas.
Next, I look at the examples established by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in dealing with developing country bailouts a few years ago. These examples show no mercy, no quarter and no grace. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide suffered severely so that the banks, corporations and Wall Street could take hundreds of billions from the people's pockets and reduce them to near slavery.
Now it is their turn. First any bank, Wall Street firm, or corporation that wants a bailout must hand over all stock and other investor instruments. The owners and investors get nothing. They have lost because they did not properly supervise their investment. That means the partners, managers, executives and directors loose all their stocks, stock options and deferred compensation as well as corporate retirement, "buyouts" and golden parachutes.
Next, the maximum salary, bonuses, and perks of any and all executives and managers is limited to $200,000 per year, each. Multi-billion dollar compensation is gone. Directors can receive no more than $50,000 per year. Appropriate measures must be taken to stop these people's well known, creative dodges and scams that attempt to get around limitations.
Obviously we need measures to jail those who try and strip an organization before they seek a bailout just as we need full, open access to all accounting and business documents.
There is one bailout we pretty much have to do and that is for pension and retirement funds that get ripped off following Wall Street investment advice. We should also take all the profits a business makes after the bailout and insure that the company pension plan is properly funded. It might also prove publicly beneficial to require that bailed out businesses embrace employee unions and have one third of their directors be union members.
This is just a start. I will be disappointed if the dKos community can't add a lot to this.
It is important because massive bailouts, potentially measured in the trillions, are coming and we need to be ready and loud. Really loud.
You better believe that those running this bailout scam are watching for reactions and watching closely. What gets said here, now, carries more impact and influence than anything the WSJ and other propaganda sheets will say for the next few weeks.
The progressive community absolutely must speak now and speak loudly.
I say NO. I say we treat them exactly like they teated the developing countries. What say you?