This will be a brief diary, but upon waking up this morning, I am 100% angrier at the idea that the taxpayers are being asked to pony up $1 trillion or more to bail out Wall Street. I am livid that Wall Street lobbyists are working the halls of Congress and pushing for no-strings attached funds. I am furious that this is all happening over the course of one weekend, at the last minute, dead of night, hammered out in some backroom.
I believe that something has to be done, but something should have been done years ago. If a Fortune 500 company were run this way, upon realization of the massive error, the management would be forced out. If this were a Japanese company, the CEO might have commimtted suicide in shame by now. I'm not asking for literal blood. But for $1 trillion, America, we are entitled to some demands.
Demand #1: Resignation of Bush, Cheney, Bernanke, Paulson. Effective upon passage of the bailout bill. They bankrupted America. Emergency session of the House of Representatives to elect an interim leader, who will appoint an interim cabinet. This should be non-negotiable. No way should the American Taxpayer entrust the idiots who led us into this mess with virtually unlimited power and funds. These are the people who last week, thought the economy was fundamentally sound and didn't see this coming. They are vested in the success of the status quo. They aren't willing to admit the hard truths. Get rid of the bums, immediately.
Demand #2: Revenue-neutral buy-out. Legislation tying the amount of 2009 tax increases to the shortfall between the price paid by the Treasury for these securities and their actual market value in 90 days. Creation of an independent agency that calculates real-time mark-to-market values. No way that Obama should be blamed for having to raise taxes to pay for this bailout upon taking office.
Demand #3: All lobbyists out in the negotiation of this bill. Pledge by both parties to work without Wall Street lobbyists. This needs to be clear of the conflicts of interest presented by the mere presence of lobbyists in the corridors of power.
Pass this along to your local Representative. Call them, write them, demand accountability.