(note: i just drove 750 miles straight on little sleep so please bear this in mind re spelling and well.. general writing skill. I hope this gets the point across and calls us to Some kind of Sane action to stop this roller coaster ride through the right wing looking glass)
We've all been watching the corporate media this week. Either wondering how badly they would misrepresent what is really going on with this disaster, or wondering what the rest of america is thinking. We werent disappointed. The media is currently spinning this crisis as caused by sub prime mortgages.That flatly is not true
In fact faux and the republicans have been trying to spin this as the fault of .. wait for it.. minority borrowers. Despite the fact that minorities revieved a miniscule percentage of those loans. In reality this was caused by the complete removal of financial regulation. Our financial regulation system is currently voluntary.
Only Barack Obama can do this.
(more below)
And now the media is spinning this "bailout" bill as a necessity and its defeat as a failure. When in fact its' defeat was a shocking triumph of democracy. Point to remember: Americans are Strongly against this bill. In a democracy oh chattering class the people rule.
That is why we need Barack Obama to lead. And now. How he can do that. How he can put forward a plan that americans will love.
The first thing we must do with this or any financial plan is pay for it. One of the worst atrocities the republicans have inflicted on us is complete financial irresponsibility. Since Reagan and the near treasonously irresponsible supply side foolishness which bears his name we have gone from a nation in what we would now considr slight debt (a trillion or less) to quite possibly approaching 12 or 13 trillion before Bush leaves office. This has to stop and those responsible for our financial problems should pay that cost.
The first key should be a stock transfer tax of .25%. That is one quarter of one percent. This alone would raise at least 120billion a year and more as the market expands. In addition to paying for the excesses of capitalism run amock this would put a rein on speculation and thus curb volatility. Much of the problem we currently face is that very volatility.
The second key should be to make those who benefit most in this very plutocratic society pay their fair share. Rather than pay no tax, as many of our upper upper class now do, we should change our system so that all compensation is treated equally. Whether capital gains, employment income, or perks. We should raise the alternative minimum tax to twenty five percent. No more free ride because you live on inherited money.
We should then use this revenue to bail out the american people, rather than wall street cons. Rather than the very corrupt and completely untested Bush/Paulsohn plan we should use the plan FDR used Successfully and have the federal government take over the risky subprimes and convert them to long term, low interest loans. We can do that easily through the very successful FHA loan program. In fact if the FDR program is any indication we will actually make money in the long run. This plan has the advantages of helping the working folks who thought they had their dream of owning a home, stabilise the markets instantly, make our financial system stable over night. And indeed, restore home prices. Imagine an america when it wasnt the pipe dream of every american to own a home, but a goal easily realiseable with hard work and responsibility.
Lastly and most importantly is REFORM. We must reregulate big business, especially the financial industry. No more gambling with our futures. No more stealing from our children. We must strengthen and enforce our antitrust laws. The current solution of Paulson and company to "too big to fail" is to.. create even larger corporations. A bit like protecting yourself from several medium sized bombs by creating one huge bomb. Only in Republicanland is such a thing not completely insane. We must regulate the ratings agencies which made this all possible. Most of all we must investigate and punish harshly all involved in fraudulent transactions. Which may be the hardest part. For one thing i've finally learned about the american system is that the wealthy, even the upper middle class are not to be held accountable.
Only Barack can do this. Only his leadership can make it happen. Barack could be remembered as the greatest president since FDR. Now is his time. We must do this. We must overcome the media and the gop to do this. We must even overcome our heavily "lobbyed" democratic leadership if necessary.
Now is the time. Wouldnt you like to see an american government that serves americans again?`