The following is a non-paid presentation to one of the few Senators on the floor that actually understands what happened to our economy, and has yet been oddly silent about it. Senator Dorgan (D-ND) led a passionate cry on the Senate floor to prevent Gramm-Leach-Bliley from undoing the chaos that was salved in earlier history by Glass-Steagall.
Unfortunately, like Cassandra in Greek myth, his cries fell on deaf ears. Now is the time to patch the past back the way it was, by repealing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, preferably with some Executive Ink.
Follow me below to see if I touched a Senator, or got tossed in the Loony Bin.
Mr. Senator,
First off I want to thank you for actually reading this. I realize that I am not one of your constituents but as a citizen of these United States I understand that when we work in a federal capacity we are all in this together. You have done a fine job in your office, sir, and your heated opposition to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was shocking to see. You understand that most American citizens don't watch C-SPAN until it becomes relevant on Youtube.
In regards to that fiendish piece of legislation that tanked the economy in less than TEN YEARS I think you were right, there was a reason we prevented financial institutions from becoming "too big to fail" in the first place. Now we're reaping our so-called "Rewards Program," meaning we've fallen off the ladder and there's no one to sue because our elected officials in D.C. signed off on it.
The worst part of it is, no one has even SUGGESTED that Gramm-Leach-Bliley be repealed. Our president has that power by Executive Order, and that notion hasn't even been floated.
Given your position as a man who stands up for the people, you know that average Americans have been gravely wounded by the passage of that bill, and it needs to be put back in the grave where it belongs.
In part of the American Recovery Act should have been a clause that divested these economic giants of their various holdings that allowed them to cheat the sheets in a way of which Enron never DREAMED.
Combined with the passage of Bush's tax cut in 2003 which allowed the rich to not pay taxes on their stock dividends for 3 years, the incentive was on the table for the rich and greedy (or just greedy) to squeeze all the juice out of the American economy that they could.
This situation is dire, Senator. In order for our economy to heal we need corporations to expect DECENT profits, not quarter after quarter of outrageous profit, such as Exxon in the last six years. In order for us to rebuild we have to tell these corporate megaplexes that enough is enough, you've had your fun and ruined it for the rest of us. We only have one planet and because of those people, the party is pretty much ruined.
Please, Senator. Lead the fight to repeal Gramm-Leach-Bliley, and if you have the President's ear, whisper softly that he should use his Executive pen in the full light of day to help fix the rift. Otherwise, "The Second Great Depression" won't even BEGIN to describe what will happen NEXT.
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Like many of you said, I didn't expect a response. Especially a personal response. After one of his staffers sent me this email:
Mr. Bushini,
Senator Dorgan read your July 6th posting on The Daily Kos and has written a note to you.
Would you be willing to give me your mailing address so that I may send it to you?
Best,
Sylvia Oliver
Byron Dorgan’s office
Then I got this in the mail:
"Czar Bushini:
"I did read your July 6 posting on the Daily Kos. I agree with you. I have repeatedly pushed for restoring Glass-Stegall [sic].
"In fact I wrote a book (just published) calling for it. It is titled 'Reckless.' If you read it you will see that I am not silent at all.
"'Too big to fail' must be abolished as well!
"Best Regards,
"Byron Dorgan."
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I was fairly excited that he wanted to respond to me personally. I would have put it on here except I don't have a scanner. Either way, I appreciate that he responded, and I am even more glad to see that he reads the Kos - if only to read what I wrote about him, but still.
Just a few quibbles, really:
He misspelled it. I may not be perfect as far as that goes, but misspelling "Steagall" was a little surprising, considering he wrote a whole book about it. That's just my English degree speaking there.
I'm not the most aware guy in the room but I haven't heard his voice at all. And as far as I know, writing a book about something and being a vocal critic of something are two very different things. Just because you can write doesn't mean you're not silent. I write a lot but I'm not the loudest guy in the room either.
I don't know what I was expecting. Like I said, I appreciated the personal response. I sent an email to Walt Minnick when he barely edged out Bill Sali by 4,000 votes. I congratulated him on his win and implored him to work with Obama to bring much-needed change to Washington. Did he respond? Not even a "Thank you" form email, no acknowledgement whatsoever. For a Senator that doesn't even represent me to write a personal note in response was really cool.
I just wished that our politicians spent more time legislating than writing books about their so-called convictions. I am sorry to say this but I am disappointed - I was somehow expecting more. My fault for being an idealistic constituent, I suppose.