If time is the most important issue, and fairness a close second, then why wouldn't it be a good idea for Congress to simply create a Taxpayer's Bank that is fully capitalized by the taxpayers and which would be ready to provide the loans that are needed to keep the economy functioning while the whole mess is being straightened out? Wouldn't that take care of the most important concern---that money be available for firms that need to borrow at the same time that private banks are too afraid to lend?
The time has come for the Taxpayer to get into the banking business. An oversight agency could be put together that would be authorized to buy up the assets of the very next bank requiring a bailout at firesale prices. Like maybe Washington Mutual. Fully capitalize the bank with taxpayer money, and then make loans to any businesses that might need the funds. That would give us the time that is needed to slowly 'remove' the bad debt in a more methodical Chapter 11 approach, which is the only way we are going to make sure that the bad guys who created this mess will pay the ultimate price for it: the loss of their businesses.
Please, Congressional Democrats, don't do anything stupid because you're feeling the pressure. Time is actually on our side. If the whole thing were to collapse in 4 days, the blame for it would not be assigned to the Democrats who refused to be rushed into another bone-headed scheme put together by Republican strategists. You know, the guys who ruined everything. History will remember, as will the electorate next month, that it was the Republicans and their whole laissez-faire approach that destroyed the economy.
I'm not saying that you should refuse to cooperate with Bush just to guaranteed the long-term destruction of the Republican Party and to end the evil they have perpetuated. I'm just saying ALL OF THE PRESSURE IS ON THEM, and they know it. You have the time you need to wrest the most titanic concessions out of them. Do NOT accept whatever they are proposing because the end of the world they created is at hand. Find some way, anyway to address the most crucial need of the moment without agreeing to their 'solution.' Buy yourself some time; you're in the driver's seat.
Please Harry.
Please Nancy.
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