Remember those tax cuts for the rich? Well, how much do you think those gave to the top 1% -- those making more than $462,000/year in 2008, with an average income of $1,485,000/year? You guessed it -- $715 billion over the ten years of the tax cuts, 2001-2010. (Source: this pdf from Citizens for Tax Justice.) Of course, we've also spent about $700 billion on the Iraq War, much of which was giveaways to defense contractors. So this is the 2nd or 3rd time, depending on how you look at it.
If the Dems had any guts, they would demand that the tax cuts on the top 1% be rescinded now to help pay for the bailout, or else no bailout. Let the Republicans explain why they'd rather bring down the economy than undo their tax cuts for the rich.
One other point on the bailout: tell your Senators/Congresspeople to support Jack Reed's amendment! (more below)
The NYT is reporting:
Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, has proposed a provision that would grant the government warrants to purchase stock in companies that participate in the bailout plan, so that taxpayers might be able to profit should the firms flourish after selling their bad debt to the government.
Pelosi is talking about limiting executive compensation of firms that sell their securities to the government, but that's small change on the scale of $700 billion. I'm not hearing anyone else talking about giving the government equity, and thus a share of future profits if the government bailout helps turn the companies around. (Although, Obama's 3rd point talks in a general way about this idea:
Taxpayers should be protected. This should not be a handout to Wall Street. It should be structured in a way that maximizes the ability of taxpayers to recoup their investment. Going forward, we need to make sure that the institutions that benefit from financial insurance also bear the cost of that insurance.
Without this, it's just a giveaway, free money for Wall Street with no consequences or payback. Tell your Congresspeople and Senators to support the Reed amendment!