Hi everyone... happy night-time... we just had a great show in Denver... so fun... And now it's on to Kansas City... Hope you're all having a good night... a good day... a good now...
Like I said, i wanted to write a bit more about what exactly everyone is talking about in the news these days...
Just in case you don't know what's going on, here is a brief synopsis of why we seem to have a problem on Wall Street, and why congress should hear from us... the public... that the first proposal from the Federal Treasury is unacceptable:
The Background:
People buy homes with loans from banks, and they pay their loans back in their monthly mortgage payments, which are based on the current interest rates. When interest rates were low (set low by the federal government in order to stimulate the economy) many people took out loans. And it seems that many people didn't understand that the interest rates on their loans could and would increase, thereby making their monthly payments unaffordable after a certain amount of time. Thus, many people lost their homes in foreclosures to the banks that gave them the loans in the first place... and then in the new higher priced climate, since people weren't buying homes as much, the value of the housing market overall went down, thus the stocks of the banks that made their money by selling mortgages went down... some huge banks even had to declare bankruptcy... thus the entire Wall Street system was shaken and people began to take money out, or at least not put new money in, and suddenly the whole complicated internationally and domestically based American financial system showed signs of potentially grinding to a halt...
The Solution?:
Therefore, after a few seemingly contradictory measures, such as letting one major bank declare bankruptcy, and then deciding to use 85 billion tax payer dollars to bail out the debts of another bank, the Federal Treasury unveiled a plan at 1 am on this last saturday morning asking URGENTLY for at least 700 billion dollars of tax payers money to fix the unstable conditions on Wall Street. And the truth is that everyone seems to agree that some major "bailout" such as this is necessary. And furthermore, everyone is confident that the economy will recover in time...
The Problem With the Solution:
However, the specific terms of this proposal are dangerous because they give too much power to the one branch of the government that was supposed to be overseeing economic matters in this country and making sure that we didn't get into a financial disaster like this in the first place. According to the New York Times, the proposal says that the Federal Treasury, which will be in charge of stabilizing the situation on Wall Street with at least 700 billion dollars of tax payers money, cannot be supervised, regulated or prosecuted "by any court of law or any administrative agency". That request seems to ignore completely the system of checks and balances that this country was founded on.
So please join me in reaching out to our congress men and women, urging them to make sure any plan to fix the current financial instability is not only well thought out and regulated by a bi partisan oversight committee, but that it also distributes the burden of its 700 Billion dollar price tag not just on the tax payers, but also on the banks and financial institutions that helped get us into this mess. To fix this situation, it seems like we need level headed, calm, rational leadership... not frantic, fear based bully tactics that could pressure congress into passing a bill before it has been better thought out.
Below is the e mail from MoveOn.org which has a link to their online petition as well as the phone numbers to your states congress men and women. Thanks for your time... Again... Hope you're having a great day. JRC
"From MoveOn.org
Subject: Main Street before Wall Street
Hi,
This is outrageous. Bush wants taxpayers to give his administration a $700 billion check with no strings attached, which they'll hand over to the Wall Street firms that got us into this financial mess.
Would it help families struggling to keep their homes? NO. Do taxpayers get any share of the firms we're bailing out, so we can benefit from any eventual profit? NO. Would the firms we're bailing out be required to stop paying their executives multimillion-dollar salaries? NO. This is a pure giveaway.
I signed a petition urging Congress to put Main Street before Wall Street, and to not give Bush a blank check. Can you join me at the link below?
MoveOn.Org WALL STREET PETITIONThanks!"
p.s.
AND... while you're filling that out... here's a video to lift your spirits!!!!!!! yaaaaaaaayyyyyyy!!!!
jrc