Sen. Bernie Saunders: Bailout Bill Passes Senate - 9 Reasons That's Bad News For You

[Hissyspit]

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/101224/bailout_passes_senate%3B_9_reasons_that%27s_bad_news_for_you

Bailout Passes Senate; 9 Reasons That's Bad News for You

By Sen. Bernie Sanders, Huffington Post. Posted October 1, 2008.

Forcing each American to fork over $2,200 at a time when median family income has declined by as much is no way to improve the economy.

This country faces many serious problems in the financial market, in the stock market, in our economy. We must act, but we must act in a way that improves the situation. We can do better than the legislation now before Congress.

This bill does not effectively address the issue of what the taxpayers of our country will actually own after they invest hundreds of billions of dollars in toxic assets. This bill does not effectively address the issue of oversight because the oversight board members have all been hand picked by the Bush administration. This bill does not effectively deal with the issue of foreclosures and addressing that very serious issue, which is impacting millions of low- and moderate-income Americans in the aggressive, effective way that we should be. This bill does not effectively deal with the issue of executive compensation and golden parachutes. Under this bill, the CEOs and the Wall Street insiders will still, with a little bit of imagination, continue to make out like bandits.

This bill does not deal at all with how we got into this crisis in the first place and the need to undo the deregulatory fervor which created trillions of dollars in complicated and unregulated financial instruments such as credit default swaps and hedge funds. This bill does not address the issue that has taken us to where we are today, the concept of too big to fail. In fact, within the last several weeks we have sat idly by and watched gigantic financial institutions like the Bank of America swallow up other gigantic financial institutions like Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. Well, who is going to bail out the Bank of America if it begins to fail? There is not one word about the issue of too big to fail in this legislation at a time when that problem is in fact becoming even more serious.

This bill does not deal with the absurdity of having the fox guarding the hen house. Maybe I'm the only person in America who thinks so, but I have a hard time understanding why we are giving $700 billion to the Secretary of the Treasury, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, who along with other financial institutions, actually got us into this problem. Now, maybe I'm the only person in America who thinks that's a little bit weird, but that is what I think.

This bill does not address the major economic crisis we face: growing unemployment, low wages, the need to create decent-paying jobs, rebuilding our infrastructure and moving us to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.

MORE AT LINK

[B Calm]

1. Spending 700 billion dollars rebuilding our infrastructure makes more

sense to me. Trickle up economics is what we need. FDR proved that, so why are they doing this?

[aquart]

2. Please. There has been not one word about re-regulation.

They just want all our money and blanket permission to do business as usual.

Did they even keep mark to market?

[Kolesar]

3. My company's sales are dropping badly--Saunders does not have the votes to "win this"

...and we don't have the luxury of waiting half a year to build a movement to get all of the features Saunders wants.

[girl gone mad]

4. What industry are you in?

I'm sorry to hear about the slow sales. I think it will take at least a year for things to start to turn around, with or without the bill.

[Kolesar]

10. Durable goods--our customers are America's manufacturers

...and manufacturers worldwide. The downward step in auto sales means that our customers in the auto parts business are cutting back on capital purchases. The sales drop has rippled to us.

A stimulus package for infrastructure would help. That is outside of this "loan bailout", though.

[ixion]

5. I'm sorry for your troubles

but I wouldn't be being honest with you if I told you the worst was over, or that this bill would do anything to make it better. You may see a dead cat bounce in sales, but this bill has exacerbated the issue, not alleviated it. We're still not dealing with the problem, just throwing money at it. The problem, though, is now too big. A trillion dollars is just a breath in the vacuum.

[Lochloosa]

6. I work for a small business that is very strong. Very. My boss said the dreaded word yesterday.

Layoffs.

You are right. We do not have the time.

[Marrah_G]

22. Yup- mine also

I've never been worried about my job. I am now. I am also worried about him losing a company he worked and invested in so hard these last 5 years. Or losing his house.

If things don't turn around we can last 6 months tops.

Then I will be forced to go find a job that will most likely pay me half of what I get now.

[KharmaTrain]

8. Some Just Still Don't See It

I commend Senator Sanders for what he's saying, but agree with you that we don't have the luxuary of fine tuning the "ultimate" bail-out. Sadly, this regime and its repugnican enablers (lobbyists, deregulators and Wall Street Cronies) have fleeced the treasury in ways and means we still are yet to comprehend. However, "we are where we are"...there is a massive credit crunch out there that most don't understand will ground business to a halt in this country if its not addressed. Business is bad enough, but now companies are facing problems with getting credit to meet payroll or for merchandise. If something isn't done, we'll have a doubling of the unemployment by the end of the year.

The housing market needs to be stabilized...something this bailout may go to ease for the short-term...and that's all this "bail-out" will do...kick a lot of problems down the road...and so be it. There will be a need to revisit this mess after the elections and with a clearer vision of who will handle cleaning up this mess. But a business like yours, and mine, don't have the luxuary to wait things out...millions are being hit with increasing stagflation and the longer there's a credit crunch the worse that bite will get.

Here's hoping you weather the storm.

Cheers...

[mike_c]

29. you lament that they've fleeced the country even while advocating...

...giving them $700 billion more? Will you pay my $2,000 share please?

[debbierlus]

35. No. Some still don't see it. Dems succumbing to black mail

There are MANY simple things the dems could do RIGHT now. It wouldn't take months. It wouldn't take weeks.

It would take balls.

It would take the dems refusing to succumb to blackmail.

It would take Obama, Pelosi, & Reid coming out and stating, look, American people, we need to do something. But, the something they (Bush, Paulson, & the corporate dictatorship) want us to do won't solve the problem. It will screw you over. It will make the bubble not burst for a little while long, but the bubble will burst & it will be even bigger.

I know many of you are afraid. But, Americans can't be blackmailed into borrowing our children's future on threats. That is not who we are as a people. Therefore, we have created a responsible & legitimate that will address this crisis AND the underlying causes. This bill will require sacrifices. But, those who created this mess and benefited from these economic practices will foot the majority of the bill. People will be able to renegotiate their mortgages - benefiting all home owners by allowing families to stay in their homes and keeping housing prices stable - and not devaluing everyone's property. If the Republican leadership think that they will get a blank check through this blackmail, it won't work. We have had enough. The American people have had enough.

We will work to solve this - and solve it we will.

Thank you.

[bertman]

49. debbierlus, I'm sending that to my Congressman. Beautiful.

My question to all who think we have to do this now: Why will we throw $850 BILLION, aww let's go ahead and call it a TRILLION DOLLARS at this problem RIGHT NOW when so many economists have said it is not going to do anything but cause a blip on the screen?

Why not do exactly what debbierlus said and take the time to hash this out in Congress. That could be done in two weeks IF and ONLY IF the Dems were willing to take the heat and stand tall.

Unfortunately, with Cowards (Reid) and Traitors (Pelosi) leading, this is unlikely.

It's time for OBAMA TO LEAD US OUT OF THIS. Right now he's just spouting the DLC line.

[bvar22]

20. Unless you're selling yachts to Billionaires,

giving $700Billion borrowed dollars to the Wall Street Barons isn't going to help you.

[Kolesar]

21. Bailout focus on House as crisis spreads

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE4912JS20081002

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shockwaves from the global credit crisis spread on Thursday, hitting industry and jobs worldwide and putting pressure on the U.S. Congress to finish up a $700 billion bailout of the U.S. financial sector.
...
At the Paris Auto Show, top automakers including General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co warned of tough times, as evaporating credit for consumers cuts demand and could force production cuts and job losses.

"The problems of subprime and credit crunch are now all over the world," Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said. "The downturn is longer and deeper than we foresaw a year ago," he said.
...

"The bill that's before the Houses of Representatives tomorrow is a bill that has got the best chance of providing liquidity, providing credit, providing money so small businesses and medium-sized businesses can function," Bush said on Thursday.
...

[bvar22]

30. Lets agree to meet back here in 6 months.

The crisis has been averted and the economy is roaring along.

The Democrats have made priority of Fixing a Bad BailOut Bill. :)

The little guys have been protected, and have benefited from their (or rather their children's) contributions.

The Wall Street Big Banking houses have been re-regulated with transparent oversight.

The Billions have trickled down on American Workers.

And everyone agrees that forcing our children to pay for a $1 Trillion Dollar BailOut was a great idea.

See you then!
:hi:

[TornadoTN]

25. Oh really?

Let me just give you an example of how this is impacting my own business:

We are one of the last true American manufacturers left. Our products are almost 100% all-American made from US components (some models require a special part that only the Austrians have perfected, so that has to be imported). We sell equipment to the energy sector - Coal, Oil, Biofuels and we sell equipment to the Environmental sector - wastewater, environmental clean-up, and so on. Our products make a significant impact from a Green perspective.

We have already had several, solid customers come back to us and request that we renegotiate contracts based on the unavailability of business credit lines for capital expenditures or medium to long term projects. We have done our research and this is happening all across the board - and these are in sectors that are growing and should be a solid source of secure cash. Our suppliers of raw material are also hitting a credit crunch and two things are happening: A. Prices are rising and B.Shortages of key components. Internationally, the banks are being even tighter about financing and we are hitting snags in securing funds from international sources interested in buying our products.

We employ 400+ people in two states and we export worldwide. Tell these 400 people that this bailout is only for the executives at Wall Street. Sure, the bail out bill is far from ideal, but the way we are seeing it, there doesn't appear to be a better option at this point to maintain some semblance of an economy until a new administration comes into power and makes sweeping changes.

[bvar22]

31. Same response I gave to "The Avenger".

Lets agree to meet back here in 6 months:

The crisis has been averted and the economy is roaring along.

Your businees is expanding and prosperous because "The Bailout" fixed the underlying problems.

The Democrats have made priority of Fixing a Bad BailOut Bill. :)

The little guys have been protected, and have benefited from their (or rather their children's) contributions.

The Wall Street Big Banking houses have been re-regulated with transparent oversight.

The Billions have trickled down on American Workers.

And everyone agrees that forcing our children to pay for a $1 Trillion Dollar BailOut was a great idea.

See you then!
:hi:

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. NOBODY has told you that this will turn this crisis around

just REDUCE the impact

Willful ignorance is amazing

By the way... do tell me... how much have the feds pumped willy nilly into the system over the last year and does not include Bear Sterns or a couple others... just into the "market?"

[bvar22]

33. From my obviously "simple" perspective,

I believe that the Fed has already dropped over $2 Trillion.

How much reduction can we expect from saddling our children with another Trillion Dollars?

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. Good, at least you know that

most folks don't

This is targeted... the first we have gotten that is targeted and not following Hoover's tactics that didn't work

It will simply buy us time, but this is the first of many programs that will be needed to get out of this... and some of them will be down right unpopular... like they were back in the 1930s

But we do need to get liquidity moving again... that is a reality

[Greyhound]

37. So what happens when this doesn't work?

We already have a historical model, several actually, and this strategy has been tried and failed each time (except for those that get the huge checks, it works quite well for them).

So what happens to you and your company after we spend another trillion dollars to prop up an industry that has taken trillions of dollars out of the economy and is not required to put anything into this so-called bailout, and nothing changes?

[sad sally]

44. Your question is SO right on the mark

The absurd notion that propping up investment crooks will somehow trickle down to "main street" and everyone will live happily ever after.

[Greyhound]

50. TY. They never have an answer for this.

:think:

[barbtries]

7. kicking on my way to work

from bernie sanders's mouth to the ears of the house! please please, we can do so much better. this legislation sucks, almost as much as henry paulson himself.

[malaise]

9. Makes way more sense than giving crooks more money n/t

[alarimer]

11. It's also going to bankrupt the government.

So you can forget about ANY discretionary spending. No FEMA money for you all in Texas, no welfare (sorry you can eat cake), no science/ environmental protection (go ahead close all those national parks), etc, etc.

[LWolf]

12. 9 reasons, and one more Senator to thank for a NO vote.

I hope the House will hold firm when this one comes back around.

[Smart Guy 4 Freedom]

13. I saw his speech on C Span yesterday and

Think that Bernie Sanders is the only one in the Senate that REALLY gets it...i DO NOT understand why they won't even look at his amendment. He clearly stated that this bill does nothing to solve the underlying problems, and he is right.

[Hissyspit]

14. Welcome to DU!

:patriot:

:toast:

...and good luck in the new Depression. :(

[man4allcats]

36. Regrettably, Sen. Sanders' excellent insights

will be marginalized just as Dennis Kucinich was marginalized. It's not about what's right; it's about what works for those holding the reins of power. Nevertheless, I couldn't resist going to Sen. Sanders' site and signing his petition myself. It makes a lot more sense to me than rewarding the bad judgment of multi-billionaires.

[fascisthunter]

15. To Want to Be American, You Have to Be WIlling to Bail out the Wealthy

the criminal wealthy.... Buh Bye American dream....

[lib2DaBone]

16. I got drunk and crashed your car....SO can I have the keys to your new car?

[Hidden Stillness]

17. Some Point From the Important Sanders Speech Last Night

A few really interesting things about the great speech last night by Bernie Sanders, that confirmed what little I have been able to gather, from the heavily-censorious, cheerleading, "Earth will crumble" deregulated media:

First, as Sanders mentioned, this has no relation at all to foreclosures/mortgages (it bails out the worst loser investments of hedge-fund operators and commodities-futures speculators, etc.--when have any of these people granted anyone a "mortgage"? obviously, never); it has no relation to "your bank savings," which are obviously Federally insured, thank the New Deal for that. There have also been lies that employers--even huge global ones--have been "unalbe to get loans to make payroll"; I have read/heard a few things debunking that as a lie, and nothing actually giving real, proven examples;

Second, Sanders mentioned at one point, that the supposed "safeguards" put in to placate the "little people" have huge loopholes, that allow anyone with financial knowledge to avoid all of them ("protections for the American people," "limits on CEO pay or 'parachutes,' " etc.), so they are worthless, deceptive;

Sanders proposed a much better plan than any of this crap--that is, having the industry itself, the richest people who actually profited by trillions of dollars by this scam itself, pay for it, by increased special tax, or by some kind of collective fee that they and only they will pay for, to bail out their own industry, (this all after all has nothing to do with any of us), from their own debacle. Even though I am generally ignorant of the financial world, I believe it is a fact that they already pay fees collected from their profits, to finance their own banking-insurance on many banking activities, loans, etc. It already is them doing it here;

Sanders said something that was very interesting, and provides a huge clue, that I have not heard anyone refer to: This routine they have all been giving us, that these speculators and financial cartels are "too big to fail," that if merely one or two individual corporations fails, it will bring down the entire U.S. economy: Although that is supposed to be a "really scary thought" for the "little people" to get stampeded by, that only thing it suggests to me is--then WHY did none of these people in Congress stop one single merger of any of these institutions, merging, buying each other, by the Anti-Trust laws--ever, even once? NOTHING was stopped, now we have this catastrophe--THAT is the problem, a complete failure to use Anti-Trust laws to stop anything, ever. The solution is not "bail them out," but BREAK THEM UP, and return regulations that once bound them.

I was very proud of Sen. Sanders last night, and also thrilled to find the name of Sen. Byron Dorgan of N. Dakota on the "No" list. I have been very impressed with Byron Dorgan for a long time, many great ideas, etc., and this was great. Chris Dodd has lost my respect, and I used to think Dodd was great. How is that strangely favorable mortgage arrangement you got from Countrywide coming along there, Dodd? I was so shocked when none of the corporate meida managed to find and publicize that information.

[jjanpundt]

18. Maybe a silly question here, but if the House votes no on this

bill what happens then? Does it go back for more re-working (pork). Will they finally start working on a real bailout plan that includes us peons? Or will they all just go home?

[Hidden Stillness]

19. They Should Follow the Lead of House Dems Who Voted "No"--and Then Get Back to Work on It

There was a really great press conference carried on C-SPAN a couple of days ago, of some House Democrats who voted "No" on a bailout bill that was not even as bad as the Senate one last night--a great group with Marcy Kaptur, Peter DeFazio, Bobby Scott, a new Maryland Representative named Donna Edwards who was very smart on this, Elijah Cummings, etc. They all had many great suggestions of what needs to be done, what the problems are and these bailouts don't solve them, what the long-term lead-up to this present crisis was, especially since the '80s, and how no bailout has worked or stopped the progress of any of this, etc. The point is, during this press conference, they all showed deep understanding of the situation (much more than I have), and a desire to really get to work and solve these problems as they really are. They can't go home--if they did, they would only be yelled at by increasingly angry people there--and so I think the only answer is that they have to stay there, fight, get the thousands of Goddamned lobbyists fron the Chamber of Commerce, Bankers' Assn. of America, Business Roundtable (that Sanders referred to last night) out of the Capitol Building, and work on a real bill. I do not believe this is an "emergency." Nothing about this situation is new. They have to work on a real bill, following the people who really understand things, and want to solve the Nation's problems, as opposed to the speculators and their greed.

[jjanpundt]

23. This must be the group of Congress critters that Dennis

Kucinich was talking about on Rachel Maddow's show the other night. I thought they were great ideas and if they went through would really help us out. I'm sort of hoping the bill fails, although that may reflect negatively on Obama's leadership, (although McCain also voted for it). I just don't feel that this is an emergency and has to be settled before the election. I also want Paulson and Bernanke to resign before the bill goes into effect.

[Selatius]

45. "If it's 'too big to fail,' then it should've been broken apart."

Firms that get to that size are often monopolies in themselves or are apart of a small oligarchy that strangles more innovation and prevents more competition from entering the picture.

[Pooka Fey]

46. Precisely. nt

[riverdeep]

24. By the by, it's Bernie Sanders. n/t

[kdenninger]

26. Gee, fancy that. I know why we're giving $700B and to who....

... its the Chinese.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONUSxiGN4m4

2 minutes, you will understand.

[LSK]

27. I just read from Krugman that in the end it will not cost taxpayers anything

So now what? Like Jamie Galbraith, I’d rather see Dodd-Frank-Paulson, which is much better than the original plan, pass than not. The true cost to taxpayers will probably be close to zero, and it would buy some time. But I’m not passionate about this. The real financial rescue still lies in the future, probably under the Obama administration.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/bailout-narratives/

:shrug:

[katty]

28. Fed banksters should be GIVING U.S. $$-so we can spend

and pump UP the economy--but nooooooooo

[BrklynLiberal]

38. Kick and rec

[mother earth]

39. I understand they had to do something...but we all know this is

just a band-aid. I hope we have the luxury of the wait, what is it now 33 days? The first order of business is to regulate & create jobs on a big scale.

K & R, thank you, Hissyspit, love to read your stuff.:kick:

[ElsewheresDaughter]

40. give every American $2 million ..mortages are paid, credit cards paids ...Banks saved for bargin

they can invest in Stock Market and buy goods saving the US economy and saving over $600 BILLION

their are 320,000,000 total US population so for $640,000,000 we rescue wall street and the banks

[BrightKnight]

41. re-piggies hate common sense regulation, and competent government but they love pork pot pie

Why would the Senate cook up something like this in an election year?

[whistle]

42. Not at all the only person who thinks this, millions of Americans

...know that this and I for believe it is an act of treason.

[Two Americas]

43. probably a done deal

And yes it will make things worse, and yes we will all get hosed, and yes we will be paying a severe price for this, probably for the rest of our lives. Our children and grandchildren will be paying a severe price. I would be happy if at least we here could just all start telling the truth and stop living in a fantasy of denial and false hope. That would be a start. We are the abused and we keep trying to negotiate with the abuser - negotiate with reality. It is very bizarre.

[Pooka Fey]

47. I urged my democratic state reps to keep voting 'no' on this. Please contact yours

if you want your kids and grandkids to have any hope for a decent future.

[OakCliffDem]

48. Kick