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When Hank Paulsen demanded $700 billion for Wall St. with no strings attached, I felt like I was punched in the stomach. At least with the Iraq War, the Bushies had the courtesy to pretend our giveaway to the rich was something else.
With the bailout, that pretense was gone. Wall Street's derivatives scam went bust. Leaders of the top investment banks should have had their personal assets seized, been arrested, and treated like the terrorists they are.
Instead, Congress and presidents of the United States from two different parties gave them what they want, and the Fed gave them even more.
And our economy tanked anyway.
For reparations, I suggest that we tax investment income, brokerages, and hedge funds at a level that brings in the same amount of revenue per year as they demanded in ransom.
We could even be magnanimous about it and make it temporary until unemployment drops to some reasonable level, or better yet, unemployment drops AND wages rise to catch up with the rise in worker productivity that until now has been skimmed off in corporate profits and bloated CEO pay.
If they say they will leave America and take their money with them, fine.
Then let them give up the use of our military to seize oil fields, and to enforce starvation wages in Latin America and elsewhere.
Let them give up their government contracts and corporate subsidies.
And let them give up foisting their debauched inbred, morally deformed children on us as politicians as they did with Baby Bush.
And make it a felony for any pol to take money from or even talk to them if they leave the country and take their assets with them.
I wouldn't mind if this resulted in us being a bit less prosperous overall because I'd know that none of my money was going to maintain the lifestyle of spoiled trust fund babies who fancy themselves masters of the universe because one of their ancestors three or seven generations ago worked hard or made the right investments. And I wouldn't have to wonder as much if the politician I voted for were working for me and my family or working to grind us into dog food.
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