Wednesday, September 24, 2008

It's The Equity, Stupid.

The $700 BILLION to $1 TRILLION BAILOUT, as proposed, amounts to a financial coup d'etat. Where in the free market are the profits privatized and risks/losses socialized?? And where do they get off with that "no review, no legal consequences" crap?!?

It's the Equity, stupid. In both the financial and moral senses of the word...

If you're going to spend generations of taxpayers' money to "unfreeze the credit markets", then we taxpayers had damn well better get something for it, and I don't mean "illiquid assets". (That phrase means stuff no one will buy, right? So WHY are WE buying it?) I want a stake, a piece of the action, some of the juice. I want some meat on this bone. I want some EQUITY in these companies whose nuts we're hauling out of the fire.

Why don't you just tell them, "Gee, sorry, can't afford it. You know, what with the wars (that we're borrowing to fight), and all those tax cuts benefiting the top 5% (that we're borrowing to pay for), and Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security that we've been stealing from for years... Gee guys, there's just nothing left. Cupboard's bare. But I'll buy one of your pencils..."

On the MORAL equity issue, I want blood. I want some pounds of flesh. I want to see golden parachutes fluttering like streamers -- at terminal velocity -- all the way to ground (POOOMP). I want those arrogant, greedy bastards to REALLY feel some pain. Let THEM lose their homes. Let THEM have a yard sale to pay the electric bill. Let THEM keep the thermostat at 55 because the oil's too dear.

If we're all in this together, we're ALL in this together.

And while we're saving those rich arrogant asses, let's spread it around a little. Let the rest of us have a chance to reset our mortgages. How about a little juice for the oil bill? How about more money for EVERYONE to add renewable energy improvements to our homes, or buy an energy efficient car? Why don't you bail out those poor people with "illiquid assets" like gas-guzzling vehicles? Huh? How about that?

I read that ".... executive compensation limits should be part of the bailout, although Paulson says he is concerned that such curbs would discourage companies from participating." I say Good! If they are that greedy, they don't get to play. It IS a buyer's market, after all -- they can just go hang for all I care.

And by the way, if you botch this job in your rush to leave Washington to campaign for your or your party's candidates' re-election, we'll remember that when we go to vote.

Oh, yes. We WILL remember. For as long as it takes to pay off this obscenity, we WILL remember.