Do you want your Congressman to vote for the new bailout plan on Friday?

Hey, Georgie! You want to bail someone out? try putting our money where your big mouth is! Here is a simple idea, let's take all of that money and buy off the interest on all of the mortgages of families who make less than $100,000 per year. Then, they will be able to pay off their homes, and all of the money that would have just gone to pay the interest that these crooks charge would flow back into the economy. Oops, too easy huh?

Please quit making me look bad.

We people in the so called bible belt are sad.We cant part from our racism long enough to see that the majority of the country is suffering.Be carefull of what you pray for.This last administration just didnt have a clue.You can be flat out dumb and still do a good job.After this administration ran away the brains, I knew it was over.All the president wants is for someone to agree with him.Thats why he got rid of the most intelligent man that was in his administration.The one that did not agree with his motives for war.I am a proud republican,but I am not a fool.It would be quite foolish to vote for more of the same.

wall street is collapsing because it deserves to
Submitted by Guest (not verified) on September 23, 2008 - 7:59am.
Wall Street is collapsing not because of bad mortgage debt or lack of capital or over-leverage. Those are merely symptoms. Wall Street is collapsing because it deserves to collapse; it needs to collapse in order for America to survive. The economist Joseph Schumpeter called it creative destruction, a system where outdated models collapse to make room for new innovation.

Wall Street of the past decade never really had a business model as much as it had a business creed: greed is good; leveraged greed is even better.

The fact that Wall Street is collapsing is a given. How it survived as long as it did under its corrupted model is the question that will be debated in history books for the next generation.

For example, imagine a business model that bases remuneration to brokers on how much money they make for their Wall Street employer and not one dime for how well their customers’ portfolios perform. A Wall Street broker receives remuneration that rises from approximately 30 to 50 per cent of the gross commission based on their cumulative trading commissions with zero regard to how well the clients’ accounts have done. There is no acknowledged internal mechanism in any of the major Wall Street firms to gauge the overall success of the accounts the broker is managing.

The industry has been irreconcilably incentivized to corruption just as brokers have been socialized to silence. The reason we are seeing a stampede this week into U.S. Treasury securities is that much of this money belonged there in the first place, not in esoteric mortgage backed securities, junk bonds, commodity funds or annuities backed by AIG. Brokers put their clients “safe money” in these unsuitable investments because their Wall Street employer dangled a seductive financial inducement. A broker receives less than $1,000 in gross commissions (“gross” meaning before their firm takes their 50 to 70 per cent cut) on $100,000 of longer dated Treasuries. Putting that same $100,000 in a junk bond or mortgage-backed security or annuity could generate $3,000 or more. In other words, the financial incentive has created an artificial demand. And, as must inevitably happen, the true state of that demand is just now catching up with the true glut of supply.

What would be the incentive for Wall Street firms to offer higher commissions for some products over others? Because on top of their cut of the brokers commissions, they receive origination and syndication fees for the more esoteric investment products. These firms so despised the low-paying Treasuries that they replaced Treasuries with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae paper in mutual funds bearing the name “U.S. Government Fund.” (This misleading practice and the fact that billions of dollars of public money resided in these misnamed funds has certainly played a role in the government’s decision to nationalize Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.)

Then there is the insane model of bringing flim-flam new businesses to market. If we look at the people who are at the helm of today’s collapsing Wall Street, they have shifted in their chairs, but they are mostly the same conflicted individuals who brought America the NASDAQ bust that began in March 2000 and evaporated $7 trillion of American wealth. There is no longer any incentive on Wall Street to bring about initial public offerings of only companies that will stand the test of time and create new jobs and new markets to make America strong and globally competitive. There is only an incentive to collect the underwriting fee and cash out quickly on private equity stakes.

Next is the corrupted model of housing a trading desk for the firm inside the same company that is supposed to issue unbiased research to the public. For example, let’s say that XYZ Brokerage buys a big stake in ABC Company on its proprietary trading desk (the desk that trades for profits for the firm) on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday afternoon, it could almost guarantee profits for itself by issuing a research report upgrading the stock. Conversely, it could short the stock on Wednesday and issue a negative report to drive down the price on Thursday, also guaranteeing itself a profit. Other than a fictional Chinese Wall, there is absolutely nothing to stop this type of public looting.

Now, ask yourself this. With the multitude of other ways that Wall Street has to make money, why are they allowed to have their own trading desk while simultaneously issuing conflicted research to the public. After the NASDAQ scandals that revealed Wall Street issuing biased research for personal profit, why weren’t proprietary trading desks and public research issuance shut down at these firms. There are plenty of boutique research firms to fill the void. The only conclusion to be drawn is what Europe is calling “regulatory capture” here in the U.S. That’s a phrase similar to what Nancy Pelosi was calling “crony capitalism” on Wednesday, September 17 before she decided to join the crony capitalists at a microphone on Thursday, September 18 to promise bipartisanship on the mother of all bailouts to Wall Street.

This unintelligent design business model would have cracked and imploded long ago but for one saving grace: it came with its own unintelligent design justice system called mandatory arbitration. Gloria Steinem once called mandatory arbitration “McJustice.” It’s really more like Burger King; Wall Street can have it their way. In a system designed by Wall Street’s own attorneys, arbitrators do not have to follow the law, or legal precedent, or write a reasoned decision, or pull arbitrators from a large unbiased pool as is done in jury selection. Industry insiders routinely serve over and over again. Had there been ongoing trials in open, public courtrooms, the magnitude of the leverage, worthless securities, and corrupted business model would have been exposed before it brought America to the financial brink.

That Wall Street and its Washington coterie are stilled embraced in regulatory capture and unintelligent design is most keenly evidenced by the recent merger of Merrill Lynch, the brokerage/investment firm, with Bank of America, the commercial bank and ongoing discussions to merge Morgan Stanley, the brokerage/investment firm with a commercial bank. (Memo to Enemy Combatants Against Taxpayers a/k/a Wall Street/Washington: this new model is the failed model of Citigroup. Why do you hate America?)

Make no mistake that what ever the dollar amount announced next week to funnel into an entity to buy bad debts from banks and Wall Street firms, it won’t be enough. It’s a Band-Aid on a malignant tumor. That tumor is Credit Default Swaps (CDS) with over $60 trillion now owed through secret contracts in an unregulated market created, financed and owned by the unintelligent design masters, Wall Street firms themselves. (See “How Wall Street Blew Itself Up,” CounterPunch, January 21, 2008.)

There is no sincere plan by this administration to help America or Americans. There is only a plan to slow the financial collapse until after the November elections by throwing a politically palatable amount of money at it and a plan to continue to blame it on a housing bust.

If we, the American people, allow this to happen, we’re enablers to the unintelligent design model. Before one more penny of our taxes are spent on this ruse, we must demand a seat at the table (I think Ralph Nader should occupy that seat) to discuss breaking up Wall Street, crushing this model, innovating a sensible model that serves the individual investor and deserving businesses, and promises our children a future of more than a banana republic.

Everyone is talking bailout, while people like us can not get the help they need. they have cut my hours at work and my husband is on disability, waiting for social security which already has been over a year.

We have tried to get food stamps and tenncare, because we have no insurance. I resently broke my foot and can't go to the doctors. Now tell me what is wrong with our government.

this the land of the free but its not that way NO MORE everything is so high and bush dont care, only bout his money not ours

too late now it's done

Why bailout millioniers who are more than capable of helping them selves. why not take the taxper money and give it to the tax payers. A way to stimulate the economy, is by spending but people can spend what they don't have. you give the money to the banks so they can start lending again but they still have no money to pay back the old or new loans. GIVE THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA THE BAILOUT. IF PEOPLE CAN PAY THEIR BILLS AND LOANS OF THEN THE ECONOMY WILL BOUNCE BACK. BUT THE RICH GET RICHER IS THE WAY THE WORLD HAS ALWAYS DONE IT. free the people.

I am astounded that the Senators and Representatives are absolutely DEAF at this point. They cannot hear the voice of their constituents...you know, the people who vote for them. I emailed my legislators and thanked them for voting NO on the first proposal. Now that millions of dollars of political fluff have been added to the bill, they suddenly decide that the plan is GOOD!!! Draw you own conclusions about what persuaded them. I will never again vote for those that vote for this bill. I am a Republican but I will vote for a Democratic candidate during the next election if there is one who did not vote for the bill and is facing a Republican that votes for this outrageous bill. I will remember this vote and at election time I will remind my family, friends and colleagues of those who voted to give MILLIONS of dollars movie makers, race tracks and a manufacturer of toy wooden arrows and to give BILLIONS of dollars to Wall Street Financial Groups. The vote on Wednesday night seems to be a form of "taxation without representation". The people have written and called these legislators and voiced their opposition and the voices fell on deaf ears. Today we will see if the house members will be bought. Anyone up for a tea party?

How about a bailout or rescue for the middle class? How about forgiving at least 50% of our debt! I get so tired of all the scare tactics while all the fat-cats walk away with millions the taxpayers have to make up for through bail-outs. When they stop getting bonuses and "golden parachutes" or making gigantic profits while we watch our jobs go overseas, then you can help Wall Street with my blessings but not until then. And yes, I am a registered voter, my opinion should count.

If you don't pass this bill you will bring down our country's economy not a recession a DEPRESSION SOUP LINES ETC HORROR FOR ALL

I don't buy the line that the Treasury is aiming to make money on the bailout on taxpayer behalf. Property prices have fallen, so purchases have to regain their purchase value before we can break even and that's going to take some time. Property prices haven't even bottomed out yet. So while we are waiting on prices to come back up so we can sell the property to payback the taxpayer, we are paying interest on the total 1.29 trillion since the bail outs began several months back. To make a profit, real estate prices have to exceed their peek before the loss in order to cover the interest we will be paying. The question begs, "Where's the profit potential for the taxpayer?" I've read better plans that will not sink the taxpayer. We're being forced into a plan that will destabilize our middle class.

WE SAY NO. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM. WHAT PART OF NO DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND FOOL! NO MEANS NO STUPID..