Call your Representative This Morning and say No to the Bailout Bill

by: Jim Neal

Fri Oct 03, 2008 at 00:37

The blogosphere is game-changing medium for our democracy and its impact will only grow. However, on the eve of an unprecedented Congressional vote on a $700 billion bailout bill, our Congressional representatives were not reading blogs. A day after the Senate loaded a revised bill with $150 billion of enticements to change the votes of House members, our Congressional representatives were not reading blogs. And regardless of whether one blogged about a sky which is falling or a ground which is shaking, our Congressional representatives were not reading blogs.

They are counting however. In the cloakroom, votes; in their offices, phone calls. So call. They work for you. Tell them what you want, not what you think you can get.

I watched the VP debate earlier and was put off by the sense of alarm expressed by Governor Palin and Senator Biden as they bandied their respective ticket's budgetary excesses back-and-forth: "$10 billion per month.." or "$1.5 billion on.." or "a $1 trillion increase over four years.." Put off by their avoiding any debate on the merits of the Senate's record-breaking passage a $700 billion bailout to shareholders of private sector corporations and a $150 billion bribe to swing votes in the House today.

To hell with talk of a pig with lipstick;  there was an 850 billion dollar pink elephant in that auditorium in St. Louis which neither Gov. Palin nor Sen. Biden had any interest in discussing before the American public. An 850 billion dollar pink elephant which was crafted over the span of eight days. In just eight days Senators Biden, McCain and Obama have voted to spend more on a bailout than has been spent on the "war" in Iraq over the past seven years. Anyone remember the certainty and resolve with which the Congress rushed to judgment about Iraq? Over eight days, Congress has made a risk assessment which necessitates a $700 billion subsidy plus a $150 billion tip. In the context of what happened in the Senate, I'm not particularly fired up by fist-pounding over, what, a trifling $40 billion in tax break to oil companies over the past eight years?

I have called and emailed my Representative in NC, David Price, twice (Monday and Thursday.) He voted in favor of the bill last Monday. I called and emailed NC's US Senators, Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr on Wednesday. Senator Dole voted against the bailout; Senator Burr voted for its passage. Wednesday evening, Sen. Dole's challenger, Democrat State Senator Kay Hagan (who defeated me in the May primary)announced that she would have voted against passage.

At the end of the day, however, what really matters is how you feel, what do you want? Your voice counts as much as anyone's. "The highest office in America", said Harry Truman, "is that of citizen."

Call your Representative and tell them. Trust me: they're counting those calls.

Below is the email which I sent to Representative Price echoing my opposition to the bailout bill.

The Honorable David Price
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Via Email

Dear Mr. Price,

In a follow-up to my letter of September 29th I urge you to vote no on H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

The Act fails to provide stabilization to the well-being of either homeowners or middle-class and poor Americans.  It privatizes the losses of shareholder-owned financial institutions. It grants extraordinary powers to the executive branch to expend taxpayer funds in a capricious fashion. It is bereft of any meaningful Congressional oversight. It suspends mark-to-market financial accounting regulations and thereby allows a company to overstate the value of its assets and capital base-rendering its financial statements grossly misleading.

A yes vote on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 will have dubious effect on the health of our nation's economy. A yes vote is an endorsement of the baseless contention that "action is better than no action." A yes vote ignores probable attendant consequences of the Act, such as devaluation of the dollar, stagflation, signaling private sector participants that the American taxpayer will bail out bad behavior, and encouraging the bailout of other industry sectors under stress. A yes vote ignores the doctrine of checks and balances intended to curb abuses of power by one branch of our government. A yes vote turns a blind eye to Congress' experience when ceding authority to the executive branch, most notably its' Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002. A yes vote conveys powers to the Treasury Department which are unprecedented and mind-boggling. A yes vote affirms the "oversight-by-hindsight" provisions of the Act as other than impotent and toothless.

The amended bill on which you will vote differs from Monday's H.R. 1424 dramatically. The Act has swelled from 110 pages to 450 pages-in the span of 48 hours. It's no longer a $700 billion bailout bill; it's now an $850 billion bailout bill. The Senate, in an attempt to draw support for the passage of the Act by members of the House, added an extraordinary $150 billion of pork barrel enticements, including subsidies for kids' wooden arrows, rum, wool research, auto-racing tracks and films and television production.

That is a whopping price tag to expect folks in the 4th District and across America to pay for what a criminal attorney might characterize as legislative bribery. By comparison, the Congress passed smart legislation last February through the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 which helped struggling middle-class Americans. That targeted legislation cost $150 billion but it put money in the pockets of middle-class Americans. Yet now, you are about to vote on a $700 billion bailout bill rejected by the House on Monday which is now laden $150 billion of pork. That is, colloquially, a lot of pork to digest in a day.

Many in Congress are running full-throttle based on panic. And panic is overwhelming the better judgment and reason of many of your colleagues. Wall Street will gyrate up and down and credit markets will remain anxious; the former is hoping for a Congressional handout while the latter is waiting to assess risk.

Though I realize that Congress lacks the will to provide relief where it is needed- in the pockets of the middle class- there is a vastly superior structural alternative to the proposed bailout. The Treasury should invest in troubled firms by acquiring convertible preferred stock, paying a dividend and convertible to common stock at a modest premium. No suspension of mark-to-market accounting, no confusion over how to value toxic securities; greater transparency, and identical protection to beleaguered firms even if their toxic assets are worthless. Eliminate the pork which the Senate dangles before you and revise the bankruptcy laws so judges have leeway to allow homeowners to keep their homes and adjust the terms of their mortgages. Then send the bill back to the Senate.

That is an economic stabilization plan which puts Americans' interests ahead of those of shareholders in financial institutions. That is a plan which gives homeowners' a chance to keep their homes. H.R. 1424 isn't a plan, it's a reaction.

The Act on which you will vote tomorrow is the proverbial sow's ear dressed up to look like a silk purse stuffed with $150 billion.

Godspeed in your deliberations.

Sincerely yours,

Jim Neal