Today, in a rare moment of representative democracy, the U.S. House of Representatives listened to voters and failed to pass the $700 billion bailout bill. While it may have been a bombshell to many, the fact is, it was American Democracy at work.
Legislators across the nation were bombarded with emails and calls from constituents saying, “Do not pass this bill.” According to the Rasmussen Consumer Index, fifty percent of Americans oppose the plan, and 63% of Americans worry that the government will do too much.
Today, legislators listened, and they responded. But this is in no way the end. The way I see it, the decision to stall the vote until Thursday is an opportunity to get it right.
Ever been in a crisis? If so, you’ve heard those you trust—whether a clergy member, financial planner or therapist—tell you, “Never make major decisions in the midst of a crisis.” And we’re all familiar with the term, “haste makes waste.”
Three days away (back home closer to their constituents) just may do our congressional leaders some good. It will allow each of them a chance to step away, clear their head.
The bottom line is, everyone in Congress is admitting that the current bailout bill is a “bad” bill they don’t want to pass but feel they must. But, what’s so wrong with having the courage to say, “This bill is bad, but I believe we can do better…and we must.”
This congress has an opportunity to not settle for the lesser of two evil bills (Paulson’s and now the enhanced version). Congress has an unprecedented opportunity to say, “We are committed to the American people. We are elected to be the best possible stewards of taxpayer dollars. We will not sell the taxpayer short. We can do better and we will.”
Come back on Thursday— huddle, compromise, study, research, write and rewrite, ask tough questions, demand answers, and compromise some more— and then come back with a plan that you can vote for with dignity. Popular legislative sentiment is that to “do nothing” is unacceptable. No. To do “just anything” lacking any real confidence in its merits or assurances of its success, is unacceptable.
Congress, please, for the sake of the American people, go back to the drawing board.
So, the bailout was rejected, and the DOW tumbled 777 points. Is it the end of the world as we know it? Let’s take a closer look at the bailout. What are the pros and cons? How did we get here? Who is to blame? And, most importantly…What do you think?
My personal (non financial expert) opinion: If you don’t have much money, you probably haven’t lost much. If you have a bunch of money, you might have lost a bunch. Of course, as always, the middle class will be hurt the most from this crisis. They are already struggling, and bailout or no bailout, the middle class stands to pay the greatest price. But, that’s just my opinion, and I’m no financial expert.
Majority of Americans Don’t Want a Bailout and Are Willing to Suffer the Consequences!
Estimates reveal that the proposed $700 billion bailout plan will cost $2,333 for each person in America. For my family that means $13,998. Hec, I’ve got my own debt to pay down.
As it turns out, I’m not alone. Many Americans (about 1/3) are not inclined to support this bailout. Another third will consider voting for the bill only if it’s done right—and I fully understand.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and President Bush assert that if we don’t approve the bailout, and I paraphrase, “all hell will break loose.” And if it does? …
What I and most Americans want to know is whether this plan will serve as a temporary bandaid that just postpones the inevitable, or will it incorporate systemic policy changes that will help prevent a similar crisis in the future?
No New Crisis
Truthfully, many of us in America are pretty fed up and are willing to just let the whole thing burn. Most of us have already been burned. Middle and working class American families have been in a crisis for a while. Between rising gas, food and energy prices, depreciating housing values, layoffs and few raises to offset the cost of living increases, ordinary Americans have been looking for our own bailout plan, and it just doesn’t exist.
Now, the treasury and the President wants each American to dig a little deeper into our own bleak pockets and cough up $2,333 per person to rescue Wall Street—effectively increasing our record high national debt by almost an additional trillion dollars.
Treasury Secretary, I’m sorry to inform you, but we cannot afford a bailout of this magnitude. We simply don’t have it. There has to be another way. Keep thinking…
Debtor Nation
Increasing our current $10 trillion debt by another $700 billion just cannot be sound financial policy. Is it fair that a few folks on Wall Street could so detrimentally impact the masses? No. Should someone be held accountable? Sure, but the bottom line is, if we Americans are willing to take our chances and decide we aren’t willing to bailout Wall Street, then let it be our decision—you know, “we the people?…”
But what if Wall Street crumbles? Well, we’ll just have to take it and make some good ol’ American apple crumble. Americans know how to bounce back. We always do. If our paper house burns down. Little-by-little, we’ll just build it back up again. That’s old-school. That’s the American way. There simply are no short fixes and get-right-quick schemes when it comes to finances.
U.S. Marshall escorting James Meredith to class at Ole Miss in 1962
I will be watching tonight’s debate knowing just how historical this event truly is.
Oh and gee, glad to know John McCain has decided to show.
Yes, the economy is in the toilet. It has been for sometime, Senator McCain.
But
Tonight’s debate and the INCREDIBLE significance of where the debate is taking place has been YEARS in the making and has come at a very high price for many Americans.
The acknowledgment of their sacrifices and their challenges should not be postponed one minute longer.
Segregation was and is horrendous. Why should any American have to fight, be humiliated or denied their right to receive an education based upon race [gender, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation]?
This is a terrible, terrible, unbelievably horrendous mark in American history.
I applaud those that stood up to an unfair system and created a path for either themselves and/or others to change the status quo.
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• Pick among 25 issues central to the election and explore side-by-side comparisons of the candidates
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It’s election season, and I’m not about to let up on the McCain-Palin ticket. If I put these two at the larval stage, I’m giving them too much credit. To show that I’m not just a one-issue voter when it comes to McCain and Palin, the issue of women’s rights will not play into the article (but only this one time). I’ve done that article before, and there are other reasons I’d never vote for this ticket.
We already have people in government who believe they are above the law (one resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue right now) and it looks like McCain would like to add one more. Initially, Sarah Palin said she would cooperate voluntarily with the ongoing abuse of power investigation against her. Suddenly, the Alaska legislators are under pressure to wait until after the election to continue the investigation, and her husband is now going to ignore the subpoena he has received. I wonder if he’s getting pointers from campaign advisor Karl Rove about how best to ignore a subpoena and get away with it. It doesn’t take much in America these days, particularly if you’re an elected official. We’ve lowered the bar here to the point where we should all be doing the limbo.
McCain campaign spokesman Ed O’Callaghan is falsely accusing the supporters of Barack Obama of controlling the investigation. The fact is that the investigation was recommended prior to Palin’s selection by a bi-partisan Legislative Council, the vast majority of whom were Alaska Republicans. There’s no way this investigation should be delayed until after the election. If McCain chose this woman as a running mate with full knowledge of the accusations against her (and he says he knew from the beginning), then let the chips fall where they may.
McCain wants to distract, not inform. If he distracts, you may not learn that his plan is to privatize and cut Social Security approximately one percent per year, along the lines of the proposed Bush plan. Workers who retire ten years after the McCain plan is put in place would see a ten percent reduction in benefits from the very beginning.
Next on the McCain-Palin hit list is the nation’s health care system. Their plan would effectively dismantle the employer-based coverage that protects most American families by converting health care benefits into income on which employees would have to pay taxes. The idea is to force millions of Americans into the non-group market where costs are high and services are limited. Benefits that millions now have would be lost. This is what the Republicans call the ‘free market’ system, much like the one currently bringing down Wall Street at the taxpayers’ expense.
John McCain’s confusion about who’s who in the world continues to embarrass. This from a candidate supposedly superior to Barack Obama in the foreign policy field. When asked if he would commit to a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, McCain refused. Apparently, McCain thought Zapatero was a Latin American autocrat. Randy Scheunemann, McCain’s foreign policy advisor, denied it was yet another McCain gaffe, but rather an intentional policy position with regard to Spain. Why would McCain refuse to commit to a meeting with a Democratic NATO ally with 1,000 troops serving in Afghanistan? Either McCain is intent on hiding his confusion from the public or he is upset (as is President Bush) that Spain pulled its troops from Iraq in 2004. Someone should point out to both George Bush and John McCain that there sometimes are repercussions when other nations find they’ve been deliberately lied to.
Remember the statements that implied that the Iraqi oil revenue was going to pay for the war?
Now the Bush Administration and The Fed are saying that we have a financial crisis that needs an immediate $700 billion infusion from the American taxpayer. Did you know that some of that money could be used to bail out foreign owned banks?
Within the next 24 hours, Congress is expected to make an historic choice in addressing America’s financial crisis:
Cut the Bush administration a $700 billion blank check for Wall Street
OR
demand sensible public checks and balances in the $700 billion bailout.
Well, before you let them cut that blank check think about this?
Remember the brave US service men and women who were sent to war in Afghanistan and Iraq without proper body armor.
Remember the appalling conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center.
Remember that the US embassy in Iraq which cost in excess of $600 million to build and is projected to have an annual operating cost of $1.2 billion.
Remember that President Bush vetoed a $35 billion expansion to the SCHIP program which would have provided health insurance to millions of America’s uninsured children. He said that we couldn’t afford it.
Remember the devastation caused by hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and now Ike. There are still parts of New Orleans’ 9th Ward as well as many parishes in Western Louisiana which have yet to have all of the debris removed.
Remember that five years after the worse blackout in US history, the energy grid is still “in dire straits“.
Are you going to let The Fed, the Bush Administration and Congress rush through a $700 billion dollar bailout of Wall Street and the banking industry when all of the aforementioned have put America and Americans last time after time after time after time?
Now, I’m not saying that nothing needs to be done to fix this broken economy. But are you going to let them rush to a bailout like they rushed to a war?
A “grassroots” letter that will be presented to Sarah Palin by MomsRising is currently on their site, available for signature. To date, 20,000 women’s names have been collected. The question is asked of Palin, “Where do you stand on issues that matter to me?” After extending heartfelt congratulations to the Governor on her path from “PTA to Vice Presidential candidate,” the organization gets down to brass tacks by specifically asking what she and the Republican Party would do for mothers and families.
MomsRising was founded in 2006. It grew out of a book project undertaken by Joan Blade and Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. Released on Mother’s Day of that year, The Motherhood Manifesto, “explored the struggles of the American family.” It later became a documentary film. Having reached a critical mass with their extensive research data, Blades and Rowe-Finkbeiner decided to mobilize the strength behind mothers’ voices and their concerns.
A non-partisan organization, which works at the state and national level, MomsRising tackles problems that don’t get adequate recognition. Statistics that the public should be aware of are underscored. For example, you may not hear on the campaign trail that 25% of families with children under six live in poverty, single mothers make 60 cents to a man’s dollar, or that 75% of American mothers are in the labor force.
The financial crisis that began in the United States spread to many corners of the globe. Now, the American bailout looks as if it is going global, too, a move that could raise its cost and intensify scrutiny by Congress and critics.
Foreign banks, which were initially excluded from the plan, lobbied successfully over the weekend to be able to sell the toxic American mortgage debt owned by their American units to the Treasury, getting the same treatment as United States banks.
On Sunday, the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., indicated in a series of appearances on morning talk shows that an original proposal introduced on Saturday had been widened.
Answering the question, Where are all the women political bloggers? Well, if you are here, you have found them. We are dedicated to giving women bloggers a voice, starting with our list of over 500 women political bloggers. And now, in addition to guest bloggers, and our growing community, we will also feature regular contributing editors.
