Kucinich: This is not the plan
Labels: Dennis Kucinich, financial crash, financial crisis, regulation, Treasury Department, Wall Street

Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others.
As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor; let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own, and his children's liberty.
Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and Let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.
While ever a state of feeling, such as this, shall universally, or even, very generally prevail throughout the nation, vain will be every effort, and fruitless every attempt, to subvert our national freedom.- Abraham Lincoln, January 27, 1838
Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois
Labels: Dennis Kucinich, financial crash, financial crisis, regulation, Treasury Department, Wall Street
Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), spoke out against a bailout, calling the current proposal "cash for trash," and proposing a distribution of the assets back to the taxpayers.
"Since the bailout will cost each and every American about $2,300, tomorrow I will offer legislation to create a United States Mutual Trust Fund, which will take control of $700 billion in stock assets, at market value and not higher, convert those assets to shares, and distribute $2,300 worth of shares to new individual savings accounts in the name of each and every American," Kucinich said in a statement.
Conservative Republican Representative Mike Pence of Indiana was the first to loudly oppose the bailout plan from within the Republican Party.Today, Mike Pence can say anything he likes about Indiana farmers markets. He stepped up to the plate and spoke sanity to greed.
"The Administration's request amounts to the largest corporate bailout in American history. Congress should act, but should act in a way that protects the integrity of our free market and protects the American taxpayer from more debt and higher taxes," Pence said in a statement Saturday.
Pence makes his argument based on his belief in the Republican mantra of "free market" economics. "To have the freedom to succeed, we must preserve the freedom to fail. Any solution to our present crisis must preserve our essential economic freedom," Pence said.
The rush to bail out financial institutions and the willingness to defend executive compensation comes as no surprise to campaign finance experts. Massie Ritsch, communications director for the money in politics watchdog group The Center for Responsive Politics, examines the effect of campaign contributions to politicians in Washington.
"Wall Street is one of the biggest campaign givers in American politics. When you combine donations from the finance, insurance and real estate sectors [all of which stand to gain from the bailout], they become the largest contributor, splitting roughly $311 million evenly between Republicans and Democrats," Ritsch said.
Labels: government bailout, Henry Paulson, Rep Mike Pence, Treasury Department, Wall Street
These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people.
- Abraham Lincoln
Big Financiers Start Lobbying for Wider AidNo hearings, no process... and no bottom to their carpetbags. May as well give greedy bastards the the chandeliers and the good china too; they aren't leaving while there is anything left that they can possibly carry out the door.
By JENNY ANDERSON, VIKAS BAJAJ and LESLIE WAYNE
This article was reported by Jenny Anderson, Vikas Bajaj and Leslie Wayne, and written by Mr. Bajaj.
Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.
Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.
At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.
Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury’s proposal to buy up bad assets of financial institutions.
“The definition of Financial Institution should be as broad as possible,” the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents big financial services companies, wrote in an e-mail message to members on Sunday.
The group said a wide variety of institutions as varied as mortgage lenders and insurance companies should be able to take advantage of the bailout, and that these companies should be able to sell off any investments linked to mortgages.
The scope of the bailout grew over the weekend. As recently as Saturday morning, the Bush administration’s proposal called for Treasury to buy residential or commercial mortgages and related securities. By that evening, the proposal was broadened to give Treasury discretion to buy “any other financial instrument.”
The lobbying became particularly intense because Congress plans to approve a package within just two weeks, without the traditional hearings and committee process.
“Of course there will be fierce lobbying,” said Bert Ely, a financial services industry consultant in Alexandria, Va. “The real question is, Who wouldn’t want to be included in the package?”
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Labels: financial crash, financial crisis, greed, Treasury Department, Wall Street
-- Treasury Secretary Paulson says "hundreds of billions" of dollars are needed to resolve U.S. financial crisis.
Labels: financial crash, financial crisis, Henry Paulson, Treasury Department, Wall Street