Sonoma Housing Bubble

Pulling the cork out of Sonoma's bubbly housing foolishness

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Fill Up Their Voice Mail!!!

(reposted from Mish's site)


Let's Fill Every Congressional Voice Mail Box In The Country
Many of you have written that congressional voice mail boxes are full. Unfortunately there is not much I can do if no one is answering the phones. I suspect that is because we have concentrated on too few.

We need to man the phones and start targeting EVERYONE in Congress.

Phone every legislative representative in your state. If those fill up, pick another state, even a small one.

Tell them it is still no deal, Leave a short message so others can leave one.

Fill every in box in the country.

Congressional Switchboad #
1-202-224-3121

Use these points in your message. Don't stop calling, emailing or faxing. You are being heard. Keep Shouting!

(use your own twist, but make sure they get it!)

"If you vote for this Bailout Bill I will vote against you. I will do more than that, I will work actively for your opponent, no matter who that person is, doing everything in my power to contribute to your defeat.

I will contributing my time, energy and money to your opponent, whoever that may be. I will talk to my friends, my family and my co-workers and urge them to do the same. I have contacted my friends already and asked them to do the same."


Take Action




Many Representatives are claiming the backlash was for just Paulson's bill. The revised bill still doesn't cap salaries and stock options deep enough. There is still no call for accountability or prosecution, or any accountability whatsoever for those responsible for this mess.

Paulson, Bernanke, Greenspan and the lot of them... Their JOBS are/were to be watch dogs for US! Their JOBS were to be the EXPERTS? WTF???

also... I can't believe it has come to this, but it is virtually impossible to not respect Newt's take on this whole debacle.

Did you know that Senator Dodd was the largest recipient of campaign dollars from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae?

Did you know tha Obama was number two? This is appalling. I am a registered Democrat and am just horrified that nothing that comes out of a Democratic representative is passing the smell test and that this rush to pass this is more of an effort to cover up their own complicity.

Newt's Take On Things

Please click and listen for yourself.

Bailout = Private Profits, Socialized Losses.
















"A month of historic government interventions shows signs of triggering a political version of climate change - unleashing a new era of class fury that could hurt U.S. companies, business leaders, and wealthy investors for years."

"Resentment toward financial profiteers is reaching a fever pitch. Leave aside for a moment the fact that homeowners living beyond their means - not just greedy Wall Streeters - contributed to the economic crisis. And Hank Paulson can talk all he wants about his program to help millions of struggling mortgage holders move into comfortable payment schedules."

That will only fuel more resentment and backlash.

"Compared to this, Enron was a warm-up exercise. "

"Even before this populist eruption over the Wall Street rescue, Middle America was souring on the privileged class. There has been a growing sense in the U.S. that a stagnant tide has kept the 80-foot yachts afloat while beaching the family outboard."

"There's much evidence to support the contention that Americans are disgusted with government officials as much as they are with business leaders."

Yet....

"Only last November, Dick Cheney told Fortune his main concern about the mortgage crisis was an overreaction by the government. "The fact is, the markets work, and they are working," he said. "We have to be careful not to have this set of developments lead us to significantly expand the role of government in ways that may do damage long-term for the economy."

"Ten months later the Vice President was forced to peddle the biggest government bailout in history to conservative friends on Capitol Hill."

"AFL-CIO's John Sweeney suddenly sound as if they're in the mainstream of public opinion with statements like this: "One thing is certain. No one - no politician, no investment banker, no television commentator, no economist - should be able to say again with a straight face that here in the United States we just let markets do whatever markets do and everything works out for the best."

"Washington hath no fury like Middle America scorned - and there's reason to think it will only get uglier."


From Roubini's site...


"...the claim by the Fed and Treasury that spending $700 billion of public money is the best way to recapitalize banks has absolutely no factual basis or justification. This way of recapitalizing financial institutions is a total rip-off that will mostly benefit – at a huge expense for the US taxpayer - the common and preferred shareholders and even unsecured creditors of the banks. Even the late addition of some warrants that the government will get in exchange of this massive injection of public money is only a cosmetic fig leaf of dubious value as the form and size of such warrants is totally vague and fuzzy."

"So this rescue plan is a huge and massive bailout of the shareholders and the unsecured creditors of the financial firms (not just banks but also other non bank financial institutions); with $700 billion of taxpayer money the pockets of reckless bankers and investors have been made fatter under the fake argument that bailing out Wall Street was necessary to rescue Main Street from a severe recession."

"...the Treasury plan is a disgrace: a bailout of reckless bankers, lenders and investors that provides little direct debt relief to borrowers and financially stressed households and that will come at a very high cost to the US taxpayer. And the plan does nothing to resolve the severe stress in money markets and interbank markets that are now close to a systemic meltdown. It is pathetic that Congress did not consult any of the many professional economists that have presented - many on the RGE Monitor Finance blog forum - alternative plans that were more fair and efficient and less costly ways to resolve this crisis."

"This is again a case of privatizing the gains and socializing the losses; a bailout and socialism for the rich, the well-connected and Wall Street. And it is a scandal that even Congressional Democrats have fallen for this Treasury scam that does little to resolve the debt burden of millions of distressed home owners."

Saturday, September 27, 2008

When Uncle Sam Gives You The Finger....

o























Don't be afraid to give it right back to him!!!

"The more voters learn about the proposed $700-billion taxpayer-backed Wall Street rescue plan, the less they like it."

(PDF warning click --->) Highlights of the Discussion Draft Bill Currently being considered by Congress

"Just 24% of U.S. voters now favor the plan first proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson a week ago and the subject of very public negotiations on Capitol Hill ever since, according to a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken Friday night."

"Fifty percent (50%) oppose it, and 25% are undecided."

"Opposition to the bailout plan has grown even after federal regulators seized Washington Mutual late Thursday in the biggest bank failure in U.S. history. Seventy-two percent (72%) say they have followed stories on Washington Mutual, including 37% who say they have been following the news Very Closely."




"Texas Congressman Dr. Ron Paul is against the current Wall Street Bailout being proposed by the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and the Bush Administration."

"In a speech to the Joint Economic Committee earlier this week, conservative Republican Ron Paul stated that government intervention was the primary cause for the economic meltdown in the first place and that Congress should not allow the administration to bail out the banks with the Paulson Plan."

'“This bailout is a slipshod proposal, slapped together haphazardly and forced on an unwilling Congress with the threat that not passing it will lead to the collapse of the financial system.

Some of the proposed alternatives are no better, for instance those which propose a government equity share in bailed-out companies.

That we have come to a point where outright purchases of private sector companies is not only proposed but accepted by many who claim to be defenders of free markets bodes ill for the future of American society.”'


"The Unites States Congress, which could adjourn for the year as early as this week, is now deciding the unthinkable: How to take 700 Billion dollars from the American people and give it to those on Wall Street who lied and cheated us into this financial mess. This is a discussion that shouldn’t even be on the table."



"According to the New York Times, many Americans are writing their elected representatives in the nation’s capital to voice their concerns."

"Over the last year, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson repeatedly assured the American people that the United States economy was sound. While many suspected that the United States was facing a recession, those like Henry Paulson, President Bush, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke explained the downturn as our nation facing “tough times” or “difficult challenges”.

"Now, they ask the American People to believe that catastrophic danger awaits them around every corner if action is not taken now. That they did not notice this as being possible until days ago - requiring quickly written three page legislation that would put taxpayers on the hook for purchasing troubled assets - mainly mortgage-backed securities, to be signed and passed immediately."

Whether it is in his original form, or the pitiful alternatives proposed by partisans already in Wall Street's pockets makes no nevermind to me. NO BAILOUT FOR WALL ST. or loan owners who took out loans for more than traditional conforming income to debt standards.

These very fear mongers have been lying for years now, and they pull the fire alarm in the last week? Really? I am pulling the CRAP ALARM!!!

"Government intervention in the free market has artificially inflated prices for years. This has made money too easy to come by, and let banks lend to previously overly risky buyers."

"These governmental measures, combined with the Federal Reserve’s loose monetary policy, led to an unsustainable housing boom. The key measure by which the Fed caused this boom was through the manipulation of interest rates, and the open market operations that accompany this lowering."

"This lowering of prices which we are experiencing today actually brings the economy back into balance, equalizing supply and demand. However. the government doesn’t like this, and is willing to put the tax payers money on the line to keep prices artificially inflated.
We must restore the checks and balences of our financial system by saying no to another Wall Street Bailout."



Email, Fax and Call your representatives!!! (new letters from Stop The Housing Bailout)


(letter 1)

VOTE AGAINST THE ILL-CONCEIVED BAILOUT BILL – OR BE VOTED OUT!!!!

This Is A Mad Rush To Financial Judgment

On Friday we heard president Bush and Paulson, preach the same set of lies they have preached before:
* There can be no delay.
* Sweeping new Powers for the Fed are needed.
* The Treasury needs $700 billion dollars.
* There is no time to study alternatives.

Robbing taxpayers to pay failed banks cannot possibly work!

Printing money and giving it away cannot work either. If it did work, Zimbabwe would be the most prosperous nation in the world.

190+ Economists Slam Bailout

Over 190 top economists in the country have slammed this bailout on grounds of fairness, ambiguity, and long term effects.

Paul O'Neil Is Against The Plan

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said today that our nation's leaders -- especially President Bush -- are "in a panic" and haven't thought through the $700 billion bailout plan in a rush to pass it by the end of the week.

"I don't think he understands or knows much about any of this and it shows. It is possible to re-liquefy the credit system without 'We the People' owning $700 billion worth of homes," he said.


BB&T Corp. Chief Executive Officer John Allison critiques the plan

Treasury "is totally dominated by Wall Street investment bankers" and "cannot be relied on to objectively assess" the impact of government policy on the financial industry, Allison wrote in a Sept. 23 letter to Congress.

Block This Bill

Please have the courage to stand up do what you know you must do: Block This Bill.

I cannot and will not vote for any member of Congress who votes for this bill in its current form or anything remotely close to the current form.

This insane rush to push something through, is wrong. If you vote for this bill, you will not get my vote in the next election. It is as simple as that.

YOUR NAME
YOUR PHONE NUMBER
YOUR ZIP


(letter 2)

VOTE FOR THE BAILOUT . . . AND
YOU WILL GET VOTED OUT OF OFFICE!!!


This bailout plan is fundamentally unfair to taxpayers.

You know, because we have expressed our outrage loud and clear.

And yet you Politicians move forward with an ill-conceived, fundamentally flawed bill!

Just know that there are consequences for your actions!


We will be posting the names of every Senator who votes for this bailout.

AND THOSE WHO VOTE FOR THIS UNFAIR BILL WILL BE DEFEATED IN THE NEXT ELECTION.


DO WHAT IS RIGHT: VOTE AGAINST THE BAILOUT!!!


If you do not have internet faxing get MetroFax. 1000 pages at a very cheap price. You can afford $12.


Please fax everyone on this list.

If you do not have internet faxing get MetroFax. 1000 pages at a very cheap price. You can afford $12.
Sign up today and fax these bums your middle finger!


Sen. Richard Shelby (R) 202-224-3416 or 202-224-5137 (try both not sure which is correct)
Sen. Harry Reid (D) 202-224-7327
Sen. Jim DeMint (R) 202-228-5143
Sen. John Ensign (R) 202-228-2193
Sen. Jim Bunning (R) 202-228-1373
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) 202-224-6020
Sen John McCain (R) 202-228-2862
Sen. Barack Obama 202-228-4260
Sen. John D. Rockefeller 202-224-7665
Sen. Dianne Feinstein 202-228-3954
Sen. Ron Wyden 202-228-2717
Sen. Evan Bayh 202-228-1377
Sen. Barbara Mikulski 202-224-8858
Sen. Bill Nelson 202-228-2183
Sen. John Kerry 202-224-8525
Sen. Daniel Inouye 202-224-6747
Sen. Hillary Clinton 202-228-0282

Friday, September 26, 2008

Protest! Protest! Protest



"More than 150 prominent U.S. economists, including three Nobel Prize winners, urged Congress to hold off on passing a $700 billion financial market rescue plan until it can be studied more closely."

"In a letter yesterday to congressional leaders, 166 academic economists said they oppose Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan because it's a ``subsidy'' for business, it's ambiguous and it may have adverse market consequences in the long term. They also expressed alarm at the haste of lawmakers and the Bush administration to pass legislation."


" ``It doesn't seem to me that a lot decisions that we're going to have to live with for a long time have to be made by Friday,'' said Robert Lucas, a University of Chicago economist and 1995 Nobel Prize winner who signed the letter. ``The situation may get urgent, but it's not urgent right now. Right now it's a financial sector problem.'''

So Why the RUSH? (the million dollar question, right?)

Because if they don't rush and the public gets wind of the actual details they will discover it is a raw deal for the taxpayer and only a great New Deal for Wall Street.

"One opponent to the $700 billion financial rescue plan is Allan Meltzer, a former Fed economist and a professor at Carnegie Mellon university in Pittsburgh, Pa. Meltzer tells Steve Inskeep he's against the proposal because he thinks if Wall Street created the problem, then Wall Street should solve it."

NO MORE DEALS FOR WALL STREET. Punish the Incompetence by NOT rewarding them for being so good at it!!!

Stop The Housing Bailout: Send a Letter to Congress

Seriously. They are asking for a blank check. A $700 billion blank check for the likes of Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup (C), Morgan Stanley (MS) and their cohorts that participated in reckless gambling and fraudulent mortgage lending schemes.

"U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's proposed $700 billion bank rescue aims to help "poorly run" companies and the primary beneficiaries would be Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, said BB&T Corp."

"Chief Executive Officer John Allison in a critique of the plan.Treasury "is totally dominated by Wall Street investment bankers" and "cannot be relied on to objectively assess" the impact of government policy on the financial industry, Allison wrote in a Sept. 23 letter to Congress. The letter was verified by Bob Denham, a spokesman for BB&T, North Carolina's third- largest bank."

The very guys asking for the bailout have padded their own pockets, feathered their own nests and and handed out billions of dollars in bonuses to their rank and file, all based on the ponzi scheme that has been the housing market. This is no surprise to them. They all read here. They read Ben's blog. They read Mish's blog. They read us all. They had full knowledge of what they were doing and they kept spiking the punch because there was nobody to stop them. The politicians, the Fed, Greenspan, Bernanke, Paulson... they were all in their pockets. These guys were nothing but the band on the Titanic.

Now these INCOMPETENT BOOBS are asking U.S. taxpayers to bail out their bad lending practices to the tune of $700 billion. Just Say NO TO CRACK!
Protest! Protest! Protest!




Give her a call!

Washington D.C. number (202) 225-4965.

district number (415) 556-4862


(from LA TIMES)

"As congressional leaders struggled to craft a bailout plan for the nation's troubled financial system Thursday, angry protesters mobbed Wall Street, telephones rang off the hook in House and Senate offices and a group of prominent economists sent off e-mail blasts critiquing the proposal."

"More than 1,000 protesters clogged the street in front of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, bearing signs calling the bailout a "class war crime."'

"A spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said her five offices had doubled staffing to deal with the constantly ringing phones. Through late Thursday, Feinstein's offices had received a total of 39,180 e-mails, calls and letters on the bailout, with the overwhelming majority of constituents against it."

"Rep. Linda T. Sanchez (D-Lakewood) was also hearing it from her district, which includes parts of the city of Los Angeles and unincorporated L.A. County. "My constituents are telling me loud and clear that they aren't convinced," she said in a statement."

"Typical of the tone of such contacts, Sanchez's office said, was a missive from a constituent in Whittier: "The bailout legislation is being rammed through Congress in a matter of days. This is an illegal power grab by the White House and their richest friends on Wall Street."'

"Jason DeMatteis, an engineer who bought a home north of Burbank in 2005---."You have to hold people responsible to some extent," he said. "I find it a very hard pill to swallow that I have to work my butt off to pay my mortgage and other people get bailed out."

Who stands to gain? Only Wall Street.
'"I suspect that part of what we're seeing in the freezing up of lending markets is strategic behavior on the part of big financial players who stand to benefit from the bailout," said David K. Levine, an economist at Washington University in St. Louis, who studies liquidity constraints and game theory."

Last night WaMu became the latest and largest bank to fail. There have been 7 bank failures this year, all of them announced on a Friday. WaMu was announced on a Thursday- during a hairy debate on this so called "financial rescue plan" that the majority of the PUBLIC that these politicians represent!!!!


hmmm something doesn't pass the smell test. I smell Game playing to create a sense of urgency.
There should be NO RUSH into a $700 billion package when 190 economists, a current Fed governor, and a former Fed Governor are screaming that this bailout is: A bailout of Wall Street that will cost at a bare minimum $2,000 for every man woman and child in the United States. (thanks Mish)
They have socialized loss in this nation. The Wall Street Crooks have bankrupted this nation and now they want a $700 billion dollar cookie?


Letter from Ron Paul

With a Rasmussen poll finding support for the bailout at an anemic seven percent, some members of Congress are afraid to vote for it.
Call them! Let them hear from you!
Tell them you will never vote for anyone who supports this atrocity.
The issue boils down to this: do we care about freedom?

Do we care about responsibility and accountability? Do we care that our government and media have been bought and paid for?
Do we care that average Americans are about to be looted in order to subsidize the fattest of cats on Wall Street and in government? Do we care?
When the chips are down, will we stand up and fight, even if it means standing up against every stripe of fashionable opinion in politics and the media?
Times like these have a way of telling us what kind of a people we are, and what kind of country we shall be.
In liberty,

Ron Paul


CALL THEM




If you do not have internet faxing get MetroFax. 1000 pages at a very cheap price. You can afford $12.
Sign up today and fax these bums your middle finger!
Please fax everyone on this list.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R) 202-224-3416 or 202-224-5137 (try both not sure which is correct)
Sen. Harry Reid (D) 202-224-7327
Sen. Jim DeMint (R) 202-228-5143
Sen. John Ensign (R) 202-228-2193
Sen. Jim Bunning (R) 202-228-1373
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) 202-224-6020
Sen John McCain (R) 202-228-2862
Sen. Barack Obama 202-228-4260
Sen. John D. Rockefeller 202-224-7665
Sen. Dianne Feinstein 202-228-3954
Sen. Ron Wyden 202-228-2717
Sen. Evan Bayh 202-228-1377
Sen. Barbara Mikulski 202-224-8858
Sen. Bill Nelson 202-228-2183
Sen. John Kerry 202-224-8525
Sen. Daniel Inouye 202-224-6747
Sen. Hillary Clinton 202-228-0282

There are no Democrats or Republicans Today


We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender! ~Winston Churchill


Protest Comments from around the Internet:


"Call your Congressperson. Say no -- may be already too late. This is bad for equity holders, good for debt holders, but certainly bad for taxpayers. That means if you have money in your house -- or you ever hope to buy one -- you lose. Understand? Call Congress. Say no. There are no Democrats or Republicans today. It's just us, standing up to the people who have been losing our money for years. SAY NO. Thanks, all."

"Pure and simple this is outright theft from the middle class to pay for the sins of the ultra rich. This theft robs not just this generation, but the next two, as we pay off the massive additional debt this will incur. Any Congressman that votes for this needs to be tarred and feathered."

"Fearmongering Extortion, Give us a trillion dollars to fix the mess we've made or we'll wreck your future. Forget it, in a Capitalist Society those who make a mess get to sleep in it."

"If we give the blackmailers a trillion now they'll just come back in a month or two demanding another trillion. Or ten trillion. Bush-Obama Billionaire Bailout Bill? No? HELL NO!"

"No more bailouts. That is all there is needed to be said. It is reported that a majority of Americans do not want this bailout plan to go through and for good reason. It is a rip off of the American middle class to save the ultra rich and the Wall Street gamblers and moneychangers. Let the market work itself out and no more government intervention for the the Wall Stree Mafia."

"Excuse me, but isn't the whole premise of free-market capitalism that the market will control the pricing. How is bailing out the corporations going to fix the underlying rot in our economy? We are a debtor nation. We are living beyond our means. Our economy is NOT sustainable. That is the real problem. And, no $700,000 billion bailout is going to change those facts. Better start learning Chinese because that's who owns our a$$es."

"As it's been said before... today we live in a society where profits are privatized and losses socialized."

"If time is running out, then why didn't this Administration do something years ago?"

"Wow... they agreed on a bail out even though the mass majority of Americans specifically called their congressman / senators and said no bail out .... this my friends is called taxation without representation.... remember what we did 200 yrs ago the last time this happend to us? "

"A trillion dollar bailout won't fix a hundred trillion dollars of phony credit swaps. The extortionists will be back every few weeks for another trillion until we solve this problem properly - by letting the Wall Street casinos fail and jailing the fraudsters. Until then we're just indenturing our grandchildren to bail out the billionaires."

"Ok folks, its time we made us of our Bill-of-Rights and exercise our "right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Everyone go to your nearest Federal Office Building and demand:

1. The Wall Street swindlers who caused this financial crisis should be the ones to pay for it, NOT the ordinary tax-payers.

2. Congress needs to re-regulate investment banks to prevent this from happening again.

3. Include main street in this bail-out and invest in rebuilding the country's infrustructure and creating jobs for American workers. 4. Impliment a securities speculation tax to discourage reckless speculation practices. 5. A 85% tax on excessive CEO compensation packages."

"It's just a tad ironic that the people who rammed deregulation and "free market" crap down our throat for years have now basically created a socialist system, and have heavily regulated the financial markets. Kind of puts the complete lie to everything they've been saying since the Reagan years, doesn't it?"

"Both parties have sold us out to China, Saudi Arabia, etc. over the years with deficit spending. Now they want to sell us off some more to rescue those who have bought them off. The American People will do nothing about it. They are distracted by the Media into a zombie-like complacency. Those of you who think one party or the other will rescue the situation are truly delusional."

"We've been sold out by our elected representatives."

Apparently the bailout meeting turned into a congressional brawl. They should make a Prime Time Reality show. I'd like to see Paulson and all the other "financial and economic experts" on their knees. I find their pleas uncompelling since it was THEIR JOB TO BE SMART ENOUGH TO CREATE SOUND FINANCIAL POLICY!!!!!! This is not a surprise and if they are supposed to be smart enough to hold a top economic job in this country they should be qualified- and qualified means you don't let Wall Street and NAR and Mortgage Lenders and Banks run amok and then ask for the taxpayers to mop up your mess!

"The day began with an agreement that Washington hoped would end the financial crisis that has gripped the nation. It dissolved into a verbal brawl in the Cabinet Room of the White House, urgent warnings from the president and pleas from a Treasury secretary who knelt before the House speaker and appealed for her support."

"It was an implosion that spilled out from behind closed doors into public view in a way rarely seen in Washington."

"House Republican leader, John A. Boehner of Ohio, surprised many in the room by declaring that his caucus could not support the plan to allow the government to buy distressed mortgage assets from ailing financial companies."

"Mr. Boehner pressed an alternative that involved a smaller role for the government, and Mr. McCain, whose support of the deal is critical if fellow Republicans are to sign on, declined to take a stand."

"As the debate over a $700 billion bank bailout rages on in Washington, one of the nation's largest banks — Washington Mutual Inc. — has collapsed under the weight of its enormous bad bets on the mortgage market."

"The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized WaMu on Thursday, and then sold the thrift's banking assets to JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $1.9 billion."

"Seattle-based WaMu, which was founded in 1889, is the largest bank to fail by far in the country's history. Its $307 billion in assets eclipse the $40 billion of Continental Illinois National Bank, which failed in 1984, and the $32 billion of IndyMac, which the government seized in July."

"The downfall of WaMu has been widely anticipated for some time because of the company's heavy mortgage-related losses. "

"WaMu ran into trouble after it got caught up in the once-booming subprime mortgage business. Troubles then spread to other parts of WaMu's home loan portfolio, namely its "option" adjustable-rate mortgage loans. Option ARM loans offer very low introductory payments and let borrowers defer some interest payments until later years."

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Fight the Bail Out!!!!!!!


Let your voice be heard. Don't reward financial stupidity with a bail out! Let the market punish those who were foolish.


"FreedomWorks, the organization behind "Renters Against Government Bailouts," has new petition for Congress.


"Congress:
Stop the Wall Street Bailout."


Everyone is invited to sign the petition." (
stolen from Bubblemeter)


Certainly YOU will reap the consequences of your own foolish personal financial decisions if you make them... Congress won't come to YOUR rescue because you are such a great person. What have these bumbling idiots done that they deserve to be deprived of the consequences of their actions?



Send your senators emails, letters, faxes, make phone calls. Don't roll over. Don't play dead. Your Silence is Your Consent.





Bankers made loans to people without doing basic math regarding the ability to pay it back.

Investment companies sold mortgage backed securities as "sure things" on the open market KNOWING that all past lending standards that made MBS a good investment had been completely obliterated and that the real estate market was nothing but a ponzi scheme.

Realtwhores were sharks in a feeding frenzy without a brain among them. They wrote books about the boom never ending. They told lies about how only fools paid off their mortgage. They took out ads claiming: "No Bubble" They posted signs in their realtwhore office windows saying... "What Bubble?"

They had a decade long kool-aid party.

Their favorite mantras...

"hurry, buy now before you are priced out forever."
"They aren't making anymore land."
"Hurry, bid higher fool! there are multiple bids, who cares if you can't afford it, we can always sell it to someone else."


As far as I am concerned the only viable bail out financing is to take 1/3 of the commissions paid to investment bankers for the last 8 years or the equivalent in overpriced assets they have acquired, and 1/3 of all the realtwhore commissions for the last 8 years and 1/3 of all the mortgage lender commissions from all lenders who have had to buy back the loans they sold until this debacle is paid off.






Get the on the horn! Give them HELL! Commit to campaigning against them if they vote for this bail out!


Think your letter or your call doesn't matter?


According to the New York Times:


"Americans’ anger is in full bloom, jumping off the screen in capital letters and exclamation points, in the e-mail in-boxes of elected representatives in the nation’s capital."


"The backlash, in phone calls as well as e-mail messages, is putting lawmakers in a quandary as they weigh what many regard as the most consequential decision of their careers: whether to agree to President Bush’s request to spend an estimated $700 billion in taxpayer money to rescue the financial services system."


"Around the country, Republican and Democratic voters are rising up in outright opposition to the White House plan or, at the very least, to express concern that it is being pushed through Congress in haste."


'“I am hoping Congress can find the backbone to stand on their feet and not their knees before BIG BUSINESS,” one correspondent wrote to Representative Jim McDermott of Washington."


"Mr. McDermott is a liberal Democrat, but his e-mail messages look a lot like the ones that Representative Candice S. Miller, a conservative Republican from Michigan, is receiving. “NO BAILOUT, I am a registered republican,” one constituent wrote. “I will vote and campaign hard against you if we have to subsidize the very people that have sold out MY COUNTRY.”'


"Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, has received nearly 17,000 e-mail messages, nearly all opposed to the bailout, her office said. More than 2,000 constituents called Ms. Boxer’s California office on Tuesday alone; just 40 favored the bailout. Her Washington office received 918 calls. Just one supported the rescue plan."


"Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, said he had been getting 2,000 e-mail messages and telephone calls a day, roughly 95 percent opposed. "


"“We certainly have never brought in 20,000 names in a day and a half,” Mr. Sanders said, sounding astonished. “For us, that’s off the wall.”'


"It is much the same on the Republican side. Aides to Senator Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican who has called the bailout plan “un-American,” said the senator had received more constituent reaction to the bailout plan than to any issue since the immigration debate."


It IS UNAMERICAN!!!!!! No Bailout!


Don't know exactly what to say?




Or just copy this cut and dry set of bullet points stolen directly from the stop the bailout website:


Why should responsible Americans beforced to pay for the mistakes of others?

* A bailout is morally irresponsible because it encourages reckless and irrational behavior. Here is a short list of the many "moral hazards" that a bailout enables:


* A bailout sends the wrong message about personal responsibility. It tells Americans in no uncertain terms that their financial decisions have no consequences; the government will pick up the tab.


* A bailout tells responsible Americans that they are suckers. If responsible American had been smart, they would have overextended themselves, purchased homes they could not afford, and taken out home equity loans based on the paper value of their property. Then, when the bill came due, they could just pass it to the government.


* A bailout allows banks, mortgage brokers, speculators, and refinancers to benefit from their abuse of the system. By doing so, it encourages these people to act irresponsibly in the future.

* A bailout will force Americans who acted responsibly to pay for those who did not. The average American -- who saved and scrimped for years to buy a house, but could not because speculators and over-extenders boosted home prices beyond affordability -- will now be forced to pay for the homes of those who were less scrupulous.

* A bailout will have a disproportionately negative affect on the minorities and the youth. Minorities and Americans under 35 (scroll down the link for 2007 data) are disproportionately underrepresented among homeowners. While non-hispanic whites enjoy a 75% homeownership rate, less than 50% of blacks and hispanics own homes. Similarly, only 42% of Americans under 35 own homes, compared to 80% for Americans 55 and older.


* A government bailout will perpetuate this race and generation gap by propping-up inflated house prices, thereby permanently pricing minorities and a generation of youth out of the market. And in a Kafkaesque irony, these folks will actually have to pay to prevent themselves from buying homes (i.e., taxes).

* A bailout is also fiscally irresponsible:

* A bailout props up over-inflated housing prices, thereby putting homeownership out of reach for young families and responsible Americans who recognized that there was a bubble. The housing market needs the correction that the bailout seeks to prevent because the average American cannot afford to purchase a home. "You cannot be both in favor of affordable housing and in favor of propping up home prices!"

* A bailout creates perverse incentives. Rather than punishing their behavior, it encourages fiscal irresponsibility among bankers, brokers, speculators, and refinancers. These folks made money hand over fist in the past nine years (remember, homeborrowers who tapped their home equity received cash money to pay for Escalades, vacations, and stainless steel appliances; now they want you to pay for it!). Why change your behavior when you benefit from it?

* A bailout shifts the risks of falling market prices from financially secure banks to the American taxpayer. As a result, either taxes or the federal deficit will skyrocket! This is a government handout that we simply cannot afford and, moreover, it is wrong!

* A bailout is contrary to the free market principles upon which our economy is based. It jams a huge wrench into the market correction, with negative effects that will be both severe and long-term.

* It will truly be a sad day in America when our politicians vote to bail out the few from their irresponsibility to the detriment of the many who were responsible.

We, the American people, deserve better.

Make a stand. Take action!


Use the links on this website to:


Contact your Representatives and Senators.



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