Frightening
Published Wednesday, October 1, 2008
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Stumble It!Sept. 26. 2008
To the editor:
Our Congress people are getting a lot of calls from their nervous cronies in the financial industry regarding Bush’s ridiculous bank bail-out plan. Let’s listen in on a (probably) fictitious call now:
Ring.
“Hello.”
“Hello Mr. Congressman, this is Mr. Gekko, CEO of High-Flying National Bank.”
“Oh, Mr. Gekko, nice to hear from you. Thanks for all your contributions. How are my premium class investments doing?”
“Ah ... well ... that’s what I need to talk to you about ... they’re not so good.”
“I know. Can I dump those shares? Maybe back-date it?”
“Sure, no problem.”
“Thanks. Actually, I’m glad you called. You’re kinda causing me some headaches, what with running our entire economy into the ground with your gambling.”
“Yeah ... right. Sorry about that. But that’s not why I called. I was hoping you could do us a favor. You see, we’re a little over-extended. We’re out of money and our collateral assets are pretty worthless. Would you mind buying them from us so we can get back to ‘business as usual’?”
“Ooooh ... Hey ... That’s a pretty tall order. I’m pretty sure my constituents won’t like it.”
“Huh, don’t the other banks need a bailout too?”
“No, no ... I meant my taxpayer constituents. It would be a tough sell, and it’s an election year. You were trusted with a lot of money promising to keep it safe and deliver a profit. It looks like you guys pretty much gambled all that money away.”
“Yeah .... um ... well ... do you think maybe you could call that scaremonger Bush and have him frighten people into giving us more money? If you just ask taxpayers for the money we won’t get it. But if people are really, really frightened, like they were about those terrorists in Iraq that didn’t really exist, then you could scare them into voluntarily coughing up the dough.”
“Hmmm ...”
“So listen, it’s been great talking to you but I’ve got a severance package to spend, so I gotta run. I know you’ll do the right thing. Thanks for listening.”
Click.
Community Discussion
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Sounds about right
Let the companies that made ridiculous choices fail!
Toss out Barney Frank and the others charged with oversight of the financial system - specifically Fannie and Freddie! Tis what we get when lawmakers decide that a house is an entitlement also....zero percent down - - BAH!
Way to push the low-income crap mortgages, congress.....
Funny also how the same losers who got us here - -
Barney and his committee, who said nothing was wrong with fannie and freddie a few short years ago...
Paulson - ex-Goldman hack CEO.... and what happened to Goldman just a few months back??
These guys caused this mess through their poor judgment and greed - let the companies fail and vote all the bums out that went for the last version of this crappy 'bail-out' (anyone who thinks we may make money on this is smokin' crack - - since no one can tell the future...at most it is a gamble with OUR money)
Don't saddle the next generation with our failing - suck it up, take the hit and move on
Let the Iraqis pay the 700 billion bail out instead!
I don't really understand why putting Paulsen in charge is suddenly the solution...
It's the wrong solution...
Here's the line right now:
Re-distribution of wealth bad...re-distribution of debt good!
I think for the first time ever, I agree with wisechief!
Privatize profit,Socialize debt,ouch!
One of the best letters to the editor I've read on here. It's amazing how much of our everydays lives is dependent on us being afraid of something.
You had me until the "...terrorists in Iraq that didn't really exist" line. Get back on track.
Other than that unnessary (and incorrect) quip, great letter, and right on.
If there were a popular vote today, I'd venture to guess that 90% of citizens would say "NO" to rewarding this incompetence. But our Congress doesn't really work for us anymore, does it?
Although Congress voted this down, the senate is voting on another version today. Call our senators. Stevens is considered a key vote. The banks WANT more power. I would guess that the 700 point drop in the Dow monday was just the banks saying "here's just a little taste of what we'll do to you, if you don't give us what we want". Screw them! We won't let them have anymore power over us.
Call our Senators and tell them to vote "NO"!
Senator Stevens
202-224-3004
Senator Murkowski
202-224-6665
Let's see if I have this right. Loaning money to people who can't pay it back... but getting a nice commission for putting the loan together.
When it all falls apart I keep my commissions (and bonus) and the taxpayers pick up the slack.
Hmmmm. Are they hiring?
I have to say that looking at the bailout and what the CEO's will reap from it, it stinks and needs to be re-written. I don't think we and our children should be on the hook for 700 billion ( I can envision Dr Evil on that one). I do think that Congress should create something that will help the working people who desperately need the help. If nothing is done our economy will be in worst straits than it is now, but if 700 billion is just given to the CEOs without any reprecussions for their actions then we will certainly be facing this same situation in the future.
LOL nice comedy. And somewhat more accurate to the first draft of the bailout than the later drafts.
China, Saudi Arabia, the UAR, Emerates, and China, France, Sweden citizens can bail-out their own banks & loan companies. Not the citizens of the US. The scare tactics are for forgein support not for the US. Let them draw thier money out of Wall Street and return Wall Street back to the US. So the citizen's money of the US can benefit verses forgein money benefit at our expense. Take thier price gorging home with them.
We'll vote against any office holder who votes yes on a bail-out of any kind.
Who is signing the recall on Stevens-Murkowski? We are.
Lets make this simple, out of the 700 billion dollars they wanna spend, why not take out a small...well not that small portion of it, lets say about 300 million, which is about the number of Americans in the usa at the moment, and give everybody a million each, that is one kick butt way to jump start this thing with some nitro, all bills paid, banks accounts will be on a steep rise, house payments will be met, dollar will be stronger, and one heck of a happy country... just a thought. =)
Why should the taxpayer suffer the consequence of irresponsible banks? If they want to take the risk of lending to people who obviously cannot pay their debts, that should be on the bank. There is too much emphasis on getting people to get in bed with the banks and credit card companies and spend spend spend, without understanding the seriousness of not being able to pay back. Paying the banks debt for them is not going to teach them a damn thing! Senate better not vote this one in otherwise it will go down as the biggest pork-barrel in history.
Specfu,
The amount needed is 300 million times a million. This comes out to considerably more than the 700 billion that the bail out is currently set at.
Of course they have now chosen to load the bill up with pork...so it is a worse bill than the one they voted down earlier.
The proposed bailout legislation has been bloated to the point of being absurd.
We can point fingers at the banks and financials, but who accepted these "liar loans" anyway? Who are the folks living beyond their means? I'll tell you: Greedy individuals who thought they could get something for nothing and that a subprime loan which did not require paying on the principal was somehow a good thing. On top of that these greedy individuals probably could not balance a check book or manage their own finances to save their greedy, ignorant skins.
So, there is enough greed, and blame to go around. Curiously, I am told this is not the problem in Alaska that it is elsewhere in the country. In fact, I have asked around in Alaska and the Lower 48, and I know NO ONE who got suckered by these loans! I must know pretty smart people! (smile)
What about those of us who can actually READ AND BALANCE A CHECKBOOK, and saw the writing on the wall, and did the right thing with our finances? This "bailout" is a punishment of the responsible and a reward for the nitwits who blithely accepted the liar loans. And the real reward goes to those who made those loans to those too dumb to know what was going to happen in the long run.
I would be more enthusiastic in support of letting them all go down, but do I have to go down with them? Once again, is being responsible its own punishment? Do I have to tighten my belt again, but this time for someone else's benefit? Would it be better to simply be irresponsible knowing the government would bail us out? Of course many of us could not live like that, but the situation does make one wonder.
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