Welfare for the Rich and Powerful

Well, we're really in a fine mess. Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs is the fellow-architect, along with Bush, Cheney, Gramm, and various and sundry Representatives, Senators, and other government officials, of this crumbling financial trojan elephant. They now want us to rush out willy-nilly, panic-driven and unthinking, and write them a $700 billion check signed by the American people.

The very people who paved the way for this financial collapse through deregulation and removal of consumer/citizen protections want us to hand them this check without the hindrance of oversight, transparency, or public hearings, simply to bail out their buddies, the leaders in corporate and financial America who were their partners in this collapse. It was even leaked by someone in Congress that Paulson was planning on using part of this money to buy his buddy's shares above cost! Like the constant terror alerts that brought us to panic and enabled them to convince us that we should sign away our Constitution and Bill of Rights, they have purposefully, intentionally and with malice aforethought brought us to a new and different level of financial and personal security panic, thinking we'll be stupid enough to sign our future financial freedom over to them, as well. This would be like handing over the hen to the fox already in the hen-house, enabling them and, as such, our government to have unprecedented financial control over the market and the future income of United States citizens. They are even now also changing laws to pave the way for investment firms to become banks, allowing their buddies to have control over large amounts of this money.

I, for one, don't trust a single one of them; they have lied and cheated their way through the past eight years of this administration. In most other countries, Heads of State and top officials in government who have so publicly and spectacularly failed their people, actually resign (wishful thinking in relation to our leaders, on my part). But, not here. So much for ethics, but then we already knew that. What makes anyone think their current plan is good for us, the average, lower-income Americans in this country? We're the people who have gotten nothing out of this administration but the loss of: our Constitutional freedoms, habeas corpus, the ability to more easily file for bankruptcy, the value of our dollar abroad, our standing in the international community, our jobs, the value of our homes (if we still have one), the ability to pay our bills, and now our financial security. For all this, we pay a higher proportion of taxes to income than do the upper income citizens.

On the other hand, the rich and corporate elite have paid a non-progressive, inequitable, lower share of taxes. In fact, now-deceased multi-billionaire Leona Helmsley used to boast that she never paid taxes, stating that they were for the little people. Don't think she's alone in this. They also have the ability to easily file for bankruptcy, get multiple loans and have the option of negotiating their payments, enjoyed a thriving speculative market geared toward profits for high-end investors, and a have a safety net, their golden parachute, when their "imprudent" business practices fail. They still get to walk away from their failed companies with millions or billions of dollars, without any penalty for their "imprudence." If we go bankrupt, lose our life savings or small investments, or lose our job or house due to their "imprudence"...we walk away with little or nothing. What a contrast. The gap between rich and poor only gets wider.

Since when do we live in a totalitarian state? They knew beforehand what would happen when they erased the protective regulations put in place after the Stock Market Crash of 1929. It doesn't take a genius to predict what would happen! Seriously, this is not rocket science. We're now living with the predicted and planned outcome of this ultra-large-scale operation.



If the American people, Congressional leadership, Department of Justice, and the FBI don't stop them in their tracks, they will have effectively fullfilled their plan to take control of a large portion of our country's wealth. The aftermath will allow the architects involved to get away with a large share of these profits, leaving the American citizen to pay for their criminal excesses. How nice and convenient for them!

As far as I'm concerned, all those involved in the financial collapse of our country are home-grown terrorists who should be charged with treason. They have put their personal profits, excessive financial greed and hunger for power above the financial security of our nation, making us vulnerable to all forms of predatory attacks, financial and otherwise, from both internal and external sources. They have also shackled the hands of future Presidents and legislators, and stymied any expenditures in the areas of health care, infrastructure improvement, alternative energy development, and any number of other areas because "we the people" will instead be spending the next few decades paying down these criminals' accrued debt. If this isn't treason, I don't know what is!

To let the President and your Congressional leaders know your thoughts, you can write to them on http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
All you have to do is look on the top, right of your screen for Find Your Officials, enter your zip code in the box, click "GO." This will take you to the page where you can Write Your Elected Officials - click on Federal just under that title. If you're in a split District, you may need to go one further step and enter your +4 zip or your complete address. Then you write your letter, finish filling in all other requested information and click submit. It's that easy to contact them all in one, fell swoop!