Friday, September 26, 2008

A Note to Barack Obama...

Hey Barack,

I know you talk to Henry Paulson a lot and listen to what he has to say about the financial crisis and the need to bailout financial institutions...

STOP IT!

The numbers don't work...Somethings really wrong with what is going on here. This whole thing is starting to look like a set up to me... Democrats were about to work with W on a deal and McCain rides in and stopped it, thereby saving the country from the evil President Bush and the Democrats.

Look...The total number of mortgages in trouble totals $111 Billion. That's a lot but it's not $700 Billion. And frankly, Washington Mutual lost $198 Billion in value just yesterday. What's going on?

And look...John McCain hasn't suspended his campaign. He said his ads would stop running and I just watched one, so that's a lie. He's still making loud noises to the press and he said the Paulson plan was unacceptable right before he admitted that he hadn't even read the thing. I mean, hey...It's well over two pages long. I mean I read it. And frankly I agree with McCain and so does every body else on the planet including you, Barack. Even you have said the Paulson plan is dead. Of course you proposed a number of rational points to be worked out and added to what is actually Senator Dodd's plan.

Why not come right out and say you don't support the Paulson plan...You don't.

At any rate, this whole thing is fishier than Flipper. If the problem is bad housing loans we can cover those and keep those folks in their homes for a fifth of what Paulson wants, and anyway, they just made up that $700 Billion number. It's three times what they thought they would need.

Now here are some things to consider...

1. Wall Street paid out $120 Billion in bonuses in the last five years. If they have that kind of money, They can pay for their own bailout.

2. Ok, so they want us to finance their bailout. Fine...Put a transfer fee on stock transactions to pay back anything we spend on bailouts. We are the only Nation with a stock market that doesn't have this fee. London's fee is 0.25%. This would raise roughly $150 Billion a year. Paulsen doesn't want that because he says it would discourage stock trades. Bullshit.

3. If we simply helped folks make their payments, it would take care of the troubled mortgages for a fraction of the proposed money, people would keep their houses, and the government would take a secondary lien to recover some of the cost if the houses are sold.

4. I don't know that much about this stuff, but according to one Democratic Congressman calls to Congress are running about 50-50 on the bailout...50% No! And 50% HELL NO!

5. Tell John McCain that a deal has been worked out that there will be no deal, so get on the plane, fly to Mississippi, and let's debate.

Don't get sucked into this trap.

Peace,

Steve

Update: Told you so. the debate is back on even though there is absolutely no agreement.

McCain was silent during the White House meeting yesterday, mostly because he had nothing to offer. Obama essentially took over the meeting and lead a bipartisan discussion with Republicans offering points and Obama asking Paulson if they would work. McCain kept his mouth shut and offered nothing in the way of ideas or even much comment. So how does his campaign explain this?

The difference between Barack Obama and John McCain was apparent during the White House meeting yesterday where Barack Obama's priority was political posturing in his opening monologue defending the package as it stands. John McCain listened to all sides so he could help focus the debate on finding a bipartisan resolution that is in the interest of taxpayers and homeowners. The Democratic interests stood together in opposition to an agreement that would accommodate additional taxpayer protections.


Absolute bullshit...

No comments:

Post a Comment