Nice Bailout. Now Pay For It!

The people who brought us this disaster should pay. Namely the rich, those earning $ 5,000,000 and up. For the last 8 years we have lavished tax cuts on the Super-rich. They were supposed to invest in the economy. They were supposed to provide Americans with decent jobs. We have a soaring unemployment rate. The jobs are either outsourced to third world companies with wretched working conditions, or we bring in "guest workers" whom we treat abominably.

We need to eliminate all of the tax perks the rich have enjoyed. We need to slap a sur-tax of 95% on all incomes between $ 5,000,000 to $ 50,000,000. And 99 % surtax on all incomes above $50,000,000. Don't tell me some one can't live well in $ 250,000. And if any billinarire plans to sneak off to Abu Dubai, freeze his assets. (Actually we should do that before they leave.)
The rich are NOT Americans like the rest of us. For the past 8 years they have lived a life far removed from working class people. From their exclusive gated communities, they look down on working class people the way the Europeans of the Imperialistic era looked down on the people they subjugated. And DON'T even begin to tell me the rich earned their money by working for it. No way. They stole it from working class people one way or another..
It's time for the working classes to unite and demand their money back. And Cindy McCain can learn to survive with only one care instead of 13, and figure out her budget on one kitchen table, just like the rest of us.

This situation is not the worst that could be happening right now. Pundits keep saying that if we do not act the whole economy will suffer. Here on Main Street we are actually more stable than the gurus would like to let on. As long as the fed keeps reserves on hand to keep inserting money into the market that will allow banks to lend to borrowers for that new car, house and business we will keep moving forward even if it is at the pace of a snail. However if we divert the reserve funds to bail out companies the gov't will not have enough liquid asset without borrowing from another country to keep the market alive. The program to sell off these illiquid assets would take to long to regain any financial compacity to restore our marketplace. The gov't should allow these companies to sell off their own illiquid assets for the standard 66% of the appraisal tax value, and if they can not function after this measure they need to sell off some of their physical assets until either they recover or a competitor takes their place.

This situation is not the worst that could be happening right now. Pundits keep saying that if we do not act the whole economy will suffer. Here on Main Street we are actually more stable than the gurus would like to let on. As long as the fed keeps reserves on hand to keep inserting money into the market that will allow banks to lend to borrowers for that new car, house and business we will keep moving forward even if it is at the pace of a snail. However if we divert the reserve funds to bail out companies the gov't will not have enough liquid asset without borrowing from another country to keep the market alive. The program to sell off these illiquid assets would take to long to regain any financial compacity to restore our marketplace. The gov't should allow these companies to sell off their own illiquid assets for the standard 66% of the appraisal tax value, and if they can not function after this measure they need to sell off some of their physical assets until either they recover or a competitor takes their place.

Throw. The. Bums. Out. I mean Republicans -- they own this 100%.

When this 1st started going down I said to a few friends that if WE (the tax payers) are burdened with this bail out then the EXECUTIVES of any company being bailed out should not get a RED CENT. They are the reason their companies failed. They are the reason their people were 'short selling' and 'naked short selling which cost them and OUR economy BILLIONS, that's with a 'B' folks. We as tax payers need to speak up NOW and write your congressman telling them that YOU, ME, US will not pay these EXECUTIVES for failing their companies and our COUNTRY. It is absolute insane to imagine that congress is even considering 'Limiting' EXECUTIVE compensation!! WHAT compensation you failed at your job miserably your are herby terminated! you will receive NOTHING, NADA, ZERO!!!! it???s as simple as that. For the 1st time in my life I actually agree with the French president who stated :Who is responsible for this disaster? May those who are responsible be punished and held accountable,'

People we need to nip this in the bud now. Mock my words that when the dust settles and you hear that some CEO or any top executive at AIG or Lehman???s got 23 Million dollars as compensation it will be too late!!!!

When this 1st started going down I said to a few friends that if WE (the tax payers) are burdened with this bail out then the EXECUTIVES of any company being bailed out should not get a RED CENT. They are the reason their companies failed. They are the reason their people were 'short selling' and 'naked short selling which cost them and OUR economy BILLIONS, that's with a 'B' folks. We as tax payers need to speak up NOW and write your congressman telling them that YOU, ME, US will not pay these EXECUTIVES for failing their companies and our COUNTRY. It is absolute insane to imagine that congress is even considering 'Limiting' EXECUTIVE compensation!! WHAT compensation you failed at your job miserably your are herby terminated! you will receive NOTHING, NADA, ZERO!!!! it???s as simple as that. For the 1st time in my life I actually agree with the French president who stated :Who is responsible for this disaster? May those who are responsible be punished and held accountable,'

People we need to nip this in the bud now. Mock my words that when the dust settles and you hear that some CEO or any top executive at AIG or Lehman???s got 23 Million dollars as compensation it will be too late!!!!

Plenty of blame to go around; Democrats for years (via the Banking Committee and countless hearings pushed Fannie & Freddie to create "tools" for risky lending to "under-served" populations who could little afford the prized Home Ownership, less even understand the basic concept that "variable" means the interest rate can go up. Republicans just as guilty -- pushing for less and less regulation in a "everything must go" fashion without concern for the long term consequences. Both parties looked the other way either in ignorance of the details and/or while sipping cocktails at Wall St. sponsored fundraising events. And then there's greed. Pure and without shame on Wall Street....which, in measure is good for the economy, unchecked is ridiculous. Let 'em fail, I say. Let the CEO go broke....such is the reality and consequence of building a house of cards. For I had a nickle for everytime in my short life that I've heard an "urgent call" from self-serving, billionaire Wall St. types, I too would be a wealthy man. There are litterally trillions of dollars in mutual funds out there, waiting for a home. I seriously doubt that the new institutions and new banks will fail to appear to help offer that money a home. Spare me the fire alarm, Paulson. I simply do not believe you folks anymore. And I do not believe that any top tier executive in any of these firms will walk away with anything but millions in their pockets while tax payers are left , once again, with billions of debt to ponder. And to think I'm a conservative...what a mess.

Borrow and spend, then borrow and spend more until you have borrowed all there is to borrow. That is the American way. We have already flooded the world with our dollars which are backed up by the fiction that someday we will stop overspending and actually repay some of our debts without issuing more debt. We expect the world to keep loaning us money just because we have the strongest economy. Or is it because we have the strongest military force? The world is beginning to realize we are willing to drag the entire worldwide financial system under unless we can keep borrowing. Loan us or else.Save Wall Street or else. America is too dangerous to allow to fail. So the Chinese and the Middle East, and the Europeans will continue to loan us what we need to hang on for now. Borrow and spend like there is no tomorrow.

The elected officials have failed us? We elected them because we were complacent in our world of credit and debt. We let this happen to ourselves because we did not act and let the same people who ran the corrupt system keep running it. Shame on all of us. This is our fault, not someone else's. Just because they let the companies get away with buying the mortgages off of banks doesn't mean they are to blame for this. We should've made a change four years ago, but we didn't. We let the same old people keep running the country into the ground. We let the same people spend 120 billion per year on a war we started. It should have changed four years ago - but it didn't. We the people of the United States are responsible for this catastrophe - so let's not make the same mistake this election.

Republican Brilliant Policy, to bankrupt USA faster,{easy come easy go}That goes the old Days where HardWork earned Policy,But the funny part Republican accussed Democrate the other way with blantant lies,Republican Deregulated the Constitutional Law by making legal -tender for appointed "Gamblers" to gamble the fortune on behalf of Public Money at Casino Table.Blame it to the Republican culture that give outsize reward for the rich and success BUT no penalise for the failure.Now the Tax Payers will have to fork out US700 billions to -1 trillion dollars who are ultimately paying for the bailout BUT Lehman brother Boss Richard Fuld gets to keep the US$490 million he EARNED as the (Legalise GAMBLER).

The people who deregulated and the people who gave mortages to those they knew couldn't afford it should pay the biggest share and be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The "loans" given should be prime plus. The books of any company getting these bailout loans should be audited every year. There should be a cap on their execs' salaries. The companies should have to pay first to their loan, interest and principal. They should not be allowed to pay dividends until the loan is paid off. If the taxpayers are going to bail them out, we should make money on this in the end.

Regarding: It took both republicans and democrats to allow this to happen. In the end our elected officials have failed us. They were asleep at the switch when the train went by... Our politicians were WIDE awake when they accepted the corporate donations to represent the interests of the big business over the US citizen!

It took both republicans and democrats to allow this to happen. In the end our elected officials have failed us. They were asleep at the switch when the train went by. The taxpayers now have to shoulder the responsibility of the debt, while the parties try to divide us with stances on abortion, immigration, etc. It's like the magic act, look at the left hand, don't pay any attention to what I am doing with the right hand, or in this case, not doing with the right hand. And, where was the media in all of this. Most of the larger media outlets have a financial department .Why were they not sounding alarms? To busy covering an Britney Spears and Paris Hilton? If you thought the media was actually looking out for the American people, you just got an example of how superficial they really are. 24 hours a day of fluff.

As soon as we can dig out way out of this mess, paid for by taxes on hard working people, in however many years it takes to do it, remember to never ever again listen to a politician who tells you that deregulating business is the way for all of us to achieve prosperity. Business people are trained to take advantage of every little pinhole of light that gives them an advantage over their victims, the general public. We need laws and regulations to restrain them from dipping into the till just the same as we need laws against burglary, theft and outright robbery. These people wear expensive suits and ride in jet airplanes to make them look honest, but it only allows them a way to steal larger sums of money while you are not able to see them do it. They are less into "business", than they are "giving you the business", if you know what I mean. Just go check your 401K to see what I mean, and try to recall how the employees of Enron were treated when their bosses were selling all their stock before the company crashed while telling their employees to hold onto their Enron stock because it was growing in value.

If you think that a Republican president with all of the baggage that he has to carry into the presidency, with all of the conservative business oriented senators, congressmen and lobbyists hanging onto his coattails can fix this mess, as opposed to a Democrat who has support in his party and in the citizenry for change, then please stop and think again before you vote for a Republican to change this mess. It makes no sense.

We are trying to rebuild a financial house under which the foundation has crumbled. Just let the whole mess fall into rubble, then bulldoze it away and pour a new foundation. When you have the top two people in our government advocate paying those who created this mess their bonuses despite their incompetence in creating it, then you know that you have no foundation beneath your feet in this mess.
Bernanke and Paulson want us to commit to paying taxes for generations to fix this. We lose either way, so let's let the mess fall in so that those who created can take a hit just like us. Otherwise, they all walk off fat and rich and the whole mess may crumble into a depression anyway. Screw them. Let it fall and then we can talk to them about it while they wait with us in a long line to get a free bowl of soup.