Bailout

Below is the text of an email I sent to all of our Congressional representation (Goodlatte, Warner and Webb) this morning on the proposed Wall Street Bailout. It's a bad idea to act in haste without collecting the facts. That is part of the reason we have a bicameral legislature with a seperate executive branch capped by judicial review, but I digress.

I know email is not nearly as good as actually sending them a letter but they are getting serious pressure to "Do Something Now". The basic points are lifted directly from Robert Reich, who I thought had an early and accurate view of the proposal (and it seems that his points were incoporated into the legislation floated by Dodd)

Dear [insert name here],


Don't let fear drive a hasty decision towards a poorly structured bailout
that leaves the taxpayers holding the bag. Although some kind of bailout may be
a political necessity, there are some conditions that should be attached for
Wall Stree to see a dime of taxpayer money:


1. The government (i.e. taxpayers) gets an equity stake in every Wall
Street financial company proportional to the amount of bad debt that company
shoves onto the public (possibly through warrants or some other structure). If
Wall Street shares rise, taxpayers are rewarded for accepting so much risk.


2. Wall Street executives and directors of Wall Street firms relinquish
their current stock options and this year’s other forms of compensation, and
agree to future compensation linked to a rolling five-year average of firm
profitability.


3. All Wall Street executives immediately cease making campaign
contributions to any candidate for public office in this election cycle or next,
all Wall Street PACs be closed, and Wall Street lobbyists curtail their
activities unless specifically asked for information by policymakers.


4. Wall Street firms agree to comply with new regulations over disclosure,
capital requirements, conflicts of interest, and market manipulation. The
regulations will emerge in ninety days from a bi-partisan working group, to be
convened immediately. Inadequate regulation, lack of oversight and opaque
dealings got us into this mess.


5. Wall Street agrees to give bankruptcy judges the authority to modify the
terms of primary mortgages, so homeowners have a fighting chance to keep their
homes. This is an extraordinary measure, but this is an extraordinary request.


I know you stand for fiscal responsibility. If you can't bring yourself to
work against the bailout, at least give the taxpayer fair treatment instead of
handing billions of our children's dollars to Wall Street.

Chances are, they will pass a bad bill to "Do Something Now", but I can at least feel like I tried.