Nader/Gonzalez Warn Against Blank Check Bailout
News Advisory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: (Washington) Toby Heaps, 202-471-5833, toby@votenader.org
NADER STATEMENT ON BAILOUT
Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez vigorously oppose Bush’s $700++ billion taxpayer bailout of Wall Street.
"This is not just a bailout of Wall Street" says Nader, "It’s a bailing out of the bankrupt Republican and Democratic policies that have led us to where we are today with Senators John "Deregulation" McCain and Joe "MBNA" Biden leading the way.
Full Statement from Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez:
"The revised bailout legislation is the same $700 billion piece of burnt toast, with some window dressing, sugar coating, and $150 billion of pork tax cuts covering everything from casinos to coal.
But this isn’t even the main course that Senate is serving up for Congress on Friday. The main course is on page 92 of the 451 page document:
BORROWING LIMITS TEMPORARILY LIFTED. - During the period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act and ending on December 31, 2009, the Board of Directors of the Corporation may request from the Secretary, and the Secretary shall approve, a loan or loans in an amount or amounts necessary to carry out this subsection, without regard to the limitations on such borrowing under section 14(a) and 15(c) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1824(a), 1825(c)).
Translation: Bush, McCain, and Obama want Congress to co-sign off on the mother of all blank checks, paving the way for a sinking dollar and higher interest rates.
By bumping the FDIC’s line of credit at the Treasury from $30 billion to infinity, the FDIC assumes fiat powers to bailout to its heart content, leaving the taxpayer to pay the bill. This unacceptable unlimited right to ransack taxpayers would last until 2010.
"The bailout ignores the needs of millions of swindled families facing foreclosure, and it squanders an opportunity to bring about real regulatory change, decisive shareholder power over their companies’ bosses, and authentic taxpayer equity that would prevent economic crises like this from happening again. Wall Street’s wildly overpaid bosses are addicted to speculative gambling with other people’s money. When a drug addict is facing overdose, you don’t give them more needles.
According to Richard W. Fisher, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas: "The seizures and convulsions we have experienced in the debt and equity markets have been the consequences of a sustained orgy of excess and reckless behavior, not a too-tight monetary policy. In the end, we’re going to have to deal with the underlying stock of housing."
"We need to protect homeowners and our neighborhoods first. That’s why Nader/Gonzalez support introducing a law with a 5-year sunset clause that would provide homeowners facing foreclosure the right to rent to own their homes at fair market value.
"Wall Street is out of control. We need to bring some sense of accountability, transparency, and law and order back to Wall Street’s crooks and speculators, or they will desperately seek socialism to bail out their criminal corporate capitalism, going again and again to the taxpayer trough in Washington DC each time. That’s why Nader/Gonzalez support a Wall Street speculation tax, starting on derivatives, which would make Wall Street less like Las Vegas, and generate enough funds to more than eliminate the federal tax burden on the first $50,000 of income for every working American.
Click here for Nader’s Ten Point Plan: http://www.votenader.org/media/2008/09/16/meltdown/
