More financial crisis links and tidbits...and will your vote count??

Economists against Paulson's plan:
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate:

As economists, we want to express to Congress our great concern for the plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson to deal with the financial crisis. We are well aware of the difficulty of the current financial situation and we agree with the need for bold action to ensure that the financial system continues to function. We see three fatal pitfalls in the currently proposed plan:

1) Its fairness. The plan is a subsidy to investors at taxpayers’ expense. Investors who took risks to earn profits must also bear the losses. Not every business failure carries systemic risk. The government can ensure a well-functioning financial industry, able to make new loans to creditworthy borrowers, without bailing out particular investors and institutions whose choices proved unwise.

2) Its ambiguity. Neither the mission of the new agency nor its oversight are clear. If taxpayers are to buy illiquid and opaque assets from troubled sellers, the terms, occasions, and methods of such purchases must be crystal clear ahead of time and carefully monitored afterwards.

3) Its long-term effects. If the plan is enacted, its effects will be with us for a generation. For all their recent troubles, America's dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity. Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted.

For these reasons we ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider the right course of action, and to wisely determine the future of the financial industry and the U.S. economy for years to come.


Signed (updated at 9/25/2008 8:30AM CT)

Acemoglu Daron (Massachussets Institute of Technology)
Adler Michael (Columbia University)
Admati Anat R. (Stanford University)
Alexis Marcus (Northwestern University)
Alvarez Fernando (University of Chicago) et al.......
http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/john.cochrane/research/Papers/mortgage_protest.htm
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From Randi Rhodes, the Goddess of research:


Stick 'Em Up, Jesse James!
It's a bank heist in reverse; Stealing from the people
http://www.truthout.org/092408R



$700 Billion: Pull A Number Outta Your Ass
Forbes is reporting someone at Treasury ACTUALLY TOLD THEM THE FOLLOWING:
"It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number." http://www.forbes.com/home/2008/09/23/bailout-paulson-congress-biz-beltway-cx_jz_bw_0923bailout.html

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and more info:

Citizens Dumping Personal Junk on Wall Street to Protest Bailout
http://www.alternet.org/story/100230/citizens_dumping_personal_junk_on_wall_street_to_protest_bailout_/

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10 Ways to Bail Out Wall Street (and Main Street) Without Soaking Taxpayers in Debt

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/100223/10_ways_to_bail_out_wall_street_(and_main_street)_without_soaking_taxpayers_in_debt/

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And will our votes count?
RFK Jr., Mike Papantonio: "Is Your Vote Safe?"

http://www.truthout.org/article/rfk-jr-and-mike-papantonio-is-your-vote-safe