The Wall Street Bailout is Personal – KISS
This is personal. This disaster on Wall Street and in the halls of Washington. Most of us have no idea what our Government leaders are talking about. Most of us don’t understand why every man woman and child in America has to put up something like $2,500 to bailout a rich Wall Street Banker. But it is personal. This is an issue that gets in each of our pockets. We have to Keep it Simple, as they say.
We come from a big family. One brother works for the local Gas Company, another works in a Cryovac factory – vacuum packing products to be shipped around the country. Our daughter works at a small animal veterinary clinic and her husband drives some sort of concrete truck. What happens to these everyday people if the banking system collapses? They will all eventually lose their jobs.
Picture the banking system as the engine of an automobile. If the engine quits the car stops. Banking is engine that drives the American economy. How so? The banks provide the money. Money for homes and business. If the banking system freezes, locks up, then we will see no money for a new McDonald’s franchise,. or a new Starbuck’s franchise. There will be no money for small business loans – we will not see Mom and Pop hamburger stands or Mom and Pop Coffee Shops.
New home building will dive even further. With no new homes, no new McDonald’s, no new small business – The concrete truck driver will be out of a job. The gas company will have no new connections – gas company employees will be terminated. Cryovac will have no one to ship to – more jobs lost. When people are not working their small animals will not receive regular health care. Small Animal Veterinary Clinics will close or cut back – more lost jobs.
Local banks will have to lay off loan officers – there is no money to loan. Bank tellers will be sent home. Property taxes will dive – municipal employees will be terminated. School districts will lose their tax base, their buildings will fall into disarray, extracurricular activities will be the first to go – no football, no drama department, no photography.
We, the American people, are not responsible for this mess – except to the extent that we participated in borrowing money we could not pay back – but all of us have a stake in the end result. John Wayne said it in Big Jake: “Your fault, my fault, nobody’s fault, if you don’t do something your head will be blown off.”
We at The Fireside Post are not advocating any particular action – we are only stating that this is an extremely serious financial crisis. We are not well informed enough, and probably not educated enough in Economics, to make or endorse specific proposals.
Comment by Randyrocker on 24 September 2008:
Isn’t it interesting how Martha Stewart can go to jail, for next to nothing illegal, yet Warren Buffet can have private conversations with the Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson (formally of Goldman Sachs) who called to ask him up to ask for advice on what to do about the Wall Street Crisis. So Warren Buffet only days later, can do his insider trading deal based on his previous private conversations with the Treasury Secretary, to buy up $5,000,000,000.00 (that’s five billion dollars) of Goldman Sachs shares at a reduced rate, with no criminal charges laid or any investigation, while people such as Conrad Black and others have to sit in jail. It’s truly amazing the way the public allows itself to get fleeced. Where’s the money going? Where’s the Justice? Who’s in concern for the country?
Comment by Mary on 24 September 2008:
this is just ridiculous, the credit is still out there…OPEN YOUR MAIL BOX and see what offers you receive today AND every other day of this week… Mortgages are on the internet…Sure interest is going to move around, but do you think these people are going to do anything about YOUR interest payments..
Give a check of 7500 to each house hold, at least we will see the money before we have to pay it back…You want to give it to GAMBLERS and Charlatans… These people on Wall Street knew the risk, see your credit report yourself… They increased your interest depending on that and have benefitted from OBSCENE interest rates/profits and NOW they want us to take the fall…. This is SADISTIC!
Comment by Ohg Rea Tone on 24 September 2008:
Yes, the credit is out there today – my mail box is full too. What we are suggesting is the idea of the banking industry seizing, in that event the economy would crumble. …………
Comment by Pendragon on 24 September 2008:
What we are seeing is an attempt by international banking institutions to pillage the wealth of America before an inevitable economic collapse.
The IMF/World Bank is cutting its losses on America after using it as a weapon to put down rogue oil-producing nations for years.
Look at the major oil producing countries in the world: Iraq, Iran, Venezuela.
Who are the proclaimed enemies of the Bush administration? Iraq, Iran, Venezuela.
Iraq was a dictatorship, but the latter two are representative democracies. People need to educate themselves.
Iran is preparing to issue cheap oil to the world, undercutting every other supplier. The fiat dollar is heavily dependent on oil, tied irrevocably to the value of oil rather than gold; this is going to collapse the dollar as we know it. Hard times are coming, but what the bailout will do is make them worse for the American people; with no oversight, $700 billion could get turned into Euros or split up into a maze of financial accounts, no-one would ever know until Bush skips out of the country to Paraguay.
Comment by Don C on 25 September 2008:
TO: Mary September 24, 11:12 AM
Yes, my mailbox is full too! Today I got this and I was wondering what to do? The subject line was:
REQUEST FOR URGENT CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP
From: Minister of the Treasury Paulson
Dear American:
I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude. I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you. I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement
in the 1990s. This transaction is 100% safe. This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a
reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred. Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to
wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov
so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.
Yours Faithfully
Minister of Treasury Paulson
Comment by Don C on 25 September 2008:
Oh, and you can still do something about it.
http://votenobailout.org/