Perhaps it is time to bring back debtors prisons for the corporate robber barons who have put us all in such a state of jeopardy that our government is telling us the ONLY choice we have is to bail these criminals out with a free, "get out of jail" card. Well this isn't Monopoly; and when the robber barons land on Boardwalk they should pay, NOT US!
If Bernanke and Paulson want to bail out their Wall Street and Banker friends, then it is time to cancel Capitalism and take ownership of the Federal Reserve Banking System and every bank and institution that has placed us in this precarious financial dilemma. The American public should only allow its elected representatives provide a bail out under the most onerous terms possible--a complete turnover of ownership to the American taxpayer. It is time to socialize the institutions which had put us in this predicament. If we are to suffer their losses then we should benefit from their profits.
As much as the US government loves to castigate Hugo Chavez for his socialization of key industries and business segments he considers "national security", or Putin's Russia and its criminal takeover of private enterprises through the use of its state-controlled courts, or the nationalization of the oil assets elsewhere such as in the Middle East and China,
while these political systems are not democratic or true capitalists, their system does bring greater protections to the sovereign wealth of their nations. We should do no less.
I am a former CEO with two public corporations. I am college educated and went through graduate school and post graduate studies. I am married, with a house and two children who someday I will need to help through college, while
also taking care of my elderly mother, and somehow being able to fund my yet-to-be-funded retirement...and I am sixty two years old. So I am a part of Main Street, USA. I haven't been involved in corporate management for almost two decades. Regardless of my upper middle class background, I believe in the freedom and liberty this country once stood for; we are quickly losing it to the faux pas mess created by not just eight years of Republican domination, but by years of neglect by both the Democratic and Republican Parties. There is not a two party system; there is one party-- and to enjoy it, all you need to be is an incumbant politician who opposes term limits and laws against corruption and self-interest lobbying which has morphed into just another form of legalized graft and influence peddling. And is that any surprize? The majority of members of Congress are lawyers--they write the laws that protect them from the same crimes the average citizen would be charged with a felony for pursuing outside of Washington, DC!
Take the one trillion dollars Bernanke and Paulson want to use of taxpayer money to bail out a corrupted banking system, and invest it into a national taxpayer bank which will fund the credit and normal purchasing needs of Main Street America instead! Loan the hard-working, creditworthy American citizens and small businesses the money they need to run this country properly and let the banks fail as they deserve to. Change the bankruptcy laws to allow judges to modify loan provisions to allow homeowners and families to remain in their humble abodes. Reverse the laws the credit card companies forced through the Congress through their lobbying and election financing and have the US government
offer ALL creditworthy citizens the credit they deserve at 2% over the Fed's overnight funds rate. Allow the US government to buy the actual loans--not toxic CDO's (collateralized debt obligations) that are so complex and obscure that not even the banks and investment houses who packaged and sold them around the world even know what they are or what they are worth! Fund Detroit's big three US manufacturers to alllow them to come out with radical new fuel efficient vehicles so we can start to wean ourselves off OPEC oil. Allow the US energy companies to make a profit, but regulate them so they have to invest in developing energy sources here in America including drilling off our continental shelf, developing clean coal technology, safe nuclear power, expanding natural gas for our transportation needs and fund alternative energy research and development as a national security priority--the same as we did with the Manhattan project and the creation of NASA. Americans willing sacrifice for the national good, we only need REAL leadership, and unfortunately, and sadly, neither Senators Obama or McCain seem to offer that. They are still just politicians. And we don't need more politicians. We need American patriots--hard-working, average citizens who sacrifice everyday for their families, their communities, their country and each other as our neighbors and co-workers.
If you want real change, change Washington. Get rid of the political and financial systems which have been corrupted and serve only their own self-interests, and put average Main Street Americans in charge of their own lives and government. Vote ALL the bastards out of office! Clean house and start all over again. And if the Washington crowd who have subverted our Constitution won't give up power, let the true patriots who lead our Armed Forces take over
and declare martial law in order to restore this country to the foundations upon which our founders risked their lives and freedom to bring about for US...round up every corrupt politician, and as in China let them pay for their own bullet before they are stood up against the wall! It is time for the only institution left the American citizen can trust in to take control and put things right.